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Keanu Reeves gets emotional while sharing how much 'The Matrix' means to him

Reeves shared his favorite memories of each of his biggest films. When he got to 'The Matrix,' there was a noticeable change.

Raph_PH/Wikipedia, Photo by Shannon Kunkle on Unsplash

“’The Matrix’ changed my life."

Keanu Reeves might have broken into the industry through “Bill and Ted,” and was an established '90s action actor thanks to films like “Speed” and “Point Break.” But his iconic role as Neo in “The Matrix” truly catapulted him into stardom.

For many, “The Matrix” was both a thrilling cinematic escape and a powerful spiritual experience—exploring what it means to be human in the digital age, all while kicking ass in cool leather trench coats. And Reeves was the hero that took us on that journey.

Of course, he would go on to be the center of another legendary franchise with “John Wick” and would become a legend off-camera as a genuinely compassionate and generous person. But to think—we might have not had any of it had Reeves never taken that red pill.

It turns out that not even Reeves himself takes that moment in his life for granted.

During a recent interview with Stephen Colbert on “The Late Show,” the host mentioned several of Reeves’ movies that were celebrating an anniversary this year — “Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure,” 35; “Point Break,” 33; “Speed,” 30; “The Matrix,” 25; and “John Wick,” 10.

Colbert then asked Reeves to name a fond memory from each of these iconic movies in a lightning-round style. Reeves was able to get out simple answers like “friendship” for “Bill and Ted” and “the genius of Catherine Bigelow” for “Point Break,” but when he got to “The Matrix,” there was a palpable, emotional pause.

After about twenty seconds, Reeves replied, “’The Matrix’ changed my life. And then, over these years, it’s changed so many other people’s lives in really positive and great ways.”

Gathering himself, he concluded, “As an artist, you hope for that when you get to do a film or tell a story…it’s the best.”

It was so well said that Colbert didn’t bother trying to get a memory for “John Wick” but instead shook his hand and ended the segment.

Watch:

"The Matrix" Changed My Life - Keanu Reeves Shares Fond Memories Of His Most Iconic Filmswww.youtube.com

Down in the comments, people were once again moved by Reeves’ heartfelt authenticity.

“Keanu's response to the Matrix question was so profound.”

“That really got me. So moving. As for the movie itself, to this day, The Matrix is still the most mind-blowing experience I've ever had in a theatre!”

“The answer, his face, his body language, how he changed his emotion so fast just gave me chills and I cried. He knows the truth.”

“What a real dude. There's a reason everyone loves him.”

“Do we all simply want to burst into tears when he emotionally recounts how The Matrix has touched people?”

“To this day, The Matrix remains my favorite movie of all time. Full stop. It's amazing to see him get so emotional when he talks about it.”

“He almost made me cry, that was a raw emotional sincere comment he made - just beautiful.”

“The Academy Awards will honor Keanu Reeves one day with a lifetime achievement award. No doubt. The Matrix is the best sci-fi movie ever made and Keanu was brilliant in the role. A beautiful human being. I always support his work. I wish him the best this world offers.”

By the way, if all this Matrix nostalgia has got you wishing you could see it on the big screen again, you’re in luck! AMC will be presenting a special anniversary screening of it in September.

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Finally, someone explains why we all need subtitles when watching TV

No, you're probably not losing your hearing.

Vox/YouTube

Finally, someone explains why we all need subtitles

It seems everyone needs subtitles nowadays in order to "hear" the television. This is something that has become more common over the past decade and it's caused people to question if their hearing is going bad or if perhaps actors have gotten lazy with enunciation.

So if you've been wondering if it's just you who needs subtitles in order to watch the latest marathon-worthy show, worry no more. Vox video producer Edward Vega interviewed dialogue editor Austin Olivia Kendrick to get to the bottom of why we can't seem to make out what the actors are saying anymore. It turns out it's technology's fault, and to get to how we got here, Vega and Kendrick took us back in time.

They first explained that way back when movies were first moving from silent film to spoken dialogue, actors had to enunciate and project loudly while speaking directly into a large microphone. If they spoke and moved like actors do today, it would sound almost as if someone were giving a drive-by soliloquy while circling the block. You'd only hear every other sentence or two.

But with today's technology, microphones are so small they can be strapped just about anywhere on an actor. This allows the actor to move about the set freely and speak at a normal volume without worrying that their words won't be picked up. So then why can't we hear them? Turns out it's super complicated…and also not.

"A lot of people will ask, 'Why don't you just turn the dialogue up?' Like, 'Just turn it up.' And...if only it were that simple," Kendrick said before explaining, "If you have your dialogue that's going to be at the same volume as an explosion that immediately follows it, the explosion is not going to feel as big. You need that contrast in volume in order to give your ear a sense of scale."

Sure, you may be thinking, well that kinda explains it, but why do the music and other cinematic noises sound like they're beating on your eardrum while the dialogue sounds like the actors are whispering every line? That doesn't seem very balanced. There's more to it, and again, it falls back onto technology.

In the video, they explain how our televisions are too thin to hold large speakers facing in the correct direction, and until this video, it didn't dawn on me that the speakers to my television are indeed in the back. No wonder we can't hear. The actors are quite literally talking to our walls.

And there's more. Check out the full explanation in the video:

This article originally appeared on 2.1.23

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Cool video reveals why people in old movies talked funny

This speech pattern isn’t completely British or completely American.

Photo from YouTube video.

What’s up with the funny talk?

There's a distinct accent that American actors and broadcasters used in the early days of radio and in pre-World War II movies. It's most obvious in old newsreel footage where the announcer speaks in a high-pitched tone, omits his "Rs" at the end of words, and sounds like a New Yorker who just returned from a summer holiday with the British royal family.

This speaking style is also heard in the speeches of Franklin D. Roosevelt and just about any performance by Orson Welles. But today, this accent is all but nonexistent, prompting the question: Did Americans speak differently before the advent of television?

The video below, "Why Do People in Old Movies Talk Weird?," reveals the secret of this distinct inflection known as the Mid-Atlantic accent and why it was so prominent in early 20th-century American media.

This article originally appeared on 09.06.17

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Cruel meme about time has Gen X feeling 'dazed and confused'

Uh, there's no way this math is right. Right? [Grabs calculator.]

Photo (left) by Oskars Sylwan on Unsplash, Photo (right) by Taylor Flowe on Unsplash

The difference between 1976 and 1993 felt like ages.

The "forgotten generation" has hit peak mid-life crisis time, as Gen Xers find themselves careening through their 40s and 50s. And like presumably every generation before them, they're reeling a bit, asking, "How did I get here already?" as they pluck gray hairs out of weird places, send kids off to college and obsessively check their retirement accounts.

And now a meme that hits right at the heart of that crisis has Gen Xers feeling even more dazed. One might even say…confused.

In cruel bit of calculation, X user @AZNotoriousJPG shared a screenshot image from the cult classic "Dazed and Confused" with this caption:

"Dazed and Confused came out in 1993 and was based in 1976. A comparable movie today would be based in 2007."

Wait, what? No. NO. That can't be right. That math isn't mathing. Where's the calculator?

[Frantically calculates this very basic subtraction problem four times because there's no way.]

It's right. How? How is this possible? The '70s felt like they were ages from the 90s, while 2007 was only like three years ago. Right?

First of all, I'm wrong. 2007 was 17 years ago—that's basically an entire generation ago. (I know, I have to let that one sit for a minute.) But secondly, it seems like there was much more of a cultural difference between the 1970s and the 1990s than there was between the 2020s and the 2000s.

But why? In some ways, the 2000s feel like they've all been one long decade, at least in terms of "feel." The 1960s, '70s, '80s and '90s each felt like they had a distinct feel in terms of style and culture. We can pinpoint fashions, slang, musical genres and what was popular during those decades. Can the same be said for the 2000s and the 2010s?

Maybe it can. Facebook came out in 2004 and the iPhone came out in 2007, so I'm sure that changed things significantly. Social media and smartphones? That's huge. Is it just because we're (gulp) so old now that Gen Xers can't differentiate between recent decades? Are we just so out of touch with young fashions and hip culture that we don't even see it?

Honestly? Yeah, probably. I've heard my teens say something along the lines of, "That's giving, like, early 2000s" when referring to a song or a fashion choice. I guess I should be happy that I'm "with it" enough to know what "giving" means, but I'd never be able to tell you how something from the early 2000s is any different than something from two years ago.

Gen Xers have not taken kindly to having this timeline change thrown in their faces:

"Oh!! This hurts!!"

"Lies."

"I was having a good day. We were all having a good day."

"I get, we’re old!!! Quit reminding us!"

"All I see from this is that I am old AF."

"That doesn’t make any sense. 2007 was last week. I have medicine in the closet which expired earlier than that. Not possible."

"Nope, that’s not okay."

"You didn't have to choose violence, yet here we are."

You can tell the Gen Xers from the millennials and Gen Zers in the comments because the younger folks just keep commenting with "Superbad," a coming-of-age comedy that came out in 2007. What they don't understand is it's not the number of years that hits hard with this meme, it's the vast difference between how 17 years felt between the 70s and 90s and how they feel in the 2000s.

You have to have lived it to get it, I suppose, but "Dazed and Confused" in 1993 felt more like a movie made now based in the '80s would feel. Think "Stranger Things." That's what the time difference felt like for us.

Time is weird, man. But even 30 years later (wait, what?) "Dazed and Confused" is still a fabulous film, and Gen X is still the coolest generation.

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