The Matrix (1999) | The Wachowskis

Keanu Reeves stars as Thomas Anderson, aka Neo.  Neo works for a large software company, but is a computer hacker on the side, and quite a good one at that, selling off information for a price to anyone who might want it.  That is until one day his world is rocked when he is shown that the world of 1999 isn’t reality, but actually a computer simulation designed to lull humans into a feeling of complacency while their actual bodies are being harvested and used as batteries for the artificial intelligence they helped create.  A mysterious man named Morpheus (Laurence Fishburne) believes Neo is “The One” who will save all humanity, as foretold to him by The Oracle, so he shows Neo the truth about his surroundings and trains him in the ways of The Matrix in the hope that humanity can prevail against the machines.

Alita: Battle Angel (2019) | Robert Rodriguez

The origin of Alita: Battle Angel starts with Yukito Kishiro’s intricately plotted 1990 manga, something this adaptation has to simplify in order to make it palatable for wide-release audiences.  The setting is an Earth five centuries from now, a mostly tumultuous and vice-filled world that suffers even more by comparison to the life of luxury from the beaming city utopia called Zalem that floats above their heads. Christoph Waltz plays Dr. Ido, a brilliant scientist who has been through he trash-heaps of history to find something of value and meaning. Ido soon discovers the remnants of a robotic entity, taking it back to his lab for rehabilitation, resulting in a cyborg creation he has dubbed “Alita” (which was also the name of the daughter he lost in a tragedy), who has the mind of a teenage girl and hard-shell body to match. She walks, talks and understands, but one thing she can’t readily do is remember who she is or why she exists. Ido provides fatherly guidance, but Alita is drawn to battle and action by her nature, stoked further by an interest in the local boy named Hugo, who sees more potential in Alita’s abilities that could make her formidable in a world that values such adept skills in the arena of conflict.