A futuristic kung-fu fantasy with terrific stunts and a stunted scripteanu Reeves plays Neo, a computer hacker who thinks he's living in the twentieth century but is really a pawn in a giant virtual-reality game controlled by twenty-second-century programmers. Dude! Damned if I can explain more about this muddled mind-bender, except to say that Neo is recruited by Trinity (Carrie-Anne Moss) to join her leader, Morpheus (Laurence Fishburne), in a rebellion against those who would enslave them. If fashion dictates choosing sides, it's a lock for the kinky rebels who wear black leather and cool shades.

Mucho bucks have been spent on this silliness courtesy of Die Hard producer Joel Silver, who had the wit to hire Larry and Andy Wachowski — the prankster brothers behind the indie hit Bound — to write and direct. Silver also had the nerve to put his stars through four months of training under Hong Kong wire-stunt expert Yuen Wo Ping, the mentor of Jackie Chan and Jet Li, who turns Keanu and company into high-flying kung-fu krazies. The Matrix soars with its feet in the air — the rest crash-lands.

“(We're Not) The Jet Set”

George Jones and Tammy Wynette were still married when they recorded the tongue-in-cheek "(We're Not) The Jet Set." The lyrics, written by Nashville songwriter Bobby Braddock, who also penned Wynette's "D-I-V-O-R-C-E" and Jones' "He Stopped Loving Her Today," make fun of the good life by declaring, "We're not the Jet Set/We're the old Chevrolet set." Braddock recalled that while writing the song, he needed the name of a city that evened out the rhyme he had with "Riviera" and "Missourah." “I got out a Rand McNally atlas," he said. "In the first part are the maps. The last part is an alphabetical listing of cities. I wanted a rustic, small-time sound. I went to the listing for Missouri. And I found 'Festus.' I loved the sound of it."