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The 25 best science fiction movies of all time

What are the best movies about mysterious planets, visitors from other worlds, and the future on our very own Earth? Check out our picks!

6. 'The Matrix'

Warner Bros.
'The Matrix' stars Keanu Reeves (l.) and Hugo Weaving (r.).

The Wachowski siblings' 1999 film centers on Neo (Keanu Reeves), a computer programmer who uncovers a frightening fact: the world as we know it is computer-generated illusion and in reality, everyone is being held captive by a race of machines. Rescued by Morpheus (Laurence Fishburne), a leader in the secret human rebellion against the robot overlords, Neo awakes, unplugged from "The Matrix" for the first time in a horrible, ruined world.

As Neo learns to bend the laws governing the Matrix and begins to oppose the all-powerful "agents" of the simulation, much slow-motion karate and gunplay ensues. The choreography of the fight scenes will still be influencing action movies for years to come, and the combination of the battles and the heady philosophical themes make for absorbing viewing.

According to Wired, in order to convey the philosophical themes and complicated effects that would be in the film to studio Warner Bros., the Wachowskis had comic book artists Geof Darrow and Steve Skroce create a storyboard that was 600 pages.

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Mark Sappenfield
Editor

Dear Reader,

About a year ago, I happened upon this statement about the Monitor in the Harvard Business Review – under the charming heading of “do things that don’t interest you”:

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