I have recently been on a David Cronenberg kick, and who can blame me? He is awesome. But I noticed that I put eXistenZ more than 10 slots above The Matrix on my top 100 sci-fi films list. This must have been some kind of weird self denial on my part. I re-watched The Matrix as I was going to sleep the other night (for I hardly need to re-watch it, it is so ingrained in my memory and exists in the core of my being). Even after a few years of not watching it, I can recall almost every line in the movie (making me a very obnoxious viewing partner). The Matrix originally made me fall in love with cinema, and not just that, it opened my eyes to the art department, something I have since made a career in. And it pushed me toward a philosophy major (which I am 1 credit shy of, but I do have a minor). Some people laugh at the influence this movie has had on me, and maybe it is silly, but I can’t think of a more influential sci-fi that has been released since The Matrix. It not only changed me, it changed cinema, for better or for worse.

The Matrix is the absolute best action sci-fi there is. It has a perfectly conceived plot, and what interests me most about it now is that it knows that thoughts are real. Ok, yeah, duh, thoughts are real, right? Descartes knew that. But not only are thought real, thoughts really change our reality. Neo is the one because of his mental capabilities, not his physical limitations in the real world. What strange and real power lies inside our own minds.

I am working on a sci-fi web series (still in development stages) about mental reality- a mind that exists without a body. And that is all I am going to say, because if I’d say more, you would steal my bosses idea. And I have too many thoughts floating around because of his cool premise to let someone else take his idea, even if I am unable to make it.

Back to Cronenberg. He has been one of my favorite directors for many years, but I thought it was mostly for his body horror. I did not realize his powers in sci-fi. Can you believe I actually didn’t realize that The Fly (one of my all time favorite movies) was a sci-fi? How little I thought about my reality then.

Cosmopolis is now on Netflix and I urge you to watch it. While Django restored my faith in cinema, I still believe that Cosmopolis was the best film of 2012. That opinion may change when I see The Master but it doesn’t change the fact that you probably didn’t see Cosmopolis, and that you should.

eXistenZ is a hell of a lot of fun. But The Matrix will never leave me, no matter how I try to distance myself from it. I held one day a week sacred for The Matrix for an entire year. Every Wednesday I dedicated myself to knowledge and exploration inspired by that movie. Yes, I was a major geek in high school, and still am. The only difference is that I am now proud of that fact.

And that’s it. Oh, except I think I am going to watch Cosmopolis… again… right now.