"The Matrix" is quite a good movie, but its writer-directors shine much more brightly in 1996's "Bound," one of the decade's smartest and most interesting-looking films. Surely one of the more unique "mob" movies in existence, "Bound" is chock full of characters who get themselves in and out of impossible situations with quick thinking that never strains credibility. One of the most smartly- and tensely-plotted movies I've seen, "Bound" also features the Wachowski brothers' unique artistic "look," including camerawork that anticipates the freeze-and-rotate of "The Matrix" (first seen in those Gap ads).
All "Matrix" fans should check out this brilliant precursor, which features better work by Matrix villain Joe Pantoliano, as the beleagured gangster who gets framed by his girlfriend (Jennifer Tilly) and her lover (Gina Gershon) as he's trying to clean $2.2 million in blood-stained bills. The film takes unpredictable twists that keep it an edge-of-your-seater throughout, and Tilly and Pantoliano, particularly, are brilliant.
Is almost as groundbreaking (if woefully underseen) a film about underworld types as "Pulp Fiction," and just as smart.
All "Matrix" fans should check out this brilliant precursor, which features better work by Matrix villain Joe Pantoliano, as the beleagured gangster who gets framed by his girlfriend (Jennifer Tilly) and her lover (Gina Gershon) as he's trying to clean $2.2 million in blood-stained bills. The film takes unpredictable twists that keep it an edge-of-your-seater throughout, and Tilly and Pantoliano, particularly, are brilliant.
Is almost as groundbreaking (if woefully underseen) a film about underworld types as "Pulp Fiction," and just as smart.