5. Matrix
Just the name of this movie brings up that bullet scene. While The Matrix wasn’t the first movie to use that specific effects technology, it was the first movie that made “bullet time” stick in people’s minds.
It also demanded more from its fight choreography than any other movies being made at the time, with actors and stunt doubles spending six months to train before shooting. When it went to DVD in 1999, VHS was still king. The Matrix helped facilitate the industry shift from VHS to DVD by being the first movie to sell over 1 million DVD copies.
6. Casablanca
“Here’s lookin’ at you, kid.” Possibly the best movie ever made where the guy (spoiler alert) doesn’t get the girl. Its release was rushed to coincide with the Allied invasion of North Africa a few weeks earlier, filmmakers didn’t expect Casablanca to do well in the box office, much less become the classic it has.
It went on to win Academy Awards for Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Writing. Fun Fact: Humphrey Bogart was only 5’ 8” tall, where Ingrid Bergman was almost 5’10” tall. Director Michael Curtiz had Bogart stand on a box to fix the height issue, which is still what they do with short actors like Tom Cruise.
