On the eve of the new millennium, a new science-fiction action film premiered that would change the genre, fashion, and the ubiquity of philosophical discussion forever. Buoyed by their script for the Sylvester Stallone film Assassins and their directing debut Bound, Lilly and Lana Wachowski were given a three-picture deal with Warner Bros. Their project? The Matrix. The plan for the film was too big, dense, and ambitious for studio executives to understand, so the directors hired comic book artists to create a 600-page shot-by-shot storyboard for the film that the studio still didn’t understand, but at least they could see what they were getting. The film became one of the biggest grossers of the year and spawned three sequels. Between Christmas and New Year’s, The Dryden is presenting the entire series on our big screen for the first time.
Over a professional life spanning seven decades, Edward Steichen (1879–1973) established himself as one of the most important figures in the history of photography. What is less known is that for much of that time, Steichen devoted himself to the nurturing of plants and gardens, an activity that sustained him and through which he developed ardently held beliefs regarding the relationship of art, nature, and creativity.