#12: The Matrix

Kids watching The Matrix today might not be impressed, but when the film was released in 1999, it was utterly groundbreaking in nearly every way. How on earth did the actors move their bodies in those insane ways? We just knew that what we were seeing on screen was not humanly possible, but we couldn’t wrap our minds around what sort of Hollywood voodoo had made this possible.

It all makes sense once you factor in the filmmakers’ heavy use of green screens. Of course, not all green screen effects were very believable in those early days of its use, so we are pretty impressed that The Matrix pulled it off so successfully. Part of what made this movie so iconic was how seamlessly the special effects worked.