KEANU'S 60!?!
Yes, Keanu Reeves, that Zen-cool actor and eternal internet meme, is turning 60, though he seems to be made of more eternal stuff. We love him, you love him, let’s watch some of his movies to celebrate. The Heights presents three of Keanu’s classics, some not seen on Twin Cities screens for years.
SPEED
May 9, 2024, 7:30 p.m.
Was it really thirty years ago that a relatively unknown Sandra Bullock's Annie Porter climbed aboard an LA bus rigged with a bomb that would arm once it reached 50 MPH and detonate once it went below the same speed? Sure enough. Who but Keanu's SWAT commander Jack Traven would come to the rescue and dispatch the evil Howard Payne (Dennis Hopper)? What sounded like a ridiculously high-concept brainless film turned out to be an edge-of-your-seat thriller that became an instant classic.
DCP - Walt Disney Pictures.
THE MATRIX
May 23, 2024, 7:30 p.m.
Thomas Anderson (Keanu) is a bored computer programmer who goes by Neo when he's hacking. When a group of federal agents appears at his workplace, he flees, aided by Trinity (Carrie Ann-Moss), who takes him to visit Morpheus (Laurence Fishburne), who gives our man a choice: take a red pill to see the Matrix as it is, or a blue one to return him to his life as he knows it. Needless to say, Neo joins Morpheus and enters into a revolutionary world that is Alice in Wonderland as Cyberpunk dystopia with a lot of martial arts thrown in. This genre- and gender-bending sci-fi masterpiece took the world by storm, it cemented Keanu as an action superstar, and its incredible effects changed filmmaking forever.
DCP - Warner Bros.
BILL & TED'S EXCELLENT ADVENTURE
May 16, 2024, 7:30 p.m.
In the year 2688, society is perfect thanks to the teachings of the great Bill & Ted. One of the 27th Century's citizens, George Carlin's Rufus, must go back in time to ensure that the truly dimwitted Bill & Ted pass their history exam, or the future is doomed. Naturally, Rufus hauls them to meet historical figures in his phone booth time machine, because... why not? Perhaps the most proudly stupid film of all-time, BILL & TED'S EXCELLENT ADVENTURE is also hilarious and always charming, never cynical or cruel, its two leads, Keanu's Ted and Alex Winter's Bill, as affable as they come. This winsome mix was the surprise hit of 1989.
DCP - Park Circus.
