cs_rio action! Like cinematic dynamite, City of God lights a fuse under its squalid Brazilian ghetto, and we're a captive audience to its violent explosion. The titular favela is home to a seething army of impoverished children who grow, over the film's ambitious 20-year timeframe, into cutthroat killers, drug lords, and feral survivors. In the vortex of this maelstrom is L'il Z (Leandro Firmino da Hora--like most of the cast, a nonprofessional actor), self-appointed king of the dealers, determined to eliminate all competition at the expense of his corrupted soul. With enough visual vitality and provocative substance to spark heated debate (and box-office gold) in Brazil, codirectors Fernando Meirelles and Kátia Lund tackle their subject head on, creating a portrait of youthful anarchy so appalling--and so authentically immediate--that City of God prompted reforms in socioeconomic policy. It's a bracing feat of stylistic audacity, borrowing from a dozen other films to form its own unique identity. You'll flinch, but you can't look away.

In the second chapter of the Matrix trilogy, Neo (Keanu Reeves), Trinity (Carrie-Anne Moss) and Morpheus (Laurence Fishburne) continue to lead the revolt against the Machine Army. In their quest to save the human race from extinction, they gain greater insight into the construct of The Matrix and Neo's pivotal role in the fate of mankind. This Double Disc set has lots of exclusive behind the scenes and featurettes.

A fitting supplement to the feature-packed Matrix DVD, The Matrix Revisited provides a wealth of Matrix arcana, delivered by the 1999 blockbuster's principal cast and crew. The main course in this 163-minute feast is a two-hour documentary covering virtually every aspect of production, with teasing glimpses of fight training on the not-yet-released Matrix sequels.

From the creators of The Matrix trilogy, this groundbreaking collection of 9 short films from 7 of the world's leading Anime directors provides a visionary fusion of CG-Animation and Japanese Anime. The directors are: Andy Jones (Final Flight of The Osiris), Mahiro Maeda (The Second Renaissance: Parts 1 and 2), Shinichiro Watanabe (Kid's Story, Detective Story), Yoshiaki Kawajiri (Program), Takeshi Koike (World Record), Koji Morimoto (Beyond), Peter Chung (Matriculated). Four of the nine episodes were written by Larry and Andy Wachowski, and all of the episodes are grounded in the world of THE MATRIX.