It's been ages since I watched Johnny Mnemonic. I'll have to re-watch that one. I know I didn't like it as much as The Matrix (which felt similar in mood and style). But since the sequels made that franchise lame, perhaps watching the stand alone Johnny Mnemonic will seem much better now.

Everyone raves about A Boy and his Dog
although I couldn't get into it. I am HOPING they make a movie out of
The Dog Stars, read it Shake you'll love it.

I enjoyed A Boy and His Dog, although I do remember it being somewhat slow and obtuse.  I only watched it once.  I would give it another go but Mrs steak probably wouldn't like it.

I just read some reviews of The Dog Stars, it sounds interesting. Thanks for the suggestion vkimo I will add it to my list!

The Matrix is a mishmash. It's genre filmmaking at its most advanced. Highly derivative and laden with references, it draws inspiration and influence from nearly every science fiction trope there ever was. This allowed a level of slickness, polish, and accessibility previously unseen in sci-fi cinema.

Johnny Mnemonic, on the other hand, is a direct adaptation of one single short story. Therefore some of its conceptual conceits were a little less palatable to a broad audience. Another issue for modern viewers is what I call the "left-behind setting" aspect: The hardware looks archaic. Payphones and CRT monitors are abundant in the urban landscape, to say nothing of key lines and plot points that rely on fax machines and VCRs. The dystopian regime appeared in full force the week the movie was released.

Sneakernet methods have today been largely abandoned with the rise of broadband internet access (although we may be seeing some return to them in the wake of the NSA revelations.) This also affects The Fifth Element, Demolition Man, and other future-set films. We now find this absurd in a futuristic context, and it may distract viewers not invested in accepting movies on their own terms and in their own time.

I also argue that the "wooden" quality that people see in Keanu Reeves' acting, decried elsewhere but somewhat appreciated in The Matrix, is no less out of place in Johnny Mnemonic, in which he plays a character who was once desperate enough to remove a significant portion of his brain to excel at his profession. Further, I know some people find Ice-T laughable as an actor in general, but I feel he fits the role as leader of the Lo-Teks quite well. His outlandish appearance in this movie should be embraced as soon as one accepts the cyberpunk setting.