Man, why didn’t I watch The Animatrix (imdb | rotten tomatoes) sooner? It’s got all kinds of useful information about things leading into the second Matrix film, and the animation is pretty impressive. The last few (it’s nine different vignettes, for those of you who haven’t seen it) I didn’t care for too much, but it’s worth watching, especially if you want the backstory about the war and some pieces of information that are referenced in Reloaded.