Kathryn Bigelow's film about a peddler of immersive virtual-reality recordings (think YouTube videos mixed with a VR headset) in a dystopian Los Angeles still feels surprisingly relevant. Ralph Fiennes, who is consistently great in his roles, plays Lenny Nero, a former cop who now sells illegal recordings to customers who can strap on a device, called a SQUID, and experience a moment in another person's life. Some of these recordings are innocent—like a person walking on a beach—while others are dark and sinister.

But this movie isn't simply a story about virtual reality and how people will use the technology in the future. Partially inspired by the 1992 Rodney King riots in Los Angeles, the main plot of Strange Days centers around police brutality and corruption. Police officers try to destroy evidence of an officer-involved shooting, which of course exists in the form of one of the virtual-reality recordings. In a world where recordings of officer-involved shootings and police brutality show up on the Internet far too regularly, this film feels unfortunately too real.