March movie: Dark City

[Culhwch]

Nostalgia definitely plays a part in remebering films fondly, Goll. Besides, when I first saw The Crow I must have been fifteen, so I wasn't hard to impress....

[GOLLUM]

Originally Posted by Culhwch

Nostalgia definitely plays a part in remebering films fondly, Goll. Besides, when I first saw The Crow I must have been fifteen, so I wasn't hard to impress....

Ditto for me Cullwch except I was probably in my early 20s. Hey c'mon I was a late starter....

[roddglenn]

I know a lot has already been said on Dark City, but I just thought I'd add that I found it a very dark and intriguing film. Certainly is very film noir-esq with a lot of thought-provoking undertones. It is good to see Rufus in a good guy role for a change and I thought William Hurt was very good too. Richard O'Brien was pretty sinister, which was a nice addition. It has a similar feel to it as the 12 Monkeys, in my opinion - dark, brooding, mysterious etc.

[Quokka]

Great movie and nice to see it's getting some discussion going


There's alot to like about this movie, I know I read somewhere after watching it recently that there were examples of many different decades, I was thinking 30's to 50's but admit to not noticing links to later decades like to 70's 80's... although it would certainly would fit the storyline.

I really enjoyed william hurt's character, his stance from disbelieving/ just doing his job initially, questioning during the boat ride and finally making a stand and helping Rufus with the breaking of the wall was all very believable... I did watch this late at night (and ever so slightly intoxicated ) so i may be getting some of the details wrong but I remember thinking at the time, that compared to something like anikan's (sp?) instant turn from good to child killer in SW3, that this character flowed really well.

I liked how the city wasn't just dark for feel of the movie but fit well into the story line. ]

But one thing that did annoy me was the stranger's turning to face the clock at midnight when the changes occurred, for some reason the use of an injection to change memories and the fact that they changed some things 'magically' and others by hand didn't break my suspension of disbelief... but the idea of this intelligent alien race that had the technology to build this labratory/satilite, turning to face a clockface in ritual really bugged me...

[Foxbat]

I think the clockface and (very elaborate) syringe were more to do with style than storyline...verging almost into Steampunk territory. Stylistically, it worked very well for me. As for decades, it always felt late 30s to me.

Certainly, the character interaction worked very well - especially Sewell's character who, basically, was the vehicle for the viewer through this fine movie.

[GrownUp]

The City itself, the edges of it and the final seaside. Definitely film as art.

But, where do all the memories come from? They can't, surely, be from the people because they are always being chopped and changed and the memories would be choppy and sewn together - cook-then-murderer-then-acrobat-then-hatmaker-... So is it the whole life-memories of another city?

Or is it all one day's life, or say, a week's life being tested. So they took all the people, took all of their memories up to that point, and then made them live the next day, or week - with those memories swapped around - over and over?

[weaveworld]

Dark City is on Sci Fi tonight (6th March 2006) at 10.10 pm.

Classic movie

[Cyril]

I love Dark City. Yes, a classic movie indeed! IMHO Dark City is to Matrix what 2001 was to Star Wars : The first used at fisrt a new aesthetic and new SFX techniques while the second popularizated theses elements. I consider Dark City as a milestone in movie making and it was the first time I saw peoples flying without being ridiculous but with a certain majesty and a strong feeling of power.

[ravenus]

it was the first time I saw peoples flying without being ridiculous but with a certain majesty and a strong feeling of power.

Ah, for me it was the Christopher Reeve Superman movies. His first appearance in the costume when he soars out of the Fortress of Solitude after his training under Jor-El...simply breath-taking!! Sure, some of the FX now look dated and obvious, but hey, Chris had the demeanor that really went a long way to convince an audience that he was flying with a certain majesty and feeling of power.

[Wolfeborn]

I love this movie dark and intriguing, good performances from most of the actors. I loved the feeling that you never knew quite what was going on, parts had a very terry gilliam feel.

Does anyone else think that the gentlemen from buffy may have in part been based on the dark aliens in this film, they do bear some similarities.

and Richard O'brian is always cool to watch in films.

[GrownUp]

Originally Posted by Wolfeborn

Does anyone else think that the gentlemen from buffy may have in part been based on the dark aliens in this film, they do bear some similarities.

I definitely thought so.

[Firefly]

I believe so Wolfeborn however I believe Dark City was released before that episode.