Dark City and other strange and imaginative places

[galleywest]

This is a weird journey, but last night I watched the trailer for Moon Knight. I told my husband Oscar Isaac is looking more like Rufus Sewell every day. He was like who? So I named off a couple of movies that Rufus Sewell has been in, and then I turned to him and said "haven't you ever seen Dark City?" To my surprise he told me no, and ask me what it was about. I paused for a long time as I thought about how to describe Dark City...

And it got me thinking about what a great movie this is. So original, so visually arresting, and such a riveting mystery at it's core. I looked it up and apparently there's a short film that ties in to the Dark City universe called Mask of the Evil Apparition and there's talk of a Dark City series. I hope so, there's so much you could do with that!

Are you a fan of Dark City, or some other strange and original sci fi universe you wish there were more of? My other entry to this category is The Lost Room, which I felt deserved so much more exploration.

 

[Timelord79 (he/him)]

Dark City is a pretty great and unique movie.
It‘s been ages since I saw it and it probably suffers a bit from dated special effects.
Those were still early CGI days.

i could imagine a 10 episode series with modern Production values could do a lot with the material.

 

[galleywest]

Dark City is a pretty great and unique movie.
It‘s been ages since I saw it and it probably suffers a bit from dated special effects.
Those were still early CGI days.

i could imagine a 10 episode series with modern Production values could do a lot with the material.

Good point--I'd love to see what they could do with it now!

 

[DarrenTR1970]

Fun fact, the first Matrix reused a lot of the sets from Dark City.
Also, watch the Director's cut of the movie. It removes the opening narration, adds a deleted subplot and fixes some of the FX.

 

[The Lensman]

Dark City is one of my all time favorite movies. And yes, never watch the theatrical version. Directors Cut has removed the opening narration (which spoils part of the mystery), the color is much better, and the tuning FX are much better and feel a little more "weighty".

Not sure how I would feel about a series. The movie has a pretty definite ending.

Another fave of mine from this time period:

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[Christopher]

Fun fact, the first Matrix reused a lot of the sets from Dark City.

I was going to say, if you needed to describe Dark City to someone, you could say that if they know The Matrix, Dark City did it first. I guess that's more literally true than I thought.

Also, watch the Director's cut of the movie. It removes the opening narration, adds a deleted subplot and fixes some of the FX.

Yes, definitely. The opening narration in the theatrical cut badly hurts the film by giving away far too much that should be mysterious. The Director's Cut is enormously better.

 

[galleywest]

I was going to say, if you needed to describe Dark City to someone, you could say that if they know The Matrix, Dark City did it first. I guess that's more literally true than I thought.




Yes, definitely. The opening narration in the theatrical cut badly hurts the film by giving away far too much that should be mysterious. The Director's Cut is enormously better.

I never knew that about The Matrix! Although it makes sense.

I don't think I've ever seen the Director's Cut. I saw it in the theater and have seen that version a few times. This is great, it'll be like seeing it in s whole new light! I'm excited.

 

[DarrenTR1970]

Yeah, once you watch the Director's Cut with the commentary by Roger Ebert and Alex Proyas and the special features and they start pointing out which sets were reused/redressed in The Matrix (because both movies were filmed in Australia) it's hard not miss. Also, just listening to the commentary by Roger Ebert is entertaining and informative.

 

[arch101]

Just watched City of Lost Children and Delicatessen again recently. I don't think they both take place in the same world but the worlds they are set in are really intriguing and make you want to see more.

 

[DarrenTR1970]

@galleywassail

ALPHAVILLE Trailer - YouTube

Another movie that I thought of that you and your husband might enjoy is 'Alphaville' by Jean-Luc Godard and

World on a Wire - U.S. Trailer (Rainer Werner Fassbinder, West Germany 1973) - YouTube

Both are 'Matrix/'Dark City'-type movies that I've watched through my local library's DVD collection.

 

[Steve Roby]

I was just thinking about Alphaville. And then there's Last Year at Marienbad, which is set entirely in a European resort hotel. It's not necessarily SF, though it's reportedly loosely inspired by an SF novel, and it's definitely a strange (if very slow-moving and unexplained) and atmospheric movie.

The Guy Maddin movies I've seen so far, like The Saddest Music in the World, Brand Upon the Brain, and The Forbidden Room, are strange and visually arresting. Like Marienbad, you may never be sure what's actually happening, but it's an experience.Continuing the art film thing, Wong Kar Wai's movies are also very visual, and 2060 has some SF elements.

 

[theenglish]

Anybody know if this is streaming anywhere?

 

[Steve Roby]

No idea. I bought the DVD.

 

[Mr. Adventure]

Anybody know if this is streaming anywhere?

https://www.justwatch.com/ is useful here. In the US it’s only available for purchase.

 

[galleywest]

I looked up Last Year at Marienbad and it sounds a little like a couple of Henry James stories, including A Great Good Place. I enjoy atmospheric worlds like this, so this might be one to check out.

The Shining always comes to mind as a strange, beautiful setting that feels almost like another character in the film.

 

[Turd Ferguson]

I LOVE Dark City. I don't want to sound like a hipster, but I watched and loved this movie before The Matrix even came out

Excellent direction by Alex Proyas, a weird (in a good way) performance by Kiefer Sutherland, and the Strangers are creepy as fuck.

Also, one hell of an awesome song on the soundtrack, Sleep Now by Hughes Hall.

 

[theenglish]

I looked up Last Year at Marienbad and it sounds a little like a couple of Henry James stories, including A Great Good Place. I enjoy atmospheric worlds like this, so this might be one to check out.

The Shining always comes to mind as a strange, beautiful setting that feels almost like another character in the film.

I'm one of the few people I know who doesn't like that film. I read the novel when I was fourteen because I wanted to watch the movie--and even then I realized how much the movie missed the entire purpose and themes of the novel. The novel being the story of an alcoholic whose father was an alcoholic--and whose addiction allows the ghost of the hotel to reach him. Jack Torrence is a nobody--but the movie implies there is a connection between Jack and the origins of the hotel which is never in the novel. Also, there is no topiary nor mallets in the movie.

 

[publiusr]

I wonder what happened with the model. I might cut off the lower section for an underwater city, and put a dome on the top portion for it to be a city ship.

I rather liked 2004’s IMMORTAL and “Planetary Traveller.”

 

[Steve Roby]

I looked up Last Year at Marienbad and it sounds a little like a couple of Henry James stories, including A Great Good Place. I enjoy atmospheric worlds like this, so this might be one to check out.

The Shining always comes to mind as a strange, beautiful setting that feels almost like another character in the film.

Google "Last Year at the Overlook." It's a short video mashup of the two movies. Also, Blur's music video for "To the End" does for Marienbad what their video for "The Universal" does for Kubrick. I'd heard of Last Year at Marienbad ages ago, maybe in Starlog, but it was after hearing an interview with one of my favourite musicians, John Foxx, talking about it, that I figured I had to see it. I've watched it several times over the last few years.

I'm one of the few people I know who doesn't like that film. I read the novel when I was fourteen because I wanted to watch the movie--and even then I realized how much the movie missed the entire purpose and themes of the novel. The novel being the story of an alcoholic whose father was an alcoholic--and whose addiction allows the ghost of the hotel to reach him. Jack Torrence is a nobody--but the movie implies there is a connection between Jack and the origins of the hotel which is never in the novel. Also, there is no topiary nor mallets in the movie.

It was my understanding that a lot of Stephen King fans don't like Kubrick's The Shining, and King himself doesn't. But he managed to get a very faithful version of the book done as a TV miniseries, which is the only way to try to do a book that long without dropping and changing a lot, and it was faithful and utterly unmemorable. The Shining is my favourite Stephen King novel and I like the Kubrick movie for different reasons. I have no interest in seeing the miniseries again.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

I rather liked 2004’s IMMORTAL and “Planetary Traveller.”

By Planetary Treveler, do you mean this?

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