Science Fiction ~ Books, TV, Movie & General Comment~Content

[Foxfyre]

Partly a place to review the books, TV shows and films dealing with Science Fiction. Also a place do comment on the writers of such, and maybe film producers and directors.

I'm old school science fiction in both movies and literature. I'm a devout Trekkie and one who would have loved to be on the Enterprise as it sought out new civilizations. If it is going to be weird though, I want fun and intelligent weird as you find in the original Star Wars trilogy.

I love old sci-fi just as the original "War of the Worlds" and "The Day the Earth Stood Still."

And though I thought Spielberg could have done a better job of editing, I enjoyed "Close Encounters of the Third Kind" and "Starman" has become a true classic. "Armageddon" as a dark comedy classic also could have used a lot better editing but still deserves a place in my sci-fi movie collection. As do the Matrix movies which have so much real feel it bothers us in a way.

I want sci-fi that has just enough possibility of reality to make us think, wonder, want to know more, etc.

 

[Stryder50]

The Matrix came out 25 years ago. Couldn't have beaten it by much.

And your post has me noticing that link no longer works.
So ...

Dark City Was The Matrix’s Brooding Existential Cousin​

25 Years Ago, a Criminally Underrated Sci-Fi Movie Beat 'The Matrix' to the Punch

The brooding existential cousin to its more popular rival, Alex Proyas' thriller is still impressive and unsettling.

www.inverse.com

 

[Foxfyre]

And your post has me noticing that link no longer works.
So ...

Dark City Was The Matrix’s Brooding Existential Cousin​

25 Years Ago, a Criminally Underrated Sci-Fi Movie Beat 'The Matrix' to the Punch

The brooding existential cousin to its more popular rival, Alex Proyas' thriller is still impressive and unsettling.

www.inverse.com

Interesting. Don't know that I ever heard of "Dark City."

 

[Stryder50]

Interesting. Don't know that I ever heard of "Dark City."

Yeah, I'd almost forgotten about it, but this article has me wanting to get the DVD and view again. Some excerpts;
...
Much of the praise showered on The Matrix in 1999 was directed at Hugo Weaving. His memorably villainous Agent Smith could be anywhere at any time, and fittingly, few could escape the stranglehold The Matrix took on pop culture. The references, rip-offs, outfits, and moral scares were everywhere, although by the time Shrek and Scary Movie parodied it, we were all wishing they weren’t.

Dark City, despite being declared Roger Ebert’s best film of 1998, didn’t enjoy relentless meme-ification. It didn’t enjoy much of anything, really, beyond a smattering of second-tier awards and a poor box office return. Most reviewers weren’t as enthusiastic as Ebert, who said the film excited him in the way A Space Odyssey and Metropolis had, but no one was too harsh either. And everyone could agree that the production design was stunning.
...
But while The Matrix was influenced by anime and Hong Kong martial arts, Dark City is pure noir. Rufus Sewell’s John Murdoch wakes up in a grimy hotel to a dead dame, a mysterious postcard from Shell Beach, a bad case of forgetfulness, and a phone call telling him to move his ass (yet another thing The Matrix ripped off). He does, but not before taking a moment to aid a floundering goldfish, inadvertently convincing William Hurt’s laconic Inspector Bumstead that he’s not dealing with an ordinary villain. Throw in Kiefer Sutherland’s creepy doctor and a crooning Jennifer Connelly, and you have all the ingredients for a modern Raymond Chandler pastiche.

But there’s a sci-fi twist, one so big it’s difficult to discuss Dark City without spoiling it. New Line Cinema worried it would be difficult to watch without spoiling it, and forced the inclusion of an introductory Sutherland voiceover that amounted to, “Hey, you dunderheaded popcorn munchers, the ‘Rosebud’ we’re going to keep mentioning? It’s that Kane guy’s childhood sled.” The director’s cut mercifully drops this imposition, and suffice to say that, when Murdoch witnesses the entire city fall asleep at midnight before pale weirdos in trench coats emerge to shuffle people around and reshape buildings with their minds, a murder rap suddenly becomes the least of his concerns.
...
If The Matrix made you wonder if your life is a lie, Dark City makes you wonder if life, as you understand the very concept, is a lie. It’s weirder, colder, more unsettling, the grumpy existential cousin to Neo’s simple fable. Having the true nature of reality revealed to you may answer some of your questions, but it also raises more. Some of those questions may never be answered, but you just have to keep pushing forward anyway. You can argue that The Matrix executed its ideas better, but it’s Dark City that sits with you at night.
...

25 Years Ago, a Criminally Underrated Sci-Fi Movie Beat 'The Matrix' to the Punch

The brooding existential cousin to its more popular rival, Alex Proyas' thriller is still impressive and unsettling.

www.inverse.com