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Real Men Love Dark City

doubleviking.com — Today, we celebrate the often overlooked sci-fi noir epic that grossed about 14 million dollars domestically, while the extremely similar The Matrix managed over 171 million a year later. Hey, nothing against Neo and gang, but Real Men like to go against the grain a little bit. Real Men like to dig for the underrated masterpiece.

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  • sUGArDawg, on 10/10/2007, -25/+7How does a story with zero comments become popular and hit the front page??
    • ZenMojo, on 10/10/2007, -2/+24"Dark City" is in the title. Better recognize.
      • GawtMilk, on 10/10/2007, -2/+1I don't know...I saw it and it was alright, but nothing special. It was a cinematographic masterpiece, but other than that it was so-so. The action and plot took a long time to develop, people lost interest. I have absolutely no respect for The Matrix: Reloaded / Rehashed / Revolution, but the first one WAS excellent.

        Dark City : 7 / 10
        Matrix : 9 / 10
    • hmunkey, on 10/10/2007, -2/+2Some people cheat.
    • Elranzer, on 10/10/2007, -0/+2The article is full of spoilers. Also, the list is missing two important non-spolier points of interest...

      - Richard O'brien plays the main villain (though not head villain)
      - Not only was the movie definitely "inspiration" for The Matrix, but Warner Bros only allowed funding of the film if they could use the city movie set for The Matrix. I imagine that Warner Bros believed that The Matrix's crowd would not recognize it from Dark City.

      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dark_City_%281998_film%29
      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_O%27Brien
  • Suchmann, on 10/10/2007, -2/+51Poor, poor Mr. Quick.
    • MemeWarrior, on 10/10/2007, -0/+7No more Mr. Quick! Mr. Quick dead...
  • schizogony, on 10/10/2007, -2/+26I actually just blind bought this DVD a few weeks ago after hearing so many good things about it. I think I might as well watch it now out of fear of not being considered a REAL man.
    • norman619, on 10/10/2007, -0/+4BREAK YOURSELF!!!
    • phazon88, on 10/10/2007, -1/+0It's a great movie. I've onl watched it once, but I downloaded it a while ago and have yet to watch it again yet.
  • lrf2005, on 10/10/2007, -7/+2Great movie. And @sUGArDawg, great s/n.
  • reeder, on 10/10/2007, -2/+15Because the movie is awesome and weird as hell.
    • norman619, on 10/10/2007, -1/+5But it can't hold a candle to the weirdness of that scifi show Lexx.
  • RetlawST, on 10/10/2007, -3/+24When I first watched The Matrix, I was like, "I've seen this before..."
    • Bara, on 10/10/2007, -0/+18Was it a glitch?
    • norman619, on 10/10/2007, -0/+13That was just a glitch in the matrix. Ignore it.
    • Lynxpro, on 10/10/2007, -1/+3
      Just imagine how David Goyer (writer of "Dark City", the "Blade" trilogy, "Batman Begins", etc.) felt when he first saw the flick. He probably said "I wrote this already." Adding further insult to injury is that "Blade" had bullet-time before "The Matrix" did but most people mistakenly believe that "The Matrix" invented it. Granted, that Mountain Dew commercial actually had it before either flick. Regardless, "The Matrix" stole the jumping special effects from "Blade".
      • anonym41414, on 10/10/2007, -0/+7Are we seriously going to talk about who had the so-called "bullet time" effect first? As far as I know, the technique was invented by a British special effects house in 1994 for use in a television commercial that aired in the UK. They set up a bunch of 35mm still cameras all along a track and fired the shutters at one time, then scanned the film and sequenced the frames to create a simulated freeze-frame camera move.

        Of course, the basic idea goes back to Muybridge, but he used it very differently, in lieu of motion-picture film.
        • GawtMilk, on 10/10/2007, -0/+3This whole "invented vs. popularized" debate again. Everyone knows that it's the people who refine and perfect the technology who get the credit. It makes sense: while they Matrix wasn't the first movie to do "bullet time", it was the first movie that gave you chills when the effect was used.
      • etruscan, on 10/10/2007, -5/+4I'm a big fan of Dark City, but I honestly feel that the Matrix (while it certainly did rip off some major plot elements of Dark City) was executed better... with more style and swagger. Dark City had a great feel to it, and a great story, and it also had one of Keifer Sutherland's most annoying characters to date.
        • etruscan, on 10/10/2007, -2/+3Don't mod me down, you bastards! You know, as well as I do - that despite Keifer's cool, his heavy and repeated nose breathing in Dark City was irritating as hell.
          • nato64, on 10/10/2007, -1/+2I'm with you.

            We watched this movie in my Directing I (I'm in film school) class and was very underwhelmed. Possibly because I expected it to be really good, my professor loves the movie. Comparing it to the Matrix is futile in my opinion. They actually shared set pieces because of budgets and the fact that they were made at the same time. While the german noir cinematography was amazing, the ending blew and was so predictable. It got so cheesy with the guy moving his head forward and doing *****. At that moment of you movie you should be saying in your head, "Hell ya!" not "Okay, that looks kind stupid."

            The Matrix has Dark City beat on story, execution, action, and music. When it comes to style and the ability to be discussed as an art film, Dark City has The Matrix beat.
          • Chicken2nite, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1Well, I would contend that there was one aspect to The Matrix that gives it the edge more than anything else, that being the reveal. If they had started the movie with a big expository speech from Morpheus about what the matrix is and how there was a big war way back when, it would've killed it and stolen whatever thunder just like in Dark City where they tear down the brick wall. My guess is that it was forced down Alex Proyas' throat by the studio, perhaps similar to the voice-over narration in Blade Runner. Then again, I might be reading too much into it and it was Goyer who ***** it up all by himself.
    • Quijibow, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1I understand the subway sets in this movie were also used in the Matrix.
  • hollismb, on 10/10/2007, -0/+20If you've never seen it, I highly recommend you do, but skip the intro voiceover by Kiefer Sutherland prior to the title, (probably chapter one of the DVD if I'm not mistaken). It explains too much (not unlike the end text of Unbreakable), and the first time I saw it I thought the movie was more awesome because I was confused as hell, just like the main character.
    • SquigglyP, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1Little known factoid thing (or widely spread obscure rumor... i dunno...) was that this flick and Blade Runner had a lot in common as far as what the execs ended up doing with it. Because the director had previously made The Crow, they used a test audience full of teenagers and young people, and the overall impression was that they didn't like the slowish pace and didn't 'get' the movie, liked the effects and creepiness, etc. The studio then added the bits of narration to explain what was going on (so people would get it) and re cut it (and i think they even shot a couple new sequences, but i;m not certain on that one) so it was more 'exciting', screened it again and the audience thought it was boring and predictable. So they released a version that was somewhere in between. It's unfortunate that so many films get tampered with by people who really don't know teh slightest thing about how to make a movie. You'd think, after The Crow had been such a success, that you'd let the guy just make his movie. Alas, Hollywood is full of meddling douche bags.
      • nato64, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1I goto film school in SoCal, working to be an editor (maybe director someday). I have already worked as an assistant editor on 3 films, 1 of them feature-length. No, they're not "Hollywood" cuz we're indie filmmakers for now. But I think the best art comes out of compromise between artists and their distributors. The editor I work for and I have to argue constantly with the director saying, "You can't do that, the audience will not understand why the character is doing that." To her (the director), it's "dumbing down" the movie. And to her, it is. She wrote it. But to the audience? It's a constant battle between showing art and spoon-feeding the audience. The TV Shows LOST and Heros have to deal with this constantly.

        No, not all things changed by 'Hollywood' turn out good. But in many cases when you give an artist full freedom it turns out as something only he/she understands. Have you ever seen the directors cut of Blade Runner? Well, the directors cut was the first version I saw without knowing it had a theatrical cut. There were no voice overs. No exposition or explanation. Minutes and minutes of no dialogue. I almost hated it. And as a film student, I love interpreting and digesting movies that are hard to understand! Now I'm sure that whoever sees the original then the directors cut would love the directors cut more. But not the other way around because I almost had no clue what was going on or had any contexts to scenes.

        Yes, 'Hollywood' does some horrible things in the process of commercializing art. But lumping tons and tons of production houses and producers into one bag called "Hollywood" and labeling them as all "douche bags" is ignorant. And I'm a student that's supposed to hate the system, which I do to a degree. But there's a lot of evidence to support that what the production companies do to change a film from the director's cut isn't a bad idea. We, as moviegoers, rarely ever see that side of the coin.
        • thedeevolution, on 10/10/2007, -1/+0Uh...no, I saw the Director's Cut first and I like it more. I like movies with little dialogue, seeing as how cinema is a VISUAL art form, more than one of the written word. I don't want to have every character's motivations spelled out for me. I don't have to know. You know why? Because that's what life is like. Japanese filmmakers and audiences understand this. Us Americans have to have lots and lots of explanation, lots of music and sound constantly happening. There's no room for long quiet shots, or any introspection or guessing or figuring out on the audience's part. Its all spelled out for the audience which I hate. Another good example is the British Office vs the American Office. I love the American one, but the British one is almost a beautiful piece of art, not just a hysterical show, because of how subtle it is. As a film student, learn to appreciate subtelty, and learn to let people make their own opinions about why things happen within your movie the way they do. when done well it leaves a much more lasting impression and it'll guarantee.
      • hollismb, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1I always assumed the voice-over was there because of test screenings and, you know, stupid people, so that's not surprising.
    • Huckleberry, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1I heard that they were going to remove the narration on the director's cut of the DVD, maybe that was just a rumor though, I cant remember where I heard it from.

      I never really paid that much attention to the opening narration until someone mentioned that it gives too much away... and now I am pissed because I listen to it, even though I have seen this movie about a dozen or so times.
  • ZenMojo, on 10/10/2007, -1/+12I watched "Dark City" with some friends of mine and warned them that the Matrix is pretty much just a rip-off. To this day they still mention Dark City and how great it was.
    • merreborn, on 10/10/2007, -0/+3There's one scene that's very reminiscent of "The Truman Show" as well. It seems pretty obvious that Dark City inspired both films, in part. Definitely worth seeing if you enjoyed both films.
  • cookdsc, on 10/10/2007, -1/+11Real men wear skirts
  • msiner, on 10/10/2007, -4/+22Dark City was good, but just felt incomplete. It just seemed to zoom by all of the details of the setting to finish the story and reach the happy ending. The Matrix explored the settings and history more, but still managed to pull of a story that could have a sequel that lead to the happy ending (or whatever that ending was), but did not need one (it especially didn't need the ones that it got). If you couldn't tell, I like "The Matrix", but was not too thrilled with Reloaded or Revolutions.
    • FearlessFreep, on 10/10/2007, -0/+4Watch the Director commentary; the director basically attributes some of the "now we're in an action movie" feel of the ending to budget/time constraints that kept the ending from going for the same spookiness of the rest of the movie. That and you got the feel that a lot was left unsaid for the sake of the lack of getting a solid bearing on what's around you
      • msiner, on 10/10/2007, -0/+2"a lot was left unsaid for the sake of the lack of getting a solid bearing on what's around you"

        I think that is a very good point. I generally like sci-fi for the "speculative fiction" aspect of it, so I like to see and hear about the settings more. That is part of what I enjoyed about The Matrix. It would be interesting to hear that commentary because the ending was a little out of character.
        I guess some like Dark City, some like The Matrix, and a few still stand by The Thirteenth Floor. All different views on existentialism and all very interesting.
      • JonnyTrombone, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1The ending always felt, to me, like it didn't really jive with the rest of the movie. Budget problems makes sense, I guess...
    • norman619, on 10/10/2007, -0/+4Anyone remember The 13th Floor or eXistenZ? They both came out a few months before the Martix did.
      • FearlessFreep, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1as I mentioned below, I saw all three (13th Floor, Dark City and Existenz) in a few weeks span
        • norman619, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1What did you think of them all?
          • diversionmary, on 10/10/2007, -0/+7I woke up in a bathtub on the thirteenth floor with a tooth shooting bone gun. I got a coffee and drove my car to the city's limit.
      • Lynxpro, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1
        "eXistenZ" gets extra credit for (briefly) having Christopher "Call Me 'Claude' from 'Heroes' But Don't Call Me 'Doctor Who'" Eccleston in it.

        • Chicken2nite, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1not to mention being directed by David "Videodrome/Scanners" Cronenberg.

          I just read on Wikipedia that he was going to direct Total Recall.

          "A different version of the film was eventually made by Paul Verhoeven. A fan of Philip K. Dick, the author of the short story ("We Can Remember it For You Wholesale") upon which Total Recall was based, Cronenberg related (in the biography/overview of his work, Cronenberg on Cronenberg) that his dissatisfaction with what he envisioned the film to be and what it ended up being pained him so greatly that for a time, he suffered a migrane just thinking about it, akin to a needle piercing his eye."
    • Lynxpro, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1

      Monica Bellucci makes any film good. Even "Reloaded". I'm still hoping Chris Nolan & Co. ultimately cast her in the role of Talia Al Ghul in the second sequel to "Batman Begins" if they do decide to bring back Ra's (pronounced "RAYYYYSH") Al Ghul. Even though she's in her 40s, she's spot on for the role, even more so than Rachel Weisz. Heck, Bellucci should be Wonder Woman.

      "Shoot 'Em Up" is a fun film, btw.
    • tyywebb, on 10/10/2007, -2/+1Robots > Aliens
  • jersey, on 10/10/2007, -38/+2It is in fact, a really good movie.


    Oh .... and it's just an island floating in space.
    • hollismb, on 10/10/2007, -0/+7You know why you had to get buried.
    • FearlessFreep, on 10/10/2007, -0/+8good movie but buried you for the spoiler
    • Lynxpro, on 10/10/2007, -0/+2
      Hey now, don't spoil "The Fountain" for us.
  • bollander, on 10/10/2007, -21/+3Dark City was an untterly forgettable film
    • Angostura, on 10/10/2007, -1/+4Apparently you've forgotten how good it is.

      Ian Richard alone is worth the entrance price.
    • Lynxpro, on 10/10/2007, -0/+3
      Untterly? Surely, Mr. President, you have more important things to accomplish than create new English words on Digg.
  • TKDEE, on 10/10/2007, -2/+7I've often thought this exact same thing many times over. I remember when the Matrix first came out I thought, "Man that was a lot like Dark City, but with more special effects, more action, but not as good plot wise." Dark City still remains the only movie I've bought on both VHS and DVD (because I never bought too many VHS movies).
  • Ninjao, on 10/10/2007, -0/+15First there was darkness, then came the strangers.
    • InfinitySnatch, on 10/10/2007, -0/+3Along with spoilers because moviegoers can't handle being confused.
  • CaughtThinking, on 10/10/2007, -2/+8Great movie, and definitely underrated. I remember being moved and somewhat horrified when I watched it. The Matrix definitely borrowed *alot* from it.
  • djtrypt, on 10/10/2007, -10/+6i dont really see how its comparable to matrix other then its in the same genre of movies. The plot and fundamentals to what the movie is about is completely different.

    dark city is about finding the limits to a seemly uncontrolled and random world. When all is removed you find that everything is priecisely controlled and manipulated (fate), and that there is a discrete limit to your universe(meaning it doesn't go on forever)

    matrix is about the evolution of the humans and computers. Where thousands of years in the future AI computers use humans to supply them with there demanding need for electricity. The fundamentals about the move are about man breaking free and liberating man from the a seemly omni powerful organization/group.

    there is one more more widely known movie that is also in this same genre, 13th floor.

    darkcity is a great movie to watch atleast once, i always thought the strangers in the movie would make some pretty good bad guys to fight in a videogame.
    • FearlessFreep, on 10/10/2007, -0/+6Dark City is more about who we are is in the sum of all our memories, which is I guess a way of saying do our events make us or does who we are drive how we react to events
      • norman619, on 10/10/2007, -0/+2We are fleshy biomechanical robots.
        • Lynxpro, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1

          Luminous beings, not this crude matter.
    • forddorr, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1You might want to check this out: http://galeon.hispavista.com/cinerama/actu2/matrixdarkcity.htm
      • ldkronos, on 10/10/2007, -0/+3You know, I saw that website long ago. It makes a pretty convincing comparison. Before then I had never seen dark city, and looking at the website I thought that seems more than coincidence. I then went and rented Dark City to compare, and I ended up thinking it was really nothing like the matrix.

        Did Dark City inpspire the wachowski brothers? It would seem that it did...or if not them, then the director or somebody. There is a remarkable similarity in the overall theme and the settings and other elements. Yet I thought the meat and potatoes of the movies were quite different.

        Comparing the 2 reminded me of that game they played on Whos Line Is It Anyway, where 2 actors would put on headphone and watch the other actors perform a skit. Then having only the visual clues, the other 2 actors would take off the headphones and act out the same movements they saw and put what story they thought could explain those movements. Kind of a "heres a broad roadmap, now fill in the blanks" type of thing.
    • jroll8481, on 10/10/2007, -1/+2You basically compared the symbolism of Dark City vs the storyline facts of The Matrix. If you line the two movies up properly you would see that they not only are similar but looking at the link from forddorr its pretty obvious that the whachowski ummm...."brothers" studied Dark City and basically improved on it.
      Both films dealt with the conflict of perception vs reality. making you question what surrounds you and expose how we as human beings are dependant on our brain to determine what is reality and manipulation of our brains can cause us to be completely taken advantage of. The Matrix had a bigger budget and better technology at the time that allowed it to develop a deeper story and paint and much more vivid picture. the plot of both movies were similar as well
      both had the human race taken over by a different species either organic or robotic that chose to manipulate our brains in order to achieve their own survival
      both had its hero character randomly thrown into a situation that he does not understand but turns out to be the key to the survival of his people.
      both exposed us to a world that we would think was our own but was later revealed to be a creation of the species that currently controls us.
      Now that ive written all of that, I begin to wonder, did you even watch these movies?
  • dramatools, on 10/10/2007, -0/+59Real men love Jennifer Connelly.
  • heepajunk, on 10/10/2007, -14/+11saw it, not that good.
    Just expressing my opinion here.
    • lanzemurdok, on 10/10/2007, -2/+5here let me fix your statement.

      "Saw it, i didn't t like it that much"
    • batman88, on 10/10/2007, -0/+3I agree. Saw it a few years ago (post-Matrix) and hardly remember it...
      I may give it another shot, but I doubt it.
    • InfinitySnatch, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1GB2 Matrix
    • hoovcluck, on 10/10/2007, -0/+2I thought the same thing, the acting was great and the story was excellent. But it just didn't do it for me.
  • Niteowl, on 10/10/2007, -14/+3Oh for ***** sake. Matrix has Carrie Moss's ass in tight vinyl, kung-fu, scary robot squids and ***** gatling guns on a goddamn helicopter.

    That's why the Matrix did a zillion dollars and only uppity OCD sci-fi 'afficionados' love Dark City. Not that Dark City isn't good, but there is a reason -- several, in fact -- that the Matrix is so popular.
    • norman619, on 10/10/2007, -1/+12Carrie Moss isn't all that hot....
      • SenorCardgage74, on 10/10/2007, -0/+6Looks like a dude that is also a horse.

        A horse dude
    • batman88, on 10/10/2007, -3/+1Amen to Carrie Moss's "piece" Brother Niteowl. The great debate will always be Trinity or Leia, who was hotter?
      • Veritate, on 10/10/2007, -0/+6That's not a great debate.
      • Lynxpro, on 10/10/2007, -1/+4
        Lynda Carter as Wonder Woman, ftw.
      • Dhalgren, on 10/10/2007, -0/+3Dude, you need to make sure you still have testicles... IMHO, best hot chick from geeky move: Leeloo (Milla Jovovich)
    • SenorCardgage74, on 10/10/2007, -0/+4I think you mean her "codpiece'

      Looks like a dood
  • FearlessFreep, on 10/10/2007, -2/+10Buried, because Dark City was an awesome movie but not something I would think fits into an inane doubleviking "Real Men Love" article (and my wife liked the movie)

    But great movie (watched it with two weeks of 13th Floor and Existenz and was really questioning reality that month :)
    • halavais, on 10/10/2007, -0/+2It's a good movie, but yeah--there was a string of them there. Might also put in la Cite des Enfantes Perdus, just for fun. It can replace the rather disappointing 13th floor.
      • FearlessFreep, on 10/10/2007, -0/+2ah...haven't seen that one but I think it's in my Netflix queue. If not...it will be by tonight. Thanks
    • norman619, on 10/10/2007, -0/+2Same here I think I will bump that one to the top of my Netflix que as well. thanks
  • CompIsMyRx, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1I love the memory lane/Tuning training montage. That was hilarious.
    • InfinitySnatch, on 10/10/2007, -0/+3Remember John, never talk to Strangers.
  • Bokista, on 10/10/2007, -4/+5Four sentence review I wrote recently: "I can’t tell whether this was a good concept with poor execution or a poor concept with good execution. I think it was that its 90 minutes actually felt a little rushed for such a deep concept. The noir/sci-fi mix was very enjoyable even if other parts were flawed. Oh, and three years before he was Jack Bauer, Keifer Sutherland had a gun-pointed 'we don’t have much time' line."
    • Tourney3p0, on 10/10/2007, -0/+0Ouch. Don't worry. You'll probably get to do that review again next year.
  • garblefung, on 10/10/2007, -2/+10DC is a classic, right up there with Blade Runner.
    • Dhalgren, on 10/10/2007, -1/+3I don't get Blade Runner. I was born in 1980, so it was a bit before my prime movie watching days. I'm a geek, though. I love good scifi, hell I even enjoyed watching 2001. However, I thought that Blade Runner was boring as hell. Maybe it's just me, maybe I should give it another try. It just seemed to be paced rather horribly.
      • Stratochief66, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1I definitely liked Blade Runner, although likely for the wrong reasons. I liked seeing Admiral Adama as a young badass and also enjoyed the creepy similarities to the book it is based on.
    • hoovcluck, on 10/10/2007, -1/+1That's pushing it.
  • SublimeRuin, on 10/10/2007, -0/+4Amazing Flick. Died at the time under the pressure of The Crow....
    • Tourney3p0, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1Which is amazing, since Dark City came out 4 and a half years after the Crow.
      • RobotCitizen, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1That's just how good The Crow was!
        • SublimeRuin, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1Kudos for realising -
          A - The Crow was great
          B - Same group made Dark City
          C - Dark City was promoted as being made by the group that made The Crow and therefore had undue expectations of being a dark action movie, when in fact it was a wonderfully written Thriller/Mystery....
  • pryomoax, on 10/10/2007, -0/+2I'll always remember this movie and how awesome it was; I allowed a friend to borrow the DVD one day, who gave it out to one of his friends who later sold it. MF!
  • phamtasm, on 10/10/2007, -0/+4It was always been one of my favorites. A good movie that wasn't overshadowed by any particular actor. Matrix was good, but Dark City was great. That said, you may want to watch the movie with the beginning narration muted...
  • devin_mm, on 10/10/2007, -1/+19Real men don't need to know what "Real men" love.
  • LordSkywalker, on 10/10/2007, -2/+3I really like Dark City, but I definitely like the first Matrix movie better.
  • andyn8484, on 10/10/2007, -5/+7I fell asleep during this movie. Is that bad?
    • dvdrtrgn, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1I tried watching this movie twice.
    • Fenchurch72, on 10/10/2007, -0/+0Try again, its a bit to follow in the beginning but worth the pay off.
    • vh1`, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1slightly ironic
      or maybe we missed the funny
  • rhino369, on 10/10/2007, -3/+3Dark City was ok, but the Matrix was an amazing movie. It had crazy action, decent acting, and a great mysterious plot. The sequels not so much.
    • Lynxpro, on 10/10/2007, -0/+2
      You consider Keanu's acting "decent"?

      The whole concept of "The Matrix" came from "The Deadly Assassin" storyline in Doctor Who way back in 1976. Check it out on Wikipedia and then you'll re-think that whole assertion of "a great mysterious plot".
  • dracostimpy, on 10/10/2007, -0/+4Have they done a "Real Men Love 'Repo Man'" yet? If not, get on it PRONTO, DoubleViking dudes!
    • Midvicious, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1A Repo Man's life is always intense.
  • Anth, on 10/10/2007, -1/+6I worked at the movie theater when Dark City came out and some of the other people who worked there went to that movie and were like "apparently you have to be smart to understand that movie". Remember that the next time you go to a movie theater and wonder about the people working there.
    • Toshibi, on 10/10/2007, -0/+2Heh, when I was working at a movie theater I worked with a School Teacher, a Vietnam Vet who was in college for Law, a guy with a Degree in Computer Science, another guy that was getting his Degree in Philosophy, and I was about to start college to major in Physics. The pay sucked but we all loved the free movies, the hours, and the fact we could all sit around while the movies were running and ***** each other.
    • MemeWarrior, on 10/10/2007, -0/+2That's funny, because I was an assistant manager at a movie theater when this movie came out and myself and several other co-workers loved it. I still have the one-sheet poster framed and hanging in my apartment. I also still have the promotional t-shirt I got when the movie came out that is now well loved and quite faded. Every once in a while I wear the shirt and random strangers (not the aliens mind you) stop me to tell me how much they loved that movie. I really think this film has a rather devoted underground cult following.
  • InfinitySnatch, on 10/10/2007, -0/+3My favorite movie ever for some reason. I love how the Strangers talk, the funky mind rays, the freaky Stranger kid (Mr. Sleep: "KIIIIILL him!"), and the sets just drip with style. Saw it a year ago but just now realized that Dr. Schreber and Jack Bauer are the same dude.

    And of course the obligatory 'Matrix stole everything from Dark City (including the ***** set)'.

    • Lynxpro, on 10/10/2007, -0/+2
      And what "The Matrix" didn't steal from "Dark City", it stole from "Doctor Who - The Deadly Assassin". Feel free to look that up on Wikipedia.
  • JasonHears, on 10/10/2007, -0/+2Love this movie! bought it twice actually...and learned not to let friends borrow great movies!!
    • Fenchurch72, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1I've owned three copies of it and I currently have none. I also have lost my copy of Children of Men, Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy and Fifth Element (2 time). Damnit.
    • Lynxpro, on 10/10/2007, -1/+1
      ...or use a program like Delicious Monster (on the Mac) to keep track of your movie collection, who you loan the discs to, and when they are to return them.

      Unfortunately, the program won't save those discs from your friends scratching them carelessly. Of course, with Blu-ray discs, they have an extra scratch resistant coating to them, unlike DVD (or HD DVD).

      Due to Universal's HD DVD exclusivity, "Children of Men" is only on HD DVD, but Blu-ray has both "The Fifth Element" and "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" (film version, not the BBC television miniseries) available for purchase. Just remember to purchase the remastered version (it has a different UPC) of "The Fifth Element" since Sony cleaned it up and reissued it using the AVC codec unlike the original release which was encoded in MPEG-2 and was rather grainy. If you find a used copy of the original Blu-ray release, you can send it to Sony and they'll replace it with the remastered version for free. Check for details online...
  • kermithefrogand, on 10/10/2007, -4/+1"real men"
    digg is gay
  • InfinitySnatch, on 10/10/2007, -0/+2I NEED this on Blu-Ray like yesterday. Or does the studio behind it support HD? Because I would buy a HD-DVD player for this movie. At least give us a Director's cut DVD, or something, PLEASE. Something with the spoilers cut out of the first scene.
    • Lynxpro, on 10/10/2007, -1/+1

      New Line is the studio behind the film. New Line, like its sister company Warner Bros. Pictures, professes itself to be format neutral, even though "The Matrix" and "Batman Begins" are still only available on HD DVD and not Blu-ray as-of-yet. Feel free to write a letter to the people at New Line requesting that they release "Dark City" on Blu-ray, and when you do, ask them to encode it using the MPEG-4 AVC (H.264) codec instead of Microsoft's VC-1 codec which Warner seems to have full-on-robot-chubby over. Even at the same bit rate, AVC is better than VC-1, and with the higher transfer bandwidth available to Blu-ray, it should be an even better picture if Warner/New Line/etc. were interested in making the best version for consumer purchase. I'm particularly cheesed off that the upcoming "Blade Runner" release on Blu-ray (from Warner) will probably be the same exact VC-1 encoding found on the HD DVD release, perhaps with uncompressed/lossless audio to appease the audophile segment of us Blu-ray owners.
  • maexus, on 10/10/2007, -0/+2I could have swore this has hit the front page before...
  • 22justin, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1When this movie came out, I always thought it was based on the mac game 'Dark Seed'...
  • HappyScrappy, on 10/10/2007, -3/+3I don't freakin' digg stuff because people say I'm a real man for not doing so.

    I liked Dark City. Kroyas' work isn't as much like the Matrix as you might like to make out. The part that put the Matrix over the top was the effects, like the shooting scene by the elevators, and Dark City had none of that.
    • MemeWarrior, on 10/10/2007, -0/+2Yet you fail at being a real man for not getting the director's name right. Proyas, the director's name is Alex PROYAS!
    • Lynxpro, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1
      Alex Proyas.
  • THX8612, on 10/10/2007, -0/+6"When the Rumba rythmn start to play,
    Dance with me, make me sway
    Like a lazy ocean hugs the shore
    Hold me close, sway me more

    Like a flower bending in the breeze
    Bend with me, sway with ease
    When we dance you have a way with me
    Stay with me, sway with me"
    • jmchez, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1Oh darn! I didn't see that you had the song here before I quoted (or tried to ) the first line on a post above.

      It wasn't Jennifer's voice, but she did a really sexy lip synch.
  • cmdrNacho, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1I tried looking for this movie on IMDB to get a plot summary, but it doesn't appear to be on there. Can someone provide link
  • CornStarch, on 10/10/2007, -1/+2Good movie, stupid article.
  • adolfojp, on 10/10/2007, -0/+9I've seen it many times but I still can't manage to find Shell Beach.
    • InfinitySnatch, on 10/10/2007, -0/+6You're kidding! Me and the Mrs. spent our honeymoon there. All you gotta do is take Main Street West to... or is it the Cross... You know, that's funny, I can't remember if it's Main Street West or the Crosstown.
    • FearlessFreep, on 10/10/2007, -0/+3You take the cross town express...or is it the...
    • carandol, on 10/10/2007, -0/+3Last time I tried, the train didn't even stop. Can you believe that?
  • bicyclethief, on 10/10/2007, -4/+3People who starts an article title with Real Men... are gay.
  • dwright99, on 10/10/2007, -7/+3It was "Cuning" not Tuning.
    I have and like this movie, but come on, what's with all the real men crap on all these lists?
  • Dev1ous, on 10/10/2007, -0/+0Makes me want to go rent it and check it out.
  • dagnabbit, on 10/10/2007, -0/+4No time off for good behavior.
  • lordTalus, on 10/10/2007, -0/+0If by almost exactly the same you mean they are both movies...then yes they are exactly the same.
  • PresRob, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1The problem I see with the article (aside from the qualifying "Real Men...") is the review leaves out an excellent performance by Richard O'Brien, the handyman from Rocky Horror, as Mr. Quick. With John Hurt and Rufus Sewell, this is a sublime film. The singing by Jennifer Connelly sets the tone very well and Kiefer Sutherland is surprisingly believable as the crippled doctor.
    • jmchez, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1That's not Jennifer Connelly singing. She's lip synching. Look up the soundtrack on Amazon.com
    • SenorCardgage74, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1Mr. Riff Raff Cosmo McKinley Quick FTW
  • industrealis, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1Hell yes it's a good movie, and thank you Digg for reminding me. I'll be watching it tonight in celebration.
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