Via Drawn! I checked out this neat, brand new comic by Danny Zabal called Journey in the 6th Dimension. There’s only 3 pages up right now, but man are they beautiful! The story looks interesting, too. Danny was also nice enough to write up a quick review of Marooned and had nice things to say.
Go check out the comic, you won’t be sorry. I’ve definitely added it to my reading list.
I’m not a person who buys very many DVDs. I figure if I want to see a movie, I can rent it. I only buy the stuff I truly love and will want to revisit. Dark City is definitely in that category. Dark City is directed by Alex Proyas who also did the The Crow and I, Robot.
It’s hard to know where to start with this movie. I love stories that deal with the distortion of time, and that is a central concept in the movie. I also love movies that deal with fish out of water scenarios, and there is that element here too. And possibly one of my all time favorite plot themes - the person who has no idea who they are. (A great book along those lines is the Chronicles of Amber
This movie starts out with a bang and doesn’t stop until the end, and it has a great cast to boot. Roger Ebert actually picked it as his movie of the year in 1998. We start out with John Murdoch lying in a dirty bath in a dark room. He gets out, wipes off a small spot of blood on his head and gets dressed. Murdoch is played by Rufus Sewell who does a wonderful job - the guy has serious acting chops if you look him up.
And there’s a dead woman in his room, and he has no memory of who she is or how he got there.
He flees out into a dark world - a dark city that is. And we find it odd that it never seems to be daytime. We’re introduced to a inspector who is not only trying to solve this murder - but many like it - played by none other than William Hurt. He doesn’t seem to be all that happy of a guy - in fact, nobody does.
Meanwhile Murdoch searches for his identity based on clues he found in his clothes and suitcase. He finds out he was married and recently divorced, to Emma Murdoch. Emma is played wonderfully by Jennifer Connelly - need I say more? She has been to a doctor/psychiatrist played by Keifer Sutherland - one of his great sleeper roles. 
The Doctor turns out to be a central figure in the film. He has something quite important to do with the ways things are in the city. John Murdoch finds out he has a strange ability when he recovers his wallet, but even more strangely he is walking the streets and the whole city… shuts down. Cars stop, people slump.. and the city changes. What is going on?
That’s what the journey is all about. I can’t really say much more without ruining things. The writing is incredible and the journeys the characters make during their discovery of what is really going on is quite amazing. We follow our four main characters, John Murdoch, Emma Murdoch, The Doctor and Inspector Bumstead as they struggle to find out the true nature of the world in which they are living. As we follow them they transition from lifeless silhouettes of human beings to troubled characters desiring to break out of a dark and dire existence.
Visually the movie is amazing. Certainly dark, and with its share of effects but not the type of glitzy over the top effects you’d see in a big budget movie, but rather effects that fit the mood of the piece. They aren’t cheesy effects, but they are visual befitting of the mood. Everything from the colors and the lighting supports the themes of the film.
There’s also a wonderful commentary track to listen to which, if you’re into that sort of thing is quite amazing and I learned quite a bit from listening to it. In fact, it’s on my list to do again. Nothing like learning from the best.
So if you’re looking for a movie to watch - and this one is definitely sci-fi - pick up or rent a copy of Dark City - you won’t be sorry.
Over the weekend I had the pleasure of taking my family to see the movie City of Ember. Neither I nor my kids had read the books so we didn’t know what to expect. All I knew was that the previews looked really interesting.
The story involves a post-apocalyptic scenario (of which the specifics we know nothing of) where an underground city is built to save the remnant of humanity. The city was built to last only 200 years by the “builders,” at which time the inhabitants would hopefully return to the surface. They only hoped that 200 years would be enough time to render the surface safe.
The builders convey a cryptic metal case to the first mayor with instructions on how to return, which is passed on from mayor to mayor until it is lost. When the 200 years are up, Ember is falling apart, and there seems to be little anyone can do about it.
The main story revolves around two young kids who work to solve the riddles of the case to finally find a way out back to the surface. Along the way they must fight a decaying city, rules against leaving and other things which I won’t say lest I spoil things.
This is the kind of story I really love. Post-apocalyptic is always fun and interesting, and lends itself to mystery and a sense of sadness (after all the world was destroyed). You have the remnant in trouble of dying for good, but there’s the heroes who have a chance to save it all. Then you have the lush environment of this underground city with all its interesting pieces of technology and humanity.
Best of all, the movie didn’t succumb to typical Hollywood tricks. It seems to have stayed fairly true to the books (although I won’t know until we read them.) It stayed interesting through the whole movie and it was hard to predict what would happen. Even if things seemed to tidy up nicely at the end, it was still all very interesting and fun.
The way the created the city and the characters was wonderful. The costumes, the environment, the lighting - it all works wonderfully and lets you seep in to the feeling of really being there and feeling the plight of the Emberites. It’s the type of movie that really gets my own creative juices flowing because it’s so fun.
I highly recommend you take this movie in - especially if you have kids - it’s perfect for them.
