#66 - DARK CITY
1998; dir. Alex Proyas; starring Rufus Sewell, Jennifer Connelly, Kiefer Sutherland
This is a visually stunning film suffused with imagination and splendor and neato grimdark aesthetics. I absolutely understand why I fell in love with this in high school/college (let alone the romantic “Roger Ebert reclaiming the director’s cut” angle of it all; catnip to my budding cinephile tastes).
But, like, its actual content. It’s really cheesy, gang. Cheese obfuscated by self-seriousness and, frankly, obstinate storytelling choices. And it’s an obvious mishmash hodgepodge of superior genre influences. The kind of flick that makes me go, “Yeah, I wish I was watching these other flicks, too.”
So, while I appreciate its visual invention, and for how it developed my tastes as a youngster, for now, the choice is evident.
VERDICT: GOES AWAY
BONUS FEATURE: REDHEAD CUT
Sometimes my talented screenwriter wife Annabel Seymour watches these with me and offers her opinions in what we call the Redhead Cut. Here are her thoughts on Dark City:
“It’s very dark on the screen because it is a dark city. Would have been a bad choice for Quibi.”
#67 - THE DARK KNIGHT TRILOGY
2005-2012; dir. Christopher Nolan; starring Christian Bale, Michael Caine, Morgan Freeman
Aunty Donna, one of my favorite contemporary sketch teams, does a bit called “30-year-old straight white man,” in which he simply says, “The Dark Knight is a bwilliant fiwm. Five stars.” It’s effective satire, poking at the shallowness of film bro culture, a culture marked by certain masculine signifiers of cinematic quality that tend to revolve around violent genre pictures given an aura of “elevation” that they can use to propagate “superiority” and “exclusion.”
The thing about this satire, as funny and trenchant as it is, is that The Dark Knight is a bwilliant fiwm. And the other two films in this trilogy are pretty fuckin’ great, too.
It’s a consistently entertaining, oftentimes awe-inspiring menage of films, taking one of pop culture’s most beloved characters and surrounding him with an expansive cinema-scape full of grounded character beats and propulsive, gritty action set pieces. Its influence permeates to this day, for better (Planet of the Apes reboot trilogy) and for worse (DCEU). It’s funny, it’s thrilling, it’s emotional, it’s some of the best adaptations of one of my most favorite worlds.
And when it comes to shitty film bros who drone on and on about it: don’t hate the game, hate the player.
VERDICT: STAYS AND PLAYS
#68 - DAWN OF THE DEAD
2004; dir. Zack Snyder; starring Sarah Polley, Jake Weber, Ving Rhames
I don’t know of many filmmakers whose debut feature is their best feature - but Zack Snyder pretty clearly fits the bill.
His “edgy aughts” remake of George Romero’s “edgy ‘70s” classic is about the worst idea you can think of on paper - let’s give a slow-moving, iconic piece of satirical horror to a fast-paced commercial director bro. And yet - this movie rips, shreds, and gets its satirical rocks off to boot.
The flick is relentlessly paced with subtly inventive sequences and set pieces submerged in intention - its prologue is masterful, its opening credits terrifying, its “stuck in the mall” beats alternating between humor, horror, and heart. You watch this picture and you see an assured filmmaker doing everything absolutely correct. A throat-crunchingly entertaining romp that stands the test of time.
But now: a brief complaint. I own the Shout Factory’s handsome collector’s edition blu-ray. But when they announced a 4K upgrade, I was like “hell yeah, of course I’ll buy that shit.” But… the 4K upgrade only has the director’s cut in 4K! The theatrical cut remains in plain ol’ 1080p - despite the fact that the director’s cut materials aren’t up to the same transfer standards because of source issues! So why not include the theatrical cut (which I subjectively deem superior) in 4K? Just take out the stuff that’s already non-native! Ahhh!
Oh well. Less money to spend, I guess.
VERDICT: STAYS AND PLAYS
#69 - DAWN OF THE PLANET OF THE APES
2014; dir. Matt Reeves; starring Andy Serkis, Jason Clarke, Keri Russell
Speaking (quite directly) of post-Dark Knight cinema - how about another “second chapter pop culture adaptation blockbuster masterpiece”?!
Dawn of the Planet of the Apes is a straight-up sad movie. It’s aching, emotionally volatile, raw as hell while having a foundationally solid screenplay that feels like a Greek tragedy (with monkeys!). It’s almost puzzling to see how such a dark, unapologetic movie could get made at this scale, and always rewarding that it did.
Moments of this film will always make me cry - including Gary Oldman looking at a family photo. And so much of this film will always give me chills - including a certain, potent line Caesar says to Koba near the end. And aesthetically, Giacchino’s score is one of the scariest non-horror works I’ve ever heard - and to begin and end on the exact same shot?! Wowie zowie, what a barnburner.
VERDICT: STAYS AND PLAYS
#70 - DEAD HEAT
1988; dir. Mark Goldblatt; starring Treat Williams, Joe Piscopo, Lindsay Frost
I first saw this film in my talented filmmaker friend Bradley Jones’ basement alongside our talented actor friend Jonathan Davidson; one of our classic “descend into bits and madness” late-night screenings. So when Vinegar Syndrome announced a 4K disc, I jumped on it with a feverish pace, so desperate was I to revisit these joyful memories.
The rewatch did not revitalize an inherently ephemeral experience - a nostalgia trap I’ve fallen into many times before (see: Dark City). But it solidifies the picture as really dang good and entertaining just on its own!
Obviously, the sell is “a campy action-horror-comedy about zombie cops with a weirdo cast.” And it’s really great at that. But it’s also got razor-sharp anti-capitalist, pro-humanist satire that plays in a Verhoeven-esque lane; it’s got committed performances; it’s got surprisingly gnarly effects; and it’s got my man Vincent Price smashing a grand slam out of the park in a late-film barnburner.
Plus, weirdly, this kinda picture demonstrates the power of the 4K disc more than most modern discs. A low-budget B-movie, it was nonetheless shot in 35mm, and the high-resolution restoration, combined with HDR10 sheen, makes it feel like it was shot yesterday, makes it feel vital and alive.
If none of this sells you, the theme song might.
VERDICT: STAYS AND PLAYS
Thanks for checking out Greg’s Blu-Rays A-To-Z! Next week: Crime, caves, and cool-ass planes.
"I am simply grateful for this shot," I said in Hawaii more than once. "It is as well-done as it can possibly be."
Damn what a G but also yeah Dark City is pretty bad.