Thursday, July 31, 2008

Thursday's Ways Not To Die

..Dark City (1998)

Another Thursday, another post where the movie is so gloom-filled it's kinda hard to see what's happening here. I guess I should've taken a clue from it being called Dark City n' all... alas. If you've no idea what the hell's going on in these stills, all that says to me is you've never seen the film, and the reason I am doing this post is to tell you to see the movie. It just came out on DVD again, with 15 more minutes of footage inserted in, so what better time. No I don't make any money off this. Double alas. This scene is the first huge WTF in the film; there are many to come. But I'm so familiar with the film now, I do wonder how it plays for a newbie. I love how little is explained by this point, and all this crazy shit just happens, out of nowhere. Pulsating eye-rays, check. Clicking-tongue demon-child, check. Fucking glow-in-the-dark jellyfish crawling out of someone's skull, check.

Things that came to mind while watching Dark City for the umpteenth time the other night:

- Golly, Jennifer Connolly had full eyebrows here. Big ol' bushy things. Not to mention she's sporting a couple good-natured extra pounds on her now-always-skeletal frame. And she looks so young.


- Eww, that's the Alias-ruiner as the hooker.


- Kiefer, the out-of-breath vocal tic is still a little much even after watching this movie umpteen times.


- I don't usually understand the appeal of Rufus Sewell, but it's there for me in this movie.


Kinda weird-hot, right? Like somebody pasted googly eyes where his real eyes used to be, but it works. Sometimes. Since my first impression of him was this film, I find it odd that nowadays he's always seeming to be cast as an asshole. He's a good guy!

- I should find something to say about William Hurt in this movie or the boyfriend will be angry at me. I just... always forget he's in it. He's so... quiet.


- How in the hell is this the same director who made I, Robot? I mean, for one, this movie is so pretty. Here are some random moments of prettiness I grabbed:


I will never ever comprehend Alex Proyas' career path.

And since I'm me and this post wouldn't be complete without my drawing attention to the oddness that was two films of hers practically in a row utilizing the image of Jennifer Connolly standing at the end of a pier as The Idyll, I will draw attention to it, even though it's been said before. How weird is it that Jennifer Connolly stood at the end of a pier in Dark City in 1997...


... and in Requiem For a Dream in 2000?


Weird!

Previous Ways Not To Die: Taking the 107th Step -- Rescuing Gretchen -- Incinerated By Lousy Dialogue -- Starred & Striped Forever -- Vivisection Via Vaginally-Minded Barbed-Wire -- Chompers (Down There) -- Run Down By M. Night Shyamalan -- Everything Up To And Including The Kitchen Toaster -- Sacrificed To Kali -- Via The Gargantuan Venom Of The Black Mamba Snake -- Turned Into An Evil Robot -- The Out-Of-Nowhere Careening Vehicle Splat -- "Oh My God... It's Dip!!!" -- Critter Balled -- Stuff'd -- A Hot-Air Balloon Ride... Straight To Hell!!! -- Puppy Betrayal -- High-Heeled By A Girlfriend Impersonator -- Flip-Top Beheaded -- Because I'm Too Goddamned Beautiful To Live -- By Choosing... Poorly... -- Fried Alive Due To Baby Ingenuity -- A Good Old-Fashioned Tentacle Smothering -- Eepa! Eepa! -- Gremlins Ate My Stairlift -- An Icicle Thru The Eye -- Face Carved Off By Ghost Doctor After Lesbian Tryst With Zombie Women -- Electrocuted By Fallen Power-Lines -- A Mouthful Of Flare -- Taken By The TV Lady -- Bitten By A Zombie -- Eaten By Your Mattress -- Stuffed To Splitting -- Face Stuck In Liquid Nitrogen -- Crushed By Crumbling Church Debris -- Bitten By The Jaws Of Life -- A Machete To The Crotch -- Showering With A Chain-Saw -- In A Room Filled With Razor Wire -- Pod People'd With Your Dog -- Force-Fed Art -- Skinned By A Witch -- Beaten With An Oar -- Curbed -- Cape Malfunction -- In The Corner -- Cooked In A Tanning Bed -- Diced -- Punched Through The Head -- Bugs Sucking On Your Head
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5 comments:

Anonymous said...

I'm pretty sure Jennifer Connolly was at the end of a pier in House of Sand and Fog, too. That is weird. What's her deal?

Anonymous said...

I'll take your word that Melissa George ruined Alias and simply reply that she has very nice boobies.

FDot said...

I wasn't a huge fan of this movie when it came out....but then I actually paid to see Garage Days in the theater and now it's a masterpiece.

Joe Reid said...

Melissa George also did/does her level best to ruin 30 Days of Night, the Amityville Horror remake, and In Treatment. Thank god, then, for Ben Foster, Ryan Reynolds's abs, and Dianne Weist, respectively.

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