How hated was “Hudson Hawk” when it was released in 1991 beyond its dismal box office and a library’s worth of bad press?

A good indicator of just where Bruce Willis’ dream project sat in the culture can be found in a review from Stephen Hunter, then a film critic for the Baltimore Sun.

Mind you, this wasn’t his first crack at reviewing the film. He penned a second review defending himself from filmgoers calling for his head on a pike.

“Has any movie in recent history been so savaged so quickly? Across America, critics high and low, left and right, pedant and genius, plot-synopsizer and gestalt-decoder, agree on one thing: this sucker stinks. That leaves two of us — myself and a critic in a city 40 miles to the south — who dared to like the film,” Hunter wrote. “How could I like “Hudson Hawk” so much? It’s easy. When I sat down in the theater I started to laugh and I laughed for two hours. So sue me.”

Willis stars as Eddie Hawkins in a story the actor conceived with his musician pal Robert Kraft. It includes a world domination plot, Leonardo Da Vinci, a musical number by Willis and Danny Aiello and David Caruso as Kit Kat, one of several characters using candy bars as codenames.

Hawk is a legendary cat burglar fresh out of prison who just wants a cappuccino. He almost immediately finds himself running from security guards and secret agents with his pal Tommy Five-Tone (Aiello) and trying to save the world … or something like that.

The movie never takes its plot all that seriously, so viewers are advised not to either.

At the time of its release, “Hudson Hawk” was largely deemed a Willis vanity project after the $65 million flick couldn’t even muster $20 million domestically. It also “won” three Razzies for Worst Director (Michael Lehman), Worst Screenplay (Steven E. DeSouza, Bruce Willis, Robert Kraft) and Worst Picture.

FAST FACT: Richard E. Grant, who portrays one of the villains in “Hudson Hawk,” thought he’d never work again after catching a screening of the film. “So, with the best intentions, I think It’s like internet dating or any dating: you go into something hoping you’re going to fall in love and it’s going to work out…and then, of course, it’s a living nightmare!” he told The Guardian in 2020.

“Looking at how it kind of became this cult film and what people come up and say to me on the street about it is, they dig that fact that it was making fun of itself and that it was satire. And I don’t think anybody got that when it came out. They thought – they didn’t know what to make of it,” Willis said in a sit-down with Kraft years later for one of the multiple home video releases for “Hudson Hawk.”

According to Willis, early versions of the film’s script leaned towards a younger James Bond vibe, but the filmmaker pushed for more of a comedic bent.

RELATED: THE BRUCE WILLIS FILM HIS ‘DIE HARD’ FANS OVERLOOKED

Hunter may have been standing alone in 1991, but recent years have found “Hudson Hawk” earning retrospective praises, mainly for being a one-of-a-kind cinematic left hook. It may be a vanity project, but it’s a vanity project only Willis could make.

The actor had his well-publicized Hollywood frictions through the years. Still, the outpouring of support from creatives who have worked with him since the news of his retirement and initial aphasia diagnosis (later diagnosed as frontotemporal degeneration) show below the glitz and glamor he was just an artist with a taste for the different, the funny, the weird that most A-listers tend to want to stay away from.

Directors M. Night Shyamalan and Quentin Tarantino have described the man as something of a mentor early in their careers, helping projects like “The Sixth Sense” and “Pulp Fiction” to snag funding. He’s the guy who wore goofy outfits for late-night star David Letterman for no real reason and chatted up fans in the Ain’t It Cool News comments section when promoting 2007’s “Live Free or Die Hard.”

This Jersey boy never took fame all that seriously and seemed to look at it all with a bemused but loving smirk, always thinking more like the cat burglar than the James Bondian hero.

“Hudson Hawk” is Willis from top to bottom. It’s a movie that simultaneously takes nothing it’s doing seriously, yet is also deadly serious about every frame. The big budget can be seen in front of the camera, where it should be, for the Joel Silver production.

“Hudson Hawk” breaks the fourth wall (a young Frank Stallone is given directions “even your brother can understand”) and includes humor that had some critics scratching their heads. They couldn’t figure out what Willis was doing as Caruso’s mute Kit Kat repeatedly pops up and characters survive explosive situations, Looney Tunes-style.

The height of the film comes early when Willis and Aiello perform Bing Crosby’s “Swinging on a Star” as they pull off a heist, using the song to time the robbery. It’s clever, sharp, charming and unique. It’s the longest stretch of film where it feels everyone is aiming for, and hitting the exact same target.

Even when everyone seems to be going for a different target, it still adds to the film’s all-out, wonderful insanity.

In his conversation with Kraft, Willis lovingly described the randomness of “Hudson Hawk,” admitting Tommy Five-Tone was his favorite name from the movie but he has no clue what it means.

It just sounds fun.

In light of Willis’ retirement and current health battle, his last film stands as “Assassin,” a mostly cookie-cutter VOD science fiction flick released in March.

There are a number of incredible works that highlight Willis’ talent, but none show the artist clearer than “Hudson Hawk.” There are still explosions and Willis is sarcastic as ever, but this is also arguably when the actor had the most creative control in his career.

He decided to pour all of his juice into a madhouse production based on an insane idea two starving artists concocted while Hollywood was just a dream.

Hudson Hawk is the Bruce Williest Bruce Willis movie, and in a world where he’ll never grace the screen again, that’s something to appreciate more and more.

NOTE: You can learn more about frontotemporal degeneration at The Association for Frontotemporal Degeneration.

Zachary Leeman is the author of the novel “Nigh” from publisher Gilded Masque and has covered politics and culture for LifeZette, Mediaite, and others.

The post Why ‘Hudson Hawk’ Is the Bruce Williest Bruce Willis Movie appeared first on Hollywood in Toto.

Judy Blume bowed to the woke mob in under 24 hours recently, but she stood tall while bringing her best book to the screen.

The author supported and then dropped J.K. Rowling for the “crime” of having an opinion millions share on trans issues. That doesn’t mean Blume, a co-producer on “Are You There God, It’s Me Margaret” changed the source material to fit modern mores.

Young women get their periods. Boys are weird. Adolescence is confusing. And, setting the story in the early 1970s, keeps the woke wave at bay.

That leaves a funny, heartfelt tale that feels a tad undernourished despite the knowing smiles.

A terrific Abby Ryder Fortson plays Margaret, a teen who moves to a new neighborhood as the story opens. She’s immediately met by Nancy (Elle Graham), a hard-charging neighbor who enlists her in her girl squad.

The teens bond over boys, sock-free styles and the ultimate sign of becoming a woman, the monthly you-know-what.

Blume’s book tackled the subject honestly, making it a sacrosanct text for many women. The film does the same, evoking the mysteries and wonders of that transitory moment with humor.

Lots of humor.

“Margaret” is relentlessly sweet and funny, often thanks to a marvelous turn by Oscar-winner Kathy Bates. She plays Margaret’s doting, delightful grandmother, who hopes her granddaughter embraces her Jewish roots.

Margaret’s parents want their daughter to pick her own religion since Mama Margaret (Rachel McAdams) no longer speaks to her uber-strict Christian parents.

That religious angle is taken directly from the text, but the bluntness of the transfer demands a more sophisticated approach.

“Margaret” brings the book’s essential elements to the screen, from the title character’s prayers to the classic chant, “We must, we must, we must increase our bust!”

Fortson strikes the perfect blend of curiosity and fear as Margaret. She’s sweet but not perfect, selfish and yet stricken with enough wisdom not to be a bratty child. 

One welcome surprise?

Nancy seems like the perfect Mean Girl, but the screenplay undercuts our expectations along the way.

The film pulls a few narrative punches. McAdams’ character is now a stay-at-home mother, and her arc plays out as if critical scenes got lost in the editing process. Is writer/director Kelly Fremon Craig (“The Edge of Seventeen”) trying to tell a smaller empowerment tale with the character?

RELATED: PERFECT MOVIES TO WATCH WITH YOUR DAUGHTERS

Margaret shares a brief, but poignant bond with her teacher (Echo Kellum), but his screen time is too limited to register. That’s a missed opportunity. Kellum brings both insecurity and grace to the role, and it demands another scene or two.

The ’70s era production design is perfection, letting us slip back to a more innocent era that aligns with Margaret’s journey.

“Are You There God?” stays true to Blume’s book in ways that should connect it to future generations of confused teens. Its minor flaws hardly matter in the big picture.

HiT or Miss: “Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret” understands the value, and cultural heft, of the source material and proceeds accordingly. Thank goodness!

The post ‘Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret’ Knows What a Woman Is appeared first on Hollywood in Toto.

Brad Silberling’s “City of Angels” (1998) is the American remake of Wim Wenders’ “Wings of Desire” (1987) and that is the biggest strike it against it.

There’s no way, let alone no point, to compete or attempt an improvement on Wenders’ film, a definitive portrait of angels among us and how life is a series of despairing and ecstatic moments.

Wenders’ film, even now, is a true original, in both presentation and tone, in its thoughtful meditation on angels in the presence of those experiencing sorrow and joy in late 20th century Berlin. “City of Angels,” which takes place in late ’90s Los Angeles, is an inevitably more mainstream and approachable work but is surprisingly strong and has aged better than expected.

Nicolas Cage stars as Seth, an angel who, like the others we see (but the human characters in the film do not), are clad in black, a quiet and watchful presence over L.A. who offer invisible comfort but little actual contact. It’s established that these angels don’t feel anything a human would and remain invisible (though the “rules” are broken frequently).

Seth is especially moved by Maggie (Meg Ryan) a surgeon who struggles and fails to save a patient and is flummoxed by an infant in the NICU who is constantly uncomfortable. Although Maggie has a heartless, on-again/off-again relationship with a fellow surgeon (Colm Feore), she senses Seth’s presence and, eventually, is able to see him.

Wenders’ film is a one-of-a-kind depiction of an invisible population of Berlin and their ability to be present but inactive with the humans they observe. The weakness of Silberling’s film (and it comes from Dana Steven’s screenplay) is that it leans into the love story too much – if anything here should have been dealt with differently, it’s this story angle.

We see Seth invisibly slither around Maggie without truly making contact, while both actors swoon and the wildly iconic ’90s song soundtrack kicks in. These scenes of an invisible watcher/stalker bring to mind Edward Cullen’s not-really-appropriate appearances in Bella Swan’s bedroom in “Twilight.”

In “Wings of Desire,” an angel (Bruno Ganz) falls in love with a trapeze artist (the late Solveig Dommartin) and the emotional payoff is a slow build and rather beautiful; here, because the love story is front and center, so are the commercial aspects.

Another retooled angle that doesn’t entirely play is the subplot about a former angel who provides wisdom. Wenders’ cleverly cast Peter Falk as himself in the role, while Silberling has Dennis Franz in the part; Franz gives it his best, but the strength of his performance is all he has to counter the miscasting.

Nevertheless, Silberling aims to recreate the earnest, awe-inducing meditative tone of the original and mostly succeeds; while this is a very American version of a German fantasy/social parable, the contrast of life’s natural splendor and emotional detachment comes across in the surprisingly rich imagery.

RELATED: WHY ‘SNAKE EYES’ BRINGS OUT BEST IN NICOLAS CAGE

On the production side, Silberling has two enormous assets: Gabriel Yared’s gorgeous score and John Seale’s knockout cinematography, both of which are sublime. Yared brings melancholy yearning to the proceedings, while Seale captures visions that are uncanny and painterly, which is unusual for a mainstream movie.

Note the close-up of Seth’s eye as he enters a new world, or the beach sunsets/sunrises that are witnessed by angels or the jaw dropping beauty of Ryan, sitting alone and still in a changing room, adorned by the glow of the sun. Seale is, after all, the same man who shot “Mad Mad: Fury Road.”

Finally, there’s the two leads – Ryan is excellent, in the kind of straightforward, often raw dramatic performance that was too often overlooked in favor of her more popular comedic turns (her impactful supporting work in “Hurly Burly” was also in 1998).

Cage is simply terrific here, going places that were new for him: post-Oscar and early into his new career status as a leading man in action movies and comedies, Cage was giving dynamic work long before the self-parody era of his filmography kicked in.

Aside from one scene (where he dances around a street in a fit of joy), his performance as Seth isn’t just reigned in but impressively controlled. Cage is often still and internal but also childlike and heartfelt.

We never got to see Cage’s take on Superman, as the cancelled “Superman Lives” was supposed to open the same year as “City of Angels.” This is likely as close to seeing Cage as Clark Kent/Kal-El as we’ll ever get, as the actor’s willingness to dial down his more theatrical acting tendencies allows for compassion and reflection to come across in his performance.

Nicolas Cage Recalls a ‘Beautiful’ Interaction with City of Angels Fan Whose Daughter Died https://t.co/Udc4S4twjl

— People (@people) April 22, 2022

Seth’s trajectory, as being a supernatural being who compromises the state of his existence for love, is very-Superman. Cage even makes a few Superman-like poses as Seth is about to literally plunge into humanity (one of the film’s most breathtaking moments).

“City of Angels” not only has visible traces of what Cage could have brought to the Man of Steel but also showcases one of the actor’s finest, most under-valued performances.

Some of the character details don’t add up, like how Seth doesn’t know how to operate a shower, let alone a loofah. Then there’s the big melodramatic twist at the end – I’ll admit, I cried and the moment got to me, but I’m not proud of it.

The ability of an audience member to accept the big third-act reveal depends on a willingness to believe that Ryan doesn’t know how to properly ride a bike (though Seale’s rendering of this sequence is, like every other scene here, done with a masterful touch).

RELATED: ‘THE CROW: CITY OF ANGELS’ REMAINS A STUPEFYING SEQUEL

“City of Angels” is often dazzling and stays with you after it’s over. Silberling’s film is more near-great than a total success and cannot approach the incredible “Wings of Desire.” Yet, let’s be fair about this – Wenders himself followed up “Wings of Desire” with the lighter, sillier, and splendid sequel “Faraway, So Close!” (1993) and has even admitted to liking “City of Angels.”

Silberling’s film may cut corners for the U.S. audience, but it has an emotional gravity and integrity to it that make it even grittier than “Faraway, So Close!” and just about every other mainstream American film about angels (mostly dopey comedies like “Michael” and “The Heavenly Kid”).

While critics mostly attacked Silberling’s film for being less than “Wings of Desire,” the truth is that “City of Angels” make a great companion piece to Wenders’ films and the three are worth viewing as a trilogy.

The post ‘City of Angels’ Showed a Side of Nicolas Cage We Rarely See appeared first on Hollywood in Toto.

Every shark movie made since 1975 exists in the shadow of “Jaws.”

No exceptions.

It may explain the crush of cartoonishly bad shark thrillers over the past 20 years. If you can’t lap Steven Spielberg’s vision, why try? Some still do, though, like the creative team behind “The Black Demon.”

The Josh Lucas thriller deserves some credit. Not only is the setting fresh, the screenplay suggests killer sharks are less evil than corporate drones. That’s a familiar theme of many zombie films but less common on the shark front.

Sadly, neither twist elevates “The Black Demon” beyond a streaming time waster at best.

Lucas stars as Paul, a safety inspector for Nixon Oil (subtle!) who takes his family to Mexico to visit an off-shore oil rig. Something seems off from the start. The Mexican locales, once thriving and warm, are now abandoned.

Paul’s family isn’t happy about this state of affairs, but they dutifully support their hard-working patriarch.

The trouble begins when Paul discovers the oil rig is all but abandoned. It seems a massive shark got their first, and the rig’s skeleton crew fear they’re on its menu next.

“The Black Demon” takes care to develop Paul’s family structure, including his loyal but inquisitive wife (Fernanda Urrejola). Their early scenes prove unrehearsed and real, giving the story a welcome dash of realism.

Hey, maybe you don’t need “Sharknado” theatrics to make us care about shark movies again!

RELATED: HERE’S WHAT ALMOST SAVES ‘JAWS IV: THE REVENGE’

We soon get an extended lecture, with all the subtlety of a Colbert monologue, about evil, uncaring oil corporations. It’s hardly fresh for most genres, but shark movies haven’t plumbed this depth before.

The bigger issue is clear. The stories in question don’t build to any real momentum. We sense where the narrative is heading, so we can suss out the survivors and fish food with ease.

Paul’s arrogance is balanced by his protective instincts toward his family, the film’s most compelling element. What a shame the screenplay has little to say beyond that, and some of the subsequent battles between the surviving players prove “Sharknado”-esque in their silliness.

And that’s far from the tone attempted here.

The Black Demon – a giant killer shark movie with Josh Lucas by the director of Get The Gringo (aka How I Spent My Summer Vacation)?
You just know that got my attention! Director Adrian Grünberg is joining me on the next episode of the @moviesinfocus podcast. Coming soon. pic.twitter.com/z1ZbQxp74U

— Movies In Focus (@moviesinfocus) April 20, 2023

The shark itself is pure CGI and not given enough screen time, or framing, to make it a worthy villain despite its ties to Mexican folklore. That leaves an increasingly tactless Paul to keep our attention, and that gamble doesn’t pay off.

“The Black Demon” makes one unforgivable error late in the film. A character prepares for a dip in the shark-infested waters, but he struggles while preparing his scuba mask.

“Ain’t got no spit,” the character says, a reference to Richard Dreyfuss’ classic line from “Jaws.”

It’s a perfect Easter egg drop for modern audiences, and a reminder that “The Black Demon” can’t measure up to 1999’s “Deep Blue Sea,” let alone the mother of all shark thrillers.

HiT or Miss: “The Black Demon” blends blunt, anti-Big Oil messaging with perfunctory shark thrills, and neither proves satisfying.

The post ‘Black Demon’-izes Big Oil, Lacks Shark Terror appeared first on Hollywood in Toto.

Lee Cronin’s “Evil Dead Rise” begins seemingly a few miles down the road from that infamous cabin in the woods, where the original onslaught of explosive gore, decapitations, oozing fluids and monster mashing took place.

Following the amusing opener, which utilizes the franchise signature of an angry whirl of a POV shot and offers an arresting visual marking a great title design, the real movie begins.

We meet Ellie (Alyssa Sutherland), a single mother raising two children in a badly run-down apartment complex. Ellie’s sister (Lily Sullivan) shows up just in time to help out, particularly after an earthquake unearths the Book of the Dead.

As a horror film set in a high-rise building, this barely capitalizes on the location. Longtime fans of the Sam Raimi-directed trilogy, “The Evil Dead” (1981), “Evil Dead 2: Dead By Dawn” (1987) and “Army of Darkness” (1993) will not only miss the series’ protagonist, Ash (played by the indispensable Bruce Campbell) but a detectable sense of humor.

I guess we’re supposed to laugh at how disgusting it is when a small child has shards of glass protruding from her throat…actually, no, that’s revolting. Same for most of these gag-inducing “gags.”

Fede Alvarez’s terrific “Evil Dead,” was a 2013 remake/franchise extension that reinvented the central concept and added a great deal of dramatic weight. By making the cabin in the woods the setting of an intervention, the main character was changed from Ash into Mia, a drug addict (played by the sensational Jane Levy) whose early convulsions suggest withdrawals as much as demonic possession.

Alvarez’s film is deadly serious, dark and extremely gory, but also emotionally rich and thrilling, if numbing in its excess. “Evil Dead Rise” is none of the former and all of the latter.

It’s not a problem that “Evil Dead Rise” stretches the R-rating to the absolute breaking point and is mean spirited and quite gross for most of the running time. Most horror films would wear that as a badge of honor and this one earned my admiration for being so strong in extreme content.

Whereas most mainstream, studio-made horror films don’t go that far in eliciting an audience reaction (aside from jump scares), this one will rattle a packed house.

The movie is as outrageous as it needs to be, but it never garnered an emotional reaction, let alone a connection, to anyone on the screen. Unlike Campbell’s Ash and Levy’s Mia, the characters are hard to like and the performances aren’t outstanding.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Sutherland gives a scary turn, but I was less worried about the family than I was the actors, who appear to truly be suffering for their art. Neither the supporting characters nor the actors playing them stand out.

The only group who suffers more than the onscreen characters is the audience, who must witness a real chamber of horrors: a lack of originality. Whereas the 2013 film offered new angles on the expected set up (even the reason the characters remain at the cabin is well considered), this just unpacks the easter eggs and visual shout outs to other horror films.

The ending alone rounds up familiar moments from “The Shining,” “Aliens,” “The Thing,” “High Tension,” “Resident Evil” and especially “Evil Dead 2.” This franchise doesn’t need humor to work, nor to balance out the extreme material, though anyone who is a longtime fan of either “Army of Darkness” (1993) or “Ash Vs. The Evil Dead” (2015-2018) will be disappointed by how unpleasant and relentlessly sadistic this is.

Alvarez’s “Evil Dead” spoke of how addiction creates monsters within and alienates us from ourselves and those around us. Here, the idea is to use extreme horror to present the subtext of the hardships of motherhood.

It doesn’t entirely gel, and the topic was better explored in “Hereditary,” “The Babadook” and Mike Flanagan’s surprisingly superb “Ouija: Origin of Evil” (2016), which had a stronger focus on how a single mother’s unwanted acceptance of the supernatural tears her family apart. Flanagan’s film, a true sleeper if there ever was one (its unrelated to the mostly awful 2014 “Ouija”), is emotionally rich and seriously scary.

“Evil Dead Rise” will elicit audible groans from an audience but doesn’t make you care enough about anyone on screen. It’s just a relay race to the next gross-out set piece. This is the first “Evil Dead” movie I don’t plan on ever seeing again.

Two Stars

The post ‘Evil Dead Rise’ Misses the Franchise’s Point appeared first on Hollywood in Toto.

“Attack of the Doc!” opens with a critical note.

The documentary is “by the fans for the fans,” and that includes writer/director Chris Gore.

The Film Threat founder appeared regularly on G4TV, the gaming cable network that had an outsized impact on pop culture. Now, Gore is recalling the channel’s its influence on our Comic-Con age and sharing why the channel’s legacy matters.

You couldn’t air much of what went down on G4TV today. And that’s a very bad thing.

G4TV never got all the bells and whistles of an ESPN or CNN-sized platform. The channel’s modest budget could be seen on the shows’ sets and in the faces of the then-unknown hosts. This was a channel for gamers, nerds and everyone who ever felt the joy of beating a video game or dressing up for their local Comic-Con.

Except Comic-Cons weren’t cultural tastemakers circa 2002 when the channel first went live.

G4TV, also known as G4, eventually merged with TechTV and became a cult-like destination for young gamers. The channel’s signature series, “Attack of the Show!” featured a dynamic duo of attractive, affable hosts – Olivia Munn and Kevin Pereira.

They cracked wise, made fools of themselves and did anything and everything that lunged to mind for the audience. Munn’s combination of beauty and on-camera bravery made her a star, and Pereira’s jovial presence proved the perfect complement.

Together, they made “Show!” must-see TV … and something more with the benefit of time.

You couldn’t stage “Attack of the Show!” today, of course. The jokes were often randy, and Munn happily donned risqué outfits and jumped into massive pools of pastry to the viewers’ delight.

Munn’s shtick wouldn’t be allowed now even though she wasn’t offended or embarrassed by her antics. Others would be on her behalf.

Get it?

“You put your guard down when you’re around family,” former G4 host Laura Foy says about the show’s comedy impulses. “We have to dilute everything [now].”

Writer/director Gore keeps the documentary hyper-focused on the channel’s rise and pop culture reverberations. Nerds rules in 2023, but that wasn’t the case in the early 2000s. Comic-Cons command the attention of most major film studios, hungry to market their wares to Geek Nation.

That wasn’t happening before G4TV.

Gore shrewdly touches on the show’s anarchic spirit without overplaying his hand. He’s on shakier ground by going into the hyper-details of the channel’s coverage of E3 and the annual Consumer Electronics Show (CES), details that pale compared to the wonderful anecdotes assembled elsewhere.

G4TV resembled basic cable TV of yore, but people took the high jinks seriously. “Doc!” features sublime footage of director James Cameron promoting the first “Avatar” film, giddily playing the straight man to the various G4 bits.

Chris Gore returns to The Projection Booth to talk about his latest project, the 2023 documentary Attack of the Doc! which relates the story of G4 TV and its flagship show, Attack of the Show. https://t.co/9tGXDACxvp @ThatChrisGore @AttackoftheDoc

— The Projection Booth Podcast (@proboothcast) April 24, 2023

The show’s anarchic spirit, akin to Fox News’ old “Red Eye.” served up improv glee rarely seen on cable today.

Back then, even failed comic bits didn’t yield social media rage or accusatory press releases.

The early G4TV days found fandoms embracing the channel, and each other. That, too, has soured following the channel’s demise. It’s hard not to see “Doc!” as a bittersweet end to an era.

“Attack of the Doc,” reflects a time when TV broke boundaries with a goofy, unapologetic grin on its face.

HiT or Miss: “Attack of the Doc!” is literally made for G4’s devoted fans, and they’ll eat up this exhaustive account of why the channel mattered.

The post ‘Attack of the Doc!’ Recalls Pre-Woke America at Its Zaniest appeared first on Hollywood in Toto.

Alex Proyas’ “Dark City” feels like a warmup for some of the greatest existentialist thrillers to come.

Proyas’ 1998 film quickly became a cult favorite after a failed theatrical release (more on that later) but comes across as a starter dish for the sumptuous genre meals right around the corner.

By fusing the visuals and themes of Fritz Lang (particularly his “M” and “Dr. Mabuse”) and Robert Wiene (his “The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari” is the only silent film “borrowed” from as much as Lang’s “Metropolis”), we have a work that, in ambition, richness and quality, works as a cousin to the forthcoming “The Matrix” (1999), “Memento” (2001), “Inception” (2010) and dozens more.

The plot: John Murdock (Rufus Sewell) awakens in an apartment stricken with amnesia. Adding to his dilemma is the presence of a corpse on the floor as well as a bloody knife with his fingerprints on it. Sympathy comes in the form of John’s wife (Jennifer Connelly) and a detective (William Hurt) who doesn’t believe Murdock is the killer.

In addition to the local law, John is being pursued by bald, pale men in dark trench coats and fedoras called The Strangers, who have the supernatural ability to make you sleep on command.

Proyas’ thrilling, fittingly nightmarish horror/detective film noir/ sci-fi/action puzzle is one of those films few saw in theaters but developed a massive appreciation for later.

Like Shane Caruth’s “Primer” (2004), example, “Dark City” passed through theaters with little notice but was singled out by cinephiles and film scholars as a smart packaging of what had come before and a visionary sign of things to come for the genre. More so than the visual qualities, which are enormous, the imagination on display is staggering.

The screenplay by Proyas, Lem Dobbs (who, in a perfect bit if synergy, also wrote Steven Soderbergh’s underrated 1992 “Kafka”) and David S. Goyer (whose career redemption after writing the wretched sequel to “The Crow” started here) is in love with film noir, The Hitchcockian Wronged Man, Arthur C. Clarke-like musings on existentialist sci-fi and all things Kafkaesque dread.

At the time of its release, the comparison made the most frequently was “Blade Runner” (1982), but Proyas is actually leaning into the paranoia of the dream state, the untrustworthy functions of our subconscious, in a way that predates “Inception” but feels right in line with the studio’s “A Nightmare on Elm St.” series.

A special 25th anniversary screening of Alex Proyas’ DARK CITY will screen in 35mm at midnight, May 5th.

A man struggles with memories of his past, which include a wife he cannot remember and a nightmarish world no one else ever seems to wake up from. pic.twitter.com/sYIHe5ObnS

— Chicago Critics Film Festival (@CriticsFf) April 17, 2023

This was made during that glorious period where New Line Cinema (and producer Michael De Luca in particular) were taking big, wild creative swings, such as this, “Pleasantville” (1998) and “Magnolia” (1999). That’s before “The Lord of the Rings” trilogy (2001-2003) solidified the studio’s legacy.

I’ve always thought Sewell was miscast, though, upon reflection, I’m now on the fence about this. John is supposed to come across as kind enough that he saves a goldfish during his introductory moment.

He also must convey an emotional connection with Connelly’s character (the two have zero chemistry). Sewell’s “American” accent is excellent and he works hard in the role, but there’s something too prickly about him that makes his ability to overcome The Strangers inevitable.

On the other hand, during the grand finale, Sewell flashes a bone-chilling grin at The Strangers (Proyas wisely included this in the final cut, as it brings to mind Brandon Lee’s frightening leer in “The Crow”) and, in his final moments, the actor belatedly connects to the humanity of the character.

FAST FACT: Proyas created a 20-minute short film, “Mask of the Evil Apparition,” in 2021 that’s set in the “Dark City” universe.

Aside from my indecisive attitude about Sewell in the lead, the cast is beautifully assembled. Connelly invests feeling into her character and Hurt was oddly credible in films like this and “Until the End of the World” (1991). Hurt was a contemporary actor in every sense who, nevertheless, excelled in strange movies like this and “Altered States” (1980).

Kiefer Sutherland’s stylish performance, with a noted affectation intended to mimic Peter Lorre, takes some getting used to. The ingenious way Sutherland’s bizarre character is fused into the climax, as a central figure in a collage of memories, utilizes the actor in the best light.

The Strangers are unsettling, cruel and truly loathsome, great qualities in super villains. A master stroke was assigning the central Strangers (whose appearance makes for a comparison to the Borg) to the wonderful Richard O’Brien and Sir Ian Richardson.

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The screenplay impresses for bringing up big ideas and staggering visuals, not just for spectacle but to explore the sense of identity that John seeks, and The Strangers casually alter. Unlike many works that have a strong start but fumble in the third act, “Dark City” soars in its last 30-minutes, more than fulfilling and surpassing the scope of its initial ideas.

Nevertheless, because the story is so untamed, some details don’t entirely add up: I’ve never cared for the moment where one of The Strangers falls through a bridge but, seconds later, we see that they can fly.

It feels less like a surprise reveal than a lazy bit of storytelling.

Also, if The Strangers have unmatched psychic prowess, wouldn’t they have detected the problems John would pose sooner?

 

 

 

 

 

 

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The ample visual effects run hot and cold, with the model work and large-scale exterior shots still breathtaking, but the visualization of the telepathic powers resulting in murky, dated CGI. Undoubtedly one of the greatest collaborators on hand is composer Trevor Jones, who finds exactly the right feel for each scene: Trevor’s always-exciting, awe inducing score is among his very best.

If there was anyone who reversed “Dark City” from its instant-flop-in-theaters status to a must-see, it’s the late, great Roger Ebert. In fact, Ebert wasn’t just a fan but declared it the best film of 1998.

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Back then and especially today, it’s a hard pill to swallow, arriving the same year as “The Thin Red Line”, “A Simple Plan,” “The Truman Show and “Rushmore,” to name a few. Nevertheless, Ebert’s adoration of the film gave it a surprising and deserved spotlight.

While the studio’s promotion of the film was adequate, with the trailer especially kinetic and striking, it failed to stick it in a market dominated at the time by the unstoppable run of “Titanic.”

Today, Proyas’ film is synonymous with any fantasy where the search for true identity takes place within the confines of the unconscious mind. “Dark City” carries its legacy as a milestone genre effort and a wonderful use of sci-fi to explore both the possibilities of cinema and the fragile nature and understanding of our existence.

The post ‘Dark City’ – The Flop Roger Ebert Loved Dearly appeared first on Hollywood in Toto.