A Tale of Two Cities
If you're in the mood for some dark futuristic neo-noir this weekend, consider yourself lucky. Two films showing in town---one old, one new---more than fit the bill.
Tomorrow the Sci-Fi Museum is closing out the Sci-Fi Film Festival with Dark City, the 1998 stylish thriller from Alex Proyas, who has directed other similarly themed films, both well-made (The Crow) and not so much (I, Robot). This one features Rufus Sewell as John Murdoch, a man who wakes up to find himself accused of vicious murders he doesn't remember committing. In order to clear himself of these crimes, John's gotta wade through the titular locale, avoiding the cops, a shrink, and some aliens that are, oh, capable of altering time and reality. The movie also stars William Hurt, Jennifer Connelly, and Kiefer Sutherland in a pre-Jack Bauer incarnation.
Dark City shows at 7pm at the JBL theater, located adjacent to the Sci-Fi Museum in the EMP. The screening will be hosted by Greg Bear, big-time science fiction/fantasy author and SFM Advisory Board co-chair. Tickets are $6.
If you're a big fan of visually stunning, violent movies made with major use of greenscreen, check out Sin City, which has to be the most eagerly anticipated film of the year thus far. An extremely faithful adaptation of Frank Miller's graphic novel(s), the film is co-directed by Robert Rodriguez (along with Miller himself) and stars approximately nine million actors of note, including Mickey Rourke, Clive Owen, Benicio Del Toro, Michael Madsen, Jessica Alba, Rosario Dawson, Bruce Willis, Brittany Murphy, and Elijah Wood. Added bonus: the film kicks off with a vignette directed by Quentin Tarantino. So far it's been getting generally good reviews, though some make note of the film's preference for style over substance. Hey, with the amount of hype surrounding this project, as long as it doesn't completely suck, we're in.
Sin City is showing on several screens all over town, but for Seattlest's money we prefer to view a film of this type at either the Cinerama or the Neptune. Can't wait till tomorrow? The Cinerama's got a midnight showing tonight.
