1
00:00:02,440 --> 00:00:08,719
Speaker 1: Welcome to Stuff to Blow your Mind, a production of iHeartRadio.

2
00:00:13,000 --> 00:00:14,960
Speaker 2: Hey you welcome to Weird House Cinema.

3
00:00:15,080 --> 00:00:17,800
Speaker 3: This is Rob Lamb and this is Joe McCormick, and.

4
00:00:17,760 --> 00:00:21,680
Speaker 2: It's officially November. So hey, let's bust out air Vember

5
00:00:21,800 --> 00:00:25,440
Speaker 2: selection for today's episode. But on the other hand, we're

6
00:00:25,440 --> 00:00:28,720
Speaker 2: also still digging our Halloween vibes, so I thought it

7
00:00:28,720 --> 00:00:32,159
Speaker 2: would be appropriate to pick something that gives us a

8
00:00:32,159 --> 00:00:35,040
Speaker 2: little bit of both categories. I want you wanted an

9
00:00:35,040 --> 00:00:38,479
Speaker 2: October the thirty eighth selection here that keeps the Halloween

10
00:00:38,560 --> 00:00:42,640
Speaker 2: vibe going strong with some creepiness and darkness, but also

11
00:00:43,200 --> 00:00:45,159
Speaker 2: let's get into that different sort of darkness with a

12
00:00:45,159 --> 00:00:49,000
Speaker 2: little bit of or neo noir, or in this case,

13
00:00:49,000 --> 00:00:50,760
Speaker 2: a little bit of sci fi noir.

14
00:00:50,960 --> 00:00:53,120
Speaker 3: That's right. So today I'm Weird House. We're going to

15
00:00:53,159 --> 00:00:56,040
Speaker 3: be talking about the nineteen ninety eight sci fi noir

16
00:00:56,120 --> 00:01:01,440
Speaker 3: film Dark City, directed by Alex Proyis Rob. I'm excited

17
00:01:01,480 --> 00:01:06,000
Speaker 3: for today because this was one of my absolute favorite

18
00:01:06,040 --> 00:01:10,520
Speaker 3: movies when I was in school, but coming into this episode,

19
00:01:10,520 --> 00:01:13,039
Speaker 3: I hadn't seen it in a long time, so I've

20
00:01:13,040 --> 00:01:15,520
Speaker 3: been very excited to revisit it, to see how well

21
00:01:15,560 --> 00:01:18,040
Speaker 3: it holds up to see if it's as good as

22
00:01:18,080 --> 00:01:20,480
Speaker 3: I remember, how you know, how my reaction to it

23
00:01:20,560 --> 00:01:23,520
Speaker 3: might have changed over time, and I think we'll have

24
00:01:23,560 --> 00:01:26,920
Speaker 3: some interesting things to talk about. But yeah, this used

25
00:01:26,920 --> 00:01:28,640
Speaker 3: to be one of my like, I don't know, top

26
00:01:28,720 --> 00:01:32,120
Speaker 3: five movies when I was eighteen years old, and I

27
00:01:32,200 --> 00:01:35,840
Speaker 3: still think, I guess to spoil my reaction might not

28
00:01:35,959 --> 00:01:37,600
Speaker 3: be quite there for me yet, but I still think

29
00:01:37,600 --> 00:01:38,320
Speaker 3: it's pretty great.

30
00:01:38,880 --> 00:01:42,160
Speaker 2: Yeah. I have a similar history with this film and

31
00:01:42,560 --> 00:01:45,880
Speaker 2: similar attitudes towards it today, Like when it came out,

32
00:01:45,920 --> 00:01:47,640
Speaker 2: and I don't think I did not see it in

33
00:01:47,680 --> 00:01:50,280
Speaker 2: the theater, No, I would have seen it on home video,

34
00:01:51,400 --> 00:01:54,040
Speaker 2: probably on DVD by that point. This film did come

35
00:01:54,080 --> 00:01:59,480
Speaker 2: out during the heyday of DVDs and DVD special editions. Yeah,

36
00:02:00,080 --> 00:02:02,400
Speaker 2: remember just falling in love with it, thinking it was just,

37
00:02:02,640 --> 00:02:06,800
Speaker 2: you know, absolutely perfect, And for a good decade or

38
00:02:06,840 --> 00:02:09,919
Speaker 2: decade and a half after that, I would continually hold

39
00:02:09,919 --> 00:02:12,480
Speaker 2: it up as one of my favorite films. You know,

40
00:02:12,639 --> 00:02:15,720
Speaker 2: had the I had it on DVD, watched it multiple times,

41
00:02:17,120 --> 00:02:19,639
Speaker 2: and so it was. It was also an interesting experience

42
00:02:19,680 --> 00:02:22,640
Speaker 2: to revisit it, you know, at this point where I'd

43
00:02:22,720 --> 00:02:25,639
Speaker 2: forgotten enough about it, or at least my memories had

44
00:02:25,639 --> 00:02:26,240
Speaker 2: been altered.

45
00:02:26,840 --> 00:02:29,240
Speaker 3: This is funny that we're in such a similar place

46
00:02:29,280 --> 00:02:29,880
Speaker 3: with this movie.

47
00:02:29,960 --> 00:02:32,680
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, yeah, so yeah, it was fun to go

48
00:02:32,720 --> 00:02:35,960
Speaker 2: back and yeah, like yourself. I think for the most part,

49
00:02:36,080 --> 00:02:38,600
Speaker 2: I still love plenty of things about Dark City. It's

50
00:02:38,600 --> 00:02:41,400
Speaker 2: still a terrific flick that I easily recommend to anyone.

51
00:02:41,680 --> 00:02:44,520
Speaker 2: But you know, there with the passing of time, you know,

52
00:02:44,600 --> 00:02:47,480
Speaker 2: maybe I have a few notes here and there on

53
00:02:47,560 --> 00:02:50,120
Speaker 2: some things that maybe didn't hold up as well, or

54
00:02:50,160 --> 00:02:52,120
Speaker 2: perhaps you know, things that I'm just like, wow, that

55
00:02:52,240 --> 00:02:54,639
Speaker 2: was great, but I wanted more of that. So we'll

56
00:02:54,639 --> 00:02:55,240
Speaker 2: get into it.

57
00:02:55,600 --> 00:02:57,840
Speaker 3: Just to note, we don't usually do this with Weird

58
00:02:57,880 --> 00:02:59,880
Speaker 3: House Cinema. We have a couple of times in the past.

59
00:03:00,120 --> 00:03:01,720
Speaker 3: This is going to be one of our rare two

60
00:03:01,840 --> 00:03:04,640
Speaker 3: parters for a Weird House episode because Rob and I

61
00:03:04,680 --> 00:03:07,080
Speaker 3: started talking about Dark City and turns out we had

62
00:03:07,120 --> 00:03:09,480
Speaker 3: a lot to say. So this will be part one

63
00:03:09,600 --> 00:03:13,280
Speaker 3: of our exploration of this movie. As always on Weird House,

64
00:03:13,280 --> 00:03:16,120
Speaker 3: we're going to talk about the plot in pretty granular detail.

65
00:03:16,200 --> 00:03:18,880
Speaker 3: It will be a deep spoiler laden so if you

66
00:03:18,919 --> 00:03:21,960
Speaker 3: want to see this movie, unspoiled, which I would recommend

67
00:03:22,600 --> 00:03:25,000
Speaker 3: probably best to pause here and go watch it before

68
00:03:25,080 --> 00:03:28,800
Speaker 3: listening any further. If you've managed to never see Dark City,

69
00:03:28,800 --> 00:03:30,880
Speaker 3: in a way, lucky you getting to see it for

70
00:03:30,919 --> 00:03:33,880
Speaker 3: the first time. But this is a movie that really

71
00:03:34,040 --> 00:03:37,640
Speaker 3: in particular benefits from a cold viewing, So if it's possible,

72
00:03:37,680 --> 00:03:41,400
Speaker 3: I'd say watch it without reading or knowing anything going in. Yeah.

73
00:03:41,440 --> 00:03:43,360
Speaker 2: Absolutely, And if you want to stop now and go

74
00:03:43,400 --> 00:03:46,720
Speaker 2: and acquire it, well, it is widely available. There is

75
00:03:46,800 --> 00:03:50,600
Speaker 2: an Aero Dark City limited edition four KUHD release out

76
00:03:50,640 --> 00:03:53,000
Speaker 2: right now that looks especially nice if you're looking for

77
00:03:53,280 --> 00:03:56,560
Speaker 2: some physical media, but you can find it just about anywhere.

78
00:03:57,320 --> 00:03:59,440
Speaker 2: As I mentioned, this film came out during the initial

79
00:03:59,480 --> 00:04:02,600
Speaker 2: big DVD boom, so there have been a wealth of

80
00:04:02,640 --> 00:04:05,880
Speaker 2: extras and commentary tracks, including a track by one of

81
00:04:05,880 --> 00:04:09,120
Speaker 2: the film's biggest critical champions of the time, and that's

82
00:04:09,200 --> 00:04:12,520
Speaker 2: Roger Ebert, who again not only gave it a glowing review,

83
00:04:12,560 --> 00:04:16,279
Speaker 2: but sat down and did an entire commentary track for

84
00:04:16,320 --> 00:04:20,000
Speaker 2: the film, which I believe I listened to, but it's

85
00:04:20,040 --> 00:04:23,120
Speaker 2: been so long I've forgotten a lot of Ebert's finer

86
00:04:23,160 --> 00:04:25,760
Speaker 2: points about it. But in short, he really liked it.

87
00:04:25,880 --> 00:04:29,320
Speaker 2: So while we're talking about the different releases of the film,

88
00:04:29,680 --> 00:04:32,279
Speaker 2: it's probably worth including a note on the different cuts

89
00:04:32,440 --> 00:04:37,000
Speaker 2: or versions of it available. The first version I saw

90
00:04:37,120 --> 00:04:41,160
Speaker 2: of Dark City was the original theatrical release on home

91
00:04:41,240 --> 00:04:44,040
Speaker 2: video in the early two thousands, and I loved it

92
00:04:44,160 --> 00:04:47,680
Speaker 2: based on that experience. But the version that I'm going

93
00:04:47,760 --> 00:04:51,479
Speaker 2: to be talking about for today's episode is actually the

94
00:04:51,520 --> 00:04:55,599
Speaker 2: two thousand and eight director's cut, which most fans seem

95
00:04:55,640 --> 00:04:59,200
Speaker 2: to prefer. One of the key differences people point out

96
00:04:59,279 --> 00:05:03,480
Speaker 2: is that it leaves out some unnecessary opening narration from

97
00:05:03,600 --> 00:05:08,040
Speaker 2: Keifer Sutherland's character, which, from what I recall, does indeed

98
00:05:08,160 --> 00:05:11,719
Speaker 2: spoil huge surprises in the movie for no particular reason.

99
00:05:12,000 --> 00:05:15,359
Speaker 2: And actually, the friend of mine who first showed me

100
00:05:15,480 --> 00:05:19,120
Speaker 2: Dark City, even though we watched the theatrical cut, he

101
00:05:19,400 --> 00:05:22,520
Speaker 2: muted the opening narration when he showed it to me.

102
00:05:23,040 --> 00:05:24,919
Speaker 2: Oh wow, you had somebody looking out for you.

103
00:05:25,160 --> 00:05:27,360
Speaker 3: Really, Yeah, this's my friend Ben, He's taking good care

104
00:05:27,360 --> 00:05:27,560
Speaker 3: of me.

105
00:05:29,640 --> 00:05:32,760
Speaker 2: But this was the version, of course, that I grew

106
00:05:32,839 --> 00:05:35,880
Speaker 2: up loving as well, and I don't know at the time,

107
00:05:35,960 --> 00:05:39,039
Speaker 2: nobody muted it for me, so I just got the

108
00:05:39,040 --> 00:05:41,520
Speaker 2: spoiler right there at the beginning and just accepted it

109
00:05:41,600 --> 00:05:43,320
Speaker 2: is like, well, they know what they're doing.

110
00:05:44,040 --> 00:05:46,520
Speaker 3: I don't know this, this could be totally wrong, but

111
00:05:46,640 --> 00:05:51,120
Speaker 3: the decision to include that opening monologue feels like a

112
00:05:51,320 --> 00:05:55,320
Speaker 3: misguided attempt to address complaints of test audiences.

113
00:05:55,560 --> 00:05:57,719
Speaker 2: I believe that is the case. I think I've read

114
00:05:57,800 --> 00:06:00,839
Speaker 2: that and that's the reason that the narrator is missing

115
00:06:00,880 --> 00:06:04,400
Speaker 2: from the director's cut. Yeah, and as is often the case,

116
00:06:04,400 --> 00:06:06,400
Speaker 2: you know, the director's cut also has it doesn't I

117
00:06:06,400 --> 00:06:08,640
Speaker 2: don't think it has a tremendous amount of extra content.

118
00:06:08,720 --> 00:06:12,480
Speaker 2: I know there's like one scene in particular with Jennifer

119
00:06:12,480 --> 00:06:16,640
Speaker 2: Connelly's character, but we don't have a complete side by

120
00:06:16,680 --> 00:06:19,800
Speaker 2: side breakdown of how the two different versions differ, though.

121
00:06:19,920 --> 00:06:22,720
Speaker 3: But there definitely is extra stuff. I know the director's

122
00:06:22,720 --> 00:06:24,800
Speaker 3: cut is several minutes longer. Yeah, and there are a

123
00:06:24,800 --> 00:06:28,920
Speaker 3: few little subplots I think where there is extra dialogue,

124
00:06:29,120 --> 00:06:32,240
Speaker 3: there will be dialogue exchanges where there are more lines

125
00:06:32,320 --> 00:06:35,240
Speaker 3: between the characters and a scene than I remember being there.

126
00:06:36,200 --> 00:06:39,640
Speaker 3: There are just generally scenes that are a little bit longer.

127
00:06:39,680 --> 00:06:43,000
Speaker 3: There's one subplot I think about about a little girl

128
00:06:43,000 --> 00:06:45,320
Speaker 3: who witnesses a murder, and I don't think that was

129
00:06:45,360 --> 00:06:46,640
Speaker 3: in the theatrical cut.

130
00:06:47,400 --> 00:06:50,280
Speaker 2: Yeah. Yeah, you know, it's a lot easier when you're

131
00:06:50,320 --> 00:06:53,320
Speaker 2: dealing with grimier pictures, because then you pretty much always

132
00:06:53,360 --> 00:06:56,279
Speaker 2: know what's cut is just more gore and more nudity.

133
00:06:57,320 --> 00:07:00,760
Speaker 2: That's not the case here. The content that was added

134
00:07:00,760 --> 00:07:03,240
Speaker 2: back for the director's cut tends to be a little

135
00:07:03,240 --> 00:07:03,920
Speaker 2: more nuanced.

136
00:07:03,960 --> 00:07:06,240
Speaker 3: I think we were talking about this a bit off, Mike,

137
00:07:06,360 --> 00:07:09,760
Speaker 3: But one question I guess is how much the extra

138
00:07:09,800 --> 00:07:13,320
Speaker 3: stuff in the director's cut does mess with the pacing

139
00:07:13,400 --> 00:07:17,280
Speaker 3: of the film. I do still think that the director's

140
00:07:17,320 --> 00:07:20,240
Speaker 3: cut has a pretty excellent pace, but the movie did

141
00:07:20,240 --> 00:07:23,680
Speaker 3: not feel quite as tightly wound as I remember. That

142
00:07:23,800 --> 00:07:25,800
Speaker 3: was one of the really I mean, there's a lot

143
00:07:25,840 --> 00:07:28,120
Speaker 3: that's great about this movie, but one of the real

144
00:07:28,240 --> 00:07:32,360
Speaker 3: lasting impressions that the theatrical cut originally made on me

145
00:07:33,040 --> 00:07:35,560
Speaker 3: was its pacing. I thought that it was about as

146
00:07:35,760 --> 00:07:39,280
Speaker 3: perfectly paced a movie as I had ever seen it.

147
00:07:39,440 --> 00:07:43,640
Speaker 3: Just the way the story unfolded felt like a perfectly

148
00:07:43,720 --> 00:07:49,320
Speaker 3: tuned machine. It was just fast, lean, perfectly efficient in storytelling,

149
00:07:49,360 --> 00:07:54,000
Speaker 3: with constant forward momentum. Somehow, on watching the director's cut,

150
00:07:54,120 --> 00:07:56,560
Speaker 3: it felt a little bit looser than that. To me.

151
00:07:57,560 --> 00:08:00,560
Speaker 3: Maybe that's partially just different judgment now than I'm older,

152
00:08:01,080 --> 00:08:03,520
Speaker 3: But many of the scenes I think are actually longer.

153
00:08:03,840 --> 00:08:05,680
Speaker 3: So it's not like I think the director's cut is

154
00:08:05,720 --> 00:08:10,360
Speaker 3: badly paced, but it might lose that like perfect pacing edge.

155
00:08:11,640 --> 00:08:14,800
Speaker 2: Interesting. Yeah, I thought it was. In my viewing. I

156
00:08:14,800 --> 00:08:17,000
Speaker 2: thought it still moved along at a pretty crisp pace.

157
00:08:17,800 --> 00:08:20,760
Speaker 2: But I wonder too how much of that is just

158
00:08:21,600 --> 00:08:24,720
Speaker 2: how I went into the picture because or at least

159
00:08:24,720 --> 00:08:26,880
Speaker 2: this viewing of it, because going into it, I think

160
00:08:26,920 --> 00:08:29,000
Speaker 2: I was And I watched it with my wife she

161
00:08:29,040 --> 00:08:30,480
Speaker 2: was like, hey, I want to rewatch Dark City. I

162
00:08:30,480 --> 00:08:33,080
Speaker 2: haven't seen it forever as well, so I'm sometimes a

163
00:08:33,080 --> 00:08:36,320
Speaker 2: little extra nervous if someone else is watching it with me.

164
00:08:36,640 --> 00:08:38,760
Speaker 2: I guess my two but my two main concerns were

165
00:08:38,960 --> 00:08:41,480
Speaker 2: it's a director's cut, is it going to feel bloated?

166
00:08:42,040 --> 00:08:45,760
Speaker 2: And then number two, I'm revisiting a film that in

167
00:08:45,800 --> 00:08:48,160
Speaker 2: the past I've loved so much. What if I don't

168
00:08:48,200 --> 00:08:51,760
Speaker 2: love it anymore? You know, what if it feels old

169
00:08:51,880 --> 00:08:54,719
Speaker 2: or tired and rough around the edges or something to

170
00:08:54,760 --> 00:08:56,840
Speaker 2: that effect. I mean, I've had that experience with films.

171
00:08:56,880 --> 00:08:59,400
Speaker 2: And then also, yeah, what if what if my wife

172
00:08:59,440 --> 00:09:03,360
Speaker 2: is bored with it, and so I was kind of

173
00:09:03,400 --> 00:09:06,880
Speaker 2: prepared for any of those eventualities, and none of them occurred.

174
00:09:07,400 --> 00:09:09,920
Speaker 2: I mean for the most part. I mean, as we'll discuss,

175
00:09:09,960 --> 00:09:11,960
Speaker 2: there are a few things that I have different thoughts

176
00:09:11,960 --> 00:09:13,839
Speaker 2: on today, but for the most part, I still loved it.

177
00:09:14,640 --> 00:09:17,120
Speaker 3: I definitely really loved some movies when I was eighteen

178
00:09:17,200 --> 00:09:20,600
Speaker 3: that are not as good as Dark City.

179
00:09:20,720 --> 00:09:23,280
Speaker 2: Yeah, I would venture to guess that Hell Raiser two

180
00:09:23,480 --> 00:09:26,880
Speaker 2: doesn't hold up as well as it used to for

181
00:09:27,000 --> 00:09:32,800
Speaker 2: my case. Now, without going into spoilers, I want to

182
00:09:32,840 --> 00:09:34,920
Speaker 2: mention that Dark City, if you're not familiar with it,

183
00:09:35,040 --> 00:09:37,400
Speaker 2: or even if you are, it'll just serves to remind

184
00:09:37,440 --> 00:09:40,760
Speaker 2: you that it's very much a reality, isn't what you think?

185
00:09:40,800 --> 00:09:46,760
Speaker 2: It is? Film of the late nineties and early two thousands.

186
00:09:46,800 --> 00:09:49,560
Speaker 2: It's one of the best of these films, alongside The Matrix,

187
00:09:49,640 --> 00:09:52,640
Speaker 2: which came out the following year and actually reuses some

188
00:09:52,679 --> 00:09:54,120
Speaker 2: of the same rooftop sets.

189
00:09:54,280 --> 00:09:56,040
Speaker 3: Oh well, I can see that. Yeah.

190
00:09:56,200 --> 00:09:59,360
Speaker 2: Yeah. Some other films that you could easily compare to

191
00:09:59,720 --> 00:10:02,480
Speaker 2: these too would be what Gatica from ninety seven, so

192
00:10:02,600 --> 00:10:06,720
Speaker 2: kind of a precursor existence from ninety nine the Cronenberg

193
00:10:06,840 --> 00:10:10,360
Speaker 2: film and The Thirteenth Floor from nineteen ninety nine, But

194
00:10:10,400 --> 00:10:15,160
Speaker 2: there are many other films that feature different elements of

195
00:10:15,200 --> 00:10:18,120
Speaker 2: this sort of subgenre of you know, reality isn't what

196
00:10:18,160 --> 00:10:20,520
Speaker 2: you think it is, either because there's some sort of

197
00:10:20,559 --> 00:10:24,880
Speaker 2: active simulation going on, or there is indeed something else,

198
00:10:24,880 --> 00:10:27,560
Speaker 2: a little more subtle, something in our worldview or in

199
00:10:27,600 --> 00:10:29,920
Speaker 2: our culture that has to be poked through.

200
00:10:30,200 --> 00:10:32,440
Speaker 3: I just had to check because I've never seen The

201
00:10:32,480 --> 00:10:34,720
Speaker 3: Thirteenth Floor, but I was wondering, is that the movie

202
00:10:34,760 --> 00:10:39,640
Speaker 3: that's a remake of World on Wire, the Fastbender movie

203
00:10:39,640 --> 00:10:41,439
Speaker 3: from the seventies. I don't know if I'm saying his

204
00:10:41,520 --> 00:10:45,720
Speaker 3: name correctly, the German director Rander Werner. Fastbender is how

205
00:10:45,720 --> 00:10:48,840
Speaker 3: it's spelled, anyway. I just originally I watched the original

206
00:10:49,200 --> 00:10:51,280
Speaker 3: mini series World on Wire this past year, and I

207
00:10:51,280 --> 00:10:54,439
Speaker 3: thought it was excellent and really interesting, and then realized

208
00:10:54,480 --> 00:10:57,200
Speaker 3: that there was like a late nineties remake of that.

209
00:10:57,360 --> 00:10:59,400
Speaker 2: Oh wow, Well, maybe that's what we need to look

210
00:10:59,440 --> 00:11:00,920
Speaker 2: at the next time. We need a little dose of

211
00:11:01,640 --> 00:11:04,480
Speaker 2: nineties or reality poking.

212
00:11:04,679 --> 00:11:08,040
Speaker 3: Oh okay, my impression, maybe this is totally unfair. My

213
00:11:08,120 --> 00:11:11,480
Speaker 3: impression is that Thirteenth Floor is not considered a very

214
00:11:11,480 --> 00:11:16,959
Speaker 3: good adaptation of the source material. Okay, all right, by

215
00:11:17,000 --> 00:11:18,560
Speaker 3: the way, if you get a chance, World on Wire

216
00:11:18,679 --> 00:11:19,240
Speaker 3: is pretty great.

217
00:11:19,400 --> 00:11:21,360
Speaker 2: Okay, it's a it's a mini series.

218
00:11:21,200 --> 00:11:24,920
Speaker 3: Yeah, the original German mini series. Yes, that was based

219
00:11:24,960 --> 00:11:26,600
Speaker 3: on the novel. I don't remember the name of it,

220
00:11:27,080 --> 00:11:30,400
Speaker 3: but you're exactly right that at least does have this

221
00:11:30,400 --> 00:11:33,280
Speaker 3: this plot of like, what is reality? Is the world

222
00:11:33,280 --> 00:11:35,319
Speaker 3: we live in? Real? Am I a butterfly dreaming? I'm

223
00:11:35,360 --> 00:11:36,360
Speaker 3: a man? That kind of thing?

224
00:11:36,720 --> 00:11:40,520
Speaker 2: Yeah? Yeah, And this becomes a pretty important part of

225
00:11:41,080 --> 00:11:44,280
Speaker 2: a number of cinematic experiments of the day. I mean

226
00:11:44,280 --> 00:11:46,240
Speaker 2: you see elements of it in films like Fight.

227
00:11:46,120 --> 00:11:46,880
Speaker 3: Club as well.

228
00:11:47,480 --> 00:11:49,600
Speaker 2: But you know, in general, you have a basic scenario,

229
00:11:49,679 --> 00:11:52,560
Speaker 2: right where your protagonist comes to see through the illusion

230
00:11:52,600 --> 00:11:56,520
Speaker 2: of the mundane world and in grasping this revelation finds

231
00:11:56,559 --> 00:11:59,600
Speaker 2: that power to overcome this illusion and or the power

232
00:11:59,640 --> 00:12:03,960
Speaker 2: behind that illusion. Nothing new about this story structure, of course,

233
00:12:04,000 --> 00:12:07,920
Speaker 2: It's essentially the story of the historical Buddha Sidharta Goatoma

234
00:12:08,000 --> 00:12:11,000
Speaker 2: you know begun. You know, where he realizes that you

235
00:12:11,000 --> 00:12:13,680
Speaker 2: know that there's a fallacy. There's an allusion to the

236
00:12:13,679 --> 00:12:16,600
Speaker 2: sort of world that we live in value and seeing

237
00:12:16,640 --> 00:12:19,840
Speaker 2: through that and discovering the truth, finding this revelation and

238
00:12:19,880 --> 00:12:21,200
Speaker 2: in that revelation of power.

239
00:12:21,440 --> 00:12:25,000
Speaker 3: Yeah, Plato's Cave and all that sort of thing too. Yeah,

240
00:12:24,440 --> 00:12:27,920
Speaker 3: the facade of reality is an illusion. There is some

241
00:12:28,000 --> 00:12:31,400
Speaker 3: deeper thing happening behind it, and you have to understand

242
00:12:31,440 --> 00:12:32,000
Speaker 3: what that is.

243
00:12:32,520 --> 00:12:36,200
Speaker 2: Yeah, and you know, coming back to the time period

244
00:12:36,280 --> 00:12:38,200
Speaker 2: in our lives in which you and I both watched

245
00:12:38,200 --> 00:12:40,160
Speaker 2: this film, and a lot of people out there enjoyed

246
00:12:40,160 --> 00:12:45,600
Speaker 2: this film, and and also with younger listeners, maybe you

247
00:12:45,600 --> 00:12:47,840
Speaker 2: you discovered this film later and it filled the same

248
00:12:48,120 --> 00:12:51,000
Speaker 2: slot for you. But yeah, I do feel like this

249
00:12:51,040 --> 00:12:54,520
Speaker 2: sort of tale often really resonates strongly with that age range,

250
00:12:54,559 --> 00:12:58,160
Speaker 2: that feeling of waking up, seeing through the illusion and

251
00:12:59,320 --> 00:13:02,800
Speaker 2: finding the note and or power to combat it. You know,

252
00:13:02,840 --> 00:13:04,679
Speaker 2: we could be cynical and point to any number of

253
00:13:04,679 --> 00:13:07,880
Speaker 2: flawed or even harmful ideologies one might pick up during

254
00:13:07,880 --> 00:13:10,640
Speaker 2: this phase of one's life, but it's also just part

255
00:13:10,679 --> 00:13:12,920
Speaker 2: of growing up and figuring out who you are.

256
00:13:13,679 --> 00:13:17,120
Speaker 3: Yeah, I think you're exactly right. The what's really real

257
00:13:17,280 --> 00:13:21,199
Speaker 3: type story, It can resonate at any age, but it

258
00:13:21,320 --> 00:13:23,840
Speaker 3: is like a heat seeking missile to the mind of

259
00:13:23,880 --> 00:13:26,600
Speaker 3: the early adult, you know, the you know when you're

260
00:13:26,640 --> 00:13:28,960
Speaker 3: eighteen to twenty years old, which is exactly when I

261
00:13:29,000 --> 00:13:31,199
Speaker 3: discovered this movie and thought it was the best movie

262
00:13:31,200 --> 00:13:34,800
Speaker 3: I'd ever seen. Yeh, yeah, and so it's you know,

263
00:13:34,880 --> 00:13:36,920
Speaker 3: I still like that kind of story now, but it

264
00:13:37,000 --> 00:13:39,720
Speaker 3: had a power to me then, and I think often

265
00:13:39,760 --> 00:13:41,480
Speaker 3: does have a power when you're at that age.

266
00:13:42,000 --> 00:13:45,679
Speaker 2: Yeah, you can. This is a film in which, once

267
00:13:45,840 --> 00:13:48,959
Speaker 2: our protagonist fully finds his power, he's able to float

268
00:13:49,000 --> 00:13:50,880
Speaker 2: up off the ground and move things with his mind.

269
00:13:51,160 --> 00:13:54,400
Speaker 2: And that's kind of the feeling of making these breakthroughs

270
00:13:54,400 --> 00:13:58,120
Speaker 2: and revelations at that age and at that point in

271
00:13:58,160 --> 00:13:58,720
Speaker 2: one's life.

272
00:13:58,920 --> 00:13:59,120
Speaker 3: Yeah.

273
00:14:00,040 --> 00:14:02,120
Speaker 2: Then, and at least in my experience, then you realize, oh,

274
00:14:02,120 --> 00:14:05,280
Speaker 2: I didn't actually know anything at all, And hopefully the

275
00:14:06,520 --> 00:14:08,920
Speaker 2: general pace one keeps through one's life is yeah, you

276
00:14:09,280 --> 00:14:12,920
Speaker 2: keep learning new things, you keep realizing that you didn't

277
00:14:13,280 --> 00:14:16,080
Speaker 2: have it all figured out, and then you keep learning

278
00:14:16,160 --> 00:14:18,920
Speaker 2: and growing as a person and floating off the ground

279
00:14:19,080 --> 00:14:20,680
Speaker 2: and eventually moving things with your mind.

280
00:14:21,880 --> 00:14:24,880
Speaker 3: No, it's what you're saying is interesting because I think

281
00:14:25,160 --> 00:14:29,440
Speaker 3: there is a smug, self satisfied way to have the

282
00:14:30,400 --> 00:14:34,760
Speaker 3: socratic admission of ignorance, you know, like, oh, I've admitted

283
00:14:34,840 --> 00:14:37,000
Speaker 3: that I know nothing in reality might not be what

284
00:14:37,040 --> 00:14:39,120
Speaker 3: I think it is, and I'm so much smarter than

285
00:14:39,200 --> 00:14:40,080
Speaker 3: you for saying that.

286
00:14:41,000 --> 00:14:44,240
Speaker 2: Yeah, but it's also it's interesting to think about this

287
00:14:44,280 --> 00:14:47,080
Speaker 2: in light of Highlander. Okay, Highlander. You know the quickening

288
00:14:47,960 --> 00:14:50,920
Speaker 2: in the first film, like he wins and achieves perfection.

289
00:14:51,680 --> 00:14:53,480
Speaker 2: That's kind of what we'll get in this picture. That's

290
00:14:53,600 --> 00:14:56,200
Speaker 2: kind that's basically what we get in the matrix. The

291
00:14:56,200 --> 00:14:58,560
Speaker 2: first one is a standalone film. The idea that you

292
00:14:58,560 --> 00:15:02,720
Speaker 2: can just level up your character or completely at age

293
00:15:02,720 --> 00:15:05,280
Speaker 2: twenty something and then you're good, You've got it all,

294
00:15:05,280 --> 00:15:06,000
Speaker 2: figure it out.

295
00:15:06,160 --> 00:15:10,160
Speaker 3: And then Queen plays. Yeah. In fact, I do want

296
00:15:10,160 --> 00:15:12,480
Speaker 3: to talk about what the ending of this movie means,

297
00:15:12,520 --> 00:15:14,000
Speaker 3: but I guess we'll save it for when we get

298
00:15:14,040 --> 00:15:17,800
Speaker 3: there in the plot section? Should we also save this?

299
00:15:17,920 --> 00:15:21,160
Speaker 3: I sort of wrote up a list of the general

300
00:15:21,240 --> 00:15:24,920
Speaker 3: things that held up as well as I remembered them,

301
00:15:25,040 --> 00:15:27,040
Speaker 3: or about as well as I remembered them, and the

302
00:15:27,080 --> 00:15:30,120
Speaker 3: things that did not. Do you want to talk about

303
00:15:30,120 --> 00:15:31,440
Speaker 3: that now or save that for later.

304
00:15:32,040 --> 00:15:34,000
Speaker 2: Let's go ahead and hit some thoughts about like the

305
00:15:34,080 --> 00:15:37,160
Speaker 2: general texture of the film, particularly the look of the film.

306
00:15:37,320 --> 00:15:40,600
Speaker 2: Oh and then maybe we'll get a little more detailed

307
00:15:40,800 --> 00:15:42,520
Speaker 2: when we talk about individual performers.

308
00:15:42,680 --> 00:15:45,640
Speaker 3: Okay, cool, Well, So, one thing that I think still

309
00:15:45,640 --> 00:15:50,280
Speaker 3: holds up quite well is the plot. Not necessarily every

310
00:15:50,320 --> 00:15:53,920
Speaker 3: single element of the story, but in terms of plot mechanics,

311
00:15:53,960 --> 00:15:57,720
Speaker 3: how the mystery is plotted, how information is revealed, the

312
00:15:58,040 --> 00:16:01,240
Speaker 3: dreaming up of the situation of the movie, I think

313
00:16:01,280 --> 00:16:04,520
Speaker 3: that's still just top notch. This movie is a super

314
00:16:04,680 --> 00:16:09,360
Speaker 3: intriguing mystery from the very first moments that pulls you along.

315
00:16:09,440 --> 00:16:11,960
Speaker 3: You just gotta know what happens next. And I think

316
00:16:11,960 --> 00:16:15,280
Speaker 3: it by and large has very enjoyable characters and dialogue

317
00:16:15,280 --> 00:16:16,000
Speaker 3: moment to moment.

318
00:16:16,520 --> 00:16:19,920
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, just some amazing world building here as well,

319
00:16:19,960 --> 00:16:22,520
Speaker 2: And yeah, I agree all this holds up for my money.

320
00:16:22,920 --> 00:16:25,680
Speaker 3: Also, I think most of the cast is pretty great.

321
00:16:25,960 --> 00:16:29,040
Speaker 3: I love the on screen presence of rufus sewell of

322
00:16:29,120 --> 00:16:33,560
Speaker 3: Jennifer Connelly, of William Hurt, and definitely of Richard O'Brien.

323
00:16:34,520 --> 00:16:36,840
Speaker 3: I don't want to be too critical because you know,

324
00:16:37,240 --> 00:16:39,040
Speaker 3: no offense to him. It might not have might have

325
00:16:39,120 --> 00:16:43,320
Speaker 3: been direction instead of his decisions. Key for Sutherland's weird,

326
00:16:43,520 --> 00:16:47,440
Speaker 3: gasping performance might not be for everybody here. I don't know.

327
00:16:47,480 --> 00:16:49,400
Speaker 3: I've heard that polarize people before.

328
00:16:50,000 --> 00:16:53,160
Speaker 2: I will share my thoughts on this performance in just

329
00:16:53,200 --> 00:16:53,720
Speaker 2: a minute of.

330
00:16:53,800 --> 00:16:57,160
Speaker 3: Doing Okay, oh wow, wait a minute, are you doing

331
00:16:57,360 --> 00:16:58,000
Speaker 3: Peter Lorrie?

332
00:16:58,080 --> 00:17:02,240
Speaker 2: There? I I'm doing what I think key for Southern.

333
00:17:02,400 --> 00:17:04,639
Speaker 2: So I'll go ahead and talk about this just a

334
00:17:04,680 --> 00:17:08,800
Speaker 2: little bit. Yeah, so with key for Sutherland's performance here,

335
00:17:10,359 --> 00:17:12,080
Speaker 2: there was a time where I would have probably told

336
00:17:12,080 --> 00:17:15,040
Speaker 2: you this was my favorite key for Sutherland role, and

337
00:17:15,720 --> 00:17:18,960
Speaker 2: that might still actually be true. I love it when actors,

338
00:17:19,080 --> 00:17:22,560
Speaker 2: especially ones we don't necessarily think of as character actors

339
00:17:22,720 --> 00:17:26,760
Speaker 2: or villain actors or weird actors, make weird choices. And

340
00:17:26,800 --> 00:17:31,600
Speaker 2: there's some weird choices made that this performance. It's still captivating,

341
00:17:31,760 --> 00:17:34,600
Speaker 2: But on my rewatch, I increasingly felt like I was

342
00:17:34,600 --> 00:17:38,760
Speaker 2: watching Sutherland do kind of a one dimensional impersonation of

343
00:17:38,880 --> 00:17:41,680
Speaker 2: Ronald Lacey doing an impersonation of Peter Lorie.

344
00:17:41,800 --> 00:17:46,840
Speaker 3: WHOA, Yeah, that's that's a good read. I see those layers. Yeah,

345
00:17:46,920 --> 00:17:50,320
Speaker 3: it almost feels to me more like a skit performance

346
00:17:50,600 --> 00:17:51,920
Speaker 3: than a movie performance.

347
00:17:52,400 --> 00:17:55,399
Speaker 2: Yeah, and we would maybe notice it less if we

348
00:17:55,480 --> 00:17:58,840
Speaker 2: didn't see this character so frequently. Yeah, and you know,

349
00:17:59,480 --> 00:18:01,159
Speaker 2: I don't know. I don't know his screen time in

350
00:18:01,200 --> 00:18:04,679
Speaker 2: the director's cut versus the original. Is it possibly the

351
00:18:04,720 --> 00:18:06,640
Speaker 2: case that we just see a little bit too much

352
00:18:06,720 --> 00:18:08,879
Speaker 2: and hear a little bit too much from this character

353
00:18:09,119 --> 00:18:10,040
Speaker 2: in the director's cut.

354
00:18:10,320 --> 00:18:10,679
Speaker 3: I don't know.

355
00:18:10,720 --> 00:18:12,720
Speaker 2: I still think this is a major character, and he

356
00:18:13,000 --> 00:18:15,560
Speaker 2: still had a lot of screen time in the theatrical,

357
00:18:15,680 --> 00:18:16,240
Speaker 2: So I don't know.

358
00:18:16,520 --> 00:18:19,879
Speaker 3: Yeah. So another thing that I think really really holds

359
00:18:19,960 --> 00:18:23,520
Speaker 3: up is the setting and the set design. This is

360
00:18:23,680 --> 00:18:26,720
Speaker 3: just marvelous. I think this is something also that Ebert

361
00:18:26,720 --> 00:18:30,240
Speaker 3: really loved about the movie. But it is a wonderful

362
00:18:30,400 --> 00:18:35,919
Speaker 3: blend of different visual style. Soe The look in the

363
00:18:35,960 --> 00:18:40,639
Speaker 3: movie is part nineteen forties film noir, with a lonely city,

364
00:18:41,160 --> 00:18:44,240
Speaker 3: always in the dark, where people meet whispering in these

365
00:18:44,240 --> 00:18:47,399
Speaker 3: isolated pools of artificial light. Very much a feeling like

366
00:18:47,520 --> 00:18:50,840
Speaker 3: Edward Hopper's Nighthawks, you know what I'm talking about. But

367
00:18:51,240 --> 00:18:54,359
Speaker 3: another layer on top of that, I would say is

368
00:18:54,440 --> 00:18:59,879
Speaker 3: characterized more by a German expressionist unreality in the architecture,

369
00:19:00,080 --> 00:19:05,560
Speaker 3: these tall, looming buildings with bizarre sharp angles, often few

370
00:19:05,720 --> 00:19:08,320
Speaker 3: or no windows. You'll see in this movie a skyscraper

371
00:19:08,320 --> 00:19:10,360
Speaker 3: that doesn't have any windows on it, or maybe it's

372
00:19:10,400 --> 00:19:15,199
Speaker 3: like one window and then you will have also this

373
00:19:15,480 --> 00:19:20,080
Speaker 3: layered city effect reminiscent of Fritzlanan's Metropolis, where the world

374
00:19:20,200 --> 00:19:24,800
Speaker 3: is stacked up vertically upon itself and life seems to

375
00:19:24,840 --> 00:19:29,040
Speaker 3: take place in this endless series of tunnels and stairwells,

376
00:19:29,440 --> 00:19:33,320
Speaker 3: all supported by this unholy machinery underneath. I just love

377
00:19:33,440 --> 00:19:33,960
Speaker 3: the setting.

378
00:19:34,640 --> 00:19:38,320
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, this absolutely still held up for me. It

379
00:19:38,440 --> 00:19:43,600
Speaker 2: felt like shades of Irving Norman. Definitely strong noir vibes

380
00:19:43,680 --> 00:19:47,439
Speaker 2: to it, and everything illuminated in a sickly absente lighting,

381
00:19:47,720 --> 00:19:50,480
Speaker 2: but not too much, like, not so strongly that you're like,

382
00:19:50,560 --> 00:19:53,520
Speaker 2: WHOA hold off in the gels there, buddy. Like it

383
00:19:53,560 --> 00:19:56,439
Speaker 2: felt like just the right amount of surreal lighting in

384
00:19:56,480 --> 00:19:57,879
Speaker 2: this surreal environment.

385
00:19:58,119 --> 00:20:00,560
Speaker 3: I like the weird color palette of the Yeah, so

386
00:20:00,560 --> 00:20:03,320
Speaker 3: the movie is very dark. The title doesn't lie. It

387
00:20:03,440 --> 00:20:06,040
Speaker 3: is a dark city, so there's a lot of shadow,

388
00:20:06,160 --> 00:20:10,720
Speaker 3: but there are scenes that have lighting themes, sometimes of green,

389
00:20:11,040 --> 00:20:13,640
Speaker 3: sometimes of yellow, sometimes of blue.

390
00:20:14,320 --> 00:20:14,879
Speaker 2: Yeah.

391
00:20:15,240 --> 00:20:18,159
Speaker 3: Another visual element that I think holds up amazingly is

392
00:20:18,640 --> 00:20:22,480
Speaker 3: the costumes and makeup, especially the design of the villains

393
00:20:22,520 --> 00:20:25,320
Speaker 3: in the film The Strangers. I love the strangers in

394
00:20:25,359 --> 00:20:29,200
Speaker 3: their human form. I'll offer a caveat on other elements

395
00:20:29,200 --> 00:20:31,160
Speaker 3: of the strangers in a minute, but in their human

396
00:20:31,240 --> 00:20:36,280
Speaker 3: form they look awesome. The black hats, this mountainous, kind

397
00:20:36,280 --> 00:20:39,920
Speaker 3: of bulky image of the fur lined collars on their coats,

398
00:20:40,280 --> 00:20:43,880
Speaker 3: the wonderful costume design, and they look so mysterious.

399
00:20:44,400 --> 00:20:46,640
Speaker 2: Yeah, I was thinking about it. There is. It's essentially

400
00:20:46,880 --> 00:20:52,879
Speaker 2: a three part cocktail, equal parts German expressionist Nosferatu, hell razor,

401
00:20:52,960 --> 00:20:56,440
Speaker 2: cinebite and bomb worshiping mutants from beneath the planet of

402
00:20:56,440 --> 00:20:59,240
Speaker 2: the Apes, and it all comes together perfectly, like in

403
00:20:59,320 --> 00:21:02,560
Speaker 2: a way, I would argue that, like, I mean, I

404
00:21:02,600 --> 00:21:05,040
Speaker 2: don't know, I don't want to say anything against nos Faratu,

405
00:21:05,119 --> 00:21:07,440
Speaker 2: but it's almost like by combining these three elements you

406
00:21:07,520 --> 00:21:12,000
Speaker 2: create something even more visually striking than the ingredients.

407
00:21:12,040 --> 00:21:12,200
Speaker 1: You know.

408
00:21:12,280 --> 00:21:14,639
Speaker 2: It's just a perfect balance of influences here.

409
00:21:15,040 --> 00:21:18,520
Speaker 3: Yeah, Okay, So that's some of the main thoughts I

410
00:21:18,600 --> 00:21:20,560
Speaker 3: had about things that I think hold up really well.

411
00:21:20,880 --> 00:21:23,600
Speaker 3: I may be forgetting some other real virtues of the film,

412
00:21:23,680 --> 00:21:26,920
Speaker 3: but yeah, for the most part, that's like the big

413
00:21:27,000 --> 00:21:30,359
Speaker 3: stuff that I think still works great. Some elements also,

414
00:21:30,480 --> 00:21:32,479
Speaker 3: I think did not hold up quite as well as

415
00:21:32,520 --> 00:21:36,240
Speaker 3: I remembered, you might be critical of some aspects of

416
00:21:36,320 --> 00:21:39,280
Speaker 3: the story. While the story as a plot, as like

417
00:21:39,359 --> 00:21:42,720
Speaker 3: an executed plot, works so well and it's got a

418
00:21:42,800 --> 00:21:47,960
Speaker 3: really imaginative central idea and situation, there are elements of

419
00:21:48,000 --> 00:21:51,960
Speaker 3: the human storytelling that might feel kind of skin deep,

420
00:21:52,280 --> 00:21:55,760
Speaker 3: you know that sometimes some of the characters are kind

421
00:21:55,760 --> 00:22:00,399
Speaker 3: of just moved around by pieces and don't feel you

422
00:22:00,480 --> 00:22:02,639
Speaker 3: can feel you're kind of scraping the bottom suddenly.

423
00:22:03,400 --> 00:22:05,680
Speaker 2: Yeah, but it is this is such a weird film

424
00:22:05,800 --> 00:22:10,199
Speaker 2: to think about those those limitations in because the characters

425
00:22:10,760 --> 00:22:13,080
Speaker 2: within the context of the story, the characters are moved

426
00:22:13,119 --> 00:22:16,399
Speaker 2: around as pieces, yeah, and are kind of shallow because

427
00:22:16,520 --> 00:22:19,680
Speaker 2: they're you know, we're coming up against the limitations of

428
00:22:19,720 --> 00:22:23,080
Speaker 2: their memory and yeah. So it's not quite a dull

429
00:22:23,160 --> 00:22:26,359
Speaker 2: person movie or anything to that effect, but we are

430
00:22:26,440 --> 00:22:32,400
Speaker 2: dealing with We're not dealing with real world human characters here,

431
00:22:32,600 --> 00:22:35,280
Speaker 2: And I think there's no there's no there are no

432
00:22:35,440 --> 00:22:37,600
Speaker 2: characters in this that are real world human beings, as

433
00:22:37,640 --> 00:22:38,600
Speaker 2: we'll come to discover.

434
00:22:39,000 --> 00:22:42,639
Speaker 3: You could argue, yeah, the characterization is a result of

435
00:22:42,760 --> 00:22:47,080
Speaker 3: the weird situation of the story. Yeah, some things that

436
00:22:47,200 --> 00:22:49,639
Speaker 3: I think definitely don't hold up great. So some of

437
00:22:49,680 --> 00:22:53,680
Speaker 3: the special effects there is cgi in this movie that

438
00:22:53,880 --> 00:22:56,919
Speaker 3: is quite rough in my opinion. I would particularly call

439
00:22:57,000 --> 00:23:00,119
Speaker 3: out the reveal of the creature designs and some of

440
00:23:00,200 --> 00:23:03,359
Speaker 3: the tuning scenes not looking great to me.

441
00:23:04,160 --> 00:23:07,080
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think most of these effects felt really great

442
00:23:07,119 --> 00:23:10,160
Speaker 2: at the time, but have just not aged well again

443
00:23:10,400 --> 00:23:14,480
Speaker 2: because watching it in twenty twenty five, it's we've just

444
00:23:14,560 --> 00:23:18,560
Speaker 2: seen the technology evolve so much. I was just begging

445
00:23:18,640 --> 00:23:21,800
Speaker 2: for just one practical effect shot of the alien creatures,

446
00:23:21,840 --> 00:23:26,040
Speaker 2: but I don't think we ever got one. There's one

447
00:23:26,080 --> 00:23:28,719
Speaker 2: shot where we kind of zoom in on a character's eyeball,

448
00:23:28,760 --> 00:23:30,639
Speaker 2: and that one that one looked alright to me, But

449
00:23:32,080 --> 00:23:34,239
Speaker 2: there are some others that are pretty rough, yeah, by

450
00:23:34,320 --> 00:23:35,120
Speaker 2: today's standards.

451
00:23:35,680 --> 00:23:38,200
Speaker 3: Also, I'm gonna say the weakest thing about the film

452
00:23:38,400 --> 00:23:41,600
Speaker 3: is the credits font. It's they used the font from

453
00:23:41,720 --> 00:23:42,920
Speaker 3: You Wouldn't Steal a Car.

454
00:23:44,000 --> 00:23:47,119
Speaker 2: Yeah, I was kind of strike the fonts. Felt it

455
00:23:47,240 --> 00:23:49,560
Speaker 2: threw me like I was thrown off for a second

456
00:23:49,600 --> 00:23:51,560
Speaker 2: as well, where I was like, are these the original fonts?

457
00:23:51,960 --> 00:23:53,960
Speaker 2: Did they have to replace? It? Is this like of

458
00:23:54,080 --> 00:23:57,600
Speaker 2: a last minute change? I don't know. I mean clearly. Yeah,

459
00:23:57,680 --> 00:24:01,560
Speaker 2: nothing has changed, but yeah, it it felt weird to

460
00:24:01,600 --> 00:24:02,040
Speaker 2: me as well.

461
00:24:02,359 --> 00:24:04,639
Speaker 3: I also have some thoughts about the final showdown at

462
00:24:04,640 --> 00:24:06,159
Speaker 3: the end of the movie, but maybe we'll save that

463
00:24:06,400 --> 00:24:08,240
Speaker 3: for the end of the plot section.

464
00:24:08,640 --> 00:24:11,359
Speaker 2: Yeah, all right, Well, elevator pitch for this one, I

465
00:24:11,400 --> 00:24:14,480
Speaker 2: honestly couldn't come up with anything, because I think Dark City,

466
00:24:14,680 --> 00:24:16,200
Speaker 2: at least for me, is one of those films that

467
00:24:16,400 --> 00:24:20,200
Speaker 2: you generally use as a reference point, some sort of

468
00:24:20,200 --> 00:24:22,480
Speaker 2: an elevator pitch, Like if you were to say, Okay,

469
00:24:22,520 --> 00:24:24,960
Speaker 2: it's Dark City, but with machine guns and latex pants,

470
00:24:25,280 --> 00:24:27,640
Speaker 2: that sort of thing, that's what the matrix is. Yeah, yeah,

471
00:24:27,720 --> 00:24:30,359
Speaker 2: in some respects it is. But then how do you

472
00:24:31,280 --> 00:24:33,680
Speaker 2: describe Dark City? I don't know that there's probably a

473
00:24:33,720 --> 00:24:35,560
Speaker 2: comparison that could be made to an older film, but

474
00:24:36,520 --> 00:24:38,879
Speaker 2: for the most part, it does feel like this. It

475
00:24:39,000 --> 00:24:40,919
Speaker 2: still feels like this to me, like it was at

476
00:24:40,960 --> 00:24:46,000
Speaker 2: the time a very fresh cinematic experiment that succeeded and

477
00:24:46,119 --> 00:24:49,960
Speaker 2: influenced so many things and retains a strong place in

478
00:24:50,080 --> 00:24:53,600
Speaker 2: everyone's memory. Yeah, all right, normally we would play the trailer,

479
00:24:53,720 --> 00:24:55,800
Speaker 2: but you know, I'm gonna if you're cool that Joe,

480
00:24:56,280 --> 00:24:58,000
Speaker 2: I think we're just going to skip it because I

481
00:24:58,119 --> 00:25:01,719
Speaker 2: revisited the theatrical trailer for this film and it's terrible,

482
00:25:03,240 --> 00:25:06,040
Speaker 2: especially for our audio format. It shows a lot of

483
00:25:06,119 --> 00:25:08,280
Speaker 2: neat sequences from the film, which is great if you're

484
00:25:08,400 --> 00:25:11,600
Speaker 2: if you're watching the trailer with your eyeballs, but otherwise

485
00:25:11,600 --> 00:25:15,960
Speaker 2: it's just music images and a weird font over that

486
00:25:16,359 --> 00:25:19,800
Speaker 2: that footage, and the music is not that great. I

487
00:25:19,840 --> 00:25:21,400
Speaker 2: don't know what the music is. It just feels weird.

488
00:25:21,440 --> 00:25:23,840
Speaker 2: It feels kind of like you're playing in Enigma track

489
00:25:24,320 --> 00:25:27,120
Speaker 2: over scenes from from Dark City. I had to check

490
00:25:27,280 --> 00:25:29,720
Speaker 2: multiple times to make sure I was actually watching a

491
00:25:29,840 --> 00:25:33,879
Speaker 2: legitimate trailer for this uh, major theatrical release and not

492
00:25:34,080 --> 00:25:37,040
Speaker 2: some sort of like third rate fan made trailer from

493
00:25:37,160 --> 00:25:40,960
Speaker 2: subsequent decades. But I think it is just really a

494
00:25:41,040 --> 00:25:44,320
Speaker 2: lackluster trailer. This is like tuning scenes set to techno.

495
00:25:45,200 --> 00:25:47,920
Speaker 2: Yeah kind of, but yeah, not in an effective way.

496
00:25:48,080 --> 00:25:50,119
Speaker 2: So go watch it if you if you wish, But

497
00:25:50,240 --> 00:25:53,160
Speaker 2: we're not gonna air any of the limited audio here.

498
00:26:01,640 --> 00:26:03,560
Speaker 3: All right, do you want to talk about the connections?

499
00:26:04,280 --> 00:26:06,560
Speaker 2: Yeah, let's get into it, all right. Let's start at

500
00:26:06,600 --> 00:26:11,320
Speaker 2: the top then with director Alex Proyas, who also has

501
00:26:11,400 --> 00:26:14,440
Speaker 2: a story in screenplay credit here. He was born in

502
00:26:14,520 --> 00:26:18,359
Speaker 2: nineteen sixty three. Australian director of Greek descent who directed

503
00:26:18,440 --> 00:26:20,720
Speaker 2: music videos in the nineteen eighties for such groups as

504
00:26:20,800 --> 00:26:26,040
Speaker 2: in Excess, Yes and Alphaville. They also made some short

505
00:26:26,160 --> 00:26:30,040
Speaker 2: films before directing his first feature length movie, nineteen eighty

506
00:26:30,160 --> 00:26:33,760
Speaker 2: nine's Spirits of the Air Grimlins of the Clouds, an

507
00:26:33,840 --> 00:26:38,040
Speaker 2: independent Australian post apocalyptic sci fi tale. He of course

508
00:26:38,119 --> 00:26:41,880
Speaker 2: followed this up with nineteen ninety four's The Crow, a crow,

509
00:26:42,840 --> 00:26:45,840
Speaker 2: a comic book movie starring Brandon Lee, Ernie Hudson, and

510
00:26:45,920 --> 00:26:49,720
Speaker 2: Michael Wincutt that made just a huge impact at the

511
00:26:49,840 --> 00:26:52,960
Speaker 2: time and is another film that I think retains its

512
00:26:53,000 --> 00:26:53,719
Speaker 2: cult following.

513
00:26:54,320 --> 00:26:57,600
Speaker 3: I have only seen The Crow once. I think did

514
00:26:57,680 --> 00:27:00,520
Speaker 3: not make nearly as big an impression on me as

515
00:27:00,560 --> 00:27:04,040
Speaker 3: Dark City did, but I remember the vibes around it.

516
00:27:04,280 --> 00:27:04,639
Speaker 2: It was.

517
00:27:05,640 --> 00:27:09,640
Speaker 3: It was a sort of generational touchstone in a way.

518
00:27:09,720 --> 00:27:10,520
Speaker 3: Am I wrong about that?

519
00:27:10,960 --> 00:27:14,200
Speaker 2: No? No, I think it's absolutely correct. It was the

520
00:27:14,280 --> 00:27:17,600
Speaker 2: goth superhero movie that the mid nineties needed. It had

521
00:27:17,640 --> 00:27:21,399
Speaker 2: a really awesome soundtrack that everyone around my age was

522
00:27:21,480 --> 00:27:25,200
Speaker 2: required to own on CD. And the end, of course,

523
00:27:25,280 --> 00:27:27,200
Speaker 2: you know the tragic death of the film star during

524
00:27:27,280 --> 00:27:31,120
Speaker 2: production also I think ended up adding to its mystique.

525
00:27:31,160 --> 00:27:32,919
Speaker 2: You know, it was and we had you know, Brandon

526
00:27:33,000 --> 00:27:36,720
Speaker 2: Lee died during the filming of the motion picture. And

527
00:27:37,520 --> 00:27:39,960
Speaker 2: you know, it's weird to reflect on this because while

528
00:27:40,000 --> 00:27:43,040
Speaker 2: I had the CD, I don't think, like yourself, I

529
00:27:43,040 --> 00:27:44,760
Speaker 2: don't think I watched the film more than once, so

530
00:27:44,840 --> 00:27:47,200
Speaker 2: I can't say that I was like a diehard Crow fan.

531
00:27:48,160 --> 00:27:50,680
Speaker 2: I remember loving the soundtrack. It had like the Cure

532
00:27:51,160 --> 00:27:55,399
Speaker 2: nine inch nails, Roland's Band Rage against the Machine. And

533
00:27:55,520 --> 00:27:58,720
Speaker 2: then there was this added weird feeling associated with the

534
00:27:59,080 --> 00:28:02,640
Speaker 2: tragic death of Lee during the production in ninety three.

535
00:28:02,960 --> 00:28:04,880
Speaker 3: I mean, he didn't just die while they were making

536
00:28:04,920 --> 00:28:07,560
Speaker 3: the movie. He was killed on set by an accident.

537
00:28:07,680 --> 00:28:08,159
Speaker 3: Yeah it was.

538
00:28:08,400 --> 00:28:11,920
Speaker 2: Yeah, it was a tragic accident in the filming of

539
00:28:12,080 --> 00:28:15,159
Speaker 2: the movie. But then like, yeah, this came out. The

540
00:28:15,200 --> 00:28:17,120
Speaker 2: film came out in ninety four. That was the year

541
00:28:17,480 --> 00:28:21,000
Speaker 2: that Kurt Cobain died. And then there were there were

542
00:28:21,480 --> 00:28:26,479
Speaker 2: other like mainstream actors that I was familiar with at

543
00:28:26,480 --> 00:28:28,440
Speaker 2: the time that it died. John Candy died that year,

544
00:28:28,520 --> 00:28:31,400
Speaker 2: while Julia died that year, and Peter Cushing died that year,

545
00:28:32,000 --> 00:28:33,879
Speaker 2: and so I don't know, it just kind of all

546
00:28:33,920 --> 00:28:36,640
Speaker 2: amounted to like this kind of like I'm not saying

547
00:28:36,680 --> 00:28:39,680
Speaker 2: this was the universal feeling for everyone concerning The Crow,

548
00:28:39,840 --> 00:28:44,640
Speaker 2: but you know it was maybe it kind of added

549
00:28:44,680 --> 00:28:47,400
Speaker 2: to its kind of like gothic allure, you know, especially

550
00:28:47,480 --> 00:28:50,280
Speaker 2: for people who were at least a little bit goth

551
00:28:51,080 --> 00:28:53,080
Speaker 2: in the mid in the mid and late nineties.

552
00:28:53,560 --> 00:28:55,760
Speaker 3: I can see that. Yeah, you know, I was never

553
00:28:55,840 --> 00:28:58,480
Speaker 3: personally a goth in terms of style, but I guess

554
00:28:59,320 --> 00:29:02,360
Speaker 3: maybe partially goth in terms of media sensibilities. So I

555
00:29:02,520 --> 00:29:06,360
Speaker 3: saw The Crow as like part of my It was like,

556
00:29:06,520 --> 00:29:09,160
Speaker 3: this is my media zone. This movie is in there,

557
00:29:09,960 --> 00:29:13,200
Speaker 3: even though I only saw it one time and definitely

558
00:29:13,280 --> 00:29:16,200
Speaker 3: had that CD. I bought like a very scratched, you know,

559
00:29:16,440 --> 00:29:19,120
Speaker 3: ninety two cent copy of that CD from my hometown

560
00:29:20,200 --> 00:29:22,960
Speaker 3: used book in CD store and I wore that thing

561
00:29:23,000 --> 00:29:24,239
Speaker 3: out listening to that in my car.

562
00:29:24,920 --> 00:29:28,040
Speaker 2: Yeah. Yeah, it was a good one. So The Crow

563
00:29:28,480 --> 00:29:31,080
Speaker 2: was both a critical and commercial hit at the time,

564
00:29:31,920 --> 00:29:36,280
Speaker 2: and so this was great for Preis and Dark City

565
00:29:36,440 --> 00:29:39,320
Speaker 2: was his follow up, a slightly more expensive and significantly

566
00:29:39,360 --> 00:29:44,560
Speaker 2: more ambitious, dark sci fi noar tale about memory and identity,

567
00:29:45,120 --> 00:29:47,920
Speaker 2: and while ultimately not the commercial hit that The Crow was,

568
00:29:48,080 --> 00:29:51,360
Speaker 2: Dark City certainly enthralled various critics, as we've alluded to,

569
00:29:51,840 --> 00:29:54,240
Speaker 2: and quickly earned its place as a cult favorite. And

570
00:29:54,360 --> 00:29:57,080
Speaker 2: so it's yeah, I think it's a film that that

571
00:29:57,200 --> 00:29:59,920
Speaker 2: people were just drawn to, attached to, and they've never

572
00:30:00,120 --> 00:30:03,000
Speaker 2: let go off. So he followed up Dark City with

573
00:30:03,160 --> 00:30:07,000
Speaker 2: two thousand and two's comedy drama Garage Days two thousand

574
00:30:07,000 --> 00:30:09,360
Speaker 2: and fours I Robot starring Will Smith.

575
00:30:10,480 --> 00:30:11,200
Speaker 3: I never saw that.

576
00:30:11,760 --> 00:30:15,600
Speaker 2: I saw it exactly once, and I don't remember much

577
00:30:15,640 --> 00:30:17,360
Speaker 2: of it other than I didn't really like the way

578
00:30:17,400 --> 00:30:18,240
Speaker 2: the robots looked.

579
00:30:18,720 --> 00:30:22,120
Speaker 3: Yeah, I remember that from the trailer. Let's see.

580
00:30:22,160 --> 00:30:25,040
Speaker 2: Then he did two thousand and nine's The Knowing starring

581
00:30:25,120 --> 00:30:25,920
Speaker 2: Nicholas Cage.

582
00:30:26,080 --> 00:30:27,240
Speaker 3: Oh, I have seen that.

583
00:30:27,560 --> 00:30:30,720
Speaker 2: Oh I didn't see that one. Is it not great?

584
00:30:31,520 --> 00:30:36,560
Speaker 3: No offense? No, but yeah, my review is thumbs not up.

585
00:30:38,080 --> 00:30:41,680
Speaker 2: And then twenty sixteen's Gods of Egypt, which I also

586
00:30:41,800 --> 00:30:46,720
Speaker 2: didn't see. I understand there was mixed mixed response to

587
00:30:46,800 --> 00:30:50,480
Speaker 2: that one as well. Yeah, and he has an upcoming film,

588
00:30:50,760 --> 00:30:53,280
Speaker 2: a sci fi film titled r u Are, based on

589
00:30:53,440 --> 00:30:57,360
Speaker 2: the nineteen twenty play by check writer Carol Koppek, which

590
00:30:57,680 --> 00:30:59,640
Speaker 2: this is the play that originally gave us the word.

591
00:31:01,040 --> 00:31:04,120
Speaker 2: So he's gone back to it to robots again. We'll

592
00:31:04,120 --> 00:31:07,920
Speaker 2: see how that comes together. He's also continued to direct

593
00:31:07,960 --> 00:31:11,760
Speaker 2: short films, including twenty twenty one's Mask of the Evil Apparition,

594
00:31:12,200 --> 00:31:15,240
Speaker 2: which is apparently set in the Dark City universe, and

595
00:31:15,360 --> 00:31:18,240
Speaker 2: there's been chatter in recent years about him bringing Dark

596
00:31:18,320 --> 00:31:20,640
Speaker 2: City back as some sort of a TV series or

597
00:31:21,120 --> 00:31:24,160
Speaker 2: limited mini series, an idea that I would have found

598
00:31:24,200 --> 00:31:28,000
Speaker 2: blasphemous twenty years ago, but now, after rewatching the film,

599
00:31:28,000 --> 00:31:30,280
Speaker 2: I'm kind of like, yeah, I could see the potential

600
00:31:30,360 --> 00:31:33,080
Speaker 2: there if it was done right, I kind of I would.

601
00:31:33,160 --> 00:31:35,320
Speaker 2: I would want I would watch it if we're well made.

602
00:31:35,600 --> 00:31:37,920
Speaker 3: Oh who would that be for? Is they're saying, would

603
00:31:37,920 --> 00:31:40,400
Speaker 3: that be? Would that be Netflix or somebody else? I

604
00:31:40,720 --> 00:31:41,040
Speaker 3: don't know.

605
00:31:41,840 --> 00:31:44,760
Speaker 2: I don't know if there is a particular studio attached,

606
00:31:44,880 --> 00:31:47,880
Speaker 2: or is a studio or streaming network attached, but it

607
00:31:47,880 --> 00:31:49,960
Speaker 2: would probably that would be my bet. Yeah, it would

608
00:31:49,960 --> 00:31:53,280
Speaker 2: probably be some sort of an Apple, Netflix or Pulu thing,

609
00:31:53,880 --> 00:31:56,880
Speaker 2: all right. Other screenplay credits we have Lim Dabbs born

610
00:31:56,960 --> 00:32:00,280
Speaker 2: nineteen fifty eight, English screenwriter, otherwise best known for work

611
00:32:00,320 --> 00:32:03,240
Speaker 2: on the screenplay for nineteen ninety nine's The Limeey, but

612
00:32:03,520 --> 00:32:06,920
Speaker 2: he also wrote nineteen eighty nine's Hider in the House,

613
00:32:07,400 --> 00:32:10,360
Speaker 2: in which Gary Busey lives in the walls of Mimi

614
00:32:10,480 --> 00:32:16,400
Speaker 2: Rogers and Michael McCain's house. Yes, yes, yes, this is

615
00:32:16,480 --> 00:32:19,160
Speaker 2: a movie. I wasn't even aware that it had a

616
00:32:19,280 --> 00:32:21,000
Speaker 2: theatrical release. I think I saw it on the Sci

617
00:32:21,120 --> 00:32:25,640
Speaker 2: Fi Channel when I was a kid and weirdly liked

618
00:32:25,640 --> 00:32:29,240
Speaker 2: it and was very excited to recently see an updated

619
00:32:29,320 --> 00:32:31,640
Speaker 2: Blu ray edition of it at Video Drome, and I like,

620
00:32:31,920 --> 00:32:33,760
Speaker 2: I had to send you a photograph of.

621
00:32:33,760 --> 00:32:35,760
Speaker 3: It on the shelf. Oh, I love to get in

622
00:32:35,840 --> 00:32:38,520
Speaker 3: that text. Yeah, that was great. When did Hyder in

623
00:32:38,560 --> 00:32:40,440
Speaker 3: the House become an in joke on our show? I

624
00:32:40,480 --> 00:32:42,400
Speaker 3: feel like we've been talking about it for ten years.

625
00:32:42,880 --> 00:32:47,160
Speaker 2: I don't know. It's like, was it as ridiculous a

626
00:32:47,240 --> 00:32:51,680
Speaker 2: premise at the time as it seemed in after the fact.

627
00:32:51,760 --> 00:32:52,160
Speaker 2: I don't know.

628
00:32:52,680 --> 00:32:56,120
Speaker 3: I think it's more the title than the premise. The

629
00:32:56,760 --> 00:33:02,360
Speaker 3: way the title expresses the premise is so flat, flatly descriptive.

630
00:33:03,200 --> 00:33:06,160
Speaker 2: Yeah, as I remember, like, the basic idea is imagine

631
00:33:06,200 --> 00:33:09,600
Speaker 2: if you will. Gary Busey is a contractor, and before

632
00:33:09,680 --> 00:33:12,400
Speaker 2: you move into your house, he builds secret compartments in

633
00:33:12,480 --> 00:33:15,320
Speaker 2: your walls, an attic and makes himself a living space

634
00:33:15,400 --> 00:33:18,160
Speaker 2: in there, and he's secretly living there, like a living

635
00:33:18,280 --> 00:33:21,920
Speaker 2: ghost in your house, watching you, creeping on you, but

636
00:33:22,080 --> 00:33:25,160
Speaker 2: also sort of looking after you. I don't remember how

637
00:33:25,240 --> 00:33:27,600
Speaker 2: things really go with the plot, but that's the basic vibe.

638
00:33:27,760 --> 00:33:31,680
Speaker 3: He's like an elf. He's Harry Potter under the stairs,

639
00:33:31,720 --> 00:33:32,680
Speaker 3: but it's Gary Busey.

640
00:33:33,360 --> 00:33:36,920
Speaker 2: Yeah, but it's again, almost any character Gary Busey plays,

641
00:33:37,360 --> 00:33:40,160
Speaker 2: you know that it's not. He's not lawful good. There's

642
00:33:40,200 --> 00:33:44,760
Speaker 2: some chaos energy there. So I don't think it's a

643
00:33:45,000 --> 00:33:47,800
Speaker 2: recommended experience to have Gary Busey living in your walls.

644
00:33:48,280 --> 00:33:50,200
Speaker 2: You want to do something about that. If you suspect

645
00:33:50,320 --> 00:33:51,760
Speaker 2: there is a Gary Busey in there.

646
00:33:52,000 --> 00:33:54,920
Speaker 3: Yeah, you got to call up that Gary Busey removal service.

647
00:33:55,120 --> 00:33:58,200
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, you do get it taken care of professionally,

648
00:33:58,320 --> 00:34:00,920
Speaker 2: all right. We also, of course, have davees Goyer on

649
00:34:01,080 --> 00:34:04,160
Speaker 2: the screenplay here, born nineteen sixty five. We previously talked

650
00:34:04,200 --> 00:34:06,200
Speaker 2: about him in our episode on Blade, so we won't

651
00:34:06,200 --> 00:34:08,560
Speaker 2: get into much detail here. But easily one of the

652
00:34:08,600 --> 00:34:11,520
Speaker 2: biggest and most successful screenwriters working today, especially as far

653
00:34:11,600 --> 00:34:16,000
Speaker 2: as dark genre offerings and superheroes go. I continue to

654
00:34:16,040 --> 00:34:20,399
Speaker 2: really enjoy his Foundation series on Apple. All right, let's

655
00:34:20,400 --> 00:34:24,880
Speaker 2: get into the cast. Our protagonist John Murdoch is played

656
00:34:24,920 --> 00:34:29,280
Speaker 2: by Rufus Sewell born nineteen sixty seven, English actor of stage,

657
00:34:29,320 --> 00:34:32,200
Speaker 2: screen and TV, who's been I think a pretty consistent

658
00:34:32,320 --> 00:34:35,279
Speaker 2: face in TV and film since the mid nineties. That's

659
00:34:35,280 --> 00:34:37,640
Speaker 2: when he appeared in both this and nineteen ninety six

660
00:34:37,800 --> 00:34:38,280
Speaker 2: is Hamlet.

661
00:34:38,840 --> 00:34:41,640
Speaker 3: Oh yeah, I barely remember this. This is Kenneth Brandaugh's

662
00:34:41,680 --> 00:34:46,120
Speaker 3: Hamlet with where Sewell plays Fort and bra Yes, correct, Yeah,

663
00:34:47,080 --> 00:34:49,040
Speaker 3: I only saw that one time, a long time ago.

664
00:34:49,440 --> 00:34:51,800
Speaker 2: Yeah, but yeah. Sewell spend in so many things and

665
00:34:51,880 --> 00:34:55,680
Speaker 2: continues to be in them like his subsequent credits included

666
00:34:55,840 --> 00:34:58,160
Speaker 2: Let's See two thousand's Blessed the Child two thousand and

667
00:34:58,200 --> 00:35:01,640
Speaker 2: one and Night's Tale two thousand and one. Mermaid or

668
00:35:01,800 --> 00:35:03,440
Speaker 2: possibly two thousand and two, I don't remember, but it

669
00:35:03,560 --> 00:35:05,880
Speaker 2: was around this time a Mermaid horror movie titled She

670
00:35:06,120 --> 00:35:11,000
Speaker 2: Creature that I distinctly remember watching on DVD. It is

671
00:35:11,280 --> 00:35:15,000
Speaker 2: very much kind of a B movie creature feature but

672
00:35:15,280 --> 00:35:18,560
Speaker 2: one that I remember enjoying at the time. Let's see.

673
00:35:18,560 --> 00:35:20,000
Speaker 2: He was in two thousand and five is The Legend

674
00:35:20,040 --> 00:35:23,000
Speaker 2: of Zorro, two thousand and six is The Illusionist, two

675
00:35:23,040 --> 00:35:26,280
Speaker 2: thousand and eight's John Adams. He was in twenty twelve's

676
00:35:26,280 --> 00:35:28,120
Speaker 2: Abraham Lincoln Vampire Slayer.

677
00:35:28,560 --> 00:35:31,160
Speaker 3: I just remember, Yeah. In John Adams he plays Hamilton,

678
00:35:31,239 --> 00:35:32,279
Speaker 3: doesn't he Yeah?

679
00:35:32,840 --> 00:35:35,759
Speaker 2: And in Abraham Lincoln Vampire Slayer, which I didn't see,

680
00:35:35,800 --> 00:35:38,360
Speaker 2: he plays a character named Adams. So I don't know

681
00:35:38,400 --> 00:35:39,920
Speaker 2: if he plays John Adams in that or not.

682
00:35:40,719 --> 00:35:41,520
Speaker 3: That wouldn't make sense.

683
00:35:42,760 --> 00:35:47,360
Speaker 2: What would make sense in Abraham Lincoln Vampire Slayer. It's possible.

684
00:35:47,520 --> 00:35:50,880
Speaker 2: Why not? Maybe he's a vampire like alone. Maybe I

685
00:35:50,920 --> 00:35:52,680
Speaker 2: don't know, that's the Maybe that's the plot. It's like

686
00:35:53,200 --> 00:35:55,960
Speaker 2: other it's like founding fathers that come back as vampires

687
00:35:56,000 --> 00:35:58,400
Speaker 2: during the day of Abraham Lincoln. Oh, I see, Okay,

688
00:35:58,800 --> 00:36:01,600
Speaker 2: I have no idea. I'm completely making things up here.

689
00:36:01,680 --> 00:36:02,280
Speaker 3: But anyway.

690
00:36:02,320 --> 00:36:05,279
Speaker 2: He went on to be in twenty fourteen's Hercules. This

691
00:36:05,400 --> 00:36:07,680
Speaker 2: is the one with the Rock. He was in Gods

692
00:36:07,719 --> 00:36:11,239
Speaker 2: of Egypt TV's The Man in the High Castle, And

693
00:36:11,680 --> 00:36:14,759
Speaker 2: let's see twenty twenty one's Old, the movie about people

694
00:36:14,880 --> 00:36:18,960
Speaker 2: getting aged by the sun. The Beach that makes You Old,

695
00:36:19,239 --> 00:36:20,319
Speaker 2: The Beach that makes You Old.

696
00:36:20,440 --> 00:36:20,600
Speaker 3: Yes.

697
00:36:20,760 --> 00:36:24,480
Speaker 2: And then also he has at least a guest starring

698
00:36:24,560 --> 00:36:28,239
Speaker 2: role in TV's The Sandman. He's come to excel and

699
00:36:28,360 --> 00:36:30,840
Speaker 2: supporting in villain roles. Though I was reading that he

700
00:36:30,880 --> 00:36:34,120
Speaker 2: has mentioned not enjoying playing villains all that much and

701
00:36:34,160 --> 00:36:35,160
Speaker 2: wanted to get away from it.

702
00:36:35,239 --> 00:36:35,759
Speaker 3: But I don't know.

703
00:36:35,960 --> 00:36:38,759
Speaker 2: I feel like he's really good at it, so why

704
00:36:38,880 --> 00:36:41,560
Speaker 2: distance yourself? But we've talked about that before the performance.

705
00:36:41,640 --> 00:36:43,239
Speaker 2: Rudgor Howard was another one who was like, I don't

706
00:36:43,239 --> 00:36:44,240
Speaker 2: want to play villains anymore.

707
00:36:44,360 --> 00:36:48,040
Speaker 3: So I guess I remember him in a bad movie

708
00:36:48,120 --> 00:36:51,440
Speaker 3: that I watched with my friends in college. I was

709
00:36:51,520 --> 00:36:53,080
Speaker 3: gonna say he was a villain, but maybe he was

710
00:36:53,120 --> 00:36:55,120
Speaker 3: a good guy in it. I actually don't recall. It

711
00:36:55,239 --> 00:36:57,920
Speaker 3: was a movie called Extreme Ops that was a like

712
00:36:58,400 --> 00:37:01,560
Speaker 3: B action movie about no boarders and people who do

713
00:37:01,719 --> 00:37:04,399
Speaker 3: extreme sports and they go to a place to film

714
00:37:04,480 --> 00:37:07,520
Speaker 3: some snowboarding but they get taken hostage by terrorists.

715
00:37:07,840 --> 00:37:08,799
Speaker 2: Oh wow, Yeah.

716
00:37:08,960 --> 00:37:09,120
Speaker 3: Yeah.

717
00:37:09,239 --> 00:37:12,480
Speaker 2: I could imagine him playing either role there, and I

718
00:37:12,560 --> 00:37:14,239
Speaker 2: think that's one of the reasons he works so well

719
00:37:14,280 --> 00:37:16,680
Speaker 2: in Dark City. Is that this is a character that

720
00:37:16,760 --> 00:37:18,880
Speaker 2: we're uncertain of at first. Is he a killer?

721
00:37:20,040 --> 00:37:20,719
Speaker 3: Is he a hero?

722
00:37:21,000 --> 00:37:23,319
Speaker 2: Is he somewhere in between? Like? What do we feel

723
00:37:23,320 --> 00:37:24,239
Speaker 2: about this guy in this?

724
00:37:25,040 --> 00:37:25,920
Speaker 3: You know very much?

725
00:37:26,560 --> 00:37:30,880
Speaker 2: I think a great actor for the heavy noir vibes

726
00:37:31,000 --> 00:37:32,799
Speaker 2: of especially the early goings.

727
00:37:32,480 --> 00:37:35,080
Speaker 3: Of this movie. Yeah. Yeah, he's got a great presence here.

728
00:37:35,120 --> 00:37:35,759
Speaker 3: I like him a lot.

729
00:37:36,040 --> 00:37:39,440
Speaker 2: Now, speaking of presents, William hurt Is in this playing

730
00:37:39,560 --> 00:37:44,600
Speaker 2: inspector Frank Bumstead are sort of world weary, tired but

731
00:37:45,680 --> 00:37:50,800
Speaker 2: dedicated homicide detective. Well it hurts one of those actors,

732
00:37:50,880 --> 00:37:53,279
Speaker 2: Like an actor of Hurts caliber and presence just works

733
00:37:53,320 --> 00:37:55,319
Speaker 2: seamlessly in a picture like this. You can just pour

734
00:37:55,440 --> 00:37:58,960
Speaker 2: him in and he'll fill all the necessary spaces.

735
00:37:59,360 --> 00:38:04,960
Speaker 3: Gravita. Yeah, he's great here. And in fact, one thing

736
00:38:05,040 --> 00:38:08,320
Speaker 3: I've read about the making of this movie was that

737
00:38:08,640 --> 00:38:11,680
Speaker 3: in original versions of the story, like, the story changed

738
00:38:11,719 --> 00:38:14,440
Speaker 3: a lot as the as the creators were working through it.

739
00:38:15,000 --> 00:38:17,440
Speaker 3: And in an earlier version of the story it was

740
00:38:17,520 --> 00:38:20,600
Speaker 3: really going to be centered around this detective. He was

741
00:38:20,640 --> 00:38:23,680
Speaker 3: going to be the main character sort of discovering what's

742
00:38:23,719 --> 00:38:26,160
Speaker 3: going on with the other characters. Over time, it shifted

743
00:38:26,280 --> 00:38:29,640
Speaker 3: to make rufus Sewell's character the protagonist.

744
00:38:30,200 --> 00:38:33,279
Speaker 2: Oh yeah, that's interesting because you can you can imagine that,

745
00:38:33,440 --> 00:38:37,040
Speaker 2: of course, the detective at the center of a noir tale,

746
00:38:37,160 --> 00:38:40,120
Speaker 2: like that's that's perfect. I mean, that's that's and that's

747
00:38:40,160 --> 00:38:43,040
Speaker 2: exactly the sort of character he plays here. You know,

748
00:38:43,120 --> 00:38:47,759
Speaker 2: the smoking, drinking again, you know, world weary but dedicated

749
00:38:47,840 --> 00:38:48,640
Speaker 2: to the job.

750
00:38:49,120 --> 00:38:53,080
Speaker 3: Though even though he's gruff in his demeanor, he ultimately

751
00:38:53,160 --> 00:38:55,840
Speaker 3: I think comes off as more lawful good in the

752
00:38:56,040 --> 00:38:59,840
Speaker 3: end than your standard cynical, amoral noir detective.

753
00:39:00,320 --> 00:39:03,680
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think that's true. Yeah. William Hurd, of course,

754
00:39:03,880 --> 00:39:06,480
Speaker 2: he lived nineteen fifty through twenty twenty two, a four

755
00:39:06,520 --> 00:39:09,560
Speaker 2: time Academy Award nominated actor, known for lead or main

756
00:39:09,680 --> 00:39:12,879
Speaker 2: roles in such films as nineteen eighties Altered States eighty

757
00:39:12,920 --> 00:39:15,720
Speaker 2: one's Body Heat, eighty three's The Big Chill two thousand

758
00:39:15,719 --> 00:39:18,240
Speaker 2: and one's AI two thousand and five Is a History

759
00:39:18,280 --> 00:39:21,560
Speaker 2: of Violence. And also a lot of folks will recognize

760
00:39:21,640 --> 00:39:24,040
Speaker 2: him from his role as Thaddeus Ross in the MCU

761
00:39:25,040 --> 00:39:29,400
Speaker 2: that character. After his death, he was that character's recast,

762
00:39:29,480 --> 00:39:32,839
Speaker 2: with Harrison Ford playing the role. All Right, we mentioned

763
00:39:32,880 --> 00:39:35,520
Speaker 2: him already, but we have key for Sutherland playing doctor

764
00:39:35,640 --> 00:39:40,840
Speaker 2: Daniel Schreiber born nineteen sixty six, multiple Emmy nominated actor

765
00:39:40,920 --> 00:39:43,400
Speaker 2: for his role on the TV series twenty four, and

766
00:39:43,520 --> 00:39:46,719
Speaker 2: of course, son of the late Donald Sutherland. He had

767
00:39:46,760 --> 00:39:50,520
Speaker 2: a knack for playing dangerous youths in the mid nineteen eighties,

768
00:39:50,560 --> 00:39:53,080
Speaker 2: popping up in both nineteen eighty six's Stand By Me

769
00:39:53,280 --> 00:39:56,240
Speaker 2: as a gang member bully character if I remember correctly,

770
00:39:56,719 --> 00:39:59,960
Speaker 2: and nineteen eighty seven's The Lost Boys as a vampire.

771
00:40:00,680 --> 00:40:05,360
Speaker 2: Subsequent credits included nineteen eighty eight's Young Guns, nineteen nineties

772
00:40:05,400 --> 00:40:08,320
Speaker 2: Flat Liners, ninety two's Twin Peaks, fire Walk with Me,

773
00:40:09,160 --> 00:40:11,840
Speaker 2: a Few Good Men in ninety two ninety three's The

774
00:40:11,920 --> 00:40:14,719
Speaker 2: Three Musketeers. It really felt for a while like you

775
00:40:14,719 --> 00:40:17,600
Speaker 2: couldn't throw a stick without hitting a Keefer Sutherland movie.

776
00:40:18,080 --> 00:40:20,000
Speaker 2: And I think he's continued to stay pretty busy.

777
00:40:20,320 --> 00:40:22,560
Speaker 3: Yeah, I don't know if I've seen Keefer Sutherland and

778
00:40:22,680 --> 00:40:25,320
Speaker 3: anything recently. Maybe he's just he's just working in a

779
00:40:25,360 --> 00:40:27,240
Speaker 3: different part of the media than I'm expressed.

780
00:40:27,360 --> 00:40:29,920
Speaker 2: I think that's probably the case. Two other films of his,

781
00:40:30,080 --> 00:40:32,440
Speaker 2: of no, there was two thousand and eight Mirrors, a

782
00:40:32,520 --> 00:40:37,160
Speaker 2: horror movie, and then twenty eleven's Melancholia. So, yeah, is

783
00:40:37,200 --> 00:40:39,560
Speaker 2: he good in this? Is he bad in this? I

784
00:40:39,600 --> 00:40:43,120
Speaker 2: don't know. I guess you know. Folks can disagree, but

785
00:40:43,719 --> 00:40:47,279
Speaker 2: he is memorable. Yes, yeah, and I would I would

786
00:40:47,320 --> 00:40:49,120
Speaker 2: stress I don't think he's bad at it at all.

787
00:40:49,160 --> 00:40:51,040
Speaker 2: I would not say this is a bad performance.

788
00:40:51,080 --> 00:40:51,319
Speaker 3: I just.

789
00:40:53,160 --> 00:41:00,160
Speaker 2: Revisiting the film. I found the performance slash character a

790
00:41:00,200 --> 00:41:12,239
Speaker 2: little less convincing. All right, Jennifer Connolly is in this,

791
00:41:12,440 --> 00:41:15,759
Speaker 2: and she plays Emma Murdoch. This is the at least

792
00:41:15,800 --> 00:41:18,759
Speaker 2: at first, we're to believe that the estranged wife of

793
00:41:18,960 --> 00:41:25,840
Speaker 2: John Murdoch rufus Sewle's character. Born nineteen seventy, Oscar Award

794
00:41:25,880 --> 00:41:29,440
Speaker 2: winning actress whose credits as a child actress again date

795
00:41:29,520 --> 00:41:33,640
Speaker 2: back to nineteen eighty two episode of Rawdall's anthology series

796
00:41:33,719 --> 00:41:37,080
Speaker 2: Tales of the Unexpected, and she was also in the

797
00:41:37,280 --> 00:41:40,000
Speaker 2: music video for Duran Durand's Union of the Snake in

798
00:41:40,080 --> 00:41:42,960
Speaker 2: nineteen eighty three. We previously talked about her at length

799
00:41:43,040 --> 00:41:44,600
Speaker 2: in our episode on Labyrinth.

800
00:41:44,920 --> 00:41:46,759
Speaker 3: Yeah, that's right now.

801
00:41:46,880 --> 00:41:50,080
Speaker 2: I'm interested to hear your take on this, Joe, because

802
00:41:51,000 --> 00:41:54,040
Speaker 2: I've really loved Connolly in various projects over the years.

803
00:41:54,600 --> 00:41:58,160
Speaker 2: Including the recent TV series Snowpiercer, which I thought really

804
00:41:58,200 --> 00:42:01,799
Speaker 2: showcased her acting abilities. But I had a harder time

805
00:42:02,000 --> 00:42:05,879
Speaker 2: with her character in Dark City. On my rewatch. It's

806
00:42:05,920 --> 00:42:09,880
Speaker 2: certainly not that Connolly is bad, but her character feels

807
00:42:10,280 --> 00:42:14,919
Speaker 2: like so underdefined in many ways and just and granted again,

808
00:42:14,960 --> 00:42:17,480
Speaker 2: you could make a case that there are plot related

809
00:42:17,560 --> 00:42:19,759
Speaker 2: reasons for this with her character in pretty much every

810
00:42:19,800 --> 00:42:22,400
Speaker 2: other character in the film, but I found that I

811
00:42:22,520 --> 00:42:25,759
Speaker 2: really lacked an understanding of who Emma is aside from

812
00:42:25,880 --> 00:42:29,240
Speaker 2: what she stands for in her husband's mind and memory.

813
00:42:29,840 --> 00:42:32,160
Speaker 3: Yeah, I think i'd agree with that. I mean, I

814
00:42:32,280 --> 00:42:35,800
Speaker 3: think she is interesting in that she and the detective

815
00:42:35,920 --> 00:42:39,440
Speaker 3: are in that they're the only two major characters as

816
00:42:39,480 --> 00:42:42,359
Speaker 3: far as I recall that we actually get to see

817
00:42:42,520 --> 00:42:46,320
Speaker 3: being subjected to the thing that happens to all of

818
00:42:46,360 --> 00:42:50,080
Speaker 3: the human characters in this movie. You know, so the

819
00:42:50,239 --> 00:42:54,239
Speaker 3: protagonist is, for reasons we'll explain, exempted from it, at

820
00:42:54,320 --> 00:42:57,160
Speaker 3: least within the run time of the film, and Keifer

821
00:42:57,200 --> 00:43:01,239
Speaker 3: Sutherland's character is not part of this system. So you know,

822
00:43:01,360 --> 00:43:03,600
Speaker 3: there is a thing that happens in the story where

823
00:43:03,760 --> 00:43:06,600
Speaker 3: characters are you know, they sort of have their identities

824
00:43:06,719 --> 00:43:10,800
Speaker 3: regularly erased, and she is one of the two characters

825
00:43:10,960 --> 00:43:14,040
Speaker 3: that that is happening to we come to understand that

826
00:43:14,200 --> 00:43:16,919
Speaker 3: is happening to. So, like you're alluding to, that could

827
00:43:17,000 --> 00:43:19,719
Speaker 3: explain a kind of feeling of shallowness that we might

828
00:43:19,920 --> 00:43:24,880
Speaker 3: get with Jennifer Connolly's character or with William Hurtz. But

829
00:43:25,040 --> 00:43:28,240
Speaker 3: I think it especially comes through with Jennifer Connolly's character,

830
00:43:29,760 --> 00:43:34,120
Speaker 3: maybe because of the way she's also emotionally characterized. I mean,

831
00:43:34,239 --> 00:43:37,600
Speaker 3: she's very meek and soft spoken most of the time,

832
00:43:38,280 --> 00:43:40,879
Speaker 3: and so I think that could contribute in some ways

833
00:43:40,920 --> 00:43:42,560
Speaker 3: to a feeling of a lack of substance.

834
00:43:43,280 --> 00:43:45,839
Speaker 2: Yeah, and I guess too. And I also just am

835
00:43:45,880 --> 00:43:48,399
Speaker 2: so used to seeing her or at least the roles

836
00:43:48,440 --> 00:43:50,400
Speaker 2: that I think of when I think of Jennifer Connolly,

837
00:43:50,600 --> 00:43:53,000
Speaker 2: I think of roles in which her character has a

838
00:43:53,080 --> 00:43:56,120
Speaker 2: lot more agency, you know, like whether you're talking about

839
00:43:56,160 --> 00:43:58,560
Speaker 2: something like snow Piercer or you know, have certainly a

840
00:43:58,640 --> 00:44:03,840
Speaker 2: more experienced Jennifer Connelly playing that role, or even Labyrinth,

841
00:44:03,920 --> 00:44:07,040
Speaker 2: where you know she's much younger. But but Sarah in

842
00:44:07,160 --> 00:44:09,879
Speaker 2: Labyrinth is a character who is is very much about

843
00:44:09,920 --> 00:44:13,359
Speaker 2: expressing her agency and trying to take control of her

844
00:44:13,480 --> 00:44:18,359
Speaker 2: life and figure out her way through a complex, magical world.

845
00:44:18,640 --> 00:44:21,680
Speaker 3: Yeah. So again, I mean the character of Emma does

846
00:44:21,760 --> 00:44:24,320
Speaker 3: take agency in some scenes in this film, and she

847
00:44:24,640 --> 00:44:26,800
Speaker 3: like she knocks a gun out of a CoP's hands

848
00:44:26,840 --> 00:44:30,239
Speaker 3: so her husband can escape. And but yeah, I do

849
00:44:30,440 --> 00:44:33,800
Speaker 3: agree overall that there is a feeling of something missing.

850
00:44:34,520 --> 00:44:36,239
Speaker 2: Yeah, and this is probably one of those moments where

851
00:44:36,239 --> 00:44:38,080
Speaker 2: I'm like, yeah, give me the mini series, because I

852
00:44:38,080 --> 00:44:40,799
Speaker 2: would love to see a character like this explored more.

853
00:44:41,000 --> 00:44:44,600
Speaker 2: I have to, you know, acknowledge again, limitations based for

854
00:44:44,680 --> 00:44:47,120
Speaker 2: the character, based on the sorts of characters that exist

855
00:44:47,200 --> 00:44:50,800
Speaker 2: in this universe, Limitations based on the time and the

856
00:44:50,880 --> 00:44:54,480
Speaker 2: pacing of the film. And again I just want stress.

857
00:44:54,520 --> 00:44:56,759
Speaker 2: YEAHM not throwing any shade on Jennifer Connelly at all,

858
00:44:57,239 --> 00:45:01,440
Speaker 2: you know, fine actress, And if anything, it's because I

859
00:45:01,640 --> 00:45:04,440
Speaker 2: know that I can just imagine the sorts of scenes

860
00:45:04,480 --> 00:45:06,359
Speaker 2: that we might get if this movie were like five

861
00:45:06,400 --> 00:45:10,719
Speaker 2: hours long, which it's thankfully not. All right, shall we

862
00:45:10,760 --> 00:45:11,920
Speaker 2: talk about the strangers?

863
00:45:12,320 --> 00:45:12,560
Speaker 3: Sure?

864
00:45:12,760 --> 00:45:16,080
Speaker 2: All right? As we mentioned earlier, we have Richard O'Brien

865
00:45:16,280 --> 00:45:21,040
Speaker 2: playing a mister hand who is he's not the leader,

866
00:45:21,400 --> 00:45:23,400
Speaker 2: But then again they don't really have leaders, but then

867
00:45:23,400 --> 00:45:25,520
Speaker 2: they also sort of have a leader depending on how

868
00:45:25,600 --> 00:45:29,439
Speaker 2: you look at but he is at the very least.

869
00:45:29,600 --> 00:45:32,799
Speaker 2: I think the stranger that gets the most screen time

870
00:45:32,960 --> 00:45:35,400
Speaker 2: that seems to be is the one that has the

871
00:45:35,480 --> 00:45:39,080
Speaker 2: most interactions with our characters and is very much at

872
00:45:39,280 --> 00:45:43,719
Speaker 2: the forefront. Richard O'Brien born nineteen forty two, and he

873
00:45:43,840 --> 00:45:46,840
Speaker 2: is of course the master vine behind the Rocky Horror

874
00:45:46,880 --> 00:45:50,320
Speaker 2: Picture Show, in which he also played riff Raff. And

875
00:45:50,840 --> 00:45:53,440
Speaker 2: we've previously mentioned him on the show before because he

876
00:45:53,480 --> 00:45:57,440
Speaker 2: had minor roles in both Flash Gordon and two Thousands

877
00:45:57,560 --> 00:46:00,920
Speaker 2: Dungeons and Dragons. I have to say say, the outside

878
00:46:00,960 --> 00:46:04,279
Speaker 2: of his most iconic role in Rocky Horror and his

879
00:46:04,440 --> 00:46:07,320
Speaker 2: prominent role in its follow up Shock Treatment from nineteen

880
00:46:07,320 --> 00:46:09,440
Speaker 2: eighty one, it's really hard for me to think of

881
00:46:09,520 --> 00:46:12,319
Speaker 2: a film in which he's played as central a role

882
00:46:12,560 --> 00:46:13,919
Speaker 2: as that of mister Hand.

883
00:46:14,320 --> 00:46:16,920
Speaker 3: I think this role was written with him in mind

884
00:46:17,040 --> 00:46:18,960
Speaker 3: and they were happy they could get him.

885
00:46:19,520 --> 00:46:22,239
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, And and he does an amazing job. Like

886
00:46:22,320 --> 00:46:27,400
Speaker 2: it's an absolutely mesmerizing performance. It's just like he's like

887
00:46:27,520 --> 00:46:30,879
Speaker 2: a It's like he's like a lizard in human skin.

888
00:46:31,480 --> 00:46:33,880
Speaker 2: It's it's almost you get the feeling that it's like

889
00:46:34,040 --> 00:46:38,040
Speaker 2: they hired Richard O'Brien and he finally plays himself on

890
00:46:38,200 --> 00:46:40,200
Speaker 2: the screen. You know, it's like it feels it's such

891
00:46:40,239 --> 00:46:44,320
Speaker 2: an otherworldly, weird performance, but one that feels just so

892
00:46:44,760 --> 00:46:49,200
Speaker 2: natural and not forced at all. And maybe that's one

893
00:46:49,200 --> 00:46:53,160
Speaker 2: of the things about comparing this performance to Keifer Sutherlin's performance,

894
00:46:53,680 --> 00:46:56,920
Speaker 2: like there's an authentic weirdness here, and I don't necessarily

895
00:46:57,000 --> 00:47:01,000
Speaker 2: get as much an authentic weird feeling from the character

896
00:47:01,080 --> 00:47:04,120
Speaker 2: of the doctor, but mister Hand just I relish him

897
00:47:04,160 --> 00:47:05,400
Speaker 2: every time he is on the screen.

898
00:47:06,120 --> 00:47:12,080
Speaker 3: There's a great way that he speaks in an unbelievably

899
00:47:12,280 --> 00:47:15,440
Speaker 3: creepy voice in scenes where he's blending in and not

900
00:47:15,719 --> 00:47:20,000
Speaker 3: threatening people. So the scene where he's on the waterfront

901
00:47:20,080 --> 00:47:23,200
Speaker 3: and he talks to himma and he's like, I met

902
00:47:23,360 --> 00:47:27,200
Speaker 3: my wife here. She's like, oh, this is where I

903
00:47:27,280 --> 00:47:32,000
Speaker 3: met my husband, and he goes small world. It's just

904
00:47:32,680 --> 00:47:33,080
Speaker 3: I love it.

905
00:47:33,560 --> 00:47:38,000
Speaker 2: He's tremendous. Yeah, outside of the credits already mentioned, you know,

906
00:47:38,040 --> 00:47:39,719
Speaker 2: he's been in a number of things over the years,

907
00:47:39,760 --> 00:47:42,480
Speaker 2: often like smaller roles, but they include let's see eighty

908
00:47:42,560 --> 00:47:46,279
Speaker 2: five's Revolution, nineteen ninety seven Spice World. I had a

909
00:47:46,320 --> 00:47:49,279
Speaker 2: lot of notable folks in it, and I think a

910
00:47:49,400 --> 00:47:51,919
Speaker 2: number of actors who have subsequently like said, like, yeah,

911
00:47:51,920 --> 00:47:54,759
Speaker 2: I did that because my daughter or granddaughter insisted that

912
00:47:54,840 --> 00:47:56,680
Speaker 2: I take the role, and I have no regrets.

913
00:47:57,400 --> 00:48:00,720
Speaker 3: Nice And let's see Eily Jones and Batman Forever.

914
00:48:00,960 --> 00:48:04,200
Speaker 2: Yeah, that sort of thing, you know, or oh, what's

915
00:48:04,200 --> 00:48:06,840
Speaker 2: his name? We played Skeletor in Masters of the Universe

916
00:48:07,360 --> 00:48:09,720
Speaker 2: Frank Langella. Yeah, yeah, I believe it was a similar

917
00:48:09,840 --> 00:48:11,200
Speaker 2: case with that where he like did it for his

918
00:48:11,320 --> 00:48:14,560
Speaker 2: kids or grandkids. So you know, sometimes that is what

919
00:48:14,719 --> 00:48:18,480
Speaker 2: is necessary to get a memorable, weird performance out of someone.

920
00:48:18,600 --> 00:48:21,759
Speaker 2: But yeah, O'Brien was also in ninety eights Ever After,

921
00:48:21,840 --> 00:48:25,080
Speaker 2: a Cinderella Story, and he's also in two thousand and

922
00:48:25,200 --> 00:48:30,320
Speaker 2: one's Elvira's Haunted Hills. I believe that title is a

923
00:48:30,440 --> 00:48:31,160
Speaker 2: breast reference.

924
00:48:31,560 --> 00:48:33,040
Speaker 3: Yep, all right.

925
00:48:33,800 --> 00:48:36,320
Speaker 2: We also have let's see a couple of other strangers

926
00:48:36,360 --> 00:48:40,359
Speaker 2: of note. We have Ian Richardson playing mister Book, who

927
00:48:40,560 --> 00:48:46,200
Speaker 2: is in some ways positioned as the head stranger and not.

928
00:48:46,360 --> 00:48:48,719
Speaker 3: In some ways. I mean, like he definitely is. He's

929
00:48:49,080 --> 00:48:51,799
Speaker 3: presented as the leader and the elder of them. Even

930
00:48:51,840 --> 00:48:54,080
Speaker 3: though they talk about how they kind of are not

931
00:48:54,320 --> 00:48:57,319
Speaker 3: individuals but they are at the same time. It's kind

932
00:48:57,360 --> 00:48:57,840
Speaker 3: of strange.

933
00:48:58,200 --> 00:48:59,879
Speaker 2: Yeah, well, they's strangers, that's what they.

934
00:49:01,320 --> 00:49:03,319
Speaker 3: I mean. I actually I have thoughts about that. I mean,

935
00:49:03,360 --> 00:49:07,680
Speaker 3: I wonder if there is something implied about them not

936
00:49:08,480 --> 00:49:11,440
Speaker 3: realizing ways in which they are individuals.

937
00:49:12,080 --> 00:49:13,880
Speaker 2: Yeah, this will be fun to get into when we

938
00:49:13,960 --> 00:49:17,239
Speaker 2: get into the plot, because because, yeah, the idea is

939
00:49:17,320 --> 00:49:22,239
Speaker 2: that the strangers, these beings have a have a group intelligence,

940
00:49:22,320 --> 00:49:27,080
Speaker 2: a communal intelligence. They are a single mind and they

941
00:49:27,160 --> 00:49:32,279
Speaker 2: don't understand it's been striving to understand human individuality and

942
00:49:32,400 --> 00:49:35,440
Speaker 2: human consciousness and human memory because they all have a

943
00:49:35,480 --> 00:49:39,600
Speaker 2: collective memory. And the film does it does a great

944
00:49:39,719 --> 00:49:41,960
Speaker 2: job with this, but in a I mean, there's a

945
00:49:42,040 --> 00:49:44,839
Speaker 2: there's a cleverness in not saying too much about a thing,

946
00:49:45,320 --> 00:49:48,560
Speaker 2: because I think every time I've watched Dark City, I

947
00:49:49,239 --> 00:49:51,440
Speaker 2: end up just thinking about like, what does it mean?

948
00:49:51,560 --> 00:49:54,040
Speaker 2: What were they truly looking for? And so forth, and

949
00:49:54,440 --> 00:49:55,520
Speaker 2: raises a lot of questions.

950
00:49:56,080 --> 00:49:59,080
Speaker 3: I agree. I like the premise, and you know, I

951
00:49:59,120 --> 00:50:00,959
Speaker 3: feel like I've mentioned this on the show a lot lately.

952
00:50:01,080 --> 00:50:04,520
Speaker 3: I often prefer it when things are under explained rather

953
00:50:04,600 --> 00:50:07,120
Speaker 3: than over explained. I like it when there's still some

954
00:50:07,239 --> 00:50:08,839
Speaker 3: mystery about how things work.

955
00:50:09,200 --> 00:50:10,799
Speaker 2: I think that would be the danger of a five

956
00:50:10,880 --> 00:50:13,640
Speaker 2: hour mini series based on Dark City, is that we

957
00:50:13,680 --> 00:50:15,560
Speaker 2: would thoroughly answer all questions.

958
00:50:16,040 --> 00:50:19,920
Speaker 3: But I like the possibility that. So they do talk

959
00:50:19,960 --> 00:50:23,840
Speaker 3: about how they don't have individual memories, they only have

960
00:50:23,960 --> 00:50:26,799
Speaker 3: collective memories, and in a way they share a collective mind.

961
00:50:26,920 --> 00:50:30,239
Speaker 3: But then we see them acting as individuals. So maybe

962
00:50:30,360 --> 00:50:34,520
Speaker 3: that there's some way in which they don't even understand

963
00:50:34,760 --> 00:50:37,680
Speaker 3: that they already have the capacity to be individuals, or

964
00:50:37,760 --> 00:50:40,720
Speaker 3: like they are individual but don't feel like it or something.

965
00:50:41,239 --> 00:50:43,520
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's a great read on it. Like one way

966
00:50:43,560 --> 00:50:46,920
Speaker 2: I was thinking about it, it's like they've they discuss

967
00:50:46,960 --> 00:50:49,920
Speaker 2: how they use human corpses as vessels. They kind of

968
00:50:49,960 --> 00:50:51,920
Speaker 2: like take a human body that used to be an

969
00:50:51,960 --> 00:50:56,600
Speaker 2: individual one of them, what they occupy it, they inhabit it,

970
00:50:57,160 --> 00:50:59,839
Speaker 2: and then they sort of try to fake it till

971
00:50:59,840 --> 00:51:02,880
Speaker 2: they make it. They kind of try and force individuality

972
00:51:02,960 --> 00:51:06,400
Speaker 2: upon themselves by taking on an individual human form and

973
00:51:06,480 --> 00:51:09,040
Speaker 2: then taking on a name, like there's a there. They

974
00:51:09,040 --> 00:51:12,240
Speaker 2: all have names like mister Hand, mister Book, which feels

975
00:51:12,320 --> 00:51:15,600
Speaker 2: authentically like a like a like a clunky version of

976
00:51:15,719 --> 00:51:20,120
Speaker 2: trying to grasp onto an identity for yourself. But they

977
00:51:20,160 --> 00:51:22,000
Speaker 2: don't fully understand what they're trying to do.

978
00:51:22,480 --> 00:51:25,120
Speaker 3: They're names children would make up for their toys.

979
00:51:25,400 --> 00:51:28,880
Speaker 2: Yeah, all right, So whether he is the head Stranger

980
00:51:29,120 --> 00:51:33,879
Speaker 2: or just or something else. Ian Richardson plays mister Book.

981
00:51:34,120 --> 00:51:36,520
Speaker 2: He lived nineteen thirty four through two thousand and seven.

982
00:51:36,920 --> 00:51:40,160
Speaker 2: Classically trained British actor, best remembered for roles in eighty

983
00:51:40,200 --> 00:51:43,120
Speaker 2: five's Brazil, two thousand and one Is from Hell, and

984
00:51:43,360 --> 00:51:46,439
Speaker 2: of course the original nineteen ninety British mini series House

985
00:51:46,520 --> 00:51:49,840
Speaker 2: of Cards, which earned him a BAFTA. This is, of

986
00:51:49,880 --> 00:51:53,799
Speaker 2: course the series. The Netflix later remade it, of course,

987
00:51:54,400 --> 00:51:56,200
Speaker 2: but it hit the line where it's like, you might

988
00:51:56,320 --> 00:51:59,520
Speaker 2: very well say so, but I couldn't possibly comment. So

989
00:51:59,560 --> 00:52:05,600
Speaker 2: it's a very witty, a moral character. His film and

990
00:52:05,640 --> 00:52:08,640
Speaker 2: TV credits go back to nineteen sixty three. He played

991
00:52:08,680 --> 00:52:12,040
Speaker 2: Sherlock Holmes twice in a pair of films, The Sign

992
00:52:12,120 --> 00:52:15,640
Speaker 2: of Four and The Hound of the Baskerville's, both released

993
00:52:15,640 --> 00:52:19,799
Speaker 2: in nineteen eighty three. And I have to distress, when

994
00:52:19,840 --> 00:52:21,759
Speaker 2: I was a kid, we had this version of The

995
00:52:21,800 --> 00:52:25,080
Speaker 2: Hound of the Baskervills on VHS, and I remember watching

996
00:52:25,120 --> 00:52:29,320
Speaker 2: it multiple times. It had really haunting theme music and

997
00:52:29,520 --> 00:52:33,120
Speaker 2: it co starred both Brian Blessed and Ronald Lacey.

998
00:52:33,520 --> 00:52:35,680
Speaker 3: Wow, but wait a minute, I have to note, is

999
00:52:35,840 --> 00:52:37,880
Speaker 3: this is reading about this? How you got to that

1000
00:52:38,239 --> 00:52:40,600
Speaker 3: song you sent me earlier this week that was set

1001
00:52:40,640 --> 00:52:43,080
Speaker 3: to the tune of Black Sabbaths paranoid But it's like

1002
00:52:43,239 --> 00:52:46,279
Speaker 3: German people singing about the plot of The Hound of Baskerville's.

1003
00:52:46,680 --> 00:52:48,800
Speaker 2: No I wish it was. That was just Instagram. That

1004
00:52:48,920 --> 00:52:52,759
Speaker 2: was just Instagram nonsense, where sometimes Instagram nonsense really leads

1005
00:52:52,800 --> 00:52:56,000
Speaker 2: to an alarming and fabulous discovery. Most of the time

1006
00:52:56,080 --> 00:52:57,239
Speaker 2: it does it, but sometimes it does.

1007
00:52:58,560 --> 00:52:58,719
Speaker 3: See.

1008
00:52:58,719 --> 00:53:01,399
Speaker 2: Ian Richardson also voiced death in two thousand and six

1009
00:53:01,560 --> 00:53:04,760
Speaker 2: is The Hogfather based on the novel by Terry Pratchett,

1010
00:53:05,040 --> 00:53:08,160
Speaker 2: And that one's actually on my short list. That might

1011
00:53:08,360 --> 00:53:10,919
Speaker 2: very well be a Christmas selection later this year. We'll see,

1012
00:53:11,000 --> 00:53:14,680
Speaker 2: we'll see, but any rate, Yeah, Ian Richardson, fabulous voice,

1013
00:53:14,880 --> 00:53:18,879
Speaker 2: commanding presence here as mister book. There are various other

1014
00:53:18,960 --> 00:53:23,080
Speaker 2: strangers of varying degrees of importance. Sometimes their whole rooms

1015
00:53:23,280 --> 00:53:26,400
Speaker 2: full of strangers, like staring down like it's an operating theater.

1016
00:53:27,160 --> 00:53:29,560
Speaker 3: There's a baby stranger, stranger junor.

1017
00:53:30,320 --> 00:53:34,919
Speaker 2: Who bites people like he's terrifying. But then we also

1018
00:53:35,040 --> 00:53:39,320
Speaker 2: have a more stoic middleman sort of stranger, and this

1019
00:53:39,480 --> 00:53:42,960
Speaker 2: is mister Wall played by Bruce Spence born in nineteen

1020
00:53:43,040 --> 00:53:43,560
Speaker 2: forty five.

1021
00:53:44,040 --> 00:53:46,479
Speaker 3: Is this the guy who says no mo mister quick,

1022
00:53:46,760 --> 00:53:47,879
Speaker 3: mister quick dead?

1023
00:53:48,520 --> 00:53:52,880
Speaker 2: Yes? Yes, okay, yeah, the fabulous Bruce Spence, New Zealand

1024
00:53:52,920 --> 00:53:56,880
Speaker 2: born Australian character actor with a memorable drawn face and

1025
00:53:56,960 --> 00:53:59,759
Speaker 2: kind of haunted appearance. His credits go back to the

1026
00:53:59,800 --> 00:54:03,080
Speaker 2: areas seventies, but he's he at least I think was

1027
00:54:03,200 --> 00:54:06,600
Speaker 2: best known to international audiences for his roles in the

1028
00:54:07,800 --> 00:54:10,840
Speaker 2: second and third Mad Max films. So he plays the

1029
00:54:11,200 --> 00:54:15,160
Speaker 2: the Gyro captain in Mad Max two, and he plays Jedediah,

1030
00:54:15,200 --> 00:54:19,200
Speaker 2: the pilot in Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome. I haven't seen

1031
00:54:19,239 --> 00:54:21,120
Speaker 2: either of these films in a long time. I kind

1032
00:54:21,160 --> 00:54:23,760
Speaker 2: of in my recollection thought this was the same character,

1033
00:54:23,880 --> 00:54:25,400
Speaker 2: but maybe he's playing different characters.

1034
00:54:26,360 --> 00:54:27,040
Speaker 3: I don't recall.

1035
00:54:27,680 --> 00:54:30,359
Speaker 2: He plays the Mouth of Sauron in the extended edition

1036
00:54:30,480 --> 00:54:32,200
Speaker 2: of Peter Jackson's Return of the King.

1037
00:54:33,320 --> 00:54:34,480
Speaker 3: Oh the guy with the teeth.

1038
00:54:34,840 --> 00:54:38,080
Speaker 2: Yes, yeah, And he also plays the guy with the

1039
00:54:38,160 --> 00:54:40,239
Speaker 2: teeth in two thousand and five's Revenge of the Sith.

1040
00:54:40,320 --> 00:54:42,320
Speaker 2: There's like an alien character that shows up on the

1041
00:54:42,560 --> 00:54:46,920
Speaker 2: planet where Obi Wan is pursuing General Grievous, and he

1042
00:54:48,080 --> 00:54:51,320
Speaker 2: Bruce Spence appears as as a frightening alien creature in

1043
00:54:51,440 --> 00:54:54,480
Speaker 2: that as well. He also had a role in The

1044
00:54:54,560 --> 00:54:57,680
Speaker 2: Matrix Revolutions in two thousand and three. But yeah, another

1045
00:54:57,719 --> 00:54:59,880
Speaker 2: guy that always has a fun presence and just about

1046
00:54:59,880 --> 00:55:03,000
Speaker 2: it anything he's said, let's see two two more. As

1047
00:55:03,200 --> 00:55:06,480
Speaker 2: just a quick aside, I'll mention that playing Doctor Streever's assistant.

1048
00:55:06,600 --> 00:55:09,919
Speaker 2: We have David Wynham born nineteen sixty five. Very small

1049
00:55:09,960 --> 00:55:12,759
Speaker 2: part here, but he'd later go on to play Feramir

1050
00:55:12,840 --> 00:55:15,400
Speaker 2: in Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings film trilogy, and

1051
00:55:15,600 --> 00:55:17,680
Speaker 2: he was one of the muscle men in three hundred.

1052
00:55:18,640 --> 00:55:21,640
Speaker 3: Okay, but yeah, I remember he's great as Faramir.

1053
00:55:21,800 --> 00:55:23,920
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, yeah, I don't think he'd booked up all

1054
00:55:23,920 --> 00:55:24,680
Speaker 2: the way in this one.

1055
00:55:26,520 --> 00:55:28,600
Speaker 3: We don't need Ferimir to be a to be bulky.

1056
00:55:28,680 --> 00:55:31,799
Speaker 3: He's the you know, he's got courage and wits.

1057
00:55:31,760 --> 00:55:35,160
Speaker 2: That's right. And then we do have an important character.

1058
00:55:35,239 --> 00:55:39,040
Speaker 2: We'll come back to Walynski, a former detective, a disturbed

1059
00:55:39,160 --> 00:55:43,840
Speaker 2: former detective, and he's played by Colin Friels born nineteen

1060
00:55:43,920 --> 00:55:47,200
Speaker 2: fifty two Scottish born Australian actor, best known for his

1061
00:55:47,320 --> 00:55:50,200
Speaker 2: roles in Dark Man in nineteen ninety and the television

1062
00:55:50,280 --> 00:55:52,960
Speaker 2: series Water Rats. He was also in a critically acclaimed

1063
00:55:53,000 --> 00:55:57,560
Speaker 2: Australian comedy film titled Malcolm in nineteen eighty six. Going

1064
00:55:57,640 --> 00:56:00,360
Speaker 2: behind the scenes. You know can't mention every by, I

1065
00:56:00,440 --> 00:56:02,400
Speaker 2: do want to call out that the cinematographer on this

1066
00:56:02,719 --> 00:56:07,400
Speaker 2: film was Darius Wolski born nineteen fifty six, Academy Award

1067
00:56:07,480 --> 00:56:11,200
Speaker 2: nominated cinematographer who's worked on a slew of stylish and

1068
00:56:11,440 --> 00:56:14,600
Speaker 2: just visually arresting films over the years. He'd worked on

1069
00:56:14,680 --> 00:56:17,600
Speaker 2: ninety four as the Crow, and he would later work

1070
00:56:17,680 --> 00:56:22,239
Speaker 2: on multiple Ridley Scott films, including twenty twelve's Prometheus, twenty

1071
00:56:22,320 --> 00:56:26,520
Speaker 2: seventeen's Alien Covenant and twenty twenty three is Napoleon And Finally.

1072
00:56:26,640 --> 00:56:29,040
Speaker 2: The score for this film is by Trevor Jones born

1073
00:56:29,120 --> 00:56:32,640
Speaker 2: nineteen forty nine, English composer who scores for The Dark,

1074
00:56:32,640 --> 00:56:36,040
Speaker 2: Crystal and Labyrinth, or among some of my favorites. His

1075
00:56:36,120 --> 00:56:39,759
Speaker 2: score here is very effective, but I don't know it's

1076
00:56:40,480 --> 00:56:42,120
Speaker 2: I don't have much to say about it other than

1077
00:56:42,600 --> 00:56:45,040
Speaker 2: it seems to do the job quite nicely. But I'm

1078
00:56:45,080 --> 00:56:47,000
Speaker 2: also not rushing to get it on vinyl.

1079
00:56:47,239 --> 00:56:50,359
Speaker 3: I would say it's not a highly melodic score. It's

1080
00:56:50,400 --> 00:56:54,120
Speaker 3: a very mood and pace oriented score. So the score

1081
00:56:54,400 --> 00:56:58,120
Speaker 3: helps propel the action when it needs momentum, the score

1082
00:56:58,320 --> 00:57:01,160
Speaker 3: helps set the mood when when a different mood is

1083
00:57:01,239 --> 00:57:04,440
Speaker 3: called for. It's very effective as a cinema score, but

1084
00:57:04,920 --> 00:57:08,239
Speaker 3: it doesn't really strike me as all that memorable on

1085
00:57:08,360 --> 00:57:10,600
Speaker 3: its own regard. It's complementary of the film.

1086
00:57:11,120 --> 00:57:13,279
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's kind of I I guess it's kind of

1087
00:57:13,400 --> 00:57:16,040
Speaker 2: like the big blocks of architecture moving around in the

1088
00:57:16,120 --> 00:57:20,840
Speaker 2: background and reforming the city around you, without you, the

1089
00:57:20,920 --> 00:57:23,560
Speaker 2: inhabitant of Dark City, realizing what's happening.

1090
00:57:31,320 --> 00:57:33,120
Speaker 3: All right, This is the place where we would normally

1091
00:57:33,280 --> 00:57:36,439
Speaker 3: start to talk about the plot in detail. I think

1092
00:57:36,600 --> 00:57:38,640
Speaker 3: what it makes sense to do in this episode, since

1093
00:57:38,720 --> 00:57:43,280
Speaker 3: we're splitting this into two parts, is maybe we will

1094
00:57:43,600 --> 00:57:46,640
Speaker 3: begin by talking about the opening scene, the very set

1095
00:57:46,720 --> 00:57:49,120
Speaker 3: up to the movie that puts the plot hook in

1096
00:57:49,200 --> 00:57:52,720
Speaker 3: you and then in the next episode we can talk

1097
00:57:52,760 --> 00:57:55,360
Speaker 3: in more detail about the rest of the plot. And

1098
00:57:55,520 --> 00:57:58,040
Speaker 3: then I don't know, I offer some more analysis of

1099
00:57:58,080 --> 00:57:59,280
Speaker 3: the film. What do you think about that?

1100
00:57:59,400 --> 00:57:59,560
Speaker 2: Rob?

1101
00:58:00,200 --> 00:58:02,280
Speaker 3: Good to me. Okay, so let's put the let's put

1102
00:58:02,320 --> 00:58:06,120
Speaker 3: the hook in. So again, the opening of the movie

1103
00:58:06,160 --> 00:58:08,520
Speaker 3: I think is really strong, so I want to discuss

1104
00:58:08,560 --> 00:58:11,840
Speaker 3: it in some detail. And then again, this is the

1105
00:58:11,920 --> 00:58:14,080
Speaker 3: director's cut, so we're not going to be talking about

1106
00:58:14,120 --> 00:58:17,720
Speaker 3: the opening narration that was in the theatrical version. The

1107
00:58:17,840 --> 00:58:20,560
Speaker 3: film begins with the vision of the night sky, so

1108
00:58:20,640 --> 00:58:23,600
Speaker 3: you get a star field and the dusty smudge of

1109
00:58:23,640 --> 00:58:28,680
Speaker 3: a galaxy, and we then we pan down, way down

1110
00:58:28,960 --> 00:58:31,760
Speaker 3: down until you see the tops of buildings in a city,

1111
00:58:32,200 --> 00:58:34,680
Speaker 3: and then we keep going on down. The city is

1112
00:58:34,720 --> 00:58:37,000
Speaker 3: going to be the setting for the film, but here

1113
00:58:37,120 --> 00:58:40,360
Speaker 3: you get a sense of the impossible verticality of the city.

1114
00:58:40,440 --> 00:58:43,320
Speaker 3: We go down, down, down, in between the tall buildings,

1115
00:58:43,720 --> 00:58:48,040
Speaker 3: past skybridges carrying auto traffic, where we see these headlights

1116
00:58:48,080 --> 00:58:51,200
Speaker 3: cutting through the dark, and then further down until we

1117
00:58:51,320 --> 00:58:54,760
Speaker 3: come level to a man in spectacles wearing a trench

1118
00:58:54,840 --> 00:58:58,919
Speaker 3: coat and a felt Homburg hat. Generally in this movie,

1119
00:58:59,000 --> 00:59:02,920
Speaker 3: the clothing style people wear is mid century, maybe nineteen

1120
00:59:03,000 --> 00:59:06,960
Speaker 3: forties or nineteen fifties. This man is key for Sutherland

1121
00:59:07,040 --> 00:59:10,320
Speaker 3: as the character we will later learn is named doctor Shreeber.

1122
00:59:10,800 --> 00:59:13,240
Speaker 3: He walks with a limp. He approaches the camera and

1123
00:59:13,360 --> 00:59:17,080
Speaker 3: he stands bathed in this gross green light. Then he

1124
00:59:17,200 --> 00:59:20,560
Speaker 3: takes out his pocket watch. It is almost midnight. The

1125
00:59:20,640 --> 00:59:24,440
Speaker 3: seconds tick down until the watch strikes twelve, but suddenly

1126
00:59:24,720 --> 00:59:28,600
Speaker 3: it stops. No more ticking, and Doctor Shreeber looks up,

1127
00:59:28,680 --> 00:59:32,360
Speaker 3: apparently not surprised by his watch stopping this way, and

1128
00:59:32,480 --> 00:59:35,720
Speaker 3: then he hobbles off. We now move somewhere else, closing

1129
00:59:35,760 --> 00:59:38,760
Speaker 3: on a tall building with a Neon sign reading hotel.

1130
00:59:39,640 --> 00:59:41,800
Speaker 3: This is one of those tall buildings that only seems

1131
00:59:41,800 --> 00:59:43,720
Speaker 3: to have one window, And I think, do I recall

1132
00:59:43,800 --> 00:59:46,640
Speaker 3: correctly that the window is round? Yes?

1133
00:59:46,880 --> 00:59:49,480
Speaker 2: Yeah, like a like a I don't know.

1134
00:59:49,760 --> 00:59:52,000
Speaker 3: What do you call those windows on a ship? Yeah.

1135
00:59:52,080 --> 00:59:53,880
Speaker 2: Nowadays we would just be like, oh, that's a data

1136
00:59:54,320 --> 00:59:58,840
Speaker 2: center or something. Yeah, but yeah, here's supposed to be more. Well,

1137
00:59:58,920 --> 00:59:59,920
Speaker 2: we're equally ominously.

1138
01:00:00,120 --> 01:00:02,360
Speaker 3: It was full of HVAC for the subway or something.

1139
01:00:03,400 --> 01:00:07,720
Speaker 3: But yeah, inside, suddenly we are in a bathroom covered

1140
01:00:07,800 --> 01:00:11,160
Speaker 3: with emerald green tile I love the look of this.

1141
01:00:11,360 --> 01:00:14,240
Speaker 3: It's gross and beautiful at the same time, Like it

1142
01:00:14,320 --> 01:00:17,960
Speaker 3: looks awful but it looks great. And the room is

1143
01:00:19,000 --> 01:00:23,000
Speaker 3: illuminated only by a single pendent lamp dangling from the

1144
01:00:23,080 --> 01:00:25,920
Speaker 3: middle of the ceiling on a long cord and it's

1145
01:00:26,040 --> 01:00:29,520
Speaker 3: swinging back and forth. And in the bathtub, a man

1146
01:00:29,720 --> 01:00:34,080
Speaker 3: lies naked in the water, unconscious. We see blood dripping

1147
01:00:34,160 --> 01:00:36,760
Speaker 3: from a tiny puncture wound in the middle of his forehead.

1148
01:00:37,120 --> 01:00:40,840
Speaker 3: This is rufus Sewell. Suddenly the man wakes up. He's

1149
01:00:40,960 --> 01:00:44,200
Speaker 3: afraid and confused, doesn't seem to know where he is

1150
01:00:44,400 --> 01:00:45,240
Speaker 3: or how he got there.

1151
01:00:47,120 --> 01:00:51,160
Speaker 2: Again, I love the colors here, everything like it feels

1152
01:00:51,200 --> 01:00:53,320
Speaker 2: a little shabby, but I feel like he probably smells

1153
01:00:53,520 --> 01:00:56,320
Speaker 2: really nice. I don't know why. Maybe that's been part

1154
01:00:56,360 --> 01:00:59,200
Speaker 2: because the bathwater is purple and it just makes me

1155
01:00:59,520 --> 01:01:03,800
Speaker 2: almost haste ube. So I kept thinking, Oh, man, before

1156
01:01:03,880 --> 01:01:07,040
Speaker 2: he lost consciousness and maybe had his memories augmented or

1157
01:01:07,080 --> 01:01:09,720
Speaker 2: messed with, he was just enjoying a nice ube soak

1158
01:01:09,760 --> 01:01:10,200
Speaker 2: in the tub.

1159
01:01:10,600 --> 01:01:13,040
Speaker 3: I should know what that is. What is ube looks like.

1160
01:01:13,080 --> 01:01:17,360
Speaker 2: A purple yam, and so it's a flavoring that you

1161
01:01:17,440 --> 01:01:21,520
Speaker 2: often find in like ice creams, little Asian desserts and

1162
01:01:21,600 --> 01:01:22,040
Speaker 2: so forth.

1163
01:01:22,400 --> 01:01:24,720
Speaker 3: Oh, actually, I didn't know about that. I'll have to

1164
01:01:25,240 --> 01:01:25,919
Speaker 3: seek that out.

1165
01:01:26,880 --> 01:01:30,200
Speaker 2: Yeah, I believe it originates in the Philippines, I think.

1166
01:01:30,600 --> 01:01:33,840
Speaker 2: But yeah, a lot of like Filipino bakery goods have

1167
01:01:34,040 --> 01:01:35,520
Speaker 2: ube in them and they are delicious.

1168
01:01:36,480 --> 01:01:38,440
Speaker 3: So we follow the man as he gets out of

1169
01:01:38,480 --> 01:01:42,000
Speaker 3: the tub and investigates the hotel room for clues. He

1170
01:01:42,120 --> 01:01:45,320
Speaker 3: looks at his wound in the mirror. He dresses quickly

1171
01:01:45,560 --> 01:01:48,480
Speaker 3: and some clothes left folded on a chair, and he

1172
01:01:48,600 --> 01:01:51,800
Speaker 3: leaves the bathroom. As he does so, he slips on

1173
01:01:51,880 --> 01:01:54,720
Speaker 3: a puddle and knocks over a fish bowl, which shatters

1174
01:01:54,800 --> 01:01:57,280
Speaker 3: on the floor. The fish bowl had a single gold

1175
01:01:57,360 --> 01:01:59,680
Speaker 3: fish in it. Now it's flopping on the hardwood. The

1176
01:01:59,760 --> 01:02:02,080
Speaker 3: man picks up the fish and carries it gently to

1177
01:02:02,160 --> 01:02:05,560
Speaker 3: the bath, where he places it in the tub. And

1178
01:02:05,960 --> 01:02:08,800
Speaker 3: in this room, the man looks around for more clues.

1179
01:02:08,920 --> 01:02:12,440
Speaker 3: He finds several changes of clothes, a suitcase bearing the

1180
01:02:12,520 --> 01:02:16,920
Speaker 3: initials KH, and a postcard for a place called shell Beach.

1181
01:02:17,560 --> 01:02:20,640
Speaker 3: And when he sees the postcard, this triggers a sudden,

1182
01:02:21,240 --> 01:02:25,640
Speaker 3: hazy memory, but a very interesting visual way of a

1183
01:02:25,800 --> 01:02:29,840
Speaker 3: visual and sonic way of rendering these hazy memories, because

1184
01:02:30,080 --> 01:02:32,160
Speaker 3: usually you think of a hazy memory in a film

1185
01:02:32,240 --> 01:02:35,680
Speaker 3: as something with a soft focus that you kind of

1186
01:02:35,720 --> 01:02:38,960
Speaker 3: are looking at through fog, maybe playing in slow motion.

1187
01:02:39,640 --> 01:02:43,160
Speaker 3: This is exactly the opposite. It plays in his mind

1188
01:02:43,240 --> 01:02:46,120
Speaker 3: in something that feels like fast forward. It goes like

1189
01:02:46,200 --> 01:02:49,560
Speaker 3: doo doo, doo doo, and like you're seeing things happen quickly,

1190
01:02:50,080 --> 01:02:53,200
Speaker 3: and a sound of a kind of a rushing soundtrack

1191
01:02:53,360 --> 01:02:54,360
Speaker 3: being sped through.

1192
01:02:55,080 --> 01:02:57,280
Speaker 2: First of all, I really love the bit with the

1193
01:02:57,360 --> 01:03:00,560
Speaker 2: fish and we get a nice the peel of the

1194
01:03:00,600 --> 01:03:03,560
Speaker 2: shot is like looking up through the water which suddenly

1195
01:03:03,640 --> 01:03:07,439
Speaker 2: is less purple. But I'm not gonna not pick But then, yeah,

1196
01:03:07,480 --> 01:03:10,959
Speaker 2: the way the memories are visually depicted in this film

1197
01:03:11,000 --> 01:03:14,720
Speaker 2: and these kind of like fast forward flashes. Obviously nothing

1198
01:03:14,800 --> 01:03:18,959
Speaker 2: in cinema can truly capture the way our memories work.

1199
01:03:20,560 --> 01:03:22,640
Speaker 2: And at the same time, the way we think our

1200
01:03:22,720 --> 01:03:25,960
Speaker 2: memories work are influenced by the way we watch movies,

1201
01:03:26,440 --> 01:03:30,920
Speaker 2: so there's a weird feedback loop there. But in a way,

1202
01:03:31,000 --> 01:03:33,960
Speaker 2: I feel like this depiction of memories, even if this

1203
01:03:34,040 --> 01:03:36,280
Speaker 2: is supposed to be like a depiction of hazy messed

1204
01:03:36,360 --> 01:03:39,880
Speaker 2: with memories. It feels in ways more in keeping with

1205
01:03:39,960 --> 01:03:41,720
Speaker 2: the way our memories work, where it's just kind of

1206
01:03:41,840 --> 01:03:45,400
Speaker 2: like a fast forward barrage of images that don't actually

1207
01:03:45,560 --> 01:03:49,600
Speaker 2: have as much narrative structure to them or dialogue to them,

1208
01:03:49,640 --> 01:03:51,080
Speaker 2: but they just kind of hit us in flashes.

1209
01:03:51,440 --> 01:03:53,880
Speaker 3: Yeah, I know exactly what you're saying. There are obviously

1210
01:03:54,160 --> 01:03:57,000
Speaker 3: different ways that memories can feel, but this is a

1211
01:03:57,160 --> 01:03:59,840
Speaker 3: real way that I think it gets a real way

1212
01:03:59,840 --> 01:04:02,040
Speaker 3: that memories can be in the mind, that it's something

1213
01:04:02,200 --> 01:04:05,840
Speaker 3: that kind of flashes forward at you, not something that

1214
01:04:06,800 --> 01:04:09,600
Speaker 3: you have playing in slow motion where you can dwell

1215
01:04:09,680 --> 01:04:12,760
Speaker 3: on every detail of it. Instead, it's like it's like, hey,

1216
01:04:12,840 --> 01:04:15,240
Speaker 3: remember this and then it's gone, you know.

1217
01:04:16,520 --> 01:04:19,440
Speaker 2: Yeah, instead of like a dissolve to a five minute

1218
01:04:19,760 --> 01:04:21,960
Speaker 2: fiveback sequence and then back into reality.

1219
01:04:22,360 --> 01:04:25,240
Speaker 3: Yeah. So what is the image that he sees in

1220
01:04:25,360 --> 01:04:27,800
Speaker 3: this kind of fast forward memory. It's of a child

1221
01:04:28,000 --> 01:04:30,800
Speaker 3: running out onto the porch of a beach house in

1222
01:04:30,880 --> 01:04:33,640
Speaker 3: the sunlight, looking out over the water. And note that

1223
01:04:33,760 --> 01:04:36,880
Speaker 3: a lot of the memories in this movie take place

1224
01:04:36,960 --> 01:04:40,320
Speaker 3: in the day and suddenly you see bright sunlight, you're outside,

1225
01:04:40,440 --> 01:04:43,400
Speaker 3: you see the ocean and the sun and the waves

1226
01:04:43,480 --> 01:04:46,360
Speaker 3: and the sand and nothing in the present of the

1227
01:04:46,440 --> 01:04:50,400
Speaker 3: movie is like that. It's always just dark, wet, dingy city.

1228
01:04:51,000 --> 01:04:53,800
Speaker 2: Which you don't really necessarily pick up on at first

1229
01:04:53,920 --> 01:04:56,120
Speaker 2: because you know it's an hour film, right, It's like

1230
01:04:56,440 --> 01:04:59,480
Speaker 2: everything is at night, like presumably it's daytime sometime, but

1231
01:04:59,520 --> 01:05:02,200
Speaker 2: we're always he active at night, in the same way

1232
01:05:02,280 --> 01:05:05,479
Speaker 2: that TV shows that take place in like Toronto seem

1233
01:05:05,520 --> 01:05:08,240
Speaker 2: to only take place in the summer, like it's also

1234
01:05:08,360 --> 01:05:10,280
Speaker 2: winter there, but we just never see it in some

1235
01:05:10,440 --> 01:05:11,440
Speaker 2: of these shows, it seems.

1236
01:05:11,560 --> 01:05:15,080
Speaker 3: Yeah. So then the phone rings, the man answers, and

1237
01:05:15,200 --> 01:05:17,200
Speaker 3: on the other end it is key for Sutherland is

1238
01:05:17,320 --> 01:05:21,640
Speaker 3: doctor Shruber. He's calling from a payphone. He says, you're confused,

1239
01:05:21,720 --> 01:05:24,640
Speaker 3: aren't you frightened? I can help you. I am a doctor.

1240
01:05:24,920 --> 01:05:27,480
Speaker 3: Now you must listen to me. You have lost your memory.

1241
01:05:27,760 --> 01:05:31,200
Speaker 3: There was an experiment, something went wrong. Your memory was erased.

1242
01:05:31,560 --> 01:05:34,840
Speaker 3: Do you understand me? And I love how he's just

1243
01:05:35,000 --> 01:05:37,560
Speaker 3: throwing all this at the guy. The man protests, He's like, no,

1244
01:05:37,720 --> 01:05:41,439
Speaker 3: I don't understand what is going on, and doctor Schrueber says,

1245
01:05:41,480 --> 01:05:43,440
Speaker 3: you must listen to me. There are people coming for

1246
01:05:43,520 --> 01:05:45,720
Speaker 3: you even as we speak. You must not let them

1247
01:05:45,800 --> 01:05:47,000
Speaker 3: find you. You must leave.

1248
01:05:47,160 --> 01:05:49,280
Speaker 2: Now, it's kind of hard to ignore that this is

1249
01:05:49,360 --> 01:05:53,320
Speaker 2: pretty much the exact setup in The Matrix as well,

1250
01:05:53,520 --> 01:05:56,439
Speaker 2: when Orpheus calls Neo at his office job and tells

1251
01:05:56,480 --> 01:05:58,520
Speaker 2: him that he needs to run from the weird strangers

1252
01:05:58,560 --> 01:06:00,600
Speaker 2: that are about to attempt at brehend him.

1253
01:06:00,760 --> 01:06:02,520
Speaker 3: That's a good point. Which movie came first?

1254
01:06:03,160 --> 01:06:06,480
Speaker 2: This movie came first, City came first by just a year,

1255
01:06:06,560 --> 01:06:08,000
Speaker 2: I believe that.

1256
01:06:08,120 --> 01:06:10,320
Speaker 3: Being said, I'm not saying it's copying, but it is

1257
01:06:10,560 --> 01:06:11,800
Speaker 3: very similar, right.

1258
01:06:11,800 --> 01:06:14,200
Speaker 2: And to be clear, the Matrix has its own spin

1259
01:06:14,320 --> 01:06:18,320
Speaker 2: on this particular encounter because ultimately Neo is not up

1260
01:06:18,360 --> 01:06:20,760
Speaker 2: to the challengel. He doesn't listen to the voice or

1261
01:06:20,840 --> 01:06:23,680
Speaker 2: doesn't follow through on the instructions completely, and he gets

1262
01:06:23,720 --> 01:06:28,080
Speaker 2: apprehended by the strange agents and the Matrix.

1263
01:06:28,400 --> 01:06:30,440
Speaker 3: That's right, but the man here does not. So the

1264
01:06:30,480 --> 01:06:33,120
Speaker 3: man lets the phone receiver fall to the floor. Then

1265
01:06:33,280 --> 01:06:36,200
Speaker 3: his eye catches something at the other end of the room,

1266
01:06:36,320 --> 01:06:39,640
Speaker 3: on the floor beyond the bed. He slowly walks over

1267
01:06:39,720 --> 01:06:41,760
Speaker 3: to see it, and when he comes around the foot

1268
01:06:41,760 --> 01:06:44,960
Speaker 3: of the bed, he realizes it is a dead body,

1269
01:06:45,200 --> 01:06:48,240
Speaker 3: the body of a woman lying exposed on the floor

1270
01:06:48,560 --> 01:06:53,880
Speaker 3: mutilated with bloody spirals cut into her skin. He reacts

1271
01:06:53,920 --> 01:06:56,360
Speaker 3: with horror, and as he passes the night stand he

1272
01:06:56,520 --> 01:06:59,640
Speaker 3: bumps into it and a blood stained knife falls to

1273
01:06:59,680 --> 01:07:02,560
Speaker 3: the floor. So somebody's been cutting spirals on people in here,

1274
01:07:03,160 --> 01:07:03,880
Speaker 3: possibly him.

1275
01:07:04,120 --> 01:07:06,520
Speaker 2: Yeah, not a good look for this guy. Yeah, So

1276
01:07:06,680 --> 01:07:08,200
Speaker 2: he flees the murder scene.

1277
01:07:08,400 --> 01:07:11,240
Speaker 3: That's right. So he's terrified. He runs for the door,

1278
01:07:11,520 --> 01:07:14,360
Speaker 3: leaves the hotel room, taking the suitcase with him, and

1279
01:07:14,640 --> 01:07:16,360
Speaker 3: just as he comes out into the hall, we can

1280
01:07:16,400 --> 01:07:18,200
Speaker 3: see down at the other end of the door to

1281
01:07:18,360 --> 01:07:22,120
Speaker 3: the elevator shaft. The elevator is arriving at this floor.

1282
01:07:22,640 --> 01:07:24,960
Speaker 3: There are dark figures we can see inside it through

1283
01:07:25,000 --> 01:07:28,280
Speaker 3: the glass, the beldings, and the man runs and makes

1284
01:07:28,320 --> 01:07:30,920
Speaker 3: it around the corner out of view, heading for the stairwell.

1285
01:07:31,320 --> 01:07:33,520
Speaker 3: Just as the doors of the elevator open and then

1286
01:07:33,800 --> 01:07:38,280
Speaker 3: out of the elevator come three tall, dark, thin figures

1287
01:07:38,400 --> 01:07:42,040
Speaker 3: in black hats and long coats, and the music swells

1288
01:07:42,120 --> 01:07:44,960
Speaker 3: as they make their way down the hall. The man

1289
01:07:45,040 --> 01:07:47,640
Speaker 3: goes down to the lobby, where he discovers that everyone,

1290
01:07:48,000 --> 01:07:52,600
Speaker 3: all the guests and the hotel staff are asleep. They're unconscious,

1291
01:07:52,720 --> 01:07:56,600
Speaker 3: but many of them sitting upright unconscious and they can't

1292
01:07:56,600 --> 01:07:59,200
Speaker 3: be awoken. He like accidentally knocks somebody over and they're

1293
01:07:59,200 --> 01:08:03,240
Speaker 3: still asleep. Then suddenly the clocks start moving again and

1294
01:08:03,400 --> 01:08:06,200
Speaker 3: everybody wakes up. The clerk at the front desk calls

1295
01:08:06,240 --> 01:08:08,920
Speaker 3: out to him, seemingly unaware that he was ever asleep,

1296
01:08:09,360 --> 01:08:12,040
Speaker 3: and he calls the protagonist mister Murdoch. This is the

1297
01:08:12,080 --> 01:08:15,440
Speaker 3: first indication that the protagonist has of his own name.

1298
01:08:16,080 --> 01:08:16,200
Speaker 2: Uh.

1299
01:08:16,360 --> 01:08:18,599
Speaker 3: So he calls hey, mister Murdoch, and he tells him

1300
01:08:18,640 --> 01:08:19,719
Speaker 3: several several things.

1301
01:08:20,240 --> 01:08:20,360
Speaker 1: Uh.

1302
01:08:20,479 --> 01:08:23,120
Speaker 3: He says, the three weeks that he prepaid for at

1303
01:08:23,160 --> 01:08:25,920
Speaker 3: the hotel are up, so he's been there three weeks.

1304
01:08:26,280 --> 01:08:28,680
Speaker 3: And he says the automat called to say that they

1305
01:08:28,720 --> 01:08:30,960
Speaker 3: found his lost wallet and he could go there to

1306
01:08:31,000 --> 01:08:31,479
Speaker 3: pick it up.

1307
01:08:32,360 --> 01:08:33,840
Speaker 2: We will get an automat scene.

1308
01:08:33,960 --> 01:08:38,639
Speaker 3: Oh love, love, love the automat scene. It's I love it. Yeah,

1309
01:08:40,000 --> 01:08:42,599
Speaker 3: I just think of that sometimes in the many years

1310
01:08:42,640 --> 01:08:45,680
Speaker 3: since I watched this movie last, I would sometimes just

1311
01:08:45,760 --> 01:08:50,439
Speaker 3: think of the automat. Yes. Also funny that this is

1312
01:08:50,560 --> 01:08:53,280
Speaker 3: the kind of hotel that decides your stay is up

1313
01:08:53,680 --> 01:08:56,240
Speaker 3: at midnight on the last day you paid for Like

1314
01:08:56,320 --> 01:08:57,599
Speaker 3: that's when you got to get out of your room.

1315
01:08:57,680 --> 01:08:58,879
Speaker 3: Check out time is midnight.

1316
01:08:59,400 --> 01:09:02,720
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's that's a bit weird. Yeah, usually it's more

1317
01:09:02,840 --> 01:09:05,519
Speaker 2: like like ten am or something or eleven am, not midnight.

1318
01:09:06,160 --> 01:09:08,840
Speaker 3: But that would work perfectly for the way time works

1319
01:09:08,880 --> 01:09:09,360
Speaker 3: in the city.

1320
01:09:09,760 --> 01:09:10,760
Speaker 2: Yeah, they don't know any better.

1321
01:09:11,439 --> 01:09:14,480
Speaker 3: So after Murdoch leaves the hotel, he throws his suitcase

1322
01:09:14,520 --> 01:09:16,639
Speaker 3: in the water in a canal running through the city,

1323
01:09:16,760 --> 01:09:19,240
Speaker 3: and then we part ways with him to follow the

1324
01:09:19,320 --> 01:09:22,519
Speaker 3: hotel clerk as he goes up to Murdoch's room to

1325
01:09:22,600 --> 01:09:26,320
Speaker 3: turn it over. Inside, he finds the strangers, the men

1326
01:09:26,560 --> 01:09:29,280
Speaker 3: in black who came out of the elevator. I think

1327
01:09:29,360 --> 01:09:31,439
Speaker 3: there are four of them here in this scene, and

1328
01:09:31,560 --> 01:09:34,040
Speaker 3: we see them up close for the first time. There

1329
01:09:34,240 --> 01:09:37,719
Speaker 3: are of almost comically different sizes. One is a child,

1330
01:09:37,960 --> 01:09:41,479
Speaker 3: one is extremely tall, a couple others in between, and

1331
01:09:41,640 --> 01:09:46,240
Speaker 3: what they have in common is that they are all thin, pale,

1332
01:09:46,920 --> 01:09:51,759
Speaker 3: bald male and all dressed the same in long black

1333
01:09:51,840 --> 01:09:56,800
Speaker 3: coats with huge fur collars, wearing black fedoras. And as

1334
01:09:56,840 --> 01:09:59,479
Speaker 3: we talked about earlier, the strangers all call each other

1335
01:09:59,560 --> 01:10:02,759
Speaker 3: by name, and that those names are all mister something,

1336
01:10:03,080 --> 01:10:06,920
Speaker 3: with the something being a one syllable English word names

1337
01:10:06,960 --> 01:10:12,000
Speaker 3: like mister Hand, mister Book, mister Sleep, mister Quick, mister Rain,

1338
01:10:12,200 --> 01:10:17,120
Speaker 3: and mister Wall. Mister Hand played by Richard O'Brien seems

1339
01:10:17,160 --> 01:10:19,719
Speaker 3: to be the leader of this group. When the clerk

1340
01:10:19,760 --> 01:10:22,479
Speaker 3: comes into the room, mister Hand is investigating an object

1341
01:10:22,560 --> 01:10:25,000
Speaker 3: on the floor of the bathroom and it is an

1342
01:10:25,240 --> 01:10:29,880
Speaker 3: ornate brass syringe with the glass tube inside shattered on

1343
01:10:29,960 --> 01:10:31,439
Speaker 3: the tile of the bathroom floor.

1344
01:10:32,439 --> 01:10:32,519
Speaker 2: Uh.

1345
01:10:32,720 --> 01:10:35,160
Speaker 3: And then there's another detail we notice in the scene.

1346
01:10:35,240 --> 01:10:39,200
Speaker 3: The strangers when they move around, they carefully, almost daintily,

1347
01:10:39,760 --> 01:10:43,880
Speaker 3: try to avoid and step around the puddles on the floor,

1348
01:10:44,120 --> 01:10:47,000
Speaker 3: making a weird chittering noise at them with their teeth.

1349
01:10:48,160 --> 01:10:50,519
Speaker 3: The strangers seese the clerk when he comes into the

1350
01:10:50,600 --> 01:10:52,720
Speaker 3: room and they hold him up against a wall and

1351
01:10:52,920 --> 01:10:56,160
Speaker 3: mister Hand demands to know where mister Murdoch has gone.

1352
01:10:56,520 --> 01:10:58,479
Speaker 3: The clerk tells him he just left just a few

1353
01:10:58,520 --> 01:11:01,680
Speaker 3: minutes ago. Then the strains wave a hand over the

1354
01:11:01,720 --> 01:11:05,960
Speaker 3: clerk's face and say sleep now, and the man falls asleep.

1355
01:11:06,920 --> 01:11:08,439
Speaker 3: So I think maybe I'm going to stop it there,

1356
01:11:08,520 --> 01:11:11,280
Speaker 3: but like, it's a hell of an opening. It really

1357
01:11:11,600 --> 01:11:13,439
Speaker 3: really hooks you, Like what is going on?

1358
01:11:14,479 --> 01:11:18,920
Speaker 2: Yeah, we we have this lead character that's shrouded in mystery.

1359
01:11:19,000 --> 01:11:21,160
Speaker 2: He may or may not be a killer. They are

1360
01:11:21,560 --> 01:11:27,720
Speaker 2: strange characters with seemingly supernatural powers that are pursuing him

1361
01:11:28,080 --> 01:11:32,599
Speaker 2: through this dark, brooding noir city. So yeah, absolutely heck

1362
01:11:32,680 --> 01:11:35,759
Speaker 2: of an opening. And again this is without the narration

1363
01:11:35,960 --> 01:11:39,000
Speaker 2: that spoils a good deal about what these strangers are.

1364
01:11:39,439 --> 01:11:42,640
Speaker 3: Yeah, and also, apart from the supernatural elements, like the

1365
01:11:42,720 --> 01:11:45,000
Speaker 3: fact that these strangers look so weird and they can

1366
01:11:45,439 --> 01:11:47,960
Speaker 3: make people fall asleep, and the fact that everybody goes

1367
01:11:48,040 --> 01:11:50,200
Speaker 3: to sleep and then wakes up at midnight that time

1368
01:11:50,320 --> 01:11:53,960
Speaker 3: seems to stop. It's just a great setup for a

1369
01:11:54,360 --> 01:11:56,840
Speaker 3: mundane detective mystery as well. I love it, you know.

1370
01:11:56,960 --> 01:12:00,600
Speaker 3: So there's amnesia, waking up with the dead body, and

1371
01:12:00,760 --> 01:12:04,080
Speaker 3: then the clues. You know, I've been here for three

1372
01:12:04,200 --> 01:12:07,680
Speaker 3: weeks and and your wallet is at the automat. I

1373
01:12:07,680 --> 01:12:09,760
Speaker 3: don't know why. The clue your wallet is at the

1374
01:12:09,800 --> 01:12:12,680
Speaker 3: automat is just like the most enticing lead but that

1375
01:12:12,960 --> 01:12:15,840
Speaker 3: I love that. That's like, it doesn't get much better

1376
01:12:15,880 --> 01:12:17,519
Speaker 3: than that. Got to go to the automat to get

1377
01:12:17,560 --> 01:12:18,200
Speaker 3: my next clue.

1378
01:12:18,680 --> 01:12:21,040
Speaker 2: Yeah, and I think that is key. We in a

1379
01:12:21,160 --> 01:12:24,960
Speaker 2: very simple sort of structural way we already know about.

1380
01:12:25,040 --> 01:12:28,320
Speaker 2: We have tangible clues that our character can follow up on,

1381
01:12:28,640 --> 01:12:30,880
Speaker 2: and we the viewer are anticipating.

1382
01:12:31,120 --> 01:12:35,120
Speaker 3: And it's an automat, which is it is an out, outdated,

1383
01:12:35,320 --> 01:12:39,080
Speaker 3: antiquated and visually interesting type of business.

1384
01:12:39,840 --> 01:12:43,080
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, So I look forward to talking about the

1385
01:12:43,120 --> 01:12:45,639
Speaker 2: automat scene. Maybe maybe we'll even pull in a little

1386
01:12:45,680 --> 01:12:49,439
Speaker 2: bit of historical information about the automat, because I think

1387
01:12:49,439 --> 01:12:50,440
Speaker 2: it's pretty fascinating.

1388
01:12:50,640 --> 01:12:52,920
Speaker 3: Yeah, I don't want to oversell it. There's actually nothing

1389
01:12:52,960 --> 01:12:55,519
Speaker 3: all that interesting story wise about the Automat. I just

1390
01:12:55,640 --> 01:12:57,519
Speaker 3: love that there is an automat, and I love the

1391
01:12:57,560 --> 01:12:58,160
Speaker 3: way it looks.

1392
01:12:58,280 --> 01:13:00,920
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's it's a terrific antiquated sort of setting to

1393
01:13:01,120 --> 01:13:04,120
Speaker 2: exist in this unreal city, and I don't know, it

1394
01:13:04,200 --> 01:13:06,400
Speaker 2: may tie in thematically to some of what's going on.

1395
01:13:06,479 --> 01:13:07,040
Speaker 2: I think it does.

1396
01:13:07,160 --> 01:13:10,559
Speaker 3: Actually do we have to cut part one here, though, I.

1397
01:13:10,600 --> 01:13:13,519
Speaker 2: Think we should at this point. We should ask everyone

1398
01:13:13,680 --> 01:13:17,240
Speaker 2: to sleep, and we will now rearrange things behind the

1399
01:13:17,320 --> 01:13:19,960
Speaker 2: scenes and we will pick up in a rare part

1400
01:13:20,040 --> 01:13:22,160
Speaker 2: two episode of Weird House Cinema. We try not to

1401
01:13:22,479 --> 01:13:25,920
Speaker 2: split our film discussions up into two episodes, but occasionally

1402
01:13:26,000 --> 01:13:27,960
Speaker 2: there's a film where we have a good bit more

1403
01:13:28,000 --> 01:13:31,960
Speaker 2: to say, and especially if it's a more well known film,

1404
01:13:32,040 --> 01:13:33,640
Speaker 2: we feel like, all right, well, there's a little more

1405
01:13:33,760 --> 01:13:37,080
Speaker 2: license to do, say a Highlander two part one in two,

1406
01:13:38,240 --> 01:13:40,280
Speaker 2: or a Dune part one in part two, or in

1407
01:13:40,360 --> 01:13:42,559
Speaker 2: this case, Dark City part one and part two.

1408
01:13:43,040 --> 01:13:45,519
Speaker 3: I'm still burned we didn't do two parts on Empire

1409
01:13:45,560 --> 01:13:46,000
Speaker 3: of the Dark.

1410
01:13:47,640 --> 01:13:51,080
Speaker 2: A case could be made, yes, all right, yeah, we'll

1411
01:13:51,120 --> 01:13:52,920
Speaker 2: go and close it out here, but just a reminder

1412
01:13:53,000 --> 01:13:54,920
Speaker 2: that Stuff to Blow your Mind is primarily a science

1413
01:13:54,960 --> 01:13:58,080
Speaker 2: and culture podcast with core episodes on Tuesdays and Thursdays,

1414
01:13:58,120 --> 01:14:00,240
Speaker 2: but on Fridays we set aside most serious concer learns

1415
01:14:00,280 --> 01:14:03,160
Speaker 2: to just talk about a weird film on Weird House Cinema.

1416
01:14:03,680 --> 01:14:06,400
Speaker 2: If you are on letterbox dot com, go over there

1417
01:14:06,520 --> 01:14:09,439
Speaker 2: check out our profile. We are weird House there and

1418
01:14:09,560 --> 01:14:11,120
Speaker 2: we have a nice list of all the movies we've

1419
01:14:11,160 --> 01:14:13,760
Speaker 2: covered over the years, and sometimes there is a peek

1420
01:14:13,800 --> 01:14:15,240
Speaker 2: ahead at what's coming out next.

1421
01:14:16,000 --> 01:14:19,840
Speaker 3: Huge thanks as always to our excellent audio producer Jjposway.

1422
01:14:19,920 --> 01:14:21,360
Speaker 3: If you would like to get in touch with us

1423
01:14:21,400 --> 01:14:23,879
Speaker 3: with feedback on this episode or any other, to suggest

1424
01:14:23,920 --> 01:14:25,920
Speaker 3: a topic for the future or just to say hello.

1425
01:14:26,320 --> 01:14:29,040
Speaker 3: You can email us at contact at stuff to Blow

1426
01:14:29,120 --> 01:14:30,200
Speaker 3: your Mind dot com.

1427
01:14:37,000 --> 01:14:39,920
Speaker 1: Stuff to Blow Your Mind is production of iHeartRadio. For

1428
01:14:40,080 --> 01:14:42,800
Speaker 1: more podcasts from my heart Radio, visit the iHeartRadio app,

1429
01:14:43,000 --> 01:14:45,719
Speaker 1: Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.