In Contention

Tag: Dark City

  • POLL: What are you seeing this weekend?

    I figure it’s time for a new poll since everyone has spoken on “Watchmen” by now.  Since there’s an interestingly diverse slate of films set to open this weekend, I figured I’d ask the old stand-by: What are you going to see?

    I’m strangely looking forward to “Knowing,” more because of Alex Proyas than anything else (which, by the way, finally caught up with that “Dark City” director’s cut I wrote about earlier in the week — MUCH better experience than the theatrical version, I’d say).  Then again, “I Love You, Man” is frankly looking like the right antidote lately, while the reviews of “Duplicity” have piqued my interest in Tony Gilroy’s latest.

    There are also a couple of limited releases in play this weekend, most notably Steve McQueen’s “Hunger” (which you all know was one of my favorite films of last year when it played the festival circuit).  But maybe you’d rather see “Watchmen” again, or something else that’s still kicking around the marketplace.  Whatever the case, let us know in the sidebar poll and feel free to expand on your pick in the comments section below.  We’ll find out what the masses decided when Chad writes up the weekend’s box office Sunday.

  • Alex Proyas guest blogs for /Film

    Alex ProyasI don’t know if everyone has read up on director Alex Proyas’s sporadic guest blog postings at /Film, but I’ve been getting a kick out of his unfiltered take.  Obviously it’s a nice PR move for his upcoming film “Knowing,” which would look like derivative sci-fi trifle if not for Proyas’s involvement at the helm.

    It also reminds me that I need to pick up the Blu-ray Director’s Cut of “Dark City,” which Proyas gleefully put together a decade after studio pressure forced him to “dumb down” the theatrical cut (which I never fully enjoyed).

    Anyway, here are some highlights from his guest blogging stint…

    On his latest film:

    KNOWING is an original and thought-provoking story, and I believe it has a unique & compelling idea at its heart. It’s about a man looking for meaning in his life, in a universe he believes to be meaningless, as he comes to understand the part he has to play in his own destiny. In many ways the story is about confronting fate and the inevitable, but it offers great hope and maps a path to the hero’s (Nic’s) own spiritual transcendence.

    This story offers some challenging philosophical ideas but it’s a journey with deep emotional resonance. It’s about the cycle of life & death, and the hope we hand down to our children. As well as all that, I think the movie is a great thriller; but it’s the best kind of genre movie because it is about something meaningful.

    (more…)