In this episode, Siskel and Ebert review: Dark City, Kissing a Fool, An Alan Smithee Film: Burn Hollywood Burn, Krippendorf’s Tribe, The Real Blonde and The Long Way Home.
Dark City was such a cool film. How anyone can come up with something like that is amazing. And I think the Alan Smithee film might have worked if a) someone else produced it, b) someone else directed it, c) another studio released it, and d) Eric Idle actually WROTE it! Idle just seemed totally lost in the film, and the film itself was lost by its very concept. No one had a clue where to take the film, and no one acts like a normal human being does. More disturbing by today's standard, having a major part in Alan Smithee is Harvey Weinstein doing his "best" Jack Webb impersonation. It's insane that people actually PRAISED his "performance" at the time. And I think I read somewhere that Krippendorf's Tribe was sorta based on the story of a "real" anthropologist who investigated a hidden stone age tribe in South America that was later revealed to be comprised of actors thoroughly trained to act like a tribe that never heard of modern technologies. Supposedly, he acted with the full knowledge and cooperation of Manuel Noriega before his downfall.
I whole-heartedly agree. Sure, both movies are philosophical, but Dark City resonates to me on more of a spiritual/personal level. Just take the love story, for example. The moment John breaks the glass to kiss his wife because he loves her regardless of what the past is or what he remembers is PROFOUND (especially, within the context of the film's themes). On the other hand, the moment Trinity realizes she loves Neo is just weird and kind of jarring. That's just 1 of like 20 things that Dark City does better.
I would love to see Adam Driver as Preston Payne aka Clayface. I am sick and tired of Joker. Also, speaking of Zsasz, never understood the big deal about him. He just comes off as a run-of-the-mill serial killer.
Imagine if Ebert saw the ultra low budget Following, which was released the same year, and was told that the director would be the one to direct the next Batman movie.
I was shocked with to see the black face when I first saw 'Krippendorf's Tribe " when it came out in 1998. I didn't find it funny then and I don't find it funny now.
Unfortunately, in Hollywood nobody cares about quality. As long as you have a history of selling scripts of movies that get produced, you make a living.
