Citizen Rules...Cinemaesque Chat-n-Review

War of the World is the best post-9/11 action movie of all the hundreds of "we're making an action movie let's put in some post-9/11 subtext" movies

Tom Cruise sci-fi rankings are obviously

1. Minority Report
2. War of the Worlds
3. Edge of Tomorrow
4. Oblivion

Why did Spielberg stop making fun movies after his early 2000s mini-comeback though

Hated War of the Worlds and Minority Report, haven't seen the other two.

Interesting, I didn't remember about it being a subtext for 9/11 movie,but it's been awhile since I seen it.

Gideon you're not a big fan of sci fi are you? Do you have any favorite sci fis?

I'm still watching movies for the Top 100 Sci Fi countdown and if I haven't seen them I might watch them I have 5 weeks before the deadline.

Dakota Fanning's character literally screams "is it the terrorists" when the aliens are first attacking. Pretty on-the-nose maybe but also pretty instantly devastating and affecting to think how it's always somewhere in the back of Americans' minds now

Director: Michael Winterbottom
Cast: Tim Robbins, Samantha Morton, Om Puri
Genre: Drama, Romance, Sci-Fi

About: A futuristic society where some people are cloned, others born in vitro, while others are born naturally. Genetic screening prevents those with similar genomes from producing offspring. If they do, it's a Code 46 violation.

Review: I have nothing much good to say about this film...and I really wanted to like it. I heard it described as a futuristic Brief Encounter (1945)... a forbidden love story in which a married man (Tim Robbins) has an affair with a younger single woman (Samantha Morton)...the couples romance is impossible due to their genetic similarities and the government intervenes.

Sounds good! but it ain't. It was slow, and not in a good way. Tim Robbins was a bore with zero screen presences. He has such a lack of enthusiasm that I though he was sedated. It's hard to believe the young woman factory worker would be romantically interested in him. Though she wasn't exactly a catch either.

Samantha Morton wasn't as boring, but she and Robbins had no chemistry and as this is suppose to be a doomed love story, it didn't work. Some of their scenes seemed to be improvised and it was like watching two actors practice together. They were not in character in the bar scene. It looked like a practice shot.

Code 46 made me feel nothing....I wasn't happy, sad, outraged, amused, nothing. It didn't move me, or make me think anything (except wondering how much longer until it was over)...I thought at the end there would be something that would make the 90 minutes worth while, but zip.

Oh but there's one shocking scene in an otherwise very benign, almost G rated movie...during a sex scene there's a very clear and close up shot of the privates of Samantha Morton (actually it look like a body double was used). It was better suited to an adult erotic film and I can only conclude the director had nothing else to offer but a peep show.

Director: Alex Proyas
Writer: Alex Proyas
Cast: Rufus Sewell, Kiefer Sutherland, Jennifer Connelly, William Hurt
Genre: Sci Fi

About: A man (Rufus Sewell) awakens in a rundown hotel room and discovers he's lost his memory and is wanted for a series of murders. Then he receives a call from a strange doctor (Kiefer Sutherland) telling him to flee before the cops arrive. Outside, he discovers a strangely dark city with people who can't seem to remember details of their own lives.


Review: Dark City could've been one of the great Sci Fi's, right up there with Blade Runner or 2001. It's got the look...with it's gothic noir city, bathed in perpetual darkness. There's enough atmosphere here even for a Ridley Scott film. And the story idea of a film noir-sci fi, mystery-thriller was very promising.

But I couldn't help but feel like the movie was lacking. Everything seemed rushed and incomplete, like I was watching an outline of a story without the extra moments included that make it memorable. I felt like I didn't know what the characters where about, I was never emotional involved in the film. Even though it looked cool, it had no soul.


After the movie was over I read that it has one of the shortest shot lengths for a modern movie, averaging only 1.8 seconds per camera shot. That quickness of the film eliminates much of the movies suspense, with little time for character supposition and reflection. It felt incomplete...missing were the subtle nuances that give goose bump moments and come from longer scenes that make you think about the film for days afterwards.

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I love Dark City until the confrontation and even though that scene isn't realised that well and knocks the movie down slightly for me it's still one I enjoy immensely. Shame you didn't really connect with it.

As for Cruise - imo the War Of The Worlds remake is an abysmal bastardisation of a story that should have been left alone but I do also like the aesthetic of Oblivion and totally agree the movie dips somewhat with the inclusion of the 'resistance' whilst the solid but slightly overly long Minority Report has now been topped by Edge Of Tomorrow as my favourite of those four.

big fan of Dark City and do get what you're saying. It really had some SERIOUS potential to be something huge.
Still love it though and enjoyed the review

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I liked the review, but didn't really care for the movie. I have a hard time saying why (but I think Rules touched on some of the reasons). I will admit that the film's delivering of atmosphere is well done. Unfortunately I don't recall enough of it to really provide good reasons for my feelings, just that I remember not liking it too much and having no desire to see it again.

Funny thing...I'm working on my Sci Fi list for the upcoming Sci Fi Top 100 Countdown...I had seen Dark City like 15 years ago and loved it. So much so that it was a shoe in for my list of top 25 sci fis.

Then I decide to rewatch it and this time around I realized I didn't really remember much of the movie and what I had remembered was almost embellished by me...I could have swore the movie had more depth to it, and that I had seen more about the other characters and even seen them change...Dark City eludes to that effect that the girlfriend is not really the really girlfriend but we don't see Jennifer Connelly as any one else but the girlfriend.

It took me awhile to realize that I had mentally merged Dark City with an similar episode of the Outer Limits The Refuge.

I actually liked Dark City and because I hold it to a higher level, I'm more critical of it's perceived flaws, than I am of say Oblivion, which to me was a fun popcorn movie, also with flaws but held to a lower standard.

Speaking of Sci-Fi, I know this movie has been mentioned on this thread before, but Galaxy Quest showed up in the movies I can watch On Demand and I started watching it again. It's such a fun movie and a unique satire that appeals to fans of Star Trek who know some of the back stories of the show's history, actors, the conventions and the "Trekkies."
It shares a similar theme to the movies The Three Amigos and Tropic Thunder in that they all feature stories about actors who are thought to actually be the characters they play by someone else and are thus put into a "real" situation to play out their characters.
Sad feelings arise when we see Alan Rickman (in the Nimoy role during Nimoy's reluctant & regretful phase regarding his role as Spock) considering Rickman died last year. Rickman is a highlight of the movie.
In addition to being a comedy the sci-fi special effects in Galaxy Quest are quite good.

Galaxy Quest is on my list, I know people love that one. I seen it once when it first came out, so you might as well say I've never seen it as I don't remember it. I'm not a big fan of Tim Allen but we'll see what I think of it

I don't like Tim Allen either, but I still enjoy Galaxy Quest. Alan Rickman is great in it.

I don't know who Alan Rickman is? off the top of my head. I'll probably recognize his face. I have another sci fi movie to review, I hope I can do it today.

Rickman is the bad guy from Die Hard...

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Hmm, I don't recognize him. I did see Die Hard, once long ago.

Similar feelings here about Tim Allen - I was never a fan. Galaxy Quest still succeeds though and it's the only Tim Allen movie that I'm a fan of (aside from his voice work in Toy Story). I always wonder what if they gave the role in Galaxy Quest to Shatner (whom Tim Allen's character is obviously based upon)?

I've always loved Alan Rickman's voice! And yes, my first and favorite recollection of him is as Hans in Die Hard - he's one of the most memorable villains that had a certain charm about him! He played God's emissary Metatron in Dogma. He was also a villain in Harry Potter movies, but I've never seen any of those.

I think I'm enjoying it more as a re-watch than I did the first time I saw it. Maybe because I now have more Trek-backstory under my belt.

been quite a long time for me for Quest but it is a fun lil movie, more so for a Trekkie and yes, Rickman IS great in it.

Also, Rickman was the sheriff in Costner's Robin Hood



he effin ROCKED in that one

Haven't seen that in a long long time, but yes - a perfect role for Rickman!