Nik Zbikowski (Zibbs)

"His film shows the obsessive concentration on visual detail that's the hallmark of directors who make films that are short and expensive. There's such a wealth on the screen, such an overflowing of imagination and energy." - Roger Ebert


When one imagines "alien beings who can alter reality," the expectations far exceed that of "albinos dressed in black who can make people fall asleep on command with their will alone." And what do these "Doc Manhattans of Dark City" do when their narcolepsy trick doesn't work on certain citizens? They have knife fights on top of buildings; a la "West Side Story." (Personally, I don't find that to be very imaginative.)


"Let's stop and take a poll. How long do you like the camera to stay with one character before it switches to another? 20 seconds so that the actor has a chance to say something meaningful? 10 seconds so that we can keep a fast pace? How about a blistering 5? Nope, all of these are way too slow for DARK CITY's editor, Dov Hoenig. 1 and 2 second clips are the norm in this movie. I know because I timed them. (My watch and I got to know each other better as a way for me to relive my boredom.) The result of this excessive flitting is liable to be nausea and confusion among the audience, which is a shame since there is a clever story trying to get out. But with the strobe light effect of five dozen 1-2 second clips in a row, it is hard to pay attention to anything." - Sean Means (Film.com)


Basically, the pace of the film is terrible. - Plus, all the characters are one-sided. - Jack Bauer's Tug-o-War exposition game throughout the film is also poorly written.


"Sutherland prattles on with his plot summary for around five minutes, his wheezing, mannered Peter Lorre-meets-The Elephant Man delivery growing more insufferable by the moment, his character rapidly becoming something akin to AUSTIN POWERS' Sir Basil Exposition. It's the sort of lazy, aggravating scene which is all too common in science-fiction/fantasy films, but in DARK CITY it's even more aggravating. You see, Sutherland's interminable synopsis consists of three distinct sub-categories: 1) stuff already explicitly stated in the equally lazy opening narration; 2) stuff which should have been painfully easy to show rather than tell; 3) stuff a viewer should have been able to figure out by actually watching the preceding hour instead of waiting for someone to give him the gist of it." - Scott Renshaw (rec.arts.movies.reviews)

ME: "The horse talks!?"

"People are gonna hate this movie... but they're also going to love it." - Martin Scorsese Epic Gangster film depicting excessive bloodshed, drugs, and swearing. Filled with Action and Suspense, this film shows the Rise and Fall of the infamous Tony Montana in his vengeful quest for the American Dream. "The Capitalist Dream gone bizarre." - Brian DePalma First time viewers may be bored for the first half of the film, but the second half makes up for it. This is a film that grows on you, filled with many layers of plot and character. "All he said was, John, I want you to give me the most beautiful pictures, and I'm gonna put violence inside." - John A. Alonzo Toni Montana is a very 2-Dimensional character (as the cover suggests); he is a very dark, insensitive, angry, little "badguy," but at the same time, he has a hidden good side that only comes out when he's near those he loves most (whom, sadly, seem to be the ones who hurt him the most, inevitably fueling his darker side). "The fuse is always lit, it's just a question of when it goes off." - Andre Sogliuzzo I've noticed that the Rise and Fall of Scarface stems from two key-points in his life. Amazingly, both events consist of him just having a really, really shitty day. "We needed to find those odd things - those twists, those ironies - to give the character some intelligence." - Al Pacino "You don't have to conform to Society in order to 'make it'." - Mekhi Phifer "Scarface pressed a very specific button that, I don't think, any movie had ever fully captured, and it was that: "The little guy with Huge Ambitions would not be contained." - Andre Sogliuzzo

"Get outta the street ya fuckin' bum! Ya gave up on life, didn't ya!?" This film SHOULD be my favorite movie of all time; it's fucking flawless! Words simply cannot describe my sublime admiration for this work of art. A truly collaborative piece of ardor.