music from the film, by Trevor JonesDark City Soundtrack - Memories Of Shell BeachDarkCityMusic2008-04-24 | Dark City is a 1998 movie written by Alex Proyas, Lem Dobbs and David S. Goyer, and directed by Proyas. It stars Rufus Sewell, William Hurt, Kiefer Sutherland, and Jennifer Connelly. While not a box office hit, it has a considerable reputation. Film critic Roger Ebert is a well-known fan of the movie, having rated it with four stars out of fourTemplate:Ref and naming it the best film of 1998Template:Ref. Ebert uses it in his teaching, and also appears on a commentary track for the DVD.
The story begins with a man waking in a hotel room with no memory, which soon proves to be but one of many troubles. He is being sought by police, who believe him to be a serial killer, and also by a group of mysterious men with psychokinetic powers. Furthermore, something appears to be wrong with the world at large: time, memory, and identity behave in unusual ways. The film is dedicated to the memory of Dennis Potter, which may be considered a useful indicator of the style of the story. The style of the film might also be said to owe something to Expressionism and film noir, and may be considered neo-noir.Dark City Soundtrack 10 - The Strangers Are Tuning (HD)DarkCityMusic2008-04-21 | Dark City Soundtrack - 10 - Trevor Jones - The Strangers Are TuningDark City Soundtrack 14 - You Have The Power (Part 2)DarkCityMusic2008-04-19 | Dark City SoundtrackDark City Soundtrack 14 - You Have The Power (Part 1)DarkCityMusic2008-04-19 | the song is actually 12:15, and since youtube has a 10min limit, I split it.
click here for part 2
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x5RWMpjkfiMDark City Soundtrack 13 - Living An Illusion (HD)DarkCityMusic2008-04-19 | Dark City Soundtrack - 13 - Trevor Jones - Living An IllusionDark City Soundtrack 12 - The Wall (HD)DarkCityMusic2008-04-19 | Dark City Soundtrack - 12 - Trevor Jones - The WallDark City Soundtrack - EmmaDarkCityMusic2008-04-19 | Trevor Jones
Technical Data:
- working titles: Dark Empire, Dark World
- writing credits: Alex Proyas, Lem Dobbs, David S. Goyer
- music: Trevor Jones, Gary Numan
- runtime: 100 minutes
- sound: Dolby Digital / SDDS
- aspect ratio: 2.35 : 1
- release date: February 27, 1998 (USA)
- budget: $27,000,000
- total gross (USA): $14,378,331
- distributor: New Line Cinema
- MPAA rating: RDark City Soundtrack 08 - No More Mr. Quick (HD)DarkCityMusic2008-04-19 | Trevor Jones
Trivia:
- Has one of the shortest ASLs (average shot lengths) of a modern film; a cut occurs in the film, on average, every 1.8 seconds.
- Warner Bros, the film's distributor, objected to the title Dark City early in the film's production. They felt the title would confuse audiences with Mad City, Warner's soon-to-be-released film starring John Travolta and Dustin Hoffman, which they predicted would be a commercial hit. The filmmakers changed the title to Dark World, but the estate of Steven Spielberg threatened legal action, feeling the title was too similar to their film The Lost World: Jurassic Park. The title was then changed to Dark Empire, but legal action was again threatened, this time by Lucasfilm, who felt the title was too similar to their own well-known sci-fi film The Empire Strikes Back (and was an exact match for the Dark Empire comics that had been made about Star Wars). However, by the time the film was completed and ready for release, Warner's Mad City had come and gone from theatres and was not the hit they hoped it would be, and the filmmakers were allowed to use their original title.
- A number of fans prefer to watch the opening minutes (until Keifer Sutherland's first on screen appearance) with the sound off in order to get around the studio ordered narration and the plot details it gives away.Dark City Soundtrack - Into The CityDarkCityMusic2008-04-19 | Trevor Jones composed most of the music for this movie
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trevor_Jones_%28composer%29
Works possibly inspired by Dark City:
Comparisons have been made between Dark City's villain Mr. Hand and the villain from the Matrix Trilogy, Agent Smith. Both are enforcers for the film's antagonists (the Strangers/the Machines), but both are somehow different from their otherwise homogeneous fellows. Both develop a bond with their human opponent (Hand through Murdoch's memories, Smith through Neo's code), which causes them to become more human and to develop some of humanity's worst characteristics. Subsequent movies in the Matrix Trilogy further this comparison, as the climactic fight scene in Dark City is not unlike the one seen in Revolutions.
Nor do the comparisons end there; both Matrix and Dark City concern artificial memories and habitats, and both are patrolled by faceless superpowered beings challenged when a human develops comparable powers. Comparisons have been made between scenes from the movies, making note of similarities in both cinematography and atmosphere.Template:Ref
The Animatrix short story A Detective Story is remarkably similar to Bumstead's story arc in Dark City. In the short story, a detective is pursuing an enigmatic figure (Trinity, who like Murdoch is an "enlightened" human with knowledge of the false nature of their reality). Over the course of the investigation he learns that the previous investigators went insane or disappeared. In the end, the detective catches up with his target and learns the true nature of his world, only to die shortly thereafter.
The overlying plot of the anime The Big O also features an isolated, noir-esque city, where virtually everyone suffers from amnesia, people possess memories that are not their own, and in the end it is revealed that the city is apparently some sort of experiment, ending and resetting itself every forty years.Dark City Soundtrack 06 - The Night Has A Thousand EyesDarkCityMusic2008-04-19 | performed by Anita Kelsey
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anita_Kelsey LIP-SYNCED by Jennifer connely
Similarities to other works:
The film's style is often compared to that of the works of Terry Gilliam (especially Brazil), and there have been many comparisons between it and The Matrix, which was filmed shortly after Dark City and reused some of its sets. One scene, in which Murdoch looks out a window into an alley to view an approaching Stranger, is almost identical to a similar scene in The Matrix between Trinity and an Agent; and the staircase on which Neo experiences déjà vu was previously used by Murdoch to flee Bumstead's curiosity.
Some stylistic similarities have been noted to Jean-Pierre Jeunet's 1995 film The City of Lost Children (also influenced by Gilliam's Brazil).
Fritz Lang's 1927 movie Metropolis was a major influence on the film. The plot also contains many similarities to Victor Hugo's Les Misérables and Arthur C. Clarke's The City and the Stars. The random permutation of people's social identities is reminiscent of Borges's short story "The Lottery in Babylon".
References to Memoirs of My Nervous Illness by Daniel Paul Schreber (after whom character Daniel Poe Schreber is named) can be found in the film, notably in the use of his "fleetingly-improvised men" concept. The film also contains references to the Bible, with John Murdoch being an allegorical Jesus. One reference that is of note is the number of the room John is in at the film's beginning — 614 — which is reminiscent of John 6:14, a biblical entry that refers to the coming of Jesus.
Also quite noticeable is the use of Cartesian philosophy. This tends to draw comparisons to other films made around the same time that made use of it, such as The Matrix, The Thirteenth Floor, and eXistenZ. While the idea that sensory experience could be manufactured by some form of virtual reality is not new in science fiction, Dark City addresses the (arguably more radical) question of memory. In Bertrand Russell's words, how can we be sure that "the world was not created five minutes ago, and our memories with it?"Dark City Soundtrack 04 - Dark (HD)DarkCityMusic2008-04-19 | performed by Gary Numan
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gary_Numan this was not in the film
Dark City is a 1998 movie written by Alex Proyas, Lem Dobbs and David S. Goyer, and directed by Proyas. It stars Rufus Sewell, William Hurt, Kiefer Sutherland, and Jennifer Connelly. While not a box office hit, it has a considerable reputation. Film critic Roger Ebert is a well-known fan of the movie, having rated it with four stars out of fourTemplate:Ref and naming it the best film of 1998Template:Ref. Ebert uses it in his teaching, and also appears on a commentary track for the DVD.
The story begins with a man waking in a hotel room with no memory, which soon proves to be but one of many troubles. He is being sought by police, who believe him to be a serial killer, and also by a group of mysterious men with psychokinetic powers. Furthermore, something appears to be wrong with the world at large: time, memory, and identity behave in unusual ways. The film is dedicated to the memory of Dennis Potter, which may be considered a useful indicator of the style of the story. The style of the film might also be said to owe something to Expressionism and film noir, and may be considered neo-noir.Dark City Soundtrack 02 - The Information (HD)DarkCityMusic2008-04-19 | performed by Course Of Empire
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Course_of_Empire this song did NOT appear in the film
the official site:
http://www.darkcity.comDark City Soundtrack 01 - SwayDarkCityMusic2008-04-19 | performed by Anita Kelsey
In 1998 Trevor Jones, renowned film composer, asked Anita to perform on the soundtrack to major sci-fi cult blockbuster 'Dark City'. This resulted in American actress Jennifer Connelly miming to Anita's voice in two prominent scenes as well as the Kelsey rendition of 'Sway' being featured on the end credits.