Recommendations

Dark City (1998)

Directed by: Alex Proyas

Starring: Rufus Sewell, Jennifer Connelly, Kiefer Sutherland, William

Hurt

If you love sci-fi, and I mean good sci-fi, Dark City is a treasure. Starring Rufus Sewell and Jennifer Connelly, this is a fascinating and thought-provoking film that always leaves me tingling with excitement at the imagery and imagination. If you want to take it a step further, I would suggest renting Fritz Lang's Metropolis (1927) to compare and contrast the two films. Metropolis is the film that started it all, and you'll find the messages shockingly applicable to today's social climate.

Brick (2005)

Directed by: Rian Johnson

Starring: Joseph Gordon-Levitt,

Nora Zehetner, Lukas Haas, Emilie de Ravin

If you missed Brick's quick and quiet release in 2005, or if your only memory of Joseph Gordon-Levitt is as an over-the-top, hardly promising young actor in Third Rock from the Sun, go check out this movie. This one film convinced me that Levitt is a truly talented actor. Additionally, if you have any interest in film noir, or even if you don't, this film is a great new addition to this classic genre. Set against the back drop of a high school in southern California, this is not a high school movie. It's dark, atmospheric, with cutting, often criptic dialogue and beautiful homages to old film noir (the scene at the end on the football field, pictured above, is as classic as it gets). This is a great example of post-modern film noir.