GBW #86: Pre-Neo-Noirs (Dark City / Virtuosity / Hologram Man)

Hello, and welcome to another episode of The Good, The Bad, and The What!? The show in which we discuss three films that we have deemed "good," "bad," or "what!?" within a subgenre, theme, motif, director or actor's filmography, and more!

This week, Chris and Ryan dive into three mind-bending sci-fi films from the '90s that all reside on the stepping stone to 1999's groundbreaking "The Matrix." We start with Alex Proyas' 1998 dystopian flick "Dark City," which was shot on the same soundstage as "The Matrix" (which reused some of this film's sets), and is a film that some people prefer to the Wachowski's film. We make a case to praise the film on its own terms, to which there are many things to praise, and argue that no film ripped off the other; just a case of parallel thinking. Then, we move into 1995's "Virtuosity," directed by Brett Leonard of "The Lawnmower Man" fame and starring Denzel Washington, an off-the-chain Russell Crowe, and a slew of character actors. While the film has some high points, we argue that it's not as fun or as inventive as it could be, given the premise. However, what is as fun and as inventive as it could be is the peak of PM Entertainment, 1995's "Hologram Man," to which the two of us gush endlessly about.

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