The 31st Best All Time Film

(11th 1973-1998) 
Dark City (1998) 

Coming out just a year before another, higher ranking film on this list—but sharing so much of the themes, visuals, and philosophy that you would think this inspired the other if not made so close together—we get the more indy Matrix: “Dark City.” It is in many ways a lesser film overall, but I generally consider this my more favorite of the two. Probabluy because where “The Matrix” is techno, cyberpunk, anime influenced, “Dark City” is more noir, mystery, and scary.

This is not a film for everyone. Beyond the horror elements, the R rating, and the genre stuff, it can be disturbing with its highly postmodern take on reality. But, it is an interesting presentation of a world-view that is increasingly mainstream.