Roger Ebert thought Dark City was one of the greatest films he ever saw: in 1998 he named it the Best picture of the Year over such films as Saving Private Ryan and Shakespeare Love and would not appreciate The Matrix mainly because it suffered in comparison to the former. The film made his third Great Movies book less than a decade after it debuted. He had similar feelings about Mullholland Drive, which made him completely change his mind about David Lynch film as a filmmaker. That film was in the last Great Movies collection, which was published posthumousnly. He analyzed both movies significantly before classes he taught on film.

I agreed with completely on Dark City; it is a masterwork that has yet to truly earn its due. It took longer for me to appreciate Mullholland Drive; I had to read an explanation of it in a book on Lynch years later. Now that I understand that interpretation, I appreciate it more.