I think this is the beginnings of an economy based on perpetual growth and fossil fuel energy running headlong into geological energy constraints. Basically I see an undulatory downward path for the rest of my life. From here out, I think any rallies in our economic condition are going to be met with spiking commodity prices that knock us right back down.
Joined: Apr 06, 2006 Posts: 3621 Location: 3 miles NW of Champoeg, Republic of Cascadia
Posted: Sat Jul 08, 2006 1:34 am Post subject: Post-Apocalyptic films
Been on a roll watching these. A good few are in the mail, perhaps you can tell me what I'm in for! I love watching a good disaster, call me a nut.
I think the Mad Max movies are about it for post-PO per se. One reviewer pointed out that in the first there's been some sort of bioweapons disaster - there really aren't that many people around, I'd never noticed that.
I've watched the new War of the Worlds about five times. Tom Cruise I just zone out, the flabby human interest plot. How about those traffic jams, the guy with the .45 commandering Tom's Astrovan? People being sprayed with backwash from the ferry while it rips the dock away? The tripods steal the show.
Back to reality, I found the DVD of the Day After at Fred Meyer, who occasionally surprise - they have Eraserhead, too. The DA's a pretty powerful flick, people found plenty to complain about of course (read about it at the IMDB), with nuke movies these are often technical quibbles. For instance I looked up another early 80's nuke movie, Countdown to Looking Glass, and then found some criticisms of it by who other but Tom Clancy! Tom thought these films were nothing but kneejerk leftist prop, too.
Anyone seen Countdown to Looking Glass? Scott Glenn's in it, a Canadian production but HBO showed it and reputedly it's on TV occasionally. I found a very dodgy site that offers a DVD for 25$ money order/PayPal but the proprietor's broken English makes him seem like a bit of a con man ("If you wonted go to PayPal and use account amalia@citlink.net and follow instruction. Thanks Duddo")
Threads was a BBC production from around then, covered more time than the DA and was quite the grim show apparently. All these are early 80's, I caught Red Dawn the other day on HBO, good if you want something a bit more gung-ho/ridiculous. The Cuban officer is played by Ron O'Neal - Superfly!
Red Dawn also has Powers Boothe, who was in an early 90s HBO production, By Dawn's Early Light, more of a military/action movie perhaps. Dated elements include FEMA actually working...it was adapted from a novel, Trinity's Child. Great cast - Martin Landau, Rip Torn, James Earl Jones (who plays an Air Force officer who spends the whole movie airborne...sound familiar?).
Testament was another Reagan-era post-nuker, less graphic than some of these others they say. The Trigger Effect is from a few years back, the power goes out - and stays out...Without Warning is another huge-rocks-from-space flick. I've these three coming in the mail, anybody seen them? I'm deliberating getting Threads and Countdown to LG, too, even though they're a bit spendy.
Posted: Sat Jul 08, 2006 4:42 am Post subject: Re: Post-Apocalyptic films
'On the Beach' (2000) is an excellent made-for-TV remake of the 1957 film about the crew of a submarine after a nuclear holocaust kills most people on earth. With full knowledge that a cloud of radioactive dust is spreading slowly over the entire face of the earth, everyone must come to terms with their fate.
It's a little depressing, but it's an excellent film with great actors.
Posted: Sat Jul 08, 2006 10:24 am Post subject: Re: Post-Apocalyptic films
I to love these movies and I've seen most of them. Was the "Day After" with Jason Robard? There was another nuclear movie out during the same period I remember was good. What was it?
On reflection I believe Zombie movies are kind of similar, or at least my interest in them comes from the same attitude. Invasion of the Body Snatchers also has Post-Apocalyptic components.
Love "Red Dawn" in spite of it's Republican paranoia. Oh yeah and it was right-wing incompetents would gutted fema. _________________ ree rah rip ram. sunofabitch godamn. hidey didey christ almighty. rah rah crap
Joined: Mar 04, 2006 Posts: 269 Location: La Crosse, Wisconsin
Posted: Sat Jul 08, 2006 10:56 am Post subject: Re: Post-Apocalyptic films
I tried to rewatch War of the Worlds just yesterday as a good flick with special effects to watch on my front projector with surround sound. I got about a quarter way through it and I had to stop. I cannot stand the kids!! The girl is constantly screaming and the teenaged son is all machoed out about getting the aliens and payback. Neither of the kids seemed to be in touch with reality or to effectively deal with it. That may well be how people would be, but I watch movies to see characters rise above the situation and not act like "regular" people in "regular" life. I see regular life all the time. In a movie I want escapism.
Posted: Sat Jul 08, 2006 11:07 am Post subject: Re: Post-Apocalyptic films
I own the War of the Worlds. The opening is one of the best in movies. I love the way the action is starts immediately and never lets up. non-stop. All the speciall effects and character emotions and reactions add to the absolute hysterical fear level.
If you believe the premise then the son's reaction seem reasonable. It is non-stop horror and he reacts with a male-induced rage. I kind of agree about the daughter though and her hysteria is a little tiring. Still it ups the craziness of the movie which I liked.
Some friends complained about the ending. They felt it was too sudden and pointless. For me that was in keeping with the novel and the central thesis which is our puny lives don't mean a damn thing to the universe and what may lurk out there. One minute you're on top, the next in the pits, the next on top again. who knows?
my all time favorite, though it is not really post-apocolytpic is "Blade Runner." The new Phillip Dick story is about to be released by the slacker director whats-his-name. Sounds great. uses the same Rodoscope film technique at the "Waking Life" _________________ ree rah rip ram. sunofabitch godamn. hidey didey christ almighty. rah rah crap
Joined: Mar 04, 2006 Posts: 269 Location: La Crosse, Wisconsin
Posted: Sat Jul 08, 2006 11:19 am Post subject: Re: Post-Apocalyptic films
pstarr wrote:
I own the War of the Worlds. The opening is one of the best in movies. I love the way the action is starts immediately and never lets up. non-stop. All the speciall effects and character emotions and reactions add to the absolute hysterical fear level.
If you believe the premise then the son's reaction seem reasonable. It is non-stop horror and he reacts with a male-induced rage. I kind of agree about the daughter though and her hysteria is a little tiring. Still it ups the craziness of the movie which I liked.
Some friends complained about the ending. They felt it was too sudden and pointless. For me that was in keeping with the novel and the central thesis which is our puny lives don't mean a damn thing to the universe and what may lurk out there. One minute you're on top, the next in the pits, the next on top again. who knows?
my all time favorite, though it is not really post-apocolytpic is "Blade Runner." The new Phillip Dick story is about to be released by the slacker director whats-his-name. Sounds great. uses the same Rodoscope film technique at the "Waking Life"
Yes, Blade Runner is a great movie and I have watched it many times.
In War of the Worlds, the dad and kids were a family, a unit, and their primary obligation was to each other and not to run off to kick some alien ass and get payback. I think the kid was immature. He was more than willing to let his dad and little sister fend for themselves while he went after some useless revenge. The ending was true to the book, but given the set up and technology of the Martians it seems like not considering the factor of germs is unrealistic. Like I said, it had great special effects, but I just can't stand the kids. And I also own the movie.
Posted: Sat Jul 08, 2006 12:23 pm Post subject: Re: Post-Apocalyptic films
The recent Romero zombie movie "Land of the Dead" is especially post-apocalyptic. People are holed up in a walled city and the country side is literally a 'no-man's land.' Seen it several times. Big Daddy, the head zombie, was the weak element in the movie. All that supposed rage just came across corny and he has bizzare wrinkles on his face instead of rot.
"When there is no more room in the oven,
the Bread will walk the earth." _________________ ree rah rip ram. sunofabitch godamn. hidey didey christ almighty. rah rah crap
Posted: Sat Jul 08, 2006 1:17 pm Post subject: Re: Post-Apocalyptic films
pstarr wrote:
I own the War of the Worlds. The opening is one of the best in movies. I love the way the action is starts immediately and never lets up. non-stop. All the speciall effects and character emotions and reactions add to the absolute hysterical fear level.
Holy cow, for once we agree on something! '80' I love how the attack is presented from the vantage of a common man and not from a fly-on-the-wall perspective of what's going on in the White House or Pentagon. It's trully terrifying and visceral from that perspective. A lot of critics hated the tripods, but I loved how alien and unfamilair they looked. I felt it added to my suspension of disbelief. The little details were what really made that 1st half of the film: you see Cruise's reaction when first looking at the tripod while you see the reflection of the towering tripod in a car windshield. The ashes of the other victims covering him after that initial attack. It could have been a great film if not for the 2nd half devolving into the typical Spielbergian clap-trap of family and redemption.
I can't believe no one mentioned "Brazil!" Its the perfect satire of so much of what you guys discuss: dehumazing industrialism, beaureacratic entropy, government conspiracy, grotesque consumption.
Finally, quick note: the right had fits over The Day After. They enlisted Ben Stein of all people to respond via that flag-waving mini-series titled Amerika.
Posted: Sat Jul 08, 2006 1:24 pm Post subject: Re: Post-Apocalyptic films
...back to your original post with mention of Mad Max and a bioweapons incident. Another good one in that genre is the miniseries of Stephen King's "The Stand" - just about everyone dies of the flu.
Pstarr-
As for the other nuclear movie out about the same time as The Day After and Testament, I remember one called Special Bulletin which was about a group taking hostages and threatening to detonate nuclear devices in Charleston (and they did, as I recall). It was unusual for the time in that it was shot not on film but on video tape to resemble a series of continuing news updates like on CNN.
Posted: Sat Jul 08, 2006 2:09 pm Post subject: Re: Post-Apocalyptic films
My favorite TEOTWAWKI movies are definitely Road Warrior and Red Dawn. Nothing like a little post-apocalyptic ultra-violence to brighten your day.
The Day After is another of my favorites in this genre. I haven't seen Omega Man mentioned. Just saw it recently--it was interesting in a kitsch 70s kind of way. Also watched Trigger Effect recently--wasn't impressed. Got By Dawn's Early Light yesterday from Netflix--haven't had a chance to watch it yet. Then there was that dumb bird flu made-for-TV movie that ran a couple months ago--don't remember the title.
Anyone remember Night of the Comet? Haven't seen it since the 1980s, but I recall enjoying it. It's not on DVD.
Some of the other TEOTWAWKI movies in my Netflix queue:
28 Days Later
Testament
On the Beach
Deadly Harvest
The Day After Tomorrow
Panic in Year Zero / The Last Man on Earth: Double Feature
The Stand
Joined: Oct 12, 2004 Posts: 1011 Location: In the suburban sea of strangers
Posted: Sat Jul 08, 2006 4:06 pm Post subject: Re: Post-Apocalyptic films
I'm surprised no one has mentioned "Soylent Green". With PO and GW, we are right on schedule to be experiencing the 2022 New York City lifestyle depicted in the movie.
I'm skeptical about the industrialized cannabalism though, serious EROEI issues there. That part of the story was never in the book, it was added later as a lurid hook to sell tickets. The real story is the deteriorated ecosystem lifestyle of the future. _________________ The battle to preserve our lifestyle has already been lost. The battle to preserve our lives is just beginning.
Posted: Sat Jul 08, 2006 8:54 pm Post subject: Re: Post-Apocalyptic films
Night of the Comet! Valley Girl zombie flick. Love it The two sisters are so cute and kick freakin ass! or are they just cute?
you convinced me. I am going to buy it come hell or high water _________________ ree rah rip ram. sunofabitch godamn. hidey didey christ almighty. rah rah crap
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ree rah rip ram. sunofabitch godamn. hidey didey christ almighty. rah rah crap 
