s/d - movies about the end of the world

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Last night Miracle Mile was on cable and I got sucked in. Pretty low-budget but engaging movie about Anthony Edwards getting a misdirected phone call telling him that nuclear armaggedon is an hour away. Little details like the rich woman type charater is reading a Cliff's Notes of "Gravity's Rainbow" were interesting. The love story was kind of endearing too.

Anyway, got me thinking about movies about the end of the world. They're always interesting, aren't they?

So we've got
-The Day After (had nightmares for weeks)
-On the Beach (haven't seen it yet)
-The Omega Man (why is Charlton Heston always the last person left on Earth?)
-Night of the Comet (I saw this in high school)
-and of course Dr. Strangelove

What else? Would Mad Max et. al. be considered end-of-the-world movies or are they more post-apocalpytic? Hmmm.

Aaron W (Aaron W), Monday, 17 February 2003 17:51 (twenty-two years ago)

Search, search, search Last Night. Go on, search it now.

Pete (Pete), Monday, 17 February 2003 17:51 (twenty-two years ago)

Yes, Last Night is the best, came outon the heels of all those Armegeddon comet movies. Deals with end of world in so very very human terms.

Horace Mann (Horace Mann), Monday, 17 February 2003 17:52 (twenty-two years ago)

Guantamera...
http://www.kamera.co.uk/images/lastnight.jpg

Horace Mann (Horace Mann), Monday, 17 February 2003 17:54 (twenty-two years ago)

Anyone seen Threads?

Aaron W (Aaron W), Monday, 17 February 2003 18:07 (twenty-two years ago)

The Day The Earth Stood Still

12 Monkeys

and by extension

La Jetee.

jm (jtm), Monday, 17 February 2003 18:41 (twenty-two years ago)

'The War Game'

Andrew L (Andrew L), Monday, 17 February 2003 18:54 (twenty-two years ago)

Ooh, I was going to mention "Threads"! FUCKING BRUTAL.

Dan Perry (Dan Perry), Monday, 17 February 2003 18:59 (twenty-two years ago)

'The Rapture' is v.interesting and.. unexpected.

N. (nickdastoor), Monday, 17 February 2003 18:59 (twenty-two years ago)

Mimi Rogers's chest...classic

Horace Mann (Horace Mann), Monday, 17 February 2003 18:59 (twenty-two years ago)

Oh yeah I saw The Rapture... it was pretty cool with those giant animals roaming around at the end of the world. And yeah, Mimi's Rogers are totally classic.

I guess I should see Threads then. I just read a review of it in my end-of-the-world research.

Aaron W (Aaron W), Monday, 17 February 2003 19:02 (twenty-two years ago)

I was shown Threads in school, in English class, when I was about 14 It absolutely scared the shit out of me.

Sheffield, where it was filmed, is only about 60 miles away from where I lived at the time. There were quite a few RAF bases near where I lived; it was a bit of a reminder that if a nuclear war had started I'd have been instant smoke.

(in fact, during the Cuban Missile Crisis, my grandparents lived just over the road from a naval radio base which was on the USSR's list of first-strike targets. Eep!)

caitlin (caitlin), Monday, 17 February 2003 19:07 (twenty-two years ago)

Last Night was on the telly about three weeks ago. I was very depressed prior to watching it & it made me cry like a clown.

Eyeball Kicks (Eyeball Kicks), Monday, 17 February 2003 19:08 (twenty-two years ago)

Last Night is the best, I think.

Martin Skidmore (Martin Skidmore), Monday, 17 February 2003 19:41 (twenty-two years ago)

More movies to search:

-Threads
-Testament
-The Bedford Incident
-The Quiet Earth
-The World, The Flesh, and The Devil
-Where Have All The People Gone?
-The Sacrifice (the Tarkovsky one)

Then there's all the atomic monster movies and stuff like When Worlds Collide, Kronos, etc.

I'll be the voice of dissent on Last Night though. Hard to explain without spoiling it, but the last scene was so hysterical and sanctimonious that I was actually rather happy that the end of the world was coming.

Miracle Mile rules this thread.

Chris Barrus (xibalba), Monday, 17 February 2003 20:58 (twenty-two years ago)

ditto on Mimi's bosom

James Blount (James Blount), Monday, 17 February 2003 21:01 (twenty-two years ago)

Last Night - v. good.

Delicatessen - everyone is patently going to have starved to death shortly after the film ends.

When World's Collide - somewhat grim, for all its 1950s can-do-ness.

DV (dirtyvicar), Monday, 17 February 2003 21:29 (twenty-two years ago)

My first fanzine (about comics) was called Worlds Collide. Not terribly good, but at least it didn't have an apostrophe, so things could have been worse.

Martin Skidmore (Martin Skidmore), Monday, 17 February 2003 21:33 (twenty-two years ago)

"Sheffield, where it was filmed, is only about 60 miles away from where I lived at the time. There were quite a few RAF bases near where I lived"

Lincoln?

It scared me for the same reasons

ll, Tuesday, 18 February 2003 00:37 (twenty-two years ago)

Warrior of the Lost World was set after the apocalypse, but then again it wasn't very good. Pre-MSTied, that is.

Ned Raggett (Ned), Tuesday, 18 February 2003 00:39 (twenty-two years ago)

Megaweapon!

Simon Generic, Tuesday, 18 February 2003 06:30 (twenty-two years ago)

'the day the earth caught fire' (complete with blink-and-you'll-miss-it appearance by michael caine)

'the omega man' is more post-apocalypse than end of the world.

'the hitch-hikers guide to the galaxy' 8)

what's the one which ends with them opening the briefcase full of light on the beach (er, 'on the beach'?)?

andy

koogs (koogs), Tuesday, 18 February 2003 09:13 (twenty-two years ago)

Delicatessen - everyone is patently going to have starved to death shortly after the film ends.

I'm not sure that's true. They had lots of plant-y foods (corn, grains, beans, etc.), remember? and no indication that they couldn't grow/get more. I was under the impression that it was just meat that was scarce (thereby making the "bad guy" really bad instead of just a man in dire straits trying to keep his fam. alive, etc.).

Dan I., Tuesday, 18 February 2003 09:39 (twenty-two years ago)

My first fanzine (about comics) was called Worlds Collide. Not terribly good, but at least it didn't have an apostrophe, so things could have been worse.

COCKFARM! my apostrophe misuse shame knows no bounds.

this truly is the end of the world.

DV (dirtyvicar), Tuesday, 18 February 2003 10:50 (twenty-two years ago)

six months pass...
I didn't like The Sacrifice - it was relentlessly slow, the dialog was stuffy didactic stilted, the characters actions didn't correspond, an hour too long.

David. (Cozen), Wednesday, 20 August 2003 10:00 (twenty-two years ago)

Ie, I didn't get it.

David. (Cozen), Wednesday, 20 August 2003 10:01 (twenty-two years ago)

failsafe. best ending ever. same as the strangelove story
almost exactly, and from the same source novel(s ?)
but with no laughs and henry fonda. fckng brill.
no-one's heard of it.

piuscesboy, Wednesday, 20 August 2003 16:43 (twenty-two years ago)

Damnation Alley!

Spencer Chow (spencermfi), Wednesday, 20 August 2003 16:51 (twenty-two years ago)


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