Filed under: On Second Thought | Tagged: apocalypse, atomic power, escapist, Godzilla, hideaki anno, in the frame, kaiju, monster, monstrous, neon genesis evangelion, shin godzilla, Shinji Higuchi, the end of the world, the escapist | Leave a comment »
I published a new In the Frame piece at Escapist Magazine this evening. Since it’s three years old, and there are rumours of a sequel coming, I thought it was worth taking a look at Atomic Blonde.
Released in July 2017 and set in November 1989, there’s a pervasive sense of apocalypse to Atomic Blonde. Set against the backdrop of the fall of the Berlin Wall and released in the early months of the Trump Presidency, Atomic Blonde captures the sense of a world collapsing into madness. The deliberately jumbled spy thriller unfolds as the ordering principles of the Cold War collapse around it. There’s a grim, suffocating, brutal nihilism to Atomic Blonde, one underscored in the film’s central fear: what if the apocalypse itself never actually ends? what if it’s eternal?
You can read the piece here, or click the picture below.
Filed under: On Second Thought | Tagged: apocalypse, atomic blonde, Cold War, the end of the world | Leave a comment »
The Time is Now is winding down its coverage of the second season of Millennium, and I was flattered to be invited to discuss the first part of the two-part season finale The Fourth Horseman with the fantastic Kurt North.
I’ve talked a lot about my love of the second season of Millennium, and I’ve argued that the show has one of the finest season (and arguably series) finales in television history. The Fourth Horseman and The Time is Now were episodes that really shattered my expectations of what was possible on network television in the nineties. They are bold, provocative and melancholy episodes of television. They remain one of the most evocative depictions of the end of the world that I have ever encountered in media. So it was a thrill to get to discuss them.
As ever, you can listen directly to the episode here, subscribe to the podcast here, or click the link below.
Filed under: Millennium, Podcasts! | Tagged: kurt north, Lance Henriksen, millennium, plague, podcast, the end of the world, the fourth horseman, the time is now | Leave a comment »
I published a new In the Frame piece at Escapist Magazine last week. There’s understandably been a lot of talk about the end of the world lately, understandably, but I thought it was worth unpacking Mad Max: Fury Road.
Fury Road is one of the best blockbusters of the past decade, appearing on countless lists of the best films of the 2010s. However, what distinguishes it from a lot of apocalyptic cinema is that it embraces hope in a very meaningful and practical way. Fury Road is largely about the impulse to retreat from horror and from untenable situations, to abandon a world that appears to be fallen. However, the film argues that such an impulse is ultimately self-destructive, as eventually such a retreat runs out of road. Instead, Fury Road contends that the proper response to a broken world is to turn around and face it head on, to fix it from the inside. It’s a brave and empowering message, and a large part of the film’s appeal.
You can read the piece here, or click the picture below.
Filed under: On Second Thought | Tagged: apocalypse, armageddon, death, destruction, escapist magazine, horror, in the frame, mad max, mad max: fury road, the end of the world, violence | Leave a comment »
This February and March, we’re taking a trip back in time to review the fourth season of The X-Files and the first season of Millennium.
Papa?
It’s begun.
Fire and ice.
Filed under: Millennium | Tagged: abstract, armageddon, bizarre, Brad Dourif, chip johannesson, doomsday, earth changes, end of the world, force majeure, frank black, millennium, religion, strange, the end of the world, weather, Winrich Kolbe | Leave a comment »
So last week we had the box office dominance of Zombieland, a post-apocalyptic comedy. Over the weekend we had the simultaneous broadcast across US network television of five minutes of Emmerich’s newest disaster flick 2012. We also may have the first post-apocalyptic Oscar-nominee in The Road this year. And that’s just in the last three months of the year. Looking back over the last decade alone there have been a million-and-one end-of-the-world thrillers, chillers, comedies and dramas. That’s a lot of apocalypse for a relatively small planet. So, what gives? is there a greater reason for the zeitgeist’s fascination with the end of the world?
Darth Vader offers an example of what the end of the world might just look like...
Filed under: Movies | Tagged: 2012, apocalypse, doomsday, dr. strangelove, film, film genres, i am legend, Movies, post-apocalyptic, teotwawki, the day after tomorrow, the end of the world, the road, waterworld, zombie apocalypse, zombieland, zombies | 1 Comment »
the m0vie blog 
Non-Review Review: Army of the Dead
Zack Snyder’s Army of the Dead arrives with relatively few expectations.
There’s something very refreshing and very appealing in this, particularly given the way that Snyder has become a cultural flashpoint due to his work on films like Man of Steel and Batman vs. Superman: Dawn of Justice, not to mention everything involving the production and release (and subsequent restoration) of Justice League. With all of that in the rear view mirror, it is exciting to sit down and watch as Zack Snyder movie that is… just a Zack Snyder movie.
Warding off evil.
Indeed, Army of the Dead is arguably something of a throwback for the director, marking a return to his earliest work. As a hyper-violent zombie action movie with a satirical edge, Army of the Dead invites comparisons to his first feature-length film, his remake of George A. Romero’s Dawn of the Dead. However, Army of the Dead is not a belated sequel or continuation. It is that rare modern big-budget genre film that stands as much on its own as it is possible for a high-concept zombie movie.
Army of the Dead is not a masterpiece by any stretch. It’s a little indulgent and overlong, suffering from the familiar pacing and tonal issues that affect many movies produced by Netflix. However, Army of the Dead is a fun and interesting genre if approached on its own terms. More than anything, freed from the constraints of established properties and shared universes and the ensuing scrutiny, Army of the Dead feels like Snyder is actually having fun. It is hard to begrudge it that.
Continue reading →
Filed under: Non-Review Reviews | Tagged: aliens, apocalypse, army of the dead, brutality, dave bautista, greed, heist, i am legend, mercenaries, non-review review, objectivism, review, social commentary, the end of the world, violence, zack snyder, zombies | Leave a comment »