I mentioned this film a few months ago.. Big budget doomer extravaganza, 2012, has a new trailer out with far more devastation then seen before.
Story - Ancient Mayan calendar predicts "something" will happen in 2012. Sure enough, the world literally tumps on its side and mayhem ensues. Lots of faceless people get killed, cars get thrown like toys, buildings fall, heroes rise, and so on and so on.
Here is the trailer..
So we get the world falling apart. Not much any of us can do to prepare for this sort of disaster. As you can tell from the trailer, a handful of people will survive by boarding some kind of "ship" and going somewhere, (Antarctica, I have heard) as this will be the new nice place to live. Of course, there will be a selection process from the survivors to make sure the right sort of people get to live which will cause a brief moral dilemma for who ever is in charge.
Here is my sidebar not to be found in other pre-2012 movie reviews - the director Roland Emmerich.
There are a number of scenes in the trailer which caught my attention. The destruction of the Christ the Redeemer statue in Brazil followed by the destruction of Saint Peters (and thousands of men, women and children) in Rome.
I read a little about the background of director Emmerich on Wiki and found these tidbits..
Emmerich's extensive collection of artwork includes a painting of Jesus Christ wearing a Katharine Hamnett-styled t-shirt during his crucifixion.. a wax sculpture of Pope John Paul II laughing as he reads his own obituary..
To be fair, the trailer shows many other things being destroyed in the 2012 including a Buddhist temple. However, it appears that Emmerich has a little bone to pick with Christianity.
Also, from the trailer, this is the first disaster movie which actively shows the deaths of children. Normally, they do the opposite. Remember Independence Day? That movie came from the same people. There were several families and children prominently featured and all survived. Who wants to watch any movie where kids get offed by a disaster? Real or not its disturbing when the feature is supposed to be "entertainment". Having some hero or heroine dramatically sacrifice themselves is expected. But kids? C'mon. (I know in SHTF, kids, cute animals and sweet old people are at risk - but again this is a movie).
This film looks like it will cause some nightmares in the kiddos so leave them at home (or take them to the Transformers).
We got The Road coming out around the same time, Fall 2009 so it sounds like a doomer movie autumn. The only problem is, the U.S. is living a doomer movie right now. Have you seen the economic news lately?
Showing posts with label shtf movies. Show all posts
Showing posts with label shtf movies. Show all posts
Thursday, June 25, 2009
Friday, May 15, 2009
SHTF: The Road Trailer 2009
Well, the trailer for end of the world story, The Road is now available
It is a fairly long trailer for a movie we have only seen stills of for the past year and a half and a good review of what to expect.
The Road, a best selling novel by Cormac McCarthy, follows the travels of a father and his son after a civilization ending event across the globe. The world is dark, burnt and nearly everything, plant or animal, is dying. It is a cold, dirty and depressing read, but is strangely one of the best books I have read in the past year.
If you have not read The Road and are unfamiliar with what you are seeing in the trailer, the father, his wife and their son are survivors of this catastrophic event which was never clearly explained in the book (McCarthy said in an interview later that it was caused by a massive asteroid strike on the earth).
In the book, the mother takes her own life early in the story - nope not a spoiler, it is a foregone conclusion in the first page of the novel. In the movie, it appears that there are more scenes, probably flashbacks, which involve the mother. With a power star like Charleze Theron, a movie producer is not going to limit her to five minutes of screen time.
Back to the story. The Road follows the father and son as they make their way south to hopefully warmer climates and the sea. They have no idea what they will find when they reach the coast and have limited supplies for the journey.
While the book features three or four very harrowing passages, most of the book concentrated on the relationship between the boy and his father. The father's deep and undying love for his son and his desire to find a better life for the boy somewhere else.
The movie appears to focus more on the adventure with chases, explosions and conflict which makes total sense; audiences like action in their movies.
Some of The Road's classic scenes are preserved:
From the trailer, we do see that the discovery of the can of Coke is included in the movie. Hopefully, for us "preppers" the shelter scene will be faithfully portrayed as well. (I have been wondering what that place looked like having a hard time comprehending it in my mind while reading the book).
Also, the discovery of the capsized ship during the end of the journey is in the film as well.
I am not looking forward to some of the other scenes involving the eating habits of the rest of the survivors of the end of the world. I can't think of anyone who would want to.
I suggest that you read The Road before seeing the film. Its on Amazon of course, but can also be found at the local library.
The Road the movie opens October 16th and stars Viggo Mortensen, Charlize Theron, Kodi Smit-McPhee and Robert Duvall.
It is a fairly long trailer for a movie we have only seen stills of for the past year and a half and a good review of what to expect.
The Road, a best selling novel by Cormac McCarthy, follows the travels of a father and his son after a civilization ending event across the globe. The world is dark, burnt and nearly everything, plant or animal, is dying. It is a cold, dirty and depressing read, but is strangely one of the best books I have read in the past year.
If you have not read The Road and are unfamiliar with what you are seeing in the trailer, the father, his wife and their son are survivors of this catastrophic event which was never clearly explained in the book (McCarthy said in an interview later that it was caused by a massive asteroid strike on the earth).
In the book, the mother takes her own life early in the story - nope not a spoiler, it is a foregone conclusion in the first page of the novel. In the movie, it appears that there are more scenes, probably flashbacks, which involve the mother. With a power star like Charleze Theron, a movie producer is not going to limit her to five minutes of screen time.
Back to the story. The Road follows the father and son as they make their way south to hopefully warmer climates and the sea. They have no idea what they will find when they reach the coast and have limited supplies for the journey.
While the book features three or four very harrowing passages, most of the book concentrated on the relationship between the boy and his father. The father's deep and undying love for his son and his desire to find a better life for the boy somewhere else.
The movie appears to focus more on the adventure with chases, explosions and conflict which makes total sense; audiences like action in their movies.
Some of The Road's classic scenes are preserved:
From the trailer, we do see that the discovery of the can of Coke is included in the movie. Hopefully, for us "preppers" the shelter scene will be faithfully portrayed as well. (I have been wondering what that place looked like having a hard time comprehending it in my mind while reading the book).
Also, the discovery of the capsized ship during the end of the journey is in the film as well.
I am not looking forward to some of the other scenes involving the eating habits of the rest of the survivors of the end of the world. I can't think of anyone who would want to.
I suggest that you read The Road before seeing the film. Its on Amazon of course, but can also be found at the local library.
The Road the movie opens October 16th and stars Viggo Mortensen, Charlize Theron, Kodi Smit-McPhee and Robert Duvall.
Wednesday, March 11, 2009
SHTF: SHTF/Survival Movies On YouTube
I read in a forum recently about how hard it was to find a copy of a certain doomer movie at the video store or on Amazon. This is no longer a problem thanks to YouTube.
Here is a good selection of some fine survivalist films available at YouTube.
Damnation Alley!
Omega Man!
No Blade Of Grass! (very rare)
Red Dawn!
The Day After!
Threads (parts of it)
Night of the Comet!
That should be enough to keep you entertained while waiting for a sequel to "Lights Out" or "Deep Winter"!
Advice for the day:
Frugal means packing a sack lunch for work.
Cheap means eating lunch at a restaurant and not leaving a tip.
Here is a good selection of some fine survivalist films available at YouTube.
Damnation Alley!
Omega Man!
No Blade Of Grass! (very rare)
Red Dawn!
The Day After!
Threads (parts of it)
Night of the Comet!
That should be enough to keep you entertained while waiting for a sequel to "Lights Out" or "Deep Winter"!
Advice for the day:
Frugal means packing a sack lunch for work.
Cheap means eating lunch at a restaurant and not leaving a tip.
Monday, February 23, 2009
SHTF Movies: Panic in Year Zero
When I was eight years old, a freak ice storm hit our area. The roads were nearly impassable, traffic was tied up and naturally, my school called a late start that morning.
My sister and I carpooled with another girl nearby and were able to make it to her house before we found out school was delayed. Her mother parked us on the couch, put on the television and went about her morning chores. (this was in the old days when mothers drove station wagons, wore their hair in curlers until 4:45 PM and cleaned house daily).
In those days, there was only 5 channels in our fair town; CBS, ABC, NBC, one local channel and a single UHF station broadcasting religious programming. At that time, national and local channels pretty much had free reign as to what they wanted to broadcast during non-prime time hours.
We had swell shows like Dialing for Dollars (watch a movie and during the commercials an announcer would call viewers and have them guess the jackpot), local cooking shows, farm reports (the show sets looked like they cost $10.00 in scrap lumber to build) and of course "women's programming" like fashions, household tips and exotic travel documentaries to places like New York City or New Orleans!
In the morning hours, there was usually a movie on to kill two hours. These films were all "B" movies which were cheap for local broadcasters to run unlimited numbers of times in the morning and late at night.
It was that icy morning I saw my first survival themed film.. "Panic In Year Zero".
Released in 1962 in full black and white splendor, "Panic" starred Academy award winner Ray Milland along with Jean Hagen and teen heart throb, Frankie Avalon.
The story follows a Los Angeles family as they head out early one morning for a camping and fishing vacation. Two hours after they leave home, they notice a flash in the sky far behind them. They ignore it until a few events take place (a car crash, a Conelrad radio alert and a crowded diner) reveal to them that a nuclear war has taken place.
Their home, Los Angeles has been hit and phone service to the area is out. Mom wants to return home to check on her mother, but dad Milland says nothing doing.
First, the family hits a small town and buys a few hundred dollars worth of groceries. In those days, that was enough to stuff their trailer full of canned goods and other things. The best scene here is the daughter picking up some sodas and her father saying, "No, leave that and get chocolate bars and honey". (Dad remembers WWII and knows what will be needed and what is junk!). On the way out, Dad advises the owner to lock up and hoard is stock as a mob will be coming soon from nuked Los Angeles to clean him out.
Next, they go to the hardware store and have their first problem. After they stock up on gasoline cans, rope, axes, and other hardware, Dad picks out a shotgun, lever action rifle and a fine .45 automatic (Ah, old school hardware stores). When the time to pay comes, Dad is short on cash and offers to write a check. The owner laughs and says "fat chance". Dad pulls his recently acquired .45 on the owner, leaves a check and clears out. The hardware store owner vows revenge.
Gasoline is next on the list and by now, the service station jockey knows about the war. He wants $3.00 a gallon for thirty cent gas. Dad belts him and throws a handful of rapidly devaluing cash on the sprawled unconscious body of the attendant. (Dad is fine with taking stuff, but nobody better try that business on him!).
The family plans on heading to their campground and holing up until things get better. More problems ahead..
Traffic from LA stalling their path.. Dad burns his way through that..
A road block in a small town.. Dad blows through it.
A carload of hoodlums ("Cops kinda busy, daddio"). Son chases the off with shotgun, but after Mom blocks his killing shot..
Finally, they arrive at their campsite. They tear down the bridge to the camp (good) and dump their trailer (dumb) and move into a cave (interesting).
Things get rough soon after..
The daughter is assaulted by the same carload of hoodlums..
The hardware store owner arrives and moves into their abandoned trailer!
The hoodlums have to be eradicated, but soon after, Son is shot!
And more adventures happen soon after.
Happy ending however and all turns out well. As the final line of the movie goes "Good, another healthy family to rebuild America". Happy times.
Get this movie from your local vendor or of course on Amazon.
Panic in Year Zero
I loved this movie as a kid and laughed at the crazy loud music in every scene. Apparently, Milland directed this classic as well as starring in it and had a hand in picking the score. This was the film the subconsciously got me into the whole prepper mentality, I just didn't realize it until twenty five years later.
A great watch for a somewhat corny, but hard to find film. "Panic in Year Zero" gets one thumb up from me (the other is holding my .30-30).
My sister and I carpooled with another girl nearby and were able to make it to her house before we found out school was delayed. Her mother parked us on the couch, put on the television and went about her morning chores. (this was in the old days when mothers drove station wagons, wore their hair in curlers until 4:45 PM and cleaned house daily).
In those days, there was only 5 channels in our fair town; CBS, ABC, NBC, one local channel and a single UHF station broadcasting religious programming. At that time, national and local channels pretty much had free reign as to what they wanted to broadcast during non-prime time hours.
We had swell shows like Dialing for Dollars (watch a movie and during the commercials an announcer would call viewers and have them guess the jackpot), local cooking shows, farm reports (the show sets looked like they cost $10.00 in scrap lumber to build) and of course "women's programming" like fashions, household tips and exotic travel documentaries to places like New York City or New Orleans!
In the morning hours, there was usually a movie on to kill two hours. These films were all "B" movies which were cheap for local broadcasters to run unlimited numbers of times in the morning and late at night.
It was that icy morning I saw my first survival themed film.. "Panic In Year Zero".
Released in 1962 in full black and white splendor, "Panic" starred Academy award winner Ray Milland along with Jean Hagen and teen heart throb, Frankie Avalon.
The story follows a Los Angeles family as they head out early one morning for a camping and fishing vacation. Two hours after they leave home, they notice a flash in the sky far behind them. They ignore it until a few events take place (a car crash, a Conelrad radio alert and a crowded diner) reveal to them that a nuclear war has taken place.
Their home, Los Angeles has been hit and phone service to the area is out. Mom wants to return home to check on her mother, but dad Milland says nothing doing.
First, the family hits a small town and buys a few hundred dollars worth of groceries. In those days, that was enough to stuff their trailer full of canned goods and other things. The best scene here is the daughter picking up some sodas and her father saying, "No, leave that and get chocolate bars and honey". (Dad remembers WWII and knows what will be needed and what is junk!). On the way out, Dad advises the owner to lock up and hoard is stock as a mob will be coming soon from nuked Los Angeles to clean him out.
Next, they go to the hardware store and have their first problem. After they stock up on gasoline cans, rope, axes, and other hardware, Dad picks out a shotgun, lever action rifle and a fine .45 automatic (Ah, old school hardware stores). When the time to pay comes, Dad is short on cash and offers to write a check. The owner laughs and says "fat chance". Dad pulls his recently acquired .45 on the owner, leaves a check and clears out. The hardware store owner vows revenge.
Gasoline is next on the list and by now, the service station jockey knows about the war. He wants $3.00 a gallon for thirty cent gas. Dad belts him and throws a handful of rapidly devaluing cash on the sprawled unconscious body of the attendant. (Dad is fine with taking stuff, but nobody better try that business on him!).
The family plans on heading to their campground and holing up until things get better. More problems ahead..
Traffic from LA stalling their path.. Dad burns his way through that..
A road block in a small town.. Dad blows through it.
A carload of hoodlums ("Cops kinda busy, daddio"). Son chases the off with shotgun, but after Mom blocks his killing shot..
Finally, they arrive at their campsite. They tear down the bridge to the camp (good) and dump their trailer (dumb) and move into a cave (interesting).
Things get rough soon after..
The daughter is assaulted by the same carload of hoodlums..
The hardware store owner arrives and moves into their abandoned trailer!
The hoodlums have to be eradicated, but soon after, Son is shot!
And more adventures happen soon after.
Happy ending however and all turns out well. As the final line of the movie goes "Good, another healthy family to rebuild America". Happy times.
Get this movie from your local vendor or of course on Amazon.
Panic in Year Zero
I loved this movie as a kid and laughed at the crazy loud music in every scene. Apparently, Milland directed this classic as well as starring in it and had a hand in picking the score. This was the film the subconsciously got me into the whole prepper mentality, I just didn't realize it until twenty five years later.
A great watch for a somewhat corny, but hard to find film. "Panic in Year Zero" gets one thumb up from me (the other is holding my .30-30).
Tuesday, December 16, 2008
SHTF: Survivalist Movies 2009
The subject of "survivalist themed movies" is a big one on several other survivalist blogs I read or have visited. (for a list of some of my favorites, check the bottom of this page).
For 2009, there are a bunch of great survivalist themed movies coming out. By great I mean in concept. The trailer can be good, the idea of the plot can be good, but the actual product most likely will be awful. Its an odds thing that Hollywood can't seem to change.
Just a few of the great movies coming out..
I love the Terminator movies and we have a fourth installment. Good.
We have another new film with the world gone upside down - a film sure to please the Mayan calendar crowd as well as the pole shift fanatics out there.
We have a cult comic book brought to life..
And we have a tough guy cleans up the cruddy neighborhood one punk at a time..
So let's get started.
The Terminator series has been one of the most successful franchises in history. Three blockbuster movies (especially Two and One in that order), a TV series and multiple comic books.
Terminator Four: Salvation stars the new post-apocalyptic poster actor for the 21st century, Christian Bale. Bale apparently stars as slightly older John Connor in the years immediately after the machines have unleashed their fury on mankind.
Lot's off shooting, running and gunning. And shocking enough, there are actual scenes which take place in day time. The original Terminator movies always featured the fight at night, when the "Hunter Killers" could be evaded.
Regardless of how good the dialogue is, the fighting and survival scenes in the Terminator movies have always resonated well with the survival crowd. After all, who can forget the scene from the first Terminator when Reese returns to base in the crowded tunnels beneath the ruins of Los Angeles? The children staring at the fire in the television console, the boy hunting rats, the guy eating green goop in a bowl?
Good stuff..
2012
Next we got the "world goes nuts" in the new end of the world film, 2012. The premise is pretty simple. Based upon an interpretation of a Mayan calendar which says the world will end in that calamitous fateful year.
So Hollywood puts together a bunch of cool CGI effects of big things, like the Himalayas, getting kiboshed and off to the races we go.
Here is the downside; We got John Cusack as the lead.
When I think of Cusack, I think of High Fidelity or Better Off Dead. I don't see him in a big time adventure role lead. Plus, Cusack has that whiny uber-liberal shriek to him that leaves me wondering how he can fill the survivalist role without lots of multi-cultural, blame conservatives, celebrate idiocy carp.
Add to that Danny Glover as President Wilson and you know this is going to another Day After Tomorrow "It's all America's fault the world ended!" hand wringing fest. Hey, maybe the special effects will be good?
The Watchmen
If you never read the comic book, go on Amazon and get the compilation as it is one of the best produced works in comic book land ever.
The Watchmen takes place in an alternate universe America where superheroes have helped change the course of history. Only there is one catch, with the exception of a blue super man whose genetics were altered by a nuclear accident in the 1940's, the rest of the Watchmen are regular people in costumes simply fighting crime.
When one of their own is murdered in his home, the gloves come off as retired superheroes come out of hiding to solve the murder and uncover a sinister plot to change the world.
Best Super Hero Character: Rorschach.
Best runner up: The Owl.
Now is Watchmen really an end of the world movie? If you read the book you know it is and in many ways. This movie should be either a great or a big fat mess.
Gran Torino
Finally, we have not really an end of the world movie, just a movie that we like to watch. Really tough old guys who take on young punks and kick their baggy pants wearing butts.
Clint Eastwood's "Gran Torino" - nuff said.
For 2009, there are a bunch of great survivalist themed movies coming out. By great I mean in concept. The trailer can be good, the idea of the plot can be good, but the actual product most likely will be awful. Its an odds thing that Hollywood can't seem to change.
Just a few of the great movies coming out..
I love the Terminator movies and we have a fourth installment. Good.
We have another new film with the world gone upside down - a film sure to please the Mayan calendar crowd as well as the pole shift fanatics out there.
We have a cult comic book brought to life..
And we have a tough guy cleans up the cruddy neighborhood one punk at a time..
So let's get started.
The Terminator series has been one of the most successful franchises in history. Three blockbuster movies (especially Two and One in that order), a TV series and multiple comic books.
Terminator Four: Salvation stars the new post-apocalyptic poster actor for the 21st century, Christian Bale. Bale apparently stars as slightly older John Connor in the years immediately after the machines have unleashed their fury on mankind.
Lot's off shooting, running and gunning. And shocking enough, there are actual scenes which take place in day time. The original Terminator movies always featured the fight at night, when the "Hunter Killers" could be evaded.
Regardless of how good the dialogue is, the fighting and survival scenes in the Terminator movies have always resonated well with the survival crowd. After all, who can forget the scene from the first Terminator when Reese returns to base in the crowded tunnels beneath the ruins of Los Angeles? The children staring at the fire in the television console, the boy hunting rats, the guy eating green goop in a bowl?
Good stuff..
2012
Next we got the "world goes nuts" in the new end of the world film, 2012. The premise is pretty simple. Based upon an interpretation of a Mayan calendar which says the world will end in that calamitous fateful year.
So Hollywood puts together a bunch of cool CGI effects of big things, like the Himalayas, getting kiboshed and off to the races we go.
Here is the downside; We got John Cusack as the lead.
When I think of Cusack, I think of High Fidelity or Better Off Dead. I don't see him in a big time adventure role lead. Plus, Cusack has that whiny uber-liberal shriek to him that leaves me wondering how he can fill the survivalist role without lots of multi-cultural, blame conservatives, celebrate idiocy carp.
Add to that Danny Glover as President Wilson and you know this is going to another Day After Tomorrow "It's all America's fault the world ended!" hand wringing fest. Hey, maybe the special effects will be good?
The Watchmen
If you never read the comic book, go on Amazon and get the compilation as it is one of the best produced works in comic book land ever.
The Watchmen takes place in an alternate universe America where superheroes have helped change the course of history. Only there is one catch, with the exception of a blue super man whose genetics were altered by a nuclear accident in the 1940's, the rest of the Watchmen are regular people in costumes simply fighting crime.
When one of their own is murdered in his home, the gloves come off as retired superheroes come out of hiding to solve the murder and uncover a sinister plot to change the world.
Best Super Hero Character: Rorschach.
Best runner up: The Owl.
Now is Watchmen really an end of the world movie? If you read the book you know it is and in many ways. This movie should be either a great or a big fat mess.
Gran Torino
Finally, we have not really an end of the world movie, just a movie that we like to watch. Really tough old guys who take on young punks and kick their baggy pants wearing butts.
Clint Eastwood's "Gran Torino" - nuff said.
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