Monday, July 28, 2008

Post Apocalpyse Now Redux

My post-apocalypse top 10 has gotten a few hits and I've been looking around at some other top 10 Internet lists. Here's the Google search.

'k.

Couple points:

Escape from New York isn't really a post-apocalyptic film, or I would've included it. Or is it? I guess it meets the definition in some senses. I sort of don't think of it as such, however, because (like the sequel) it depends on a civilization existing outside of it for its impetus. (Save the President!) Maybe, though. It has a lot in common with them. I'll let this one pass.

12 Monkeys. No, I don't think so. It's mostly about the pre-apocalypse. If you include this, you may as well include Terminator movies.

The Quiet Earth. Never heard of it. But it's New Zealand. How would you know if the world ended in New Zealand?

Death Race 2000. Think I mentioned it, but if I didn't: Dystopic, not post-apocalyptic.

Cherry 2000. This unusual pic with pre-fame Melanie Griffith as a sex-droid is smarter than it sounds. But it's still not very good.

Red Dawn. Apocalyptic, not post-apocalyptic, and frankly, not all that apocalyptic, any more than, say, Verhoeven's Flesh + Blood (with Jennifer Jason-Leigh and Rutger Hauer). It's a war movie movie. Include this and you have to include a whole bunch of WWII movies.

Tank Girl. I actually love this movie with Lori Petty and Malcolm McDowell, and Naomi Watts as Jet Girl has never been sexier. But it's fairly camp, and hasn't aged well.

They Live. Another Carpenter flick. In fairness, all of Carpenter's films feel like they're post-apocalyptic. Even Starman has a kind of end-of-the-world feel to it. It's a directorial style thing. Even Halloween kind of feels like Mike Myers is going to murder the whole world. Nonetheless, They Live is more dystopic, and really more just anti-'80s materialism, than post-apocalyptic.

Reign of Fire. What a great idea! What a bad implementation!

Waterworld. I haven't seen it. I do have my limits.

The Postman. Ibid.

Hell Comes To Frogtown. Dunno. This one has never done it for me.

Tooth and Nail. I wrote about it extensively here. Note that I incorrectly identify Children of Men as post-apocalypse when it's more mid-apocalypse. (Since I'm talking about apocalyptic mechanics, it doesn't reflect on the point being made, but still, the world hasn't ended in Children, it's just threatening to.)

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