Written as part of the weekly blogathon hosted by Wandering Through the Shelves. Join in the fun by picking three movies that fit the week's theme and telling us a bit about them!
I'm sure this week's theme has NOTHING AT ALL to do with the fact that the Oscar nominations happened this morning, but my lateness in posting this does. Thankfully, AMPAS didn't completely scorch the Earth with their nominations (although Carol missing Best Picture is still confounding and depressing) in the way various forces did in my picks for this week.
28 Days Later (Danny Boyle, 2002) I'm not entirely sure this qualifies, but the early scenes of Danny Boyle's reinvention of the zombie flick are some of the creepiest post-apocalyptic visions I've ever seen. And those fast-moving zombies are pretty damn creepy, too.
I Am Legend (Francis Lawrence, 2007) From zombie apocalypse to vampire(-ish) apocalypse, and from Great Britain to the United States. This remake of the Charlton Heston-starring The Omega Man (and the Vincent Price-starring The Last Man on Earth) offers visions of post-apocalypse New York City that rival 28 Days Later's visions of London. Will Smith gives a great, under-appreciated performance in this.
WALL-E (Andrew Stanton, 2008) What happens after humans have destroyed the Earth and evacuated on a giant spaceship? All but one of the robots they left behind to clean up their mess have stopped working. And the one little guy still around has developed quite the personality. There is so much to love about Pixar's film - the photorealistic, nearly silent first half, the gorgeous score, the hilarious slapstick of the second half - but my favorite is the little title guy himself, a robot who becomes an Everyman with a heart of gold.
I've meant to watch 28 Days Later but this type of film isn't really my sweet spot so I forget about it. One day.
Do I even need to say I haven't seen Wall-E? Well I've seen bits & pieces walking through the room when my niece was watching but that was enough for me, she loves it though.
I preferred both of the earlier versions of I Am Legend to this one, the Chuckles one was a bit dodgy but the Vincent Price one was fun and Price a wonderful choice for the lead.
As I said this genre isn't one that I love but I was able to come up with three that I liked and Heston plays a big part in one of them:
The Planet of the Apes (1968)-The original story of a crew of astronauts who crash land in a world where a society of intelligent talking apes reign supreme. They are quickly taken prisoner and discover that humans are now subservient. Both cheesy and impressive at the same time with hambone Charlton Heston the exactly right actor in the lead.
The Time Machine (1960)-At the turn of the 20th century H.G. Wells tells a group of friends of his time machine to their disbelief and one’s warning not to tempt the laws of providence. Wells ignores the advice and travels far into the future to find a sobering world populated by recessive humans called Eloi and strange creatures called Morlocks. This won an Oscar for its revolutionary time lapse photography.
The World, the Flesh and the Devil (1959)-Miner Ralph Burton (Harry Belafonte) trapped for a number of days in a cave-in, emerges to find himself the seemingly lone survivor of a nuclear holocaust. Traveling to the closest large city, New York, he finds it deserted at first but eventually meets Sarah Crandall (Inger Stevens) who has also managed to survive. They form a close friendship until the appearance of a third survivor (Mel Ferrer) and tensions flair. A three person chamber piece.
This really isn't one of my favorite genres either, but I LOVE the original Planet of the Apes and really like The Time Machine. The World the Flesh and the Devil sounds interesting though.
I really think you'd like the first half of WALL-E at the very least. It has the grace and wit of a lot of silent films.
Oh and the nominations this year are all over the place but I'm SO delighted that Charlotte Rampling is an Oscar nominee at last! that I'm in a forgiving mood.
28 Days started to freak me out and it was late so I stopped watching. I am Legend is good but very sad. I still have to see Wall-E but I saw a part of it with the fat sluggish humans of the future...future???
I Am Legend can't really be called a remake, more like a new adaptation. It's the only one it seems that kept the title. I'm not sure 28 Days Later qualifies either because 28 Weeks Later exists so we know the world did not end.
I've meant to watch 28 Days Later but this type of film isn't really my sweet spot so I forget about it. One day.
ReplyDeleteDo I even need to say I haven't seen Wall-E? Well I've seen bits & pieces walking through the room when my niece was watching but that was enough for me, she loves it though.
I preferred both of the earlier versions of I Am Legend to this one, the Chuckles one was a bit dodgy but the Vincent Price one was fun and Price a wonderful choice for the lead.
As I said this genre isn't one that I love but I was able to come up with three that I liked and Heston plays a big part in one of them:
The Planet of the Apes (1968)-The original story of a crew of astronauts who crash land in a world where a society of intelligent talking apes reign supreme. They are quickly taken prisoner and discover that humans are now subservient. Both cheesy and impressive at the same time with hambone Charlton Heston the exactly right actor in the lead.
The Time Machine (1960)-At the turn of the 20th century H.G. Wells tells a group of friends of his time machine to their disbelief and one’s warning not to tempt the laws of providence. Wells ignores the advice and travels far into the future to find a sobering world populated by recessive humans called Eloi and strange creatures called Morlocks. This won an Oscar for its revolutionary time lapse photography.
The World, the Flesh and the Devil (1959)-Miner Ralph Burton (Harry Belafonte) trapped for a number of days in a cave-in, emerges to find himself the seemingly lone survivor of a nuclear holocaust. Traveling to the closest large city, New York, he finds it deserted at first but eventually meets Sarah Crandall (Inger Stevens) who has also managed to survive. They form a close friendship until the appearance of a third survivor (Mel Ferrer) and tensions flair. A three person chamber piece.
This really isn't one of my favorite genres either, but I LOVE the original Planet of the Apes and really like The Time Machine. The World the Flesh and the Devil sounds interesting though.
DeleteI really think you'd like the first half of WALL-E at the very least. It has the grace and wit of a lot of silent films.
Oh and the nominations this year are all over the place but I'm SO delighted that Charlotte Rampling is an Oscar nominee at last! that I'm in a forgiving mood.
ReplyDeleteI love 28 Days Later and WALL-E! Great choices!
ReplyDeleteThanks!!
Delete28 Days started to freak me out and it was late so I stopped watching. I am Legend is good but very sad. I still have to see Wall-E but I saw a part of it with the fat sluggish humans of the future...future???
ReplyDeletehehehe, yeah those so-fat-they're-unable-to-walk humans in WALL-E are indeed us in the future.
DeleteGreat choices! WALL-E made my list too
ReplyDelete28 Days later is amazing, the opening scenes on an empty London are just incredible
ReplyDeleteI Am Legend can't really be called a remake, more like a new adaptation. It's the only one it seems that kept the title.
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure 28 Days Later qualifies either because 28 Weeks Later exists so we know the world did not end.