PowerSwitch

Children of Men Is the most doomerish film out there.

Fantastic city fighting scenes at the end ... Full Metal Jacket on the South Coast ...

Shaun of the dead!

The CoM scene where a snipers nest seen behind the main action is matter-of-factly wiped out by a burst of incoming fire is quite - err - daunting .

I meant that it was more about the end of procreation, the end of human life.
I think I need a copy for when I'm feeling too positive about things.

I meant that it was more about the end of procreation, the end of human life.

That's what is was MEANT to be ... but it came out as something different ....

You're not going to tell me it was an allegory to the Iraq war are you?

Friend of mine tells me Spiderman 3 was about Iraq and it's impact on the American psyche...

Haggis wrote:You're not going to tell me it was an allegory to the Iraq war are you?

Friend of mine tells me Spiderman 3 was about Iraq and it's impact on the American psyche...

Wasn't "Return of the Jedi" supposed to be George Lucas's take on the Vietnam War?

J. R. Ewing wrote:

Haggis wrote:You're not going to tell me it was an allegory to the Iraq war are you?

Friend of mine tells me Spiderman 3 was about Iraq and it's impact on the American psyche...

Wasn't "Return of the Jedi" supposed to be George Lucas's take on the Vietnam War?

That's right, when Princess Leia strangles Jabba the Hutt that was symbolic of the Saigon hookers giving most of the US army the clap and sending them home with their dicks in a sling, or so I've heard.

You're not going to tell me it was an allegory to the Iraq war are you?

No - but it seemed more like a warning of what a future low energy - not low fertility - UK would be like.

I bet it's a hit with the BNP.

True.

Actually I need to see it again. I watched before I got all PO aware so it'll probably be different to me now.

I mean before I heard about PO Soylent Green was just a bad Sci Fi film.
Charlton Heston always seemed to have a line right at the end of his flicks in the 70's.

When not talking energy, or growing food and cooking it, my favourite past time is watching movies, so I've got quite a long list pf favourites.

After looking through my video box, in descending order of grimness (i.e., grimmer!), here's my 'doom and collapse' list:

The Atomic Cafe (1982)
Excellent US documentary featuring 40s/50s/60s footage of cold war "public information films" (how the hell did we survive?).

Animal Farm (1954)
Animated version, much better than the recent live action version -- and again, excellent education for the kids.

Network (1976)
"I'm as mad a shell and I'm just not going to take it anymore"

The Conversation (1974)
Coppola's film about surveillance paranoia and control -- years ahead of its timew!

Alice's Restaurant (1969)
The hippie dream goes sour -- good music from Arlo Guthrie though

The Day the Earth Caught Fire (1961)
Blow the Earth out of it's orbit with H-boms?.. naaa, they'll be saying the oil's depleting next.

Land and Freedom (1995)
The betrayals of the Spanish Civil War

When the Wind Blows (1986)
Child-friendly (urr?) anti-nuclear animation.

Silent Running (1971)
The worlds last forests floating in biomes in space -- PG rated for the kids!

Fail Safe (1964)
The "serious" film that inspired Dr. Strangelove.

Fahrenheit 451 (1966)
Just a really good film, especially if you like books (beautiful ending!)

Apocalypse Now Redux (2001)
What's that neo-con idea about "war for the next generation" -- Reduc is far better... it's got the French plantation scenes.

The Andromeda Strain (1971)
An alien irus getsout of control, but there's the niggling idea it was all staged to test bioweapons.

Damnation Alley (1977)
The cocroaches inherit the post-apocalyptic Earth (pity they didn't eat Jan-Michael Vincent too)

1984 (1984?)
Gruesome.

They Live (1988)
The film that inspired David Icke's "blood drining aliens in charge of the planet" conspiracy?

A Scanner Darkly (2006)
"and the drugs don't work"

Brazil (1985)
Life after David Cameron? -- possibly the best ending of all my favourite films!

V for Vendetta (2006)
Life after Gordon Brown?

Zardoz (1973)
The ultimate middle class, back to the land, gated community -- behind a force field

The Mosquito Coat (1986?)
Harrison Ford goes back to nature... badly.

Battle Royale (2000)
Child control beyond the "short sharp shock".

Children of Men (2006)
How's my sperm count?

Soylent Green (1973)
It's made from people! (good look forward to climate change though)

A Clockwork Orange (1971)
A pity they've just knocked down Thamesmead (the location for the film)

Welcome To Sarajevo (1997)
Dramatisation of news crews covering the siege of Sarajevo -- pretty gruesome because you know it can't be as bad as the real events were.

Mad Max 1-3 (79 - 85??)
Geirge Miller wrote no.1 immediately after the 73/4 oil crisis!

Threads (1984)
Nuclear attack on Sheffield (hmmn, should it be this far down the list?) and the subsequentl descent of society (recently re-releaded on DVD!)

mobbsey wrote:Fail Safe (1964)
The "serious" film that inspired Dr. Strangelove.

A chilling and tense film, we just watched it. Tracy didn't enjoy it, though she acknowledged it was well made. I'm not allowed to choose any more films on our DODGY TAX AVOIDERS rental now... seriously!

Interesting to remember while watching it that the Russians have just restarted their long-range bomber patrols...
http://newsvote.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/6950986.stm

Russian media reported earlier on Friday that long-range bombers were airborne, and that Nato jets were shadowing them.

Itar-Tass quoted Russian air force spokesman Alexander Drobyshevsky as saying: "At present, several pairs of Tu-160 and Tu-95MS aircraft are in the air over the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, which are accompanied by Nato planes."
...
Last month two Tupolev 95 aircraft - dubbed "bears" according to their Nato code-name - strayed south from their normal patrol pattern off the Norwegian coast and headed towards Scotland. Two RAF Tornado fighters were sent up to meet them.

Absolutely! He is not allowed to choose anymore films!
Fail Safe was 'good' 'interesting' and a scary film, very sad too.

BUT, I want to be entertained now you guys! I have watched my way through your list of depression and doom and now, PLEASE recommend nice films!
No nuclear war, secret police or animals dying, I am after non - real, thrillers with lots of guns and no one dying!
Or funny - there must be something funny out there.....
I wish I was able to film the sea gull biting Mike on the nose.

Tracy Pepler wrote:No nuclear war, secret police or animals dying, I am after non - real, thrillers with lots of guns and no one dying!
Or funny - there must be something funny out there.....

Ohh, you want delusional!

My top 36 'recreational' films (that come to mind -- I've got no one favourite.. it depends how I feel):

Monty Python's Life Of Brian (1979) -- if I come home feeling dispirited, this is my best medicine ("you're all individuals... yes, we're all individuals... I'm not!").

Am?lie (Jean-Pierre Jeunet, 2001) -- OK, it's in French, but it's just a beautiful film (I'd include "Delicatessen" too, but people get killedin that).

Orlando (Sally Potter, 1992) - just a beautiful, if initially confusing, film.

Yellow Submarine (1968) -- just beautiful... sit back, chill out, and boo the blue meanies!

Rebecca's Daughters (1991) -- hilarious retelling of the Rebecca riots against the turnpike trusts in west Wales.

Wallace and Grommit: Curse of the Wererabbit (2005) -- certainly one of hte popular films in the permaculture community at the moment.

Saving Grace (2000) -- comedy about gardening, marijuana and the WI.

Baraka (1992) -- captivating film, with no dialogue, about the beauty of the Earth.

Flashback (1990) -- nice film about the symbolism of hippie radicals in the 1990s (ideologically crap, but funny).

The African Queen (John Huston, 1951) -- just a nice Bogart film.

The Commitments (1991) -- Alan Parker's brilliantly authentic (from experience) film about a small local band.

Up in Smoke (1978) -- Cheech 'n' Chong's greatest outing.

The Tango Lesson (1997) -- OK, it's seriously hardcore Arthouse, but it's spellbinding as only a Sally Potter film can be.

I Love You, Alice B Toklas (1968) -- one of Peter Sellar's lest showed, but brilliant, films, probably because of the level of drug conten!

Annie Hall (Woody Allen, 1977) -- just a nicely rediculous film, and christopher Walken's first 'menacing' leading role.

Hobson's Choice (1954) -- One of John Mill's best early films, and an excellent version of the stage play.

Whiskey Galore! (1949) -- one of the best Ealing Films... peak whiskey!!

Fly Away Home (1996) -- a kids film, but again it's really beautifully made, and Jeff daniels makes a great hippie artist

Truly, Madly, Deeply (Anthony Minghella, 1991) -- Minghella's early success, and probably the greatest heterosexual love film.

Wayne's World (1992) -- 'common, you'll never look at Queen's "Bohemian Rhapsody" in the same way ever again.

The Titfield Thunderbolt (1953) -- another of those great Ealing films, especially for train spotters.

Whale Rider (2002) -- thought provoking film (for kids) on the struggles of a Maori girl.

The Hours (Stephen Daldry, 2002) -- great intertwining of stories based on the Virginia Wolfe story "Mrs. Dalloway" (OK, someone dies, but he was going to die of AIDS anyway!).

Brassed Off (1996) -- brillianty gritty and funny film (with a Pete Postlethwaite ending so great that Chumbawamba sample dit for the 'Tubthumping' album).

Local Hero (1983) -- the oil business meets Scottish wit.

Children of a Lesser God (1986) -- probably my favourite 'romantic' film.

Baghdad Cafe (1988) -- just a silly film, especially Jack Palance as a beat artist.

Good Bye Lenin! (2003) -- wonderful, humorous piss-take of the former East German state (in German).

Pleasantville (1998) -- subverting ideological totalitarianism in 50s America by having fun.

When the Whales Came (1989) -- just another nice kids film with an ecological conscience.

How to Murder Your Wife (1965) -- Terry Thomas' best outing!

Nuts In May (Mike Leigh, 1976) -- painfully funny!

When Harry Met Sally (RobReiner, 1989) -- YES! YES!

Alaska (1996) -- another kids film, but really good (I like seeing Charlton Heston being typecast as a gun-totin idiot.

The Theory of Flight (1998) -- very silly Kenneth Brannagh as a tortured, if inept, sculptor.

Carry On Up The Khyber (1968) -- just a funny film (I think it's the best of the "Carry ons..").

[I've missed out a few films that I really like, like "Winstanley", "Silkwood", "The Lady Vanishes" (hitchcock's 1938 original version), "Land and Freedom", "Malcolm X", "Gandhi", "Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead", "Cyrano De Bergerac", "The Fifth Element", "Fight Club", "Doctor Zhivago", "Hell Drivers", "Thelma and Louise" or "Cry Freedom", because although they're inspirational people get killed in them]