> Went and saw this today. Fans of end-of-times movies (Bill B, I'm
> talking to you), great news - this is the best one yet.
>
> It's the near future. Women are infertile. There are no more
> children, and no prospects for procreation. The youngest people on
> the planet are 18. Schools lay fallow in disrepair. Nations are
> collapsing. Britain still operates as a police state, and has closed
> its borders to all immigrants - only British citizens are allowed to
> live there. Illegals are rounded up and sent who-knows-where; they
> are badly treated. Radicals violently protest this injustice, and
> terrorism is a daily fact of life. You risk your life simply getting
> a cup of coffee. The end is nigh, the end is nigh!
>
> Against this backdrop, we get both a superb action plot and a
> high-impact human drama, that rarest of motion pictures. I shall
> reveal no more and leave the pleasures of the intricate story to the
> viewer. It's expertly directed by Alfonso Cuaron ("Harry
> Potter/Prisoner of Azkaban", "Y Tu Mama Tambien"), who also co-wrote a
> brilliant screenplay. The genius of the movie is in the pacing - it
> starts out fairly sedate with an interesting examination of the world
> as it exists at that time, and gradually ratchets up the tension until
> by the end we can hardly stand it any more. The characters are deep
> and memorable, the dialogue is rich and natural, and the machinations
> of the plot are unpredictable and pack a great payoff. The acting
> (Clive Owen, Julianne Moore, Michael Caine among many others) is
> nothing short of immersive. Our "hero" is no Superman, and he spends
> most of the movie just doing the best he can, which makes him very
> appealing. The effects are utterly seamless. They're so well
> integrated you can't even tell what's an effect and what's not. This
> is no Hollywood picture; there is no melodrama and the camera doesn't
> flinch from anything, nor does the script ever resort to cliche or
> convention. In fact, quite early on, it clearly signals that anything
> goes. The cinematography is top-notch, easily the best I've ever seen
> in this genre. The soundtrack is suitably downbeat and never gets in
> the way.
>
> Like I said, best "world apocolypse" movie yet. Better than "28 Days
> Later", better than "Dawn of the Dead", way better than "Night of the
> Comet". The whole production is triple-A, and a major artistic
> achievement for Cuaron and his crew. 4 stars out of 4.
>
> --
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
> Mike Kohary mike at kohary dot com http://www.kohary.com
>
> Karma Photography: http://www.karmaphotography.com
> Seahawks Historical Database: http://www.kohary.com/seahawks
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~