Tuesday, January 22, 2008

The Day After Tomorrow

"The Day After Tomorrow" (Roland Emmerich, 2004) Never intended to see this, but it was interesting to see that Hollywood can be just as over-the-top about global warming (sorry, make that "climate change") as it can be about asteroids and volcanoes. Dennis Quaid plays a climatologist whose alarm-level is always at a pinched 85% (Quaid, a conservative, carries a slight air of disbelief in the performance), and it does contain a "peril" sequence that just made me hoot--Jake Gyllenhaal and buddies trying to out-run a deadly ice-freeze taking over the New York Public Library. It's got something for everbody, including, as Thelma Ritter so famously said in "All About Eve" "the bloodhounds snapping at (your) rear end." Impressive visual effects, though, backed up by some pretty impressive imaginations of the U.S. in a deep-freeze. My favorite part was the heated discussions (in a freezing room) of what books they were going to burn to stay warm. Kids, for practical reasons I'd start with the Encyclopedia's, but on the other hand given their current track record, maybe you should start with the Farmer's Almanacs!

No comments: