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posted by janrinok on Monday March 02 2020, @02:18AM   Printer-friendly
from the in-flight-film dept.

Here's a quick overview of "documentaries" to watch before, during and after a pandemic:

The Andromeda Strain film: An early Michael Crichton adaptation which came before the Westworld film and series and the Jurassic Park film series. Like many Michael Crichton stories, factual science is extended with credible speculation. In this case, a prion-like infection has killed almost everyone in a village and the survivors are seemingly unrelated. The film is best known for its cartoonish but very photogenic indoor set which serves as the backdrop of a Level 4 Biolab. Such eloborate sets were common in the era. (Other examples include Rollerball and disaster parody/Airplane predecessor, The Big Bus.) The film features concurrent action which was a common experimental film technique in the 1960s but, nowadays, is most commonly associated with Kiefer Sutherland in the 24 series. There is also a lesser-known mini-series.

Outbreak: A rather dull film which nevertheless provides a graphic portrayal of uncontained pandemic and towns being quarantined. It would be marginally improved if the antagonists were re-cast. Possible source material for DeepFaking.

The Resident Evil film series: These films considerably advanced the tropes of amoral corporation, rogue artificial intelligence as antagonist, reality within reality, experimentation without informed consent and the horror of a medicalized vampire/zombie rabies virus. The Red Queen versus White Queen subplot dovetails with Alice in Wonderland, prey versus predator evolution and Umbrella Corp's red and white logo which - in a case of life mirroring art - was copied by Wuhan's Level 4 Biolab. Many people prefer the competent and detailed Resident Evil series of computer games which are arguably better than the Half Life series or the SCP game.

28 Days Later, 28 Weeks Later, 28 Months Later: Gritty films which borrow liberally from Resident Evil and a rich seam of British, Cold War, post-apocalyptic drama, such as Survivors. The most iconic scenes of the film - Central London without people - weren't composited or closed for filming. They were merely shot at dawn, on a Sunday morning, around the summer solstice. The first film may have influenced Black Mirror episodes: The National Anthem and White Bear.

World War Z: If Dan Brown wrote zombie stories, they'd be like World War Z. Brad Pitt's character dashes to a number of exotic locations and is swept up by events such as panic buying and stampedes from an unspecified infection which has an incubation period of about 20 seconds. (A duration which appears to have been chosen to maximize tension while staying within the one minute beat sheet of the Hero's Journey monomyth.) It builds upon the zombie mythology of Resident Evil and 28 Day Later. However, it is undermined by cheap grading, cheap compositing and reliance on flocking software.

Contagion: I haven't seen this one. It may or may not involve Gwyneth Paltrow, Harvey Weinstein, an Oscars acceptance speech, Seth MacFarlane and a vaginal steamer. Well, it probably relieves the itching of genital herpes.

Cloverfield 1, 2, 3 and 4: Found footage genre which is heavily influenced by the Blair Witch Project (obviously), Godzilla films, The Day the Earth Stood Still, any B-movie with a military Jeep and medicalized zombie films. The first film has fantastic compositing which may be of particular interest to anyone working on an augmented reality horror game.

Bad Taste: Peter Jackson's first commercial film. It was almost unfinished due to the ridiculous ending which blatently copies from a film which - to prevent spoiler - I won't mention. A particularly low budget effect was used for gun flash. Specifically, the original 16mm footage was poked with a pin. Regardless, if you've seen the carnage of Peter Jackson's orc battles then you may be curious to see the carnage of Peter Jackson's zombie fights. Additionally, Bad Taste works particularly well as a drinking game.

George A. Romero and John A. Russo films: These classics brought zombies out of a largely undifferentiated mess of vampire/mummy/voodoo/swamp monster B-movies. Unfortunately, they have been overshadowed by escalating gore and violence. This leave each classic looking more like an extended episode of the A-Team.

Pride and Prejudice and Zombies: Anything is more exciting with zombies and Jane Austen's dull novel certainly benefits. This wilfully inaccurate historical drama, a genre shared with Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter and Snow White and the Seven Samurai, features square dancing and blunderbuss zombie carnage.

Any better suggestions out there?


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  • (Score: 0, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Monday March 02 2020, @02:52AM (7 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday March 02 2020, @02:52AM (#965238)

    What is it with the hateful comments I've seen posted here from ACs? This is unprovoked and just totally uncalled for.

    I understand that sometimes discussions get heated and people cross lines. I got into it with Buzzard not too long ago and said some things I shouldn't have. I get that it's far too easy to get angry about stuff that's posted online, which is what I did -- and apologized for it. But there's absolutely no reason for random unprovoked attacks like this.

    To be honest, the last thing I want to be watching right now are films about pandemics. Watching and reading the news too much right now, knowing what's at stake and what can happen, is enough to make anyone go crazy after awhile. But the list was submitted in good faith and doesn't merit a cowardly attack like yours.

    Personally, I'll be watching sports to take my mind off the news. I'm looking forward to opening day and the start of baseball season. I also really enjoy NASCAR for most of the same reasons I like baseball. Indycar and F1 are a lot of fun to watch, too. I'm just hoping that F1 doesn't have to cancel any additional races.

    I understand that people aren't always going to get along and will get into heated arguments. But it seems like there have been more AC comments like yours that are just randomly directed and are vile. Perhaps it might technically violate the rules but because these comments seem to be frequent, I wouldn't be upset if they were modded spam.

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  • (Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Monday March 02 2020, @03:56AM (1 child)

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday March 02 2020, @03:56AM (#965274)

    I understand that people aren't always going to get along and will get into heated arguments. But it seems like there have been more AC comments like yours that are just randomly directed and are vile.

    Why? Because people like you feed those trolls.

    It was already modded to hell, but you needed to respond -- and your response, especially since it was a negative one -- just encourages those idiots.

    DON'T FEED THE TROLLS.

    • (Score: 3, Interesting) by DeathMonkey on Monday March 02 2020, @06:56PM

      by DeathMonkey (1380) on Monday March 02 2020, @06:56PM (#965611) Journal

      A lot of people have been claiming, without evidence, that if you ignore them they'll just go away. Well it's been about THIRTY years now and they're still around.

      Maybe it's time we start calling them out as the pathetic little douchebags they are?

  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday March 02 2020, @07:15AM

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday March 02 2020, @07:15AM (#965383)

    Go away, Knowledge_Troll! You said you were retiring! Why are you still here bitching about how nobody likes you?

  • (Score: 2) by edIII on Monday March 02 2020, @08:17AM (2 children)

    by edIII (791) on Monday March 02 2020, @08:17AM (#965398)

    Fuck it. I'm going to feed a troll here, if it gets you to never feed a troll again.

    Pay attention.

    Something that is that way overboard by an AC, is very very similar to a monkey throwing poo. Normally, they ARE modded to oblivion. So if you surf at 0, you get pretty much everything, and all of neutral AC comments. You don't even see the poo.

    If you surf at -1, you are deliberately looking at the poo, so it makes no sense to point it out to others. The game is to act like there is no poo. Is there any poo around you? Of course not! If you see it, then grab the mod shovel so others don't have to.

    When you fail the game, you're locking eyes with the monkey. At that point, you are forever, the monkeys bitch. It skull fucked you, and now you need therapy to get over it, as far as its concerned at least, and it's wild laughter and celebratory dancing is the only thing allowing it to fuck the shit out of some other monkey. A vile, pathetic, very, very, angry little monkey with erectile dysfunction. Desperate for people to see the poo.

    Don't acknowledge the poo. The only winning move is not to play. Listen to their desperate screams for attention, and just smile instead, and let your indifference burn them.

    --
    Technically, lunchtime is at any moment. It's just a wave function.
    • (Score: 5, Insightful) by Phoenix666 on Monday March 02 2020, @01:09PM (1 child)

      by Phoenix666 (552) on Monday March 02 2020, @01:09PM (#965446) Journal

      I surf at -1 because it does happen that while unpopular opinions get modded to oblivion, groupthink isn't always right.

      --
      Washington DC delenda est.
      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday March 02 2020, @01:14PM

        by Anonymous Coward on Monday March 02 2020, @01:14PM (#965450)

        I surf at -1 because it does happen that while unpopular opinions get modded to oblivion, groupthink isn't always right.

        Fair enough. However, I note that you didn't upmod OP in an attempt to break us of our groupthink. Nor did you respond to OP troll.

        Care to elaborate on that?

  • (Score: 0, Flamebait) by Anonymous Coward on Monday March 02 2020, @07:55PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday March 02 2020, @07:55PM (#965641)

    it sounded like a joke, you dipshit.