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Earth Day Movie Night: Environmental Disaster Movies

BuzzSugar — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 15:30:50 -0700

As I was researching environmental disaster movies it was interesting to see how long this idea has been around that humans could destroy the earth simply by taking its resources for granted. Long before Al Gore's An Inconvenient Truth, filmmakers and fiction writers were clearly aware that manmade pollution has a chance of bringing about an apocalyptic scenario here on earth. So, in honor of Earth Day I present a few movies that, in their own over-the-top ways urge audiences to heed the warnings of the day lest we succumb to a future worse than what these films imagined.

The Day After Tomorrow
This is probably the first cautionary global warming tale that springs to most people's minds when you think "environmental disaster." In The Day After Tomorrow the rising temperature of the planet speeds up the disaster effects some real-life scientists predict will happen eventually. The film stars Daniel Quaid as a sexy - wait for it - paleoclimatologist who tries to save his son (Jake Gyllenhaal) and the other survivors stuck in New York after the city is flooded and then frozen over by the rising ocean. The movie is all CGI effects and silly one-liners but the action is heart-pounding and Quaid and Gyllenhaal are easy on the eyes.

For more movies that may scare you into recycling and using energy-efficient light bulbs, read more.

Logan's Run
Before Star Wars wowed audiences with stellar effects, there was the campy and slightly corny Logan's Run. The film is based on the bestselling science fiction novel of the same name that was written in 1967. The movie takes place in the future (23rd century to be exact) where the earth has basically been destroyed by overpopulation and pollution. A few survivors live in a domed society which would be rather lovely if it weren't for the fact that everyone must die at age 30 (population control). The movie stars Michael York (a.k.a. Basil from Austin Powers) and actually won an Academy Award for visual effects at the time. It's a bit dated, but is still an interesting look at a scary dystopian future.

Soylent Green
Similar to Logan's Run, Soylent Green was released in the '70s, but this time takes us to the year 2022. Now that overpopulation and global warming have led to a world where food like fruits, vegetables, and meats are rare, most of the population lives off "soylent green" processed food. Charlton Heston stars in this classic thriller about the potential for corruption when resources are scarce and humankind is desperate.

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Who Should Play the New, Younger Ben-Hur?

BuzzSugar — Wed, 09 Apr 2008 11:30:18 -0700

Right on the heels of Charlton Heston's death earlier this week, there's news of a television miniseries version of one of Heston's biggest projects: Ben-Hur. They are, however, keeping it in the family with David Wyler, son of the 1959 Ben-Hur director William Wyler, producing.

Though while the miniseries is meant to be a tribute to the elder Wyler and Heston, there will be some updates made to the material:

The new version will be based more specifically on the 1907 Lew Wallace source novel than either the 1959 version or earlier 1925 adaptation.

Wyler is looking to skew the lead role younger into his mid-20s. New version will also likely downplay the religious aspects of the source material.

"We want to look at the spirituality within the piece rather than directly relating it to a specific religion," said Wyler. "It's a very complex story. It’s been 50 years since my father’s version and we think we can bring something new and contemporary to it in the same way that Gladiator did for that genre."

So, who can you see playing this strapping young protagonist of the spiritual-not-religious Ben-Hur miniseries?

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Rest in Peace, Charlton Heston

BuzzSugar — Mon, 07 Apr 2008 04:30:15 -0700

You know, though it goes against reason, I somehow thought Charlton Heston would outlive us all. Sadly, the Oscar winner died on Saturday at the age of 84.

Well-known for his award-winning turn in the 1959 epic tale Ben Hur and his role as Moses in The Ten Commandments, Heston was a part of many other great Hollywood films as well, particularly films of historical - and cinematic - significance. Some of these include Planet of the Apes, The Omega Man, Soylent Green, El Cid, The Greatest Story Ever Told, and Julius Caesar.

Heston was also increasingly active politically in his later years and was elected president of the National Rifle Association in 1998. Variety reminds us that he "was famously quoted as saying the only way his gun would be taken away 'is from my cold, dead hands.'" A younger generation might be most familiar with Heston as the aging actor who became incensed by an interview Michael Moore conducted with him in which they discussed America's issues with gun control in Bowling for Columbine.

Heston may not have outlived all of us, but his legacy as an actor who could epitomize, as Variety puts it, "the righteous, virile man" will live on.

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