Monday, June 18, 2012

Hollywood Loves the Apocalypse?

As we hurtle toward our imminent destruction this December of 2012 (as foretold by several ancient cultures), Hollywood seems to be embracing the fact and even celebrating our last moments with opportunities for quality family entertainment! Here's the skinny on two movies set to drop that will allow you to end your days with not a sigh, but a laugh...

It's A Disaster : In this doomsday comedy, four couples who meet for Sunday brunch find themselves stranded in a house together as the world may be about to end. When Tracy Scott (Julia Stiles) decides to introduce her new beau Glenn (David Cross) to her three friends Hedy (America Ferrera), Emma, and Lexi and their significant others, her biggest fear is whether or not her friends will approve of her new relationship, little does she realize that's the least of her worries. Before long the couples find themselves in the midst of an apocalyptic disaster, catching them all off guard. One thing is clear; these four couples aren't going to let the potential end of the world get in the way of the relationship issues they all need to work out.

Director Todd Berger remarked "We've all seen that movie. The one where a band of strangers must face the world head-on after some sort of cataclysmic event. Zombies. A deadly outbreak of disease. Nuclear war. There are countless ways a disaster can bring people together to fight for humanity and find themselves.

But how would they really act? And what if they weren't strangers?

It's a Disaster explores such an idea. How would real people approach a cataclysmic event? They're empathetic and worried yes - but they're also smart, funny, realistic, and much like most Americans they're wildly unprepared. Also they've seen disaster movies before and can take some cues, whether correct or incorrect, on how to behave."

IT'S A DISASTER is written and directed by to Todd Berger (THE SCENESTERS). The film stars Julia Stiles (SAVE THE LAST DANCE), David Cross ("Arrested Development"), and America Ferrera ("Ugly Betty").

No release date yet, so whether they will make it to the big screen BEFORE the actual end of the world is a mystery. If not, sorry to tease! Take comfort in the fact that, in Heaven, I'd imagine you can think up a movie and poof..it is done for all to see. Never a head in the seat in front of you or a twat on a cell phone to disturb your viewing up in the clouds. Amen.

Seeking a Friend for the End of the World : Taking audiences on a humorous, moving, and intimate journey against an epic backdrop of Earth's final days, Seeking a Friend for the End of the World is the feature directorial debut of screenwriter Lorene Scafaria (Nick & Norah's Infinite Playlist). Set in a too-near future where time at once stands still and is slipping away forever, the writer/director explores what people will do and how they will feel when humanity's end is near.

A 70-mile-wide asteroid is en route to Earth, and the last best attempt to counter it has failed. Also failing is the marriage of soft-spoken insurance salesman Dodge (Golden Globe Award winner Steve Carell); the breaking news that the world will end in an estimated 21 days cues his wife to leave him on the spot.

Dodge is a man who has always played by the rules of life, while his neighbor Penny (Academy Award nominee Keira Knightley) is an extroverted woman who hasn't. From these opposite perspectives, both initially choose to navigate the impending end of the world with blinders on. Dodge declines joining his friends in increasingly reckless behavior, while Penny fixates on her relationship issues with a self-absorbed musician.

The two misfits meet first when Penny has a rough night and then again when she belatedly delivers Dodge a lost letter. That letter could alter Dodge's future; it's from his high-school sweetheart Olivia, the love of his life. When a riot breaks out around their apartment building, Dodge realizes that he must seek Olivia out before it's too late while Penny makes the decision to spend her last days with family in England. Seizing the moment, Dodge promises to help Penny reach her family if she will provide transport for the two of them in her car immediately. She agrees, and they escape.



On the road together, the unlikely traveling companions' respective personal journeys accelerate, and their outlooks – if not the world's – brighten.

Seeking a Friend for the End of the World will be released in theaters June 22.

Honestly, I'm shocked Hollywood isn't cashing in on the end of all things on a larger scale! Sure, 2012 has LITERALLY been done already, as have countless movies with alien invasions and zombie apocalypses, but I have yet to see alternate interpretations of the prophecies scrawled on cave walls done to death, or approached in an original way! Really??!! Not beating this one into the ground??!! Color me stupefied.

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