Tag Archives: Post-Apocalyptic

The Dog Stars – Movie Review

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TL;DR – A fascinating exploration of what it means to be human.

Rating: 4 out of 5.

Post-Credit Scene – There is no post-credit scene.

Disclosure – I was invited to a press screening of this film.

A ruined Denver City Hall.

The Dog Stars Review Introduction

In recent years we have seen a large rise in post-apocalyptic stories, especially around viruses, making their way onto the screen. Some of these are incredibly thought-provoking works of art, such as Earth Abides, Station Eleven, PLUR1BUS, and season 1 of The Last of Us. But others still have not hit the mark, such as Greenland 2, Silent Zone, In the Lost Lands, and season 2 of The Last of Us. At their core, these stories work best when they are interrogating humanity once all the niceness has been stripped away, and I hope this is what we get today.        

So, to set the scene, the world ended. A flu pandemic ripped through the world before we knew what was happening; most of humanity was dead. Hig (Jacob Elordi) was a commercial pilot in the old world, a world where his wife and child once lived. Now, he is mostly alone, using his plane to go out and hunt for supplies for himself and Bangley (Josh Brolin). They are surviving, but they are not living. Can you move on after such a tragedy, when there are human raiders or worse waiting out there? Can you find hope in a humanity that has been brought to the precipice of extinction? Now, before we jump into the review proper, I want to make clear that I have not read the book this is based on, so my review will not be covering the adaptation, but I have added the book to my reading list after watching the film.  

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Greenland 2: Migration – Movie Review

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TL;DR – A quasi-religious themed sequel doesn’t live up to the first film, unfortunately.

Rating: 2.5 out of 5.

Post-Credit Scene – There is no post-credit scene.

Disclosure – I paid for the Amazon Prime subscription used to watch this film.

John escapes from a radiation storm.

Greenland 2: Migration Review Introduction

Back in 2021, I was entirely surprised by a film. Greenland took what could have been a run-of-the-mill disaster/apocalypse film and filled it with real emotional weight. It even made it onto my best film list for that year. Since then, I have been wondering if they would go back to that world, and while we didn’t get an Australian release, I am glad to finally be getting a look at it today.  

So, to set the scene, in the five years since the Clarke devastation, fragments still impact the Earth, causing all sorts of radiation issues. John Garrity (Gerard Butler), his family, Allison (Morena Baccarin), and Nathan (Roman Griffin Davis) are still living in the bunker under Thule Airbase in Greenland. But things have stretched on longer than anyone expected, and they are now surviving by salvaging the ruins of humanity that wash up. The hope was to wait for the radiation levels to drop, but already large areas of North America have been made uninhabitable due to it. But when the tectonic plates shift and the base is destroyed, the Garrity family and the handful of survivors must make a mad dash across a waring Europe to reach the Clarke creator, the one place potentially free of radiation.  

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Paradise: Season 2 – TV Review

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TL;DR – The more I think about this season, the more it feels like it suffered from “Part-two-itus”, taking on the needed plot swerve so it can be the bridge between the opening and finale.

Rating: 3 out of 5.

Disclosure – I paid for the Disney+ service that viewed this series.

Sinatra walks through Paradise before it destroys itself.

Paradise Review Introduction

Well, we have gotten to the end of Paradise’s second season, and I can say that it did feel like a very odd season for me. Moments of profound interest, wasted plot points, and a perplexing ending. This gives it an interesting feel, and I feel like I am still wrapping my head around it days later.

So, to set the scene, as Season Two progressed, Xavier Collins (Sterling K. Brown) finally reunited with his wife, Teri Rogers-Collins (Enuka Okuma). Sinatra (Julianne Nicholson) has been slowly moving back into the position of main power, thanks to Jane (Nicole Brydon Bloom) killing all those who opposed her. Link (Thomas Doherty) and his group have made it to the outside of Paradise and have started making demands. All while everyone is trying to work out who is Alex? Now, from here, we will be looking at the season as a whole, so there will be [SPOILERS] ahead.

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Paradise: The Mailman [S2:E5] – TV Review

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TL;DR – While it had a strong start, I think I am starting to miss the focus of the first season, as we have another new start for characters.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5.

Disclosure – I paid for the Disney+ service that viewed this series.

Murals of the survivors on a wall.

Paradise Review –

This season of Paradise has been an interesting one because it does feel like we have had multiple starts. Everyone is about to make a journey, about to make a big change, about to find their wife. But nothing tangible ever coalesces, and I am not sure today’s episode will change anything.

So, to set the scene, in the before times, we are introduced to Gary (Cameron Britton), a mailman in Atlanta, Georgia, who is not very confident, but in his heart, he thinks he is a good man. He is quite lonely, with his only friends being on the computer. He has heard of this conspiracy theory of a volcano in Antarctica. Still, we know that this is not a conspiracy, and his turning the bunker in his mail office into a survival zone might just be the one thing that keeps a handful alive during the dark days of winter. Now, from here, we will be looking at the season as a whole, so there will be [SPOILERS] ahead.

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Paradise: A Holy Charge [S2:E4] – TV Review

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TL;DR – This is the episode that reminds us that there are some things about today’s society that we take for granted, and we really shouldn’t

Rating: 4 out of 5.

Disclosure – I paid for the Disney+ service that viewed this series.

They arrive at the bunker.

Paradise Review –

Well, the first opening triplet of Graceland, Mayday & Another Day in Paradise, is behind us, and it is now time to build upon that foundation and dive full-bore into this season’s main storyline. But as we get into the world proper, one devastated fully, we need to see who lives in a broken world.  

So, to set the scene, nothing quite says “you have to lie down and rest” like getting six stitches in your spleen, but that is the world that Xavier (Sterling K. Brown) is living in. He is forced to rest after taking a knife to the side to protect some kids. Luckily, he was found by Annie (Shailene Woodley), who had some medical training before the world fell apart. Unluckily, she wants Xavier to take her back to Colorado and not to Atlanta. Now, from here, we will be looking at the season as a whole, so there will be [SPOILERS] ahead.

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Paradise: Another Day in Paradise [S2:E3] – TV Review

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TL;DR – This is the episode where all the intrigue from last season gets turned up a notch as we have a less-than-subtle look back at the world today.

Warning – Contains scenes which may cause distress.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5.

Disclosure – I paid for the Disney+ service that viewed this series.

Sinatra in a coma.

Paradise Review –

After spending the first two episodes of Paradise‘s second season, Graceland &Mayday, it is nice to get back down into the muck with the city itself. The city feels like a façade just waiting for something to break it down, and this week, we get a lot of potential answers to just what that might be.   

So, to set the scene, Samantha “Sinatra” Redmond (Julianne Nicholson) eyes move, one blink after another, as medical monitors beep and whirl. One month, she has been in a coma for one month, what could have changed in Paradise while she was asleep, well, maybe a complete police state takeover led by an idiot president. But in the past, we discovered that the main problem with the volcanic eruption was not the globe-spanning tsunami, but the environmental tailspin that will happen in the years after, dubbed the ‘Venus Effect”. Now, from here, we will be looking at the season as a whole, so there will be [SPOILERS] ahead.

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Paradise: Mayday [S2:E2] – TV Review

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TL;DR – A fascinating look at survival in a world trying to kill you to survive.

Rating: 4 out of 5.

Disclosure – I paid for the Disney+ service that viewed this series.

A plane crash

Paradise Review –

Today, we dive into the second episode of Paradise’s second season. While the first episode was all worldbuilding, here we get stuck into the meat cube of things when we get to see how love first bloomed. But also see just why you never want to find yourself in Arkansas.  

So, to set the scene, after taking off in a light plane at the end of Season One towards Atlanta, Xavier Collins (Sterling K. Brown) was flying south when a sudden flashback and a surprise hailstorm forced the plane to come down in quite a crash. Xavier survives the crash, but little does he know that he came down in Arkansas, and the last place you ever want to find yourself is Arkansas. Especially when you have a dislocated knee, and you have to put it back in place by yourself… Crunch … Scream. Now, from here, we will be looking at the season as a whole, so there will be [SPOILERS] ahead.

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Paradise: Graceland [S2:E1] – TV Review

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TL;DR – They take a gamble with this first episode of the new season, but I think they pulled it off.

Rating: 4 out of 5.

Disclosure – I paid for the Disney+ service that viewed this series.

Day 24.

Paradise Review –

Last year, there was one TV series that caught me off guard, because I was completely surprised that we were actually in a post-apocalyptic world. Season One of Paradise had its foibles, but it was also an electric romp all the way to the end. But that season was very self-contained, and I wonder if the show has the strength to branch out? Well, that is what we will start looking at today.  

So, to set the scene, Annie (Shailene Woodley) has not had the best of lives, looking after mother in trouble, who died young, bouncing out of medical school, and ending up as a tour guide at Graceland, which turned out to be a bunker when the world fell apart. But tragedy is everywhere in a world where summer never came, ash blots out the sky, and the simple things now kill. Now, from here, we will be looking at the season as a whole, so there will be [SPOILERS] ahead.

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Fallout: The Strip [S2E8] & Full Season – TV Review

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TL;DR – While it did manage to pull most of the threads together, you can’t help but feel that they were too ambitious this season for what they were able to pull together in the end.

Rating: 3 out of 5.

Disclosure – I paid for the Amazon Prime subscription used to watch this series.

Post-Credit – There is a post-credit scene

The Dead Caesar.

Fallout: The Strip Review Introduction –

And so we have reached the end of the season, and I do have some feelings as we hit some real highs and then some head-scratching decisions. It’s a cavalcade of choices that show the creators love Fallout deeply, even if they don’t always have a firm grip on the world they’ve built. Honestly, it means that while the season had some high moments and a surprise Canada, I was left disappointed by the finale, and today we will dive in to see why that was.   

So, to set the scene, things are going down in the Wasteland as most of the characters in the show have convened in New Vegas. However, around the Wasteland, things are on the move. Caesar’s Legion has finally sorted out their civil war, Hank’s (Kyle MacLachlan) assortment of weaponised people is growing, and Lucy (Ella Purnell) just discovered what is powering them all. But while people are out there all trying to find their destinies, little do they know that there is another organisation out there more powerful than they can dream. Now, from here, we will be looking at the episode and season as a whole, so there may be [SPOILERS] ahead.   

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Fallout: The Handoff [S2E7] – TV Review

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TL;DR – It is an episode that shows the strength of the world when it leans into its foundation, but also highlights some of the issues that have been bubbling away this season.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5.

Disclosure – I paid for the Amazon Prime subscription used to watch this series.

Stephanie walks away from a murdered border guard.

Fallout: The Handoff Review Introduction –

Well, we’re getting to the pointy end of the season where people start making a mission to breach impenetrable fortifications, and evil corporations make evil plans to be evil. However, while it is gearing up for a final, it doesn’t mean there aren’t a few more curveballs to throw out there.  

So, to set the scene, before the bombs dropped, China had invaded Alaska, and America, in its wisdom, decided the best way to get troops up there was to invade and occupy Canada, and oh, also, all those Canadian resources didn’t hurt. To catch up to the present, well, their present, Lucy (Ella Purnell) is trying to work out how best to bring Hank (Kyle MacLachlan) to justice, the Ghoul (Walton Goggins) is teaming up with Maximus (Aaron Moten) to save Lucy, and things are not looking good in nearly all the Vaults. Now, from here, we will be looking at the episode as a whole, so there may be [SPOILERS] ahead.   

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