If you’ve been following “The Last of Us” for the last nine weeks, the new series based on the hit video game has become a smash hit for HBO. The apocalyptic horror drama has filled the hole that “The Walking Dead” left behind as a taut, gripping, and excellent look at humanity at the end of the world. While we anxiously wait for season two of “The Last of Us” to arrive, here are five movies you can watch to keep you satisfied.
What was your favorite episode of “The Last of Us” season one?
One of the hallmarks of M. Night Shyamalan’s films is that he seems to be a big believer in destiny and fate. Much of “Signs” was a religious thriller based around fate and destiny. With “Knock at the Cabin” he approaches the same plot elements, all while instilling much of the ambiguity he’s well known for. That works for and against “Knock at the Cabin” because while I was satisfied with his newest genre effort, I was ultimately left feeling like the finale left everything in the air, and not as neatly packed as he might have thought it was.
Following an altercation outside of her work, a stripper ends up stuck inside with a religious protestor while the world seemingly is ending outside. As they work through their issues and try to get out alive while being followed by something malevolent.
Hideaki Anno’s “Neon Genesis Evangelion” is one of the most iconic and influential anime series ever created. While it hasn’t endured a long shelf life like, say, “One Piece,” its elements can be found in much of pop culture. Particularly, it can be found in Western pop culture from children’s animated series to right up to cinema. While I’ve never been big on this kind of anime before, sitting through “Neon Genesis Evangelion” was a unique and entertaining experience.
Phil Tippet’s animated love child has been a highly anticipated and much talked about project for years. Tippet is a man whose career is absolutely historic. He’s a two-time Oscar winner, and Ray Harryhausen disciple who’s been the special effects wizard behind films like Star Wars, Robocop, Jurassic Park, and Starship Troopers, respectively. And that’s just a fraction of his massive iconic career. So it is fascinating to see something so unique, bizarre, and yet absolutely engrossing as “Mad God” come from the man.
A few years ago, John Krasinski pretty much took everyone by surprise by unleashing one of the most innovative and entertaining horror dramas of the mid-aughts. Often imitated but rarely duplicated, the “A Quiet Place” follow up was only inevitable, but it was fascinating to see if Krasinski could duplicate his original film’s success. While “A Quiet Place Part II” stumbles in a few places, the second chapter in the saga of the Abbott Family and their survival against the enigmatic monsters that consumed the world. Continue reading
TNT undergoes a massive task with “Snowpiercer.” After coming to the big screen as a massively underrated and underseen 2013 science fiction masterpiece from Bong Joon Ho, their next phase is taking the graphic novels by Jacques Lob and Jean-Marc Rochette, and transforming it in to a weekly series that puts us on board the Snowpiercer once again. This series’ newest aim is to take us so much deeper in to the lore and world of Snowpiercer, as while the central setting is a train, it’s a massive train that houses its own ecosystems, as well as its own turmoil that threatens the entirety of the haul including the bubble that many passengers have built for themselves.
Happy April! We hope you and yours are doing well during these bizarre times. What with most things slowing down, I thought it’d be a great time to bring back “Shorts Round Up of the Week” once again with some back logs being cleared out from our submissions. This week we have some great short films that you can check out, now including a science fiction drama, a comedy, and a drama about the #MeToo movement.
If you’d like to submit your short film for review consideration, submissions are always opened to filmmakers and producers.