Upstream: 5 best apocalyptic movies to stream right now
TO salute the release of the superb apocalyptic thriller A Quiet Place, here are five movies to stream where our world has become hard going for human beings.
Leigh Paatsch
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TO salute the release of the superb apocalyptic thriller A Quiet Place, here are five movies to stream where our world has become hard going for human beings ...
28 DAYS LATER (2002) ****1/2
Foxtel Now
A sparse, rigorously malicious thriller about an England on its last legs after a zombie-fied strain of leprosy sweeps the nation. Cillian Murphy plays Jim, who wakes from a coma in a London hospital to find the whole city empty. Then comes a terrifying odyssey up-country, in which Jim gets a crash course in staying one step ahead of the undead. Directed by Danny Boyle (Trainspotting) from a script by Alex Garland (Ex Machina).
BEST KIDS MOVIES TO STREAM OVER THE EASTER HOLIDAYS
THE ROAD (2009) ****
Stan
In the aftermath of a global catastrophe, a father and son (Viggo Mortensen, Kodi Smit-McPhee) wander across the US. The fundamentals of nature — animals, plants, clean water — are now just distant memories. Food is whatever you can get your hands on. And tear apart. Like the Cormac McCarthy novel on which it is very closely based, this rugged experience is tough, uncompromising stuff.
BEEN ON THE COUCH TOO LONG? GET OUT AND SEE SOME COMEDY
WINNING KIDS FLICKS FOR THE SCHOOL HOLS
TAKE SHELTER (2011) ****
Foxtel Now
A punishing race against time, as the clock runs down on a man (a bravura performance by Michael Shannon) haunted by constant visions of apocalypse. Which will come first? The total loss of his mind? Or the absolute end of the world? As late as the final minutes of Take Shelter, the result looks way too close to call. Unforgettably haunting throughout, capped off by a powerful finale. Co-stars Jessica Chastain.
THE BOOK OF ELI (2010) ***1/2
Netflix
Pulpy, post-apocalyptic thriller in which a well-cast Denzel Washington plays a defiant nomad who happens to own the last Bible on a nuke-ravaged Earth. A not-so-religious Gary Oldman wants to have a read, and will kill for the privilege. More a stylishly violent samurai western than an insightful comment on the human condition. Which will be perfectly fine by action fans.
IT COMES AT NIGHT (2017) ****1/2
iTunes, Google
A perplexing mind-melter of a drama. A highly infectious plague is encircling the residents of a heavily fortified cabin in the woods. Paul (Joel Edgerton, superb), calls the shots. His wife Sarah (Carmen Ejogo) and son Travis (Kelvin Harrison Jr.) dutifully follow suit, knowing their lives depend on it. The ever-niggling promise of what can (and will) go wrong gives this intimately intimidating affair a raw intensity all its own.
Timely take on Munich Olympics terrorist crisis
The edge-of-your-seat factual drama September 5 takes viewers behind the scenes in one of the Olympic Games’ darkest hours with a message that still resonates today.
Companion’s a terrifically twisting thriller best seen spoiler-free
Companion is the kind of original and inventive thriller that comes around all too rarely – but the top-level twists hit hardest by going in spoiler-free, writes Leigh Paatsch.