Apocalypse Movies: End of the World Cinema

"Vivid, intelligently critical, perhaps best book ever written on the subject.Film history is all about choices. Newman's concise, no-bones prose keeps you humming through the book, all the way from the post-WWII 'bomber command' cycle of American war films through the 'asteroid-threatens-the- earth' cycle of the late 1990s (even an aside to last year's 'Arlington Road.')Special treats: two chapters devoted to the now classic fifties cyles 'Monsters & Mutants,' and 'Norms vs. Mutates.'The common thread, from post-1945 on, is The Bomb, and as Newman's sublime thesis suggests, ALL MOVIES post WWII have had to acknowledge the reality of the nuclear genie in some way.Most insightful chapters: 'Learning to Love the Bomb,' focusing on sci-fi films during mid-sixties, early-seventies detente' and 'There ain't no Sedalia!' examines the last major burst of made-for-TV nuclear war movies in the mid-(Reagan)eighties.Newman's critical eye, sharp prose turns this into a landmark book of film scholarship.Film buffs: buy it, read it, read it again."