logans run

* The headline became too unwieldy, but, just so you know, my original title was: "The Top Ten Post-Apocalyptic Sci-Fi Flicks With Dogs, Hot Chicks, Robots, or Zombies." Please consider the following list accordingly!

In these difficult economic times, it's encouraging to see that hundreds of people found gainful employment destroying the world (again). Roland Emmerich's 2012 opens tomorrow and apparently employed every living soul who knows how to create havoc on the big screen. The trailer promises large-scale destruction of well-known landmarks, a prescient, disheveled, very concerned parent / ex-husband (John Cusack), and last-second narrow escapes. That doesn't sound too familiar, does it?

Meanwhile, The Road, which finally opens November 25, stars Viggo Mortensen in an adaptation of Cormac McCarthy's bleak, devastating novel about a father and son trudging through a post-apocalyptic world with nary a glimmer of hope. Between those two extremes -- popcorn and pessimism -- lie my favorite kind of post-disaster flick: reasonable possibilities in a world forever changed -- but still with dogs, hot chicks, robots, or zombies.

1. Mad Max 2 (AKA The Road Warrior)

George Miller pushed Max (Mel Gibson) to the edge in the first film; in the sequel, Max well illustrated the changes wrought upon ordinary people by extraordinary circumstances, as the family man was transformed into the ultimate loner, an action hero for the new millenium. Thrills, chills, and missing heartbeats play out amidst the carnage of last-chance heroes and the bewildered affection of a feral child. At least Max had his dog.

Looking for something good and geeky to watch? Here are this week's notable DVD and Blu-ray releases:

Up (DVD & Blu-ray)
The first fifteen minutes of this emotional Pixar smash had me in tears. (Note: the sight of a grown man crying while wearing 3D glasses is not a pretty one.) After that I couldn't help but root for Ed Asner's mean old man, his chubby wilderness explorer tag along, his giant prehistoric bird buddy, his talking dog, and his floating house. Not counting Batman & Robin, this might be the most ridiculous movie to ever make me cry.

If you really love Up, do yourself a favor and pick up the Blu-ray 4-pack. It's loaded, and it's going for less than $20 at some online retailers. (Hey, Pixarphiles, Monsters Inc. also gets a special edition Blu-ray release today.)

Near Dark (Blu-ray)
So far, only two good things have come out of the god-awful Twilight craze: Cool pictures of Dakota Fanning wearing red contact lenses, and this great down and dirty 1980s vampire flick finally hitting Blu-ray.

Yes, you probably have Stephanie Meyer's sparkly non-vamps to thank for this release – and for the absurd new cover art – but Near Dark is one of the most unsettling vampire movies of all time. (Bill Paxton's chilling performance alone will make you want to avoid anyone with a Southern accent for weeks.) An HD version deserves a spot on any genre movie lover's shelf. (It's too bad the studio skimped on the extras, though.)

More new DVD releases after the jump.

In reading this piece over on io9 called 'The Cities You Can Never Leave', I'm reminded of just how restricting some of our most memorable sci-fi cities actually were. And maybe it says a little something about us that a great majority of the fictional futures we create contain cities where citizens cannot leave for one reason or another (though exiting said city usually means a punishment by death). Why is that? Why are we so obsessed with not being able to leave our home? Are we really that afraid of losing our freedom -- to the point where it's become an underlying theme in more sci-fi films than one can count? What do you think?

Some of my personal favorite restricted cities mentioned by io9 are The Axiom (from WALL-E), The City of Domes (from Logan's Run), The Electronic Labyrinth (from THX 1138), Seahaven (The Truman Show) and New York and Los Angeles (from Escape from NY and Escape from LA).

What are yours?