Tim Blair

There is something very ironic about the surviving mixed group (of the downtrodden and green doomsayers) getting through the disaster by burning books.

Just one question for anyone here who's seen the movie: do they have a George Bush Jnr kind of American President who tells the nation/world early on that there's nothing to worry about re: the envrionment / climate change, only to be subsequently proven so wrong (in the movie, anyway)?

I was just wondering if they'd do that...

Richard.

Not quite. The Vice President is a Dick Cheney clone portrayed as irrationally opposing any form of preventive action on the grounds that it would harm the economy. At the films end, he has morphed into an apologetic convert in favour of a green world and brotherhood with the third world.

Thanks for the info, Greg. Sounds interesting. Would have liked to have seen a character that perfectly encapsulates all the typical Hollywood stereotypes about Republican Presidents, though.

I guess the only thing that I wanted to know was: are there any Asian characters in the movie? You know, "Asian", that ethnic minority that we never actually get to see in Hollywood movies (or tv shows)?

Or (shock horror!) are all the minority parts played by black actors?

Just wondering if "politically correct" Hollywood has begun to view the world yet in any more of a diverse way yet?

Richard.

In the main storyline you have to settle for black ethnic minority characters. However, to establish that this is a global tragedy there is a scene involving giant hailstones in an asian city.

Very funny comments from Mark Steyn. The movie did look visually impressive and I don't think it carried any serious political messages for anyone.

More likely the producer tried to cash in on the pre-election lull for some free publicity for his movie. Cha-ching $$$

What I want to know is, does the movie portray Mexico being as warm as Mexico is right now, with Texas across the river covered in ice? Steyn's review said that people were swimming across the Rio Grande. Well, hell, if the Rio Grande's not frozen, how cold can it be? May as well stay here.

We could do with a bit of global cooling here locally, accompanied by some global drying.

Perhaps answering some of these questions should carry the warning PLOT SPOILERS FOLLOW.

Its snowing as they wade across the Rio Grande.

PS

Forgive my ignorance, how does one type italics?

Turn your keyboard 45 degrees to the right.

How droll. Go and eat a strawberry jam, peanut butter and bacon baguette Australian Elvis.

Greg, use html tags:
<i>stuff you want to italicize here</i>

You can do bold by using b instead of i in the tags, and lots of other neat stuff that you can read about in any html tutorial.

Anthony Lane's review of TDAT in latest New Yorker is hysterically funny. He said the movie left him "determined to double my consumption of fossil fuels"

Thanks Sarah. Far more helpfull than that jumpsuit clad Australian Elvis.

Someone at the Volokh Conspiracy suggested one could go see this movie in the same spirit as one would watch "Attack Of The Killer Tomatoes" or "Plan 9 From Outer Space."

Greg, I believe that Australian Elvis's preferred meal is actually tomato sauce, vegemite, and kangaroo steak on sliced white.

I thought it was so bad it was funny. The malevolent frost that chases to star/kid into the library almost had me laughing out loud.

The movie was racist in the extreme. The wolves were characterized as uncaring, meat-eating, rapacious brutes.

You know what? I must see this movie. I watched Deep Impact on tv a few days ago and it whetted my appetite for ludicrous, science-defiant disaster movies with cute male leads.

Speaking of bad science in movies, there is a good website ran by an astronomer who does movie reviews. Despite several inaccuracies, Deep Impact actually got a lot of the science right. Compared to movies like Armageddon, Deep Impact was a NASA documentary.

Here's a list of movie reviews on his site. He hasn't yet reviewed "The Day After Tomorrow."

Doug, I recommend this excellent website for basic HTML advice.

Frankly, I was bored halfway through "The Day After Tomorrow". The CGI was great. The rest of it was just predictable, when it wasn't laughable.

As for minorities...yeah there was a bit in Japan. BUT, I saw this with a friend who speaks Japanese, and she thought what the guy said didn't make sense whatsover, and thought he was probably an American who didn't actually speak Japanese.

No modern sci-fi-catastrophe movie would be complete without the african-american mathematics/science genius. Okay, already, we get it!

Ah! I heart the Bad Astronomy website. I admit that the special effects in DI weren't that unscientific -- but I was wondering where all the wind and hail and rain and flying cows and whales and stuff were when the big wave was coming. (Okay, I suppose there wouldn't have been very much left of any whales.) But there was just this gentle breeze as everyone is running away from the water. Sure, maybe in an earthquake-caused tidal wave there wouldn't have been much wind, but this was a comet that blew up with the power of ten billion nukes or something.