MOONBASE CINEMA: THIS MONTH'S NUCLEAR SELECTION

I go through phases in my film watching. Last year I had a yearning for viruses and outbreaks [Virus, Outbreak, Contagion, Andromeda Strain, Satan Bug]. This year my calling appears to be the days before and after nuclear war. Ah yes, all very wholesome I hear you say. Alas, I was drawn to the dark side of the womb [terrible pun I know!] since birth and have remained thus ever since. So a diet of Dystopia and the Apocalypse it is.

As an early aperitif last month I watched The Quiet Earth, a stunning film from New Zealand followed by The Night of The Comet starring Eighties Sci-Fi queen Catherine Mary Stewart [pictured], who also appeared in The Last Starfighter.

This month I have been preoccupied with the build-up to war, nuclear or otherwise. I caught a flick I have wanted to see for many a year this week, The Riddle of the Sands [1979]. It concerns two sailors stumbling upon the Kaiser's plan to invade England prior to World War One. Very evocative and the North Frisian landscape is simply beautiful. It stars the late Simon MacCorkindale who had earlier starred in the Quatermass TV series and several years later, Jaws 3D. Simon always brought a vitality and charm to his films and he is sadly missed.

Next I gave Def-Con 4 a whirl. I liked cover and the idea of a spaceship crew returning to Earth post-nuclear war, but the beginning of the film didn't do it for me. On the backburner, Def Con 4 will return for a further whirl.

I have just finished Thirteen Days [2000]. I've seen it before and as I am curiously afflicted with a penchant for all Kevin Costner's films, I watched it again. I do love the way the Director ratchets up the tension as Zero Hour approaches and the evocation of early Nineteen Sixties America strikes me as having been lovingly recreated. I am also very fond of the accents that the three main characters, the Two Kennedy's John F. and Bobby and Ken O'Donnell, have. I assume they are affluent Boston or Massachusetts? Whether they're authentic sounding I have no idea. I was one at the time and playing with my rattle.

Reading up on the movie has lead me to an earlier dramatisation of the Cuban crisis, the Missiles of October. Now in my sights [no pun intended] this maybe next on my movie viewing list.

Which films are you currently watching readers?