jamesrupert2014

Feeling lonely and un-needed in a world overrun by giant and deadly creatures, Joel (Dylan O'Brien) decides to leave the relative safety of his underground refuge and travel across the dangerous surface to find Aimee (Jessica Henwick), the girlfriend from whom he was separated seven years earlier when the monster-apocalypse began. There is not a lot to the plot, but the story is entertaining and, pleasingly, both predictable and un-predictable. The secondary characters are interesting, the cast is fine (albeit not in particularly demanding roles), the script is clever, and the special effects, although not particularly novel, are quite well done. What sets this film apart from its similarly-themed tongue-in-cheek apocalyptic-survival ilk (like 2009's 'Zombieland') is its treatment of Joel's evolving feelings (the titular 'love') as he treks across the infested ruins of the human world. Recommended.

Forced to protect herself after unwisely agreeing to a late night visit an artist's studio, a young women (Anny Ondra, voiced off-stage in the sound version by Joan Barry) inadvertently kills the loathsome Lothario, unfortunately leaving evidence of her presence in the dead man's apartment, two gloves found by her boyfriend, a tough cop (John Longden), one of which ends up in the hands of an ex-con (Percy Parsons) who sees an opportunity cash-in on the knowledge. The style of the film is dated but the story is interesting, as is the opportunity to see very early example of Hitchcock's visual and directorial style.