Children of Men

It's part Omega Man, part Brazil, part six o'clock news, part 28 Days Later, part Casablanca, part City of Lost Children and not implausible enough. Much seems to have been made of the long takes and I certainly agree that the direction is artful and clever but I think the editing has been given short shrift. As cool as the long takes are, their effect is given relevance by the editing's implacable pace. There is one scene which was about as tired as any in cinema. The hero overhears a critical conversation by listening at a window. This is how plots are advanced in the Sherlock Holmes movies. SPOILER: When Clive first sees the goon in the courtyard, he didn't need to know anything else. He would have skedaddled out of there lickety-split.

Panic in Year Zero

I had no idea that Ray Milland was Welsh.
The qualities of the movie are not readily visible while some flaws are all too obvious. The more inexcusable failure is the inappropriate score attributed to Les Baxter. The same thumping big band tune plays under scenes no matter what the situation is. Loading a trailer for a fishing and camping trip? Ba-dum-de-bum! Nearly run off a mountain road by the fleeing population of Los Angeles? Ba-dum-de-bum! Hiding bodies in the barn? Ba-dum-de-bum! One expects Perry Mason to heave into frame any second. Les Baxter knew his trade, so I suspect that there was some type of shenanigans related to the low budget. The other glaring deficit is the presence of Frankie Avalon. Otherwise, the matter at hand (merely worldwide thermonuclear war) is handled pretty realistically if a tad optimistically. A special effect of a mushroom cloud over L.A. was unexpectedly convincing.