Slap on your snow shoes and get burning your books—The Day After Tomorrow could be sooner than you think (huh?).

Rating: 8/10 (12 March 2011)

2012 is just around the corner, which according to the Mayans spells disaster for Planet Earth; evangelical Bible-thumpers insist that The Rapture will commence on the 21st of May this very year, leaving us heathens to suffer in torment on Earth for five months before the world is finally destroyed in flames; this week Japan has suffered the fifth most violent earthquake in recorded history, leaving thousands dead from the resulting tsunami. So what the hell made me think that tonight would be a good night to watch environmental disaster flick The Day After Tomorrow?
Well, what better way to hide from the horrors of reality by immersing oneself in a patently fictional disaster, a piece of glossy escapist entertainment (albeit with an important message at its heart) which at least offers a faint glimmer of hope for humanity, and where the spirit of mankind prevails against all odds? Roland Emmerich's film is the perfect antidote to the constant portents of doom and the very depressing images currently playing on my TV: in this big budget Hollywood vision of 'the day after tomorrow', the future may be bleak, but it isn't over for good; and even though the planet may be frozen, the warmth of a father's love for his son can never be extinguished. So, despite all the death and destruction, it's actually a feel-good movie—just what the doctor ordered.
Plus, only in a CGI-laden disaster film like this can you see an awesome sight like a tidal wave crashing through the streets of New York before turning into a massive block of ice WITHOUT dying as a result. And that's gotta count for something.
7.5 out of 10, rounded up to 8 for IMDb.