And so in the same week that you could read the news that the Sahara Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas has entirely sealed off two of its three towers ( and its buffet ! ) for the holiday season , citing slow demand , you could head to the multiplex to watch the movie version of Cormac McCarthy 's novel " The Road , " in which a father and son wander through a post-apocalyptic landscape where buildings for the most part have been reduced to burned-out shells .