Armageddon

It’s as if we’ve been dropped into a substratum of Bizarro World: Who are these people who see every negative Mideast political development as a positive, who can barely contain their joy when the world’s powder keg creeps closer to detonation, and who glower at the thought of peace? They’re the millions of Christian evangelical millennialists who expect the Rapture any day now, and the documentary “Waiting for Armageddon’’ wants us to meet them and know them for the cultural force they certainly intend to be. Written and directed by the triumvirate of Kate Davis, David Heilbroner, and Franco...

Dec. 21, 2012, may seem a ways off, but it's never too soon to plan where you'll spend the Mayan apocalypse. Luckily, a niche hospitality industry has started taking shape, providing disaster-survival alternatives to the grotty backyard bunkers of old. The best-known may be Vivos, a California-based company that plans to charge up to $50,000 a year for a spot at one of its all-inclusive underground "assurance of life" communities....

Fish Tank (unrated), 8 Edge of Darkness (R), 6 Mystery Team (R), 11 Waiting for Armageddon (unrated), 9 When in Rome (PG-13), 10 Note: My Father’s Will was not screened for critics. A review will appear online Sunday at www.boston.com and in Monday’s G.

Well, isn't this special ? One thing upon which you can always depend. Once the prosecutorial powers-that-be get their teeth into a good, juicy drug frenzy, most of what limited concern they have regarding the Bill of Rights, and the superstructure of guarantees regarding due process and the presumption of innocence, and the various rules of procedure and evidence matter far less to them than leaking to the media and hanging an important...

Well, isn't this special ? One thing upon which you can always depend. Once the prosecutorial powers-that-be get their teeth into a good, juicy drug frenzy, most of what limited concern they have regarding the Bill of Rights, and the superstructure of guarantees regarding due process and the presumption of innocence, and the various rules of procedure and evidence matter far less to them than leaking to the media and hanging an important...

Dec. 21, 2012, may seem a ways off, but it's never too soon to plan where you'll spend the Mayan apocalypse. Luckily, a niche hospitality industry has started taking shape, providing disaster-survival alternatives to the grotty backyard bunkers of old. The best-known may be Vivos, a California-based company that plans to charge up to $50,000 a year for a spot at one of its all-inclusive underground "assurance of life" communities....

Movie's good. Book's still better. After a year of incessant pounding from the tribal drums of hype, the film adaptation of "The Hunger Games" has arrived in theaters. The millions of readers, young and old, who devoured Suzanne Collins's future-shock adventure thriller and its two sequels will be satisfied, on balance, by the compromises Hollywood has made while keeping the story essentially true to itself. The many millions more who haven't read the books may have a perfectly entertaining night at the movies while wondering what exactly the fuss was all about.

Movie's good. Book's still better. After a year of incessant pounding from the tribal drums of hype, the film adaptation of "The Hunger Games" has arrived in theaters. The millions of readers, young and old, who devoured Suzanne Collins's future-shock adventure thriller and its two sequels will be satisfied, on balance, by the compromises Hollywood has made while keeping the story essentially true to itself. The many millions more who haven't read the books may have a perfectly entertaining night at the movies while wondering what exactly...

WASHINGTON - Fourteen years ago, Congress passed a bill cutting Medicare payments to doctors in a move to reduce the federal deficit. But every year since, lawmakers have caved to pressure from doctors and held off the cuts, demonstrating the lobbying power of a profession that is once again in the crosshairs of congressional budget-cutters. Slashes to Medicare payments to doctors and hospitals are among the automatic cuts - along with deep slices from the Pentagon budget - that will occur in December if Congress does not accept $1.5 trillion in deficit reduction...

An asteroid bigger than an aircraft carrier will dart between the Earth and moon on Tuesday — the closest encounter by such a huge rock in 35 years. But scientists say not to worry. It won't hit. "We're extremely confident, 100 percent confident, that this is not a threat," said the manager of NASA's Near Earth Object Program, Don Yeomans. "But it is an opportunity. " The asteroid named 2005 YU55 is being watched by ground antennas as it approaches from the direction of the sun. The last time it came within so-called shouting...

Fish Tank (unrated), 8 Edge of Darkness (R), 6 Mystery Team (R), 11 Waiting for Armageddon (unrated), 9 When in Rome (PG-13), 10 Note: My Father’s Will was not screened for critics. A review will appear online Sunday at www.boston.com and in Monday’s G.

It’s as if we’ve been dropped into a substratum of Bizarro World: Who are these people who see every negative Mideast political development as a positive, who can barely contain their joy when the world’s powder keg creeps closer to detonation, and who glower at the thought of peace? They’re the millions of Christian evangelical millennialists who expect the Rapture any day now, and the documentary “Waiting for Armageddon’’ wants us to meet them and know them for the cultural force they certainly intend to be. Written and directed by the triumvirate of Kate Davis, David Heilbroner, and Franco...

After decades of nuclear brinkmanship, Americans felt profound relief when the Cold War ended. The Soviet Union's collapse in 1989 transformed the world almost overnight from a battleground between two global giants -- a bipolar world, in scholarly parlance -- to a unipolar world, in which the United States outstripped all other powers. In foreign policy circles, it was taken for granted that this dominance was good for America. Experts merely differed over how long the "unipolar moment" could last, or how big a peace dividend America could expect.

ARMAGEDDON (MAX on Demand) Bruce Willis (above) and his gang trying to destroy a Texas-size asteroid before it destroys us. Big, noisy, stupid, and shameless - but Billy Bob Thornton, Ben Affleck, Liv Tyler, Will Patton, Peter Stormare, and Steve Buscemi almost persuade us we're watching something that matters. That's more than can be said for the amped-up directing style and special effects. (PG-13; runs through Feb. 26) BABE (Starz on Demand)