IT'S THE END OF THE WORLD AS WE KNOW IT...

In the future, people will eat wafers made out of their dead friends, wars will be fought over water, and everyone will party like it's 2009. A look back at the films watched over the past year.

DOOMSDAY - Gather scenes from iconic 80's action movies, add kick-ass heroine, dash of Burning Man, and sprinkle of Scots, combine into blender, mix well. Satisfies recommended daily dose of cinematic guilty pleasure.

THE QUIET EARTH - Substitute previous ingredients with measured directorial restraint, sci-fi intrigue, and credible acting to create haunting look at being the last human left on earth.

A BOY AND HIS DOG - Filmic adaptation of Harlan Ellison's post-Apocalpytic story exploring mankind's basest instincts. You know humanity is doomed when our only hope lies in a super horny Don Johnson and his misanthropic, telepathic mutt.

Machines have indeed surpassed their makers when a cyborg's character arc turns out to be much more interesting than that of the humans, as was the case with Cameron in THE SARAH CONNOR CHRONICLES, Marcus Wright in TERMINATOR SALVATION, and the cylons in BSG.

Oldies but goodies:

OMEGA MAN - Better than I AM LEGEND, though neither are as good as the book.

SOYLENT GREEN - Amazingly prescient with its vision of a future society wracked by population overload, depleted resources, and economic collapse.

THE WARRIORS - A Greek epic transplanted to the streets of New York, where a ragtag gang is faced with the Herculean task of making it back to their home turf with police and every other gang in the city after them. Enhanced by colorful creatures of the night, seductive yet deadly Sirens in the form of all-girl gang The Lizzies, and a sultry radio DJ acting as Greek chorus.Best Comeback: The Muscles from Brussels in the eponymous JCVD.Should Not Have Come Back: The aliens in the much inferior remake of V.Opposites attract:

MOON - Spare, luminous, and an amazing performance by "Crewman Number Six," Sam Rockwell. My favorite film from 2009.

SUNSHINE - Great premise, interesting characters, and stunning visuals, yet sadly falls apart towards the end.

FIRE - Beautifully filmed, poignantly acted, and surprisingly funny at times, Deepa Mehta's fine start to her "Elements" trilogy explores same sex love within a family of arranged marriages in modern India.

FLOW: FOR LOVE OF WATER - Eye-opening treatise on the next major global crisis: the shrinking access to safe drinking water.

Borders & Boundaries:

DISTRICT 9 - Sci-fi social commentary at its best, South African style. Fokkin' prawns!

RABBIT-PROOF FENCE - Amazing true story of three Aboriginal girls forced into a re-education camp several hundred miles away from their families. They decide to escape and take the perilous journey home, on foot, using a rabbit-proof fence as their guide.

CITY OF BORDERS - Fascinating documentary on a gay club in the heart of Jerusalem, between the Israeli and Palestinian borders, and the social, sexual, and political minefields navigated by its patrons.

THE ISLAND - Ewan McGregor and Scarlett Johansson being chased around wearing skintight bodysuits. Works for me.

NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN = No Sense for This Viewer.

UP THE YANGTZE - Excellent documentary on the consequences of the Three Gorges Dam project for a peasant family caught in the path of progress.

MAN ON WIRE - In 1974 French acrobat Philippe Petit strung a wire between the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center and walked across. The man survived. The towers did not. A fitting film to close out a decade forever marked by that fateful day in September.