ARMAGEDDON (1998)

It's the end of the world as we know it, and it can't come fast enough for The Unenthusiastic Critic as she endures her first viewing of Michael Bay's Armageddon (1998), starring Bruce Willis, Ben Affleck, Liv Tyler, and Billy Bob Thornton.  For this is the world of Michael Bay, in which oil drillers are somehow smarter than NASA scientists, animal crackers somehow constitute foreplay, and Ben Affleck is somehow a major movie-star. In this world, intellectuals are useless, women and minorities are irrelevant, and neither the laws of narrative nor the laws of physics are enforceable.  All of which is to say that, as this world is threatened with extinction, Nakea is rooting for the asteroid.  Program 0:00: Prologue: from Ben Affleck's commentary on Armageddon 0:36: Cultural Osmosis: Pre-Viewing Discussion 18:24: Interlude: Original Trailer for Armageddon 20:44: The Verdict: Post-Viewing Discussion 1:20:54: Outro and Next Week's Movie 1:21:45: Outtake For show notes, links, contact info, and additional episodes, please go to https://unaffiliatedcritic.com.