According to the 2012 people, the world is going to end today.  If it does happen, well, then this is the right day for these films; but if not, here are two films based on another end time prophecy that was once very much in vogue:  the work of Nostradamus.

The Man Who Saw Tomorrow (1981):

What It’s About:  A documentary on the life and predictions of Nostradamus, who I’m sure someone has tied in to the Mayan calendar.  Narrated by Orson Welles, in the stage of his career that involved recording voice-over for things like this.

Why Watch it Today?:  I saw this in 1989, in my Social Studies class, by a teacher who probably should have known better.  Especially since the movie has ole Nostradamus predicting a nuclear war in 1988, started by a Middle Eastern Anti-Christ in a Blue Turban.

Nosutoradamus no Daiyogen aka The Last Days of Planet Earth

What It’s About:  Dr. Nishiyama (Tetsuro Tanba) tries to get the world to listen about the dangers of overpopulation, pollution, and nuclear war, all predicted by Nostradamus in the 16th century…but no one listens.  The result is mutant babies, cannibals, giant slug and bat attacks, suicide cults, traffic jams that never end, and nuclear Armageddon….

Why Watch it Today?: Maybe a documentary with some correct and some very wrong interpretations of Nostradamus’s predictions aren’t your bag.  You need a movie that is stranger…something different.  Well, this is different…it’s disaster prediction the Toho Studios way, hence the inclusion of monsters…and old Kaiju standbys Akihiko Hirata and Takashi Shimura.  Like The Man Who Saw Tomorrow, The Last Days of Planet Earth is full of predictions that, thankfully, haven’t happened…at least not yet.  Let’s keep dodging those bullets.