5 movies To Watch If You Enjoyed Paradise

Season 1 of 2025's best new show in Hulu's Paradise just ended. Created by Dan Fogelman who also created one of my must see TV shows when it aired This Is Us, and starring Sterling K. Brown who starred in that series. Paradise is a post apocalyptic political murder mystery that hit the gas at the end of episode 1 and didn't let up. I, like many am already anticipating season 2 and hope the wait is not too long. The show obviously has many influences, so I decided to pick five films that I think fan's may enjoy if they liked the show. Now I can't say for sure these films were influences, but I saw similarities watching the show, so here are we.  

Warning if you haven't finished, let alone watched the show. You probably don't want to read much further.

Truman show

As episode 1 ended and it was revealed the characters were living inside of a dome with a focus on the artificial sun. I couldn't help but think about 1998's the Truman Show starring Jim Carrey, in which he lived inside of a dome. While in Paradise the dome was built to save humanity, the Truman Show it's purpose was a large TV set to fabricate this world around Truman Burbank as millions watched his life 24/7. Truman and his "cast" lived in a false reality much like the inhabitants of Paradise.

Snowpiercer

Released in the U.S. in 2014 and starring Chris Evans, Snowpiercer followed the remaining population of civilization living abroad a train. The train continually travels around the globe with society broken up into classes onboard. The wealthy live in luxurious spacious cars in the front of the train, and the poor are crammed together in the back scraping for seconds. Led by Curtis (Chris Evans) the inhabitants of the back stage a revolution making their way to the front of the train.

Besides the post apocalyptic aspect, Snowpiecer and Paradise both involve different methods of housing humanity. In addition the class aspect, as in Paradise many of those chosen to live in the dome were wealthy, were needed for the project, or had connections.

Vantage Point

This 2008 film may seem like a bit of a stretch but hear me out. In Vantage Point an assassination attempt occurs on the U.S. President while in Spain. The film is then told from multiple perspectives of bystanders who may have seen possible clues to who did it. What happens in Paradise once President Bradford is confirmed dead? Between video footage, interviews, and episodes devoted to certain characters different vantage point's are displayed. On where folks were that night, to backstory relationships with the president, and how the community would move past that.

Deep impact 

1998's Deep Impact was one of two released that summer alongside Armageddon, focusing on humanity trying to prepare and stop an asteroid from colliding with earth. There's debate about which is a better film, but it's mostly agreed upon that Deep Impact is the more scientifically accurate. Much like Paradise, Deep Impact plot point's included the government making efforts to prepare for a Extinction level event (ELE), while also waiting too long to share with the general public. And last but not least having an underground shelter ready to go with certain citizens already confirmed to be have a slot in the shelter. In addition showing the immediate impact and aftermath of those events. 

Thirteen Days

In true Dan Fogelman fashion, episode 7 of Paradise opened with a prologue that on the surface seemed to have nothing to do with the series. What many have deemed one of the best written and acted TV episodes in history, opened with a nameless Colonel back in 1962 talking to his wife about how a catastrophic event was averted. That event was the Cuban missile crisis, it factors into the episode later in true Fogelman fashion.

It makes sense that 2000's Thirteen Days was likely an inspiration.  Starring Bruce Greenwood and Kevin Costner, the film dramatizes President Kennedy's and the military efforts to avoid a war with Russia over missiles that are stationed in Cuba. The film highlights the stakes and the pressure world leaders go through during times like that. You felt all of that tension and pressure in James Marsden's and the rest of the casts acting in episode 7 of Paradise.

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She's Dangerous-5 Underrated Female Action Heroines

 

When it come's to action film's and the female action hero, there have some badass women on the silver screen. Often in films they can hold their own and don't let anything get in their way. If you ask the average filmgoer about badass female action heroes, for most of them you will hear about The Bride in Kill Bill, Charlie Baltimore in Long Kiss Goodnight, Trinity in The Matrix, and of course the pioneers in Ellen Ripley from Aliens and Sarah Connor from the Terminator series. Well I'm here to share 5 underrated female characters in action movies that kicked ass and looked good doing it.

Sam

Gunpowder Milkshake is a 2021 Netflix original, that I honestly think got lost in the shuffle of being released in that weird pandemic phase, where people were trying to return to normalcy but we weren't quite there yet. And as such Netflix didn't promote it as much as they should have. Starring Karen Gilliam (Gamora in Guardians Of The Galaxy) as Sam. A young lady who has been raised to be an assassin since her mom who was also an assassin was killed in front of her as a child.

When she pivots on a job and rescues a little girl instead of doing her assignment, all hell breaks loose. Sam alongside her sisterhood of assassins show they can fight and handle heavy artillery with the best of them.

 Lorraine Broughton

If you say to someone not well versed in movies that Charlize Theron, one of the prettiest woman in the world kicked ass in a movie. You may get the really treatment? But that was the case in 2017's Atomic Blonde, a trippy 80's set action movie set before the fall of the Berlin Wall.

Theron stars as Lorraine Broughton a MI6 agent tasked with recovering "The List". A document containing every agent from every covert and intelligence agency around the world, currently working in Berlin. As you can imagine many people want that list, so Lorraine puts her best foot forward and ensures that doesn't happen.

Colombiana

First, congratulations to Zoe Saldana for winning an academy award for best supporting actress. She deserves the honor and has been putting in work for years with a versatile resume. One example being the 2011 film Colombiana. Saldana stars as Cataleya a young lady who is an successful assassin, and has been plotting for revenge since she was 9 against the drug lord who killed her parents.

Once she starts down the path of taking down the drug lord and his army. She uses survival skills, smarts, stealth, and some kick ass gunplay to get the job done. 

Selene

The Underworld film series has become a cult classic, since the first films debut in 2003. However, I still don't think the film gets it's proper credit for it's world building and mythology of the constant battle between vampires and lycans (werewolves). 

Right in the middle of the action is a vampire "Death Dealer" named Selene, played by Kate Beckinsale. Being a vampire, Selene benefits from hyper reflexes to aid in fights. Besides hand to hand combat, she was skilled in multitude of weapons from ancient bow and arrows to modern machine guns. She more than held her own against armies of henchmen and the final boss of respective films in the series.

Alice

Alicia Marcus better known as Alice, has endured an awful lot across the six films in the Resident Evil film franchise. Played by Milla Jovovich in the film's, Alice does everything in her power to limit the spread of the T-virus. Which was created to cure her from a rare disease.

Fighting large swaths of not so average zombies can be exhausting. Somehow Alice got it done, whether using her fist as a weapon, her body, or some trusty weapons. She often came out on top against the competition, prepared to fight another day.

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