The premise is given validity by a March 2015, U.S. Geological Survey estimating that the odds of California experiencing a magnitude 8 or greater seismic event in the next 30 years has increased, as has the possibility of multi-fault ruptures.

Psychologically, we like to think we would make smart, even heroic, choices in a crisis situation - and survive. Seeing believable protagonists do that on-screen is – in a perverse way – uplifting.

Our preoccupation with disaster scenarios goes back to Orson Welles’s 1938 radio broadcast of his adaptation of H.G. Wells’ “War of the Worlds.” His 60-minute program ran without commercial breaks in a “news bulletin” format that caused mass hysteria and panic.

In the 1970s, filmmaker Irwin Allen was known as the Master of Disaster for “The Poseidon Adventure” and “The Towering Inferno.” Since then, Hollywood has made various depictions of global destruction a regular occurrence.

On the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, “San Andreas” is a scary 7, revealing spectacular devastation along the California coastline.

“The 100-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out of the Window and Disappeared,” Sweden’s highest-grossing film of-all-time, revolves around irrepressible Allan Karlsson (Robert Gustafsson), who’s about to celebrate his 100th birthday when he climbs out of the window of a retirement home.

Arriving at a nearby transit station, he boards a bus with someone else’s suitcase, not realizing that it belongs to a vicious biker dude (Simon Seppanen) and is stuffed with millions in stolen drug money. 

As Allan ambles about, the events of his picaresque life are revealed in surreal flashbacks that show how fanciful misadventures have placed him in the midst of some major historical occasions. It’s an amusing plot device that makes him look like a Scandinavian cousin of “Zelig” or “Forrest Gump.” 

Working as an explosives expert, young Allan gets entangled in the Spanish Civil War, the Manhattan Project, and other 20th century events, including ludicrous encounters with Presidents Harry Truman and Ronald Reagan, Russia’s Stalin and Gorbachev, and an elephant named Sonya.

Plus there’s his geezer buddy Julius (Iwar Wiklander), their perpetual student/driver Benny (David Wilberg) and Gunilla (Mia Skaringer), the feisty ex-girlfriend of a biker gang member.

Based on Jonas Jonasson’s international best-seller, it’s been inventively adapted by Hans Ingemansson and director Felix Herngren as a black comedy/road movie, as Allan heeds his mother’s advice: “You shouldn’t talk too much,” “One thing leads to another,” and “Life is what it is – and what it does.”

And the ungainly length of the title rivals “The Englishman Who Went Up a Hill But Came Down a Mountain” and “A Pigeon Sat on a Branch Reflecting on Existence.”

On the Granger Gauge, “The 100-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out of the Window and Disappeared” is an irreverent, slapstick 6, an absurdist comic fable.

There are two cinematic biographies about infamous French fashion designer Yves Saint Laurent, who died in 2008. Directed by Bertrand Bonello and featuring Gaspard Ulliel, “Saint Laurent” is France’s official submission for the foreign-language Academy Award.

The story opens in Paris in 1974, when depressed, melancholy YSL agreed to an interview in which he admits he has “disorders” before flashing back to 1967, when his fame was at its height, as he prepares an elegant haute couture collection. Lea Seydoux and Aymeline Valade play his emotionally supportive muses: Loulou del la Falaise and Betty Catroux, respectively.

That’s also when YSL’s celebrity lifestyle disintegrated into debilitating drug abuse and dangerous debauchery, particularly his infatuation with Karl Lagerfeld model Jacques de Bascher (Louis Garrel), which deeply wounded his longtime business partner/lover and friend, Pierre Berge (Jeremie Renier).

Wearing YSL’s signature oversized glasses, Gaspard Ulliel bears a strong physical resemblance and conveys YSL’s self-destructive tendencies, along with his hedonistic sensibility and neurotic sensitivity, including insight into the clash between commerce and culture. YSL was the first major designer to launch a pret-a-porter line, making French fashion accessible to the general public.

The biopic concludes in Saint Laurent’s later years, when he’s played by Helmut Berger, utilizing Ulliel’s ineptly synched voice.

Episodic in structure with lavish production design, the somewhat cumbersome screenplay was written by Thomas Bidegain (“Rust and Bone,” “Our Children”) and director Bertrand Bonello (“House of Pleasures,” “The Pornographer”).

Curiously, there’s little mention of YSL’s youth in Algeria and early apprenticeship with Christian Dior. And it’s only fair to note that Pierre Berge threw his support behind Jalil Lespert’s rival bio-pic, “Yves Saint Laurent,” granting that production access to YSL’s estates in Paris and Marrakech.

In French and English, with English subtitles, on the Granger Gauge, “Saint Laurent” is a shallow, ill-fitting 5. Running two and a half hours, it gets truly tedious – unless you’re a fashion junkie.

( Editor’s Note: Westport resident Susan Granger grew up in Hollywood, studied journalism with Pierre Salinger at Mills College, and graduated from the University of Pennsylvania with highest honors in journalism. In addition to writing for newspapers and magazines, she has been on radio/television as an anchorwoman and movie/drama critic for many years. See her reviews at www.susangranger.com.)

Westport’s downtown is getting some new artwork. Artist Jahmane West and helper Dooli today began spray painting blue waves and seagulls on the construction fence surrounding the Bedford Square Development project.  (CLICK TO ENLARGE) Helen Klisser During for WestportNow.com

Staples Players took their bow today for their final dress rehearsal of “The Laramie Project” at the Black Box Theatre at Staples High School. The show opens Thursday at 7:30 p.m. and runs Friday and Saturday at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday at 3 p.m. Tickets are available at http://www.staplesplayers.com or at the door 30 minutes prior to curtain, as available. (CLICK TO ENLARGE) Photo by Kerry Long

Staff and members of the Westport Arts Center (WAC) today paid a visit to Hungarian artist Márton Nemes (3rd r) at his temporary studio in Bridgeport. Works by Nemes are currently on display in the Project Space of WAC as part of its current member exhibit, “SOLOS 2015.”  He is the first artist in the new artist residency program sponsored by WAC and Quinnipiac University’s Central European Institute known as “EAST meets WESTport .” Developer Phil Kuchma donated studio space for Nemes. (CLICK TO ENLARGE) Arpad Krizsan for WestportNow.com

Richard Klein (l) an artist, curator, and writer who has been exhibitions director of The Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum in Ridgefield since 1999, tonight provided his perspective and insights on the works he selected for the Westport Arts Center’s current member exhibit, “SOLOS 2015.” He is describing a work by artist Michael Kozlowski (r) of Trumbull. The exhibit runs through June 27. (CLICK TO ENLARGE) Helen Klisser During for WestportNow.com

“The Laramie Project” was created in 2000 by Moisés Kaufman and members of the Tectonic Theater Project. It draws on hundreds of interviews conducted by the theater company with inhabitants of the town, company members’ own journal entries and published news reports.

It is divided into three acts and eight actors portray more than 60 characters in a series of short scenes.

The Staples Players will present Part 1 of “The Laramie Project Cycle: The Laramie Project” on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday at 7:30 p.m., and Sunday at 3 p.m.

Tickets are $15 for adults and $10 for students, and can be purchased online at staplesplayers.com or at the door 30 minutes before performances, as available. Seating in our Black Box Theatre is reserved and very limited.

This play contains mature language and subject matter not suitable for children.

Westporter Jody Brown (l) and Gwyneth Mulliken, a senior at Staples High School, look at the Westport-based “TheTwoOhThree” lifestyle clothing samples created by Roscoe Brown, Staples class of 2014, at tonight;s Art About Town on Main Street. Roscoe founded the company with his sister Tory, Staples class of 2009. Roscoe said the items are available for sale at various locations including Joey’s by the Shore and Bridgeport Hospital. Jody and Roscoe Brown are not related. (CLICK TO ENLARGE) Zoe Brown for WestportNow.com

Rosie Jon, a British-born Korean living in Connecticut, was born without arms but learned to paint and do everyday things with her feet. Her live art presentation tonight at Art About Town delighted the young and not so young.  (CLICK TO ENLARGE) J.C. Martin for WestportNow.com

Scenes from tonight’s Art About Town on Main Street. Dave Matlow for WestportNow.com