In honor of the impending end of the world (you know, tonight at 6 though I'm still unclear on the time zone thing. Cause when it's 7 in NY, it's 6 in TX but 3 in CA, so yeah, good luck with all that) I thought I'd take a look at some favorite disaster flicks:
2012 - The movie with John Cusack. Loved it. For me, Woody Harrelson totally stole the show as crazy mountain man. Lots of action and screaming and blowing up of stuff. Yeah, good times.
Towering Inferno - Ah, Steve McQueen and a high-rise in peril. Who could resist? Lots of interesting action shots and panic-stricken faces in this one. Watching it now cracks me up, although watching it then probably would have cracked me up, too.
The Poseidon Adventure (Classic Version) - The one with Ernie Borgnine. This is such a good movie. Much more than a disaster flick, it actually had heart and character. And Shelley Winters in the swim scene? Get outta here. Sheer genius.
Volcano - there's a volcano under Los Angeles and it's gonna blow. I kept waiting for Tommy Lee Jones to whip out some sort of MiB accoutrement and take care of it, but he had to be all heroic and stuff. This one calls for a full bucket of popcorn and a couple of beers. Enjoyable.
Staying with the volcano theme, who could forget Dante's Peak? Yum cause it starred Pierce Brosnan and that right there is worth a look, but the contents of the film.... well, uh. Hmm.... My favorite part is when the grandma (Elizabeth Hoffman) wades in the horrible acid lake to save the kids and burns her legs off to tiny little stumps. Seriously, who writes this stuff?
And let us not forget the spate of meteors destroying the earth! In one year we had both Deep Impact and Armageddon. Deep Impact had a host of starts including Tea Leoni, Elijah Wood, Morgan Freeman and Robert Duvall. For a disaster movie, this one had a lot of heart and emotion, lots of character development and, not to worry, lots of explosions and death.
Armageddon, on the other hand, was nothing but a rock fest of adventure start to finish. Bruce Willis, Ben Affleck, Steve Buscemi as RockHound. Giant asteroid, space shuttle and nuclear weapons. They pulled out all the stops for this one. I catch it every time it comes on. And I cry every time in the control room when they're saying their goodbyes.
The Day After Tomorrow with Dennis Quaid and Jake Gyllenhall. The ultimate global warning ... warning. This film really made me wonder why they always pick on New York City. Specifically the Statue of Liberty. That poor old girl continues to keep her head above water, sand, snow, lava, etc., but dang. You'd think she'd be tired of it all now.
My all-time number one favorite disaster film has to be Independence Day. I love that movie. Will Smith and Jeff Goldblum are our salvation? Can I get an amen? I didn't think so. Cause admit it, you're too busy cheering them on and waiting for Bill Pullman to give his "we will not go quietly into the night" speech. And, like me, I'm pretty sure you know all the dialog by heart. I quote that movie a lot, completely out of context, thought.
So, what are some of your favorite disaster films?
Happy reading,
Jennifer August
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