Run for your lives!! Actually, hold on, this is kind of fun to watch.What is your favorite disaster film?
Panelist: Tennessee Jed
The Towering Inferno. As a rookie commercial property and casualty underwriter, I loved spotting all the inaccuracies. Plus, O.J. in his second greatest role?
Panelist: ScottDS
If parodies count, then Airplane! But if they don't count, then John Frankenheimer's Black Sunday, featuring Robert Shaw as a badass Mossad agent tasked with stopping a deranged Vietnam vet (Bruce Dern, who else?) and a Palestinian operative (Marthe Keller) from killing everyone at the Super Bowl. Truth be told, I suppose it's more of a thriller than a disaster movie. Incidentally, it's based on Thomas Harris' only novel not featuring Hannibal Lecter.
Panelist: T-Rav
Hmmm... can’t go with zombie apocalypse flicks... don’t want to go with the predictable “Roland Emmerich franchise” answer... oh, you’re all reading this. Eh, I’ll say The Poseidon Adventure with Gene Hackman. Well-acted, lots of tension, and also it’s an upside-down cruise ship.
Panelist: BevfromNYC
Okay, I have three – Piranha and Alligator and Zombie I guess they would be considered “disaster movies”. They came out in the late ‘70’s during the disaster movie craze.
Piranha starts out with the requisite “teenagers” who break into a “secret lab” and accidentally release a school of deadly “experimental” piranhas into the local water system. They first attack an innocent group of children swimming at a summer camp lake and it goes downhill (or uphill) from there.
Then there’s Alligator. Who doesn’t like a 40 foot alligator bursting of the New York sewer system and wreaking havoc on a paralyzed city?
But, Zombie is my all time favorite. It starts off with “hikers” trying to escape some jungle hijinks, and moves on to car wrecks, the sweet young thing with a sprained ankle, and zombies attacking the group in an abandoned house in the middle of nowhere. It has every classic horror/disaster movie element. Though it is very graphic and lots of fun. By the way, this is the movie where I learned that you can take a zombie down by popping it with a wet towel. You don’t kill it, but you can stop it long enough to escape as long as you are there to further the plot. Lord help you if you are just a bit player or a sweet young thing with a sprained ankle hobbling around in your underwear!
Panelist: AndrewPrice
I should probably say The Poseidon Adventure, but I'm going with The Core. No, I can't tell you why. It's cheesy and stupid and weak, but it's still enjoyable.
Comments? Thoughts?
77 comments:
Speaking of disasters, I just watched Wrath of the Titans, though "watched" is probably too strong of a word. A better word might be endured with my eyes open. What an awful film. Plot = Zero. Acting Skill = Zero. Enjoyable moments = Zero. The filmmakers really should be ashamed on this one.
James Cameron is a leftoid weenie ("Avatar", anyone?), but you have to hand it to him for knowing his craft. His most famous disaster flick is "Titanic", but IMHO his best is "The Abyss". The near-destruction of the Deep Core rig is one of the best action sequences of Cameron's career, and that's the top of a rather long list. The extended director's cut is a mixed bag; background on the characters adds some depth which is always welcome, but the Cold War stuff just doesn't cut the cinematic mustard anymore. The Berlin Wall fell about four months after its initial release, and I suspect that younger viewers won't really get why it was so necessary to resist and ultimately beat the hated Commies.
"Airplane!" is great for any of a hundred reasons. Ron Reagan once said in an interview that if his dad hadn't gotten into politics, "Unsolved Mysteries" may have had a different host. Carrying that a little further, can you imagine how much fun the Gipper would have had if he had played Captain Kramer? It would be worth seeing just to watch him take out the Religious Zealots when he gets to the airport. (Don't get me wrong, I'm VERY glad things turned out the way they did.)
Try to find "Zero Hour!" on DVD or on Turner Classics. It's the movie upon which "Airplane!" was based. In fact, it's almost the funnier of the two despite the fact that it used to be considered high drama. (Oops, no pun intended.)
Dave, Agreed about Cameron. The guy is a leftist ass, but he does sometimes make great films.
On Zero Hour!... I haven't seen it and I know Airplane is based on it, but I have to wonder because Airplane and Airport are so amazingly similar that I've always felt they just took Airport and turned it into a comedy.
"Airport": Isn't this the one that started the trend?
"Dr. Strangelove": Favorite disaster movie played for laughs.
"Knowing": Favorite contemporary disaster movie. You don't know the actual disaster coming until near the end of this creepy movie.
K, I debated choosing Knowing. I think the airplane crash is phenomenally well done.
there are, of course, no wrong answers, but (with all due respect) I didn't consider parodies, hence Airplane never got serious consideration. Scott, I read Black Sunday before the movie came out, and loved the book.
Bev - I don't know, I guess I just didn't consider those films quite in the same sub-genre.
Rav and Andrew - nothing wrong with Poseidon. Hell, nothing wrong with a certain amount of cheesiness in a disaster movie. I think Pamela Sue Martin (Nancy Drew) was in the original.
Dave - I love everything Titanic, but couldn't pick just one. Somewhere hanging around on this site is my review of all the Titanic films. I can't argue with Cameron's talent, but (maybe due to my age) a night to remember was my personal favorite. Anyway, Towering Inferno was what jumped into my mind first so I stuck with it.
"K" somewhere on the old original Commentarama site, I reviewed an earlier film about a volcano that was filmed on Maui.
Andrew - they can have multiple inspirations, no?
Jed, The genre is kind of nebulous. After I listed out the things that I consider disaster films and only came up with a handful, I checked online to see what I was missing. The Wikipedia has a list of dozens and dozens of disaster films broken down by categories. I personally didn't think a lot of the categories counted, but I could see where they would.
Jed, It looks like your review never made it to this site. That's unfortunate. We had a problem transferring some of the older stuff because of the size of the Commentarama site.
As for having multiple inspirations, most definitely. It just struck me that Airplane and Airport are so identical that that had to be the source. But like I said, I've never managed to see Zero Hour, so it could be similar.
Airplane! borrows scenes, dialogue and sets from Zero Hour.
Classic disaster... 1936's San Francisco about the quake -- Clark Gable and Jeanette MacDonald. Pretty good movie and great special effects.
The Last Man on Earth and The Omega Man are great.
Alive -- the plane crash in the Andes is pretty good though Peter Weir's Fearless with Jeff Bridges is the best plane crash movie.
Does Apollo 13 count? If so -- also a great one.
I also give props to 1995's Restoration with Robert Downey, Jr. and Sam Niell -- the plague and fire of 1666 in LOndon... not a "disaster movie" per se, but those disasters play central roles in that movie.
The Puppet Masters- A lot of liberties were taken with the Heinlein adaptation, but it was much more respectful of the source material than Starship Troopers. It also doesn't hurt that I have a soft spot for Julie Warner either.
no doubt about Wikipedia, Andrew, and I was certainly not wishing to be judgmental other than the regular kidding I do. I find this to be such a fun series precisely because others see something in totally different terms that what I was thinking.
Floyd - yeah I wouldn't think of Restoration as a disaster film per se, but I've often toyed with reviewing it for Commentarama Films. It's always been one of my "unsung favorites" since I'm an unabashed fan of period pieces. I kind of liked what should have been a huge mis-casting exercise with Meg Ryan. I actually liked her in that role, even though no creatures looking like Meg existed during the restoration (let alone in a looney bin.) James Newton Howard's score was a great blend of actual compositions from the time and his own compositions. I actually have the soundtrack on my iPod.
Shawn - there you go . . . the sub-sub genre of science fiction "disaster" films. Having a soft spot (if that is the correct term) for an actress is one of my top criteria for viewing films I might not have otherwise screened. ;)
Apollo 13 absolutely counts if you want it to, although I tend to think of it more of "dramatization of historical even.t" Certainly one of my all-time favorite films. In my own interpretation of this genre, Challenger might count and Apollo 13 wouldn't since the "disaster" was averted. Tortured logic?? Probably.
"Airport" was most assuredly an inspiration for "Airplane!", the former kick-starting the 70s Disaster Genre of which the latter was a spoof. (That sentence wasn't too snotty and pretentious, was it?) There are lines in Airplane that are taken directly from the novel. The Red Zone/White Zone argument which ends with "Oh really Vernon? Why pretend? We both know perfectly well what it is you're talking about..." is taken from an argument between the pregnant stewardess and the horny pilot (played by Jacqueline Bissett and Dean Martin in the movie). I've seen Airplane enough to have it memorized, and when I read that line in the "Airport" novel a few years ago, I laughed so hard and loud they almost kicked me out of the library. True story.
Airplane! borrows a lot from Airport (and Airport '75) but the filmmakers actually bought the rights to Zero Hour!, so technically it's a remake! You can see a comparison here.
For their Kentucky Fried Theater stage show, Jerry & David Zucker and Jim Abrahams would leave their VCR running all night for inspiration since that's when all the bad commercials aired. One night they recorded Zero Hour! and they decided to do something with it. Originally, it was going to be a short film centerpiece in a Kentucky Fried Movie sequel, a la the Fistful of Yen short in the original KFM. Ultimately, they decided to make a full-length film instead.
Interestingly, Arthur Hailey wrote the novels that became both Zero Hour! and Airport.
K and Andrew -
Knowing was surprisingly effective, but then again I'm a Nicolas Cage fan so I'll buy it. :-) The airplane crash was well done though I think Cage steps a little too close to the CGI fire at one point. And kudos to the filmmakers for going with that ending.
Dave -
I love The Abyss and I hold it up as an example of how far Cameron's writing skills have fallen. Granted, it ain't exactly subtle but it might as well be Shakespeare when compared to Avatar. It also has IMHO Cameron's finest acting ensemble (no offense to the grunts in Aliens).
I prefer the extended version but, yeah, the Soviet stuff dates the movie, more so than any of Cameron's other movies.
I’d give a shout-out to an old film: When Worlds Collide. This George Pal-produced flick was a precursor to Deep Impact and Armageddon, except I’d say that it’s better than those two. Standout for me is John Hoyt as the cynical industrialist Stanton. (Hoyt also played Doctor Boyce in the Star Trek pilot “The Cage”) This might rank as my favorite.
And then I have to give props to 2012. Not because it’s a good movie. Just because how wonderfully silly it is. Just watch John Cusack outrun the disintegration of Los Angeles in a limo. And then there’s the plane escape as L.A. is collapsing into the ocean just below them. As a “holy cow” roller coaster, it works fine. You just have to utterly leave logic at the door.
I thought Earthquake was pretty good, if a little uneven and maybe too packed with characters. One of the more amusing facts about this flick was that its f/x scenes of L.A. being shaken apart were cannibalized for Galactica 1980 for a simulated attack by Cylons, and both projects starred Lorne Greene!
Other mentions: I liked Dante’s Peak over Volcano. Volcano had greater potential, but underdelivered, while Dante’s Peak had likable leads and a few neat f/x sequences. Also would give a B to Stallone starer Daylight. Also liked The Core. I guess Independence Day if you count the fact it was inspired by disaster films as well as sci-fi.
Jason -
Daylight is one of those "If it's on TBS at 2 in the morning, I need to see it" movies, and I can't explain why. I guess there's something to be said for a movie that isn't good, but perhaps good enough. :-)
I compare Dante's Peak vs. Volcano to Air Force One vs. Executive Decision where the former set its sights a little higher and might be a little more elegant but the latter might be more fun and silly at times. But man, the effects in Dante's Peak still hold up after 16 (!) years.
I'm probably going to review 2012 later in the year but here's a preview of things to come. Allow me to quote Roger Ebert from one of his infamous reviews:
"I hated this movie. Hated, hated, hated, hated, hated this movie. Hated it. Hated every simpering stupid vacant audience-insulting moment of it. Hated the sensibility that thought anyone would like it. Hated the implied insult to the audience by its belief that anyone would be entertained by it."
:-)
Dante’s Peak is my vote for the best, because the writing, acting, pacing, understated music, cinematography, etc. are pretty decent. Pierce Brosnan does a fine job as a volcanologist Harry Dalton, whose gut and experience tell him the volcano is going to blow, and Linda Hamilton is good as the mayor, as is Charles Hallahan as Dalton’s boss, Paul. And the movie gets a lot of the science right, far more so than the laughable and ridiculous Volcano. Even though we wouldn't see every volcanic feature with one eruption, the individual depictions are largely accurate. For example, Dante’s Peak is unambiguous that you can’t outrun a pyroclastic cloud nor fly safely through an ash cloud (which repeatedly happened in the brainlessly stupid 2012). Of course, some creative license is taken: Most earthquakes associated with eruptions would not do as much damage as shown in the movie, you can’t drive on crusted-over flowing lava, and volcanoes don’t release large amounts of both ash and lava at the same time.
The story mirrors some of the actual events of the May 1980 eruption of Mount St. Helens, including the massive mud/debris flows, the blankets of ash, the inexact nature of predicting eruptions, the incredible power of the main blast, the local government’s reluctance to cause massive financial damage by evacuating areas for an eruption that may or may not happen, and so forth. (Though St. Helens exploded violently right at the start of its major eruption, whereas the movie’s “main event” occurred near the end of the film.) Of all the natural disaster movies of the last 25 years or so, it’s my favorite.
If you’re interested, the USGS has an informative Q&A about the movie at http://vulcan.wr.usgs.gov/LivingWith/PopCulture/DantesPeak/dantes_peak.html)
ScottD -PLEASE do 2012, my vote for the worst and stupidest disaster film of at least the last 50 years. Just the idiotic & brainless violations of science make me actually agree with Ebert's review, which I haven't in a long time.
Mo - I liked Dante's Peak as well. I'll always think of Linda Hamilton as the anti-Cameron. Of the more modern era, I kind of liked Deep Impact with that whole e.l.e. thing going on.
Jason - The only thing I liked about Sly's Daylight, which my bride and I saw in the theaters, is Stallone's acting and his character. The rest of the characters he tried to lead to safety were so unlikable and jerkish that we wondered why he just didn't ditch them all and save himself.
But When Worlds Collide -- nice to find another fan. It's one of the standouts from '50s and '60s sci-fi, and one of my all-time favorites.
Jason - never saw 2012. I suppose there are only a finite number of disaster films a single human can watch ;)
I really liked the Abyss, and had forgotten it was done by Cameron. That's got to be worth something in itself!
Speaking of volcano disaster films, the review I did was for a film titled "The Devil at 4 O'Clock starring Frank Sinatra and Spencer Tracey. I saw a poster for it in an old restaurant in Lahaina on the island of Maui. I got the DVD because I was intrigued. Definitely an early precursor to the 70's disaster blockbuster genre films with some interesting special effects.
Bev, to this day I still cannot believe they made Piranha--at least in the way that they did. I really thought having predators attack and kill/maim children was the one barrier a movie couldn't cross. Guess not.
I haven't seen the others.
Bev - I don't know, I guess I just didn't consider those films quite in the same sub-genre.
Hey, TennJ - >:-P Aah, Titanic isn't a disaster film, it's a love story! NOW, GWTW! THAT'S a disaster film! And what's not a disaster about a giant alligator bursting through a sewer grate and terrorizing NYC?? If it happened to YOU, you'd think was a disaster, wouldn't ya'? ;-)
Andrew, you mean you didn't like Wrath of the Titans??? Not even with it starring character-actor, scenery-chewing Sam Worthington? ;-)
T-Rav - I guess since you don't actually see maimed children (as I recall), it didn't quite cross the line. It shouldn't have been made for many, many other reasons though...
Honestly, Zombie was the first and only movie I actually walked out of. Well, technically, I drove out because it was at a drive-in. It was just too graphic for me. Too many zombies ripping people apart and eating them. And their table manners were just atrocious. They didn't put their napkins in their laps and put their victims' elbows on the table! Yuk!
Having seen both, I'd have to give the edge to Dante's Peak over Volcano. Both are enjoyable to watch, but Volcano has a little bit too much of the "Aaaahhhh!!!!! Volcano in Los Angeles!" feel to it, whereas with Dante's Peak, there is some real character drama going on apart from the disaster. So I think it's a better movie.
Bev - True, if an alligator was, say, terrorizing Miss Scarlett, Rhett might just say "frankly my dear, I don't give a damn!" Or alternatively, Forrest Gump might say "disaster is as disaster does . . . my name is Forrest Gump; people call me Forrest Gump."
shawn: Wow. Somebody else has seen "Puppet Masters"? Loved it, even with the low budget. Unusual to see Donald Sutherland in anything written by Heinlein.
Anything with Carrot Top is a disaster, but not my favorite. :)
Marooned a 70's film about an Apollo capsule stuck in orbit has to be my favorite. It was based on a book that was written by the same guy who came up with the idea for the Six Million Dollar Man TV show in his book Cyborg, Martin Cadin.
Bev: And their table manners were just atrocious.
I've always thought zombies are so popular because they're the only monsters you don't have any compunction about shooting down in cold blood, I mean besides Nazis, of course. Not having good manners is one of those qualities that makes them eminently shootable.
Floyd, All excellent choices! Apollo 13 is one of those that I don't think of as a disaster film, but it's really no different than a train wreck or a ship wreck. Good call! :)
Shawn, I had no idea that was Heilein!
Jed, That's why I like this series so much as well -- you never know how people will interpret the question or what they will answer.
Dave & Scott, I've never read "Airport." I can say though that moments in Airplane are nearly identical to Airport. I guess it would make sense if Airport and Zero Hour were both based on the same book.
Scott, I agree that after the crash, the scene goes downhill a bit, but the crash itself and the events leading to it are pretty spectacular.
Yeah, the ending is great. I love that they didn't go soft.
Scott and Jason, I HATED 2012. I struggled even to finish it.
Big Mo, So you're on the fence about Dante's Peak?! LOL! I agree with you, I liked it much better than Volcano.
Bev, Absolutely. It a giant alligator burst through the sewers and came after me, that would be a disaster... and a national emergency!!
GWTW is a disaster film? LOL!
T-Rav, Despite the presence of the most lifeless actor of our time... no. I did not enjoy Wrath of the Titans. My time would have been better spent in a coma.
Bev, I think T-Rav is talking about the new Piranha 3-D.
I believe I called for the brutal murder of the entire film crew in my review of that one.
Outlaw, I saw Marooned on Mystery Science Theater, so for me, it was a comedy. :)
K and Bev, So true. Table manners are important... very important.
Can someone explain why so many disaster movies are centered around the destruction of NYC?
Bev, Yep. The rest of us don't like NYC. :)
O.K. - I went to IMDB to look up "2012" and remember seeing the trailers which were enough to send a message to my brain "the only way I'll ever watch this is for somebody else to drag my cold dead body to a theater and pour me into a seat." Then I realized "well that wouldn't actually count as seeing it, if you get my drift."
If one needed further rationale, checking out MI2 girl Thandie Newton is trumped by the inclusion of racist ass Danny Glover. So, they can put in all the CGI they want, but if it comes on, I'm volunteering for the root canal without anesthesia trials instead.
Jed, It was painful. And I think it was 18 hours long... or at least it felt that way.
Unstoppable -- the runaway train movie with Denzel Washington and Chris Pine was really fun -- predictable, but that's not always a bad thing.
If you want a movie that celebrates disaster then see Von Trier's Melancholia... aptly named, though Kirsten Dunst has a great part in it. :-)
TN Jed... absolutely agree on Restoration... LOVE the soundtrack
Bev and Andrew -
Re: all the disasters happening in NYC, I think it's for a few reasons:
1. NYC's landmarks are instantly recognizable all over the world...
2. NYC is home to a very diverse population (culturally, if not politically) and that can make for an interesting cast of characters...
3. Scale - it's hard to get the proper sense of scale when an asteroid crashes into the ocean!
Scott, So you're saying an asteroid striking a farm house in Kansas wouldn't be as interesting to watch? Nah. I think people just don't like New Yorkers. :)
Floyd, I enjoyed Unstoppable, but it's almost a parody of itself.
Jed -
As I mentioned above, 2012 is a painful experience. I don't mind destruction, I don't mind dumb movies, I don't mind any of that...
...but this film cranked it all up to 11. It was, to quote one critic, the equivalent of "cinematic waterboarding."
This was a sadistic movie!! Introducing characters only to kill them off in horrifying fashion, introducing other characters where it was like, "Wait, we're following these people?", and now with CGI you can see the tiny people falling to their deaths. Not fun.
As for Glover, another critic pointed out that he couldn't buy Glover as president, not because he's black but because he has a lisp and we'd never elect a president with a lisp! :-)
Bev, Yep. The rest of us don't like NYC. :)
But...but...but, I live in NYC...{{{sniff, sniff}}}
There was that brief shining moment post 9/11/01 that they stopped disaster-izing NYC, but then it only lasted for a short while...;-( But fortunately, it only seems to be the Lower Westside that gets the disaster treatment. Phew!
Andrew -
Actually, that's exactly what I'm saying. :-) Besides, a good screenwriting rule usually involves choosing an appropriate setting where you can get the most bang for your buck.
As an aside, I recently visited some friends who live in a lovely planned community in East Orlando called Avalon and as we were walking down the street, I thought to myself:
"Ya know, this would make a great setting for, NOT a disaster movie, but an 80s Amblin-style movie, like Goonies or Gremlins. If you had kid protagonists who couldn't drive, it'd be okay since everything here is in walking distance!"
Bev -
I still love NYC. I hope to make it back there again one day. (Me and my large sodas!) :-)
Bev, Yeah, don't worry, we only want to blow up the Lower Westside. :) Plus, we'll help you move back to Texas before the asteroid strikes. :)
Scott, Fascinating link. I hear those are becoming all the rage.
Scott - NYC misses you too! But, don't you even THINK about bringing in any sodas that are more than 16oz! They check luggage and packages now...but then again, maybe if you ever need a career change, I hear that there are openings for "large soda mules"!!!
Bev, The problem with that is where you need to carry the large sodas to sneak them by the dogs and the x-ray machines!
Scott -
4) It's home to, what, 10 million people, and potential viewers like to see their home turf (just like I enjoy the Silver Linings Playbook, The Village, Marley & Me, and Get Low for the same reasons.) It does get tiring for non-New Yorkers though, particularly since that city tends to market themselves on a "we are bigger and cooler than the rest of you" theme.
5) new York is where so many actors live so they can go home for lunch ;)
Plus, if you set it in L.A., there would be no doubt that people would be cheering for the disaster.
ha! here is a link to the disaster film review "Devil at 4 O'Clock." I think it still holds the record for least commented film review in Commentarama history ;) Andrew, Scott, and Hawk were the only people to comment.
http://commentarama.blogspot.com/2010/03/film-review-devil-at-4-oclock-1961.html#comment-form
Hmmm, I've always wanted the Upper West and Upper East Sides blown up. You don't live there, do you Bev? Nothing personal, it just seemed to me that's where most of the ritzy snide people live.
Hey, T-rav! I live on the Upper East Side and we are NOT ritzy, snide and snooty people...oh, wait, yes, we are...and you didn't say "snooty" did you? Hmmm. But at least we're ritzy, snide, and snooty Republicans! Really, But okay about the West Side...nobody likes them. They're ritzy, snotty, REALLY snooty AND the most Liberal...like Bloomberg!
I wonder which city has been destroyed more on film: NYC or Tokyo?
I bet the super hero films tip the balance in favor of NYC.
Okay, Bev....I'll spare you the Upper East Side, in exchange for complete destruction of the Upper West Side. And also the East Village, because come on.
I would bet NYC wins. Of course, we can't really forget Pittsburgh either... all zombie plagues start in Pittsburgh
Yeah...zombies never come so far east. How would you tell anyw...oooohh, braaaaiiinzzzz
This will probably surprise no one, my favorite disaster movie is Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs.
Bev, Who would want to leave Sh*tsburgh... uh, Pittsburgh?
tryanmax, I haven't seen it actually.
I'm not a disaster movie fan. I usually fail to direct my sympathy towards where the director wants it to go (don't worry about the millions dying, cheer that the dog made it!).
The biggest disaster of a film recently I've seen is The Spirit. I was prepared for Charlie's Angels bad, but it was at best, Battlefield Earth bad and it might not rise to Battlefield Earth's level of quality.
I only watched the second half (came across it when flipping channels earth this morning) but the entire time I watched the movie, no one died aside from a cat.
There were action scenes which can't be characterized as fight scenes, because 'fight' implies back and forth, these scenes just tended to be someone soaking up damage (the only people damaged were those with infinite healing). So its a superhero film with poorly staged, consequence free action.
The cheesecake was nice, but Zack Synder's Sucker Punch boasted equally tasty cheesecake and good action scenes.
This movie may have managed the impressive feat of souring me on Sin City, a movie I love and have watched many times (its cinematography is so similar to Sin City's I fear I might have flashbacks of The Spirit whenever I watch SC in the future).
Post a Comment