Given the wreckage that was my life this last week, there was only one topic I could think of for the return of “Tossin’ It Out There”.
Disaster Movies.
Now granted, we’re not exactly picking from the top shelf in terms of quality to choose from, so we can open it up. I believe you’ll all find the “judges” VERY lenient this week. Individual scenes, what you think of the genre overall, the career of Roland Emmerich, the impending “Jack and Jill”… it’s all fair game.
What I mean is Old Testament, real wrath of God type stuff. Fire and brimstone coming down from the skies! Rivers and seas boiling! Forty years of darkness! Earthquakes, volcanoes… The dead rising from the grave! Human sacrifice, dogs and cats living together… mass hysteria!
So let me hear it! What are YOUR favorite disaster movies?
I thought I’d refresh my memory on disaster films and went to google and got this epic list:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_disaster_films
Their categories listed on there are a little too extensive!
I have a soft spot for Deep Impact and the utterly awful Dante’s Peak. Also, The Day After Tomorrow. But if I’m allowed, how about Zombieland too? Could be classed as wrath of god
Oh and thumbs up for the Ghostbusters reference
Ohhhhh I know I said the judges would be lenient… But a Zombie movie???
Gaaaaah OK!! Lol. I’m just happy to be talking movies again (plus I recognize Disaster movies kind of suck).
But be forewarned! Zombie movies may be discussed again in the future!
Just got around to checking out that list and I was all impressed with it (I had to find a new film to post, since Gelf stole “The Towering Inferno”, the bastige).
But then I got to the “Aliens” section, and they’re just tossing everything on there. Any list that has “Rocky Horror Picture Show” and “Cocoon” as disaster movies is invalid. LOL
The aliens section was a bit of a “waaaa?!” for me too. So technically, almost all movies out there could be classed as a disaster movie is from what I learn from that wikipedia page!
I love the Roland Emmerich films for the spectacle and not so much for the hokey stories. I’m also a fan of Knowing which got a lot of flack in part due to Nicholas Cage, but I am a cage fan. The original Poseidon Adventure is a favorite of mine.
An older more obscure film that I happen to like a lot is The Day the Earth Caught Fire, a 1950s version of global warming. No big effects, but I thought the story was quite good and I really liked the ending.
Lee
Tossing It Out
You know, Lee? I’ve got your back on “Knowing”. I actually thought it was pretty good! Definitely not your run of the mill flick… Kind of a cool ending. I liked it.
Nic Cage doesn’t scare me away from things. He’s… a bit hard to defend now and then, but I like “Kick ass”, I like “Knowing”, I LOVE Bad Lieutenant PoCNO! LOL, he’s out of his mind in that one!
Haven’t seen the 50s one, my classics knowledge isn’t exactly vast.
This is a hard one because I am not really a fan of disaster films. I guess I will go with Daylight just because of it’s sheer cheesiness.
STALLONE!!!
Lol! I just got an image of him pushing through chest deep water yelling something Stallonish like “Ged Oudda THERE!!”
Actually not a TERRIBLE flick. It’s not Cobra or Over the Top… It’s got a couple of genuinely good scenes.
And then lots and lots of Cheese!!
Ha! Daylight is a brilliant cheesey flick! I love it
The first one that sprang to mind was Airplane!. After that, Independence Day borrows pretty heavily from disaster movie tropes, almost more than it does from science fiction.
Surely, you must be joking.
I’m not joking… and don’t call me Shirley.
No love for the classics? How about “The Towering Inferno”?!?! Pack as many Hollywood squares stars as you can into a tall building and set it on fire! What’s not to like? Plus it was the direct inspiration for “Die Hard” so it gets extra credit for that.
And The Original “Poseidon Adventure” is an inspired choice. Absolutely brilliantly made disaster film which practically re-invented the genre..
Honorable mention goes to the original “Godzilla”, which is a disaster film disguised as a Monster film.
Damn you Gelfman! “Towering Inferno” was mine!
Although it’s a little creepy to watch nowadays cause OJ’s in it. He’s like saving this kitten and everything, and I’m just thinking run kitty! Run! LOL
I love catastrophe movies but dislike the vast majority of them if that makes sense. Hollywood tends to completely overdo the genre instead of making realistic movies that would 100x scarier and gripping.
Thanks to Jaina above for the Wiki-list. At a quick glance, 5 of my favorite are:
- 28 Days Later
- Children of Men
- Crimson Tide (more of a near-catastrophe movie)
- I Am Legend (love the premise a lot more than the movie I guess)
- Cloverfield (I thought it was kind of creepy because that monster wouldn’t f’ing die!)
Ahh Children of Men! Completely glanced over that, definitely up there for me. Same with Cloverfield – creepy big arse monster that was clearly going for world domination.
Children of Men is awesome without a doubt. I liked Cloverfield, too.
I was going to mention Children of Men, but then I found the Aliens section and forgot all about it!
Zombie Movies, Monster Movies, Crimson Tide… We’re blowing this one WIDE OPEN folks. Our Judges are just asleep at the wheel, baby!!
I get what you’re saying about the Hollywood thing. They definitely overblow things and then it winds up cheesy.
And sometimes, like in “Armageddon” you get Cheese AND Crackers!! LOL.
Oh. That was bad! Ow.
That was bad, but you’re forgiven. Because Armageddon truly is cheese and crackers.
Your joker card has been revoked dear sir
Yeah, it was REALLY bad. LOL
Red dawn. And wall-E.
First, let me say that I just really enjoyed reading your article! haha some great laughs.
I liked Cloverfield, Day After Tomorrow, 28 Days Later, Deep Impact, Twister, The Invasion, and Battle Los Angeles
A fun question!
Ha! Thanks!
The Invasion, The Invasion… Why am I blanking on that one? Is that a Body Snatchers remake? I think so… And IMDb confirms. Kidman and Craig sound like a decent duo… I’ll check it out if it crosses my path!
yep, you got the right one. It was slow, but the creepiness of it all “snatched” me into the plot. I liked it.
Deep Impact is an awful (but good?!) film. Lost count of how many times I watched it as a kid. Elijah Wood gets good practice of doing his yet-to-come Frodo terrified “uh oh” look. Almost as classic as blue steel.
HA!! You’re totally right there. I can see it now!
Suddenly I wish I had time and talent – to just create a video of the Frodo look in response to like a world news monatge or something… You know, splice it in like a reaction shot to 6 or 7 bad news items of the day. Hehe… 
Oh well, at least its fun thinking of it…
No way, do it – I would love to see something like that! Fantastic idea – the shock-horror reaction to really worthless things. Or maybe a Frodo//Blue Steel battle. Would it be too difficult?! Haven’t done one of those things before, but it sounds great. Go for it.
I would love to… I think it’s wicked funny too. I just don’t think I have the capability/software. Just speaking from my failed attempts at trying to gain the capability to screencap blu rays, such things are not always as easy as it looks.
Still, it is SO funny, I read this comment a couple hours ago and all I can think of is D ZL flashing Frodo the “Blue Steel”, and Frodo giving the terrified Frodo face.
That IS some funny stuff, Y.