Saturday, January 28, 2012

The End?

Disaster films have always been less than perfect films. Mainly focusing on a group of determined people trying to evade destruction themselves. Whether it be volcanoes, tsunamis, or the end of civilization itself, these movies never fail to keep us engaged and wishing we weren't in their shoes. These are the top 10 best.

10.) "Earthquake" (1974)- Gimmicky movie about the destruction of Los Angeles when a giant Earthquake hits. Charlton Heston is alright. Not much else is.

9.) "Outbreak" (1995)- This one is like the recent pandemic flick Contagion. Except instead of bat droppings causing the disease, its an infected monkey. This movie came out at the height of America's interest in the Ebola virus. Now, its a little outdated.

8.) "Twister" (1996)- Helen Hunt and Bill Paxton star in perhaps the most memorable Tornado centered movie ever made. The plot and dialouge are subpar, but at least there a flying cow in the movie.

7.) "Independence Day" (1996)- A huge hit when it came out, Roland Emmerich's first destruction of the world movie does have some cheesy dialouge and unbelievable plot points. But the effects are good and its a genuinley okay film.

6.) "2012" (2009)- As with "Independence Day," this has the same cheesy dialouge and unbelievableness of an everyday Roland Emmerich film. The effects however are probably the best in any disaster movie, and it probaly is the best in terms of complete destruction.

5.) "The Poseidon Adventure" (1972)- A star cast including Gene Hackman and Ernest Borgnine make this movie memorable. Some may call it a knockoff of the Titanic story, but I think it still has some merit in terms of performances to take a look at.

4.) "The Day After Tommorow" (2004)- Probably the best of Roland Emmerich's disaster movies, since it actually somewhat deals with a real life issue, that being global warming. Some may say that it exxagerates the effects of it in a short amount of time. But hey, its a movie, not a Discovery Channel special.

3.) "War of the Worlds" (2005)- This film, in my opinion, is actually better that the since outdated 1953 original. The Tripods and aliens look great and its one of the better recent performnaces of Tom Cruise.

2.) "The Towering Inferno" (1974)- This movie did what "Posiedon Adventure" and "Earthquake" couldn't. Put big anme stars in a disater movie and manage craete the best of the 70's disater films. Paul Newman and Steve McQueen headline the cast in pretty good story of a fire striking a San Francisco skyscraper

1.) "Deep Impact" (1998)- This is the more realistic asteroid movie that came out that year, (the other one being "Armageddon," another dissapointmant from Micheal Bay). Having a wide range of actors and a more emotionally invested storyline to keep the tension building, its not like other movies that have disaster and panic right off the bat and no character develpoment. The payoff of one of the asteroid striking doesn't jip the audiences either. It still has impressive effects of Manhattan being engulfed by a tidal wave. In the end, its good at everything. Not the best movie, but certainly the best disaster movie.