Disaster Movies - Not to be confused with the DIsaster Movie parody movie specifically, but the movie genre where tons of CGI destruction scenes are shown, and plot is put in the backseat.

[Thiletonomics]

Is anyone here into the disaster movie genre, whether it's to see places getting destroyed, to see the usually cringy dialog and plot that the movies have, or something else? For me, I would be into the former, as that's what people want to see when they come to those movies, to see shit getting blown up, in not-so-realistic manners if you take the actual laws of physics into account. I will also quote myself about more thoughts about these movies:

What I wondered about that movie (2012), was given the scale of the disasters and destruction in the film, why didn't they go all-out on showing places around the world get destroyed? NYC was a missed opportunity, because of the scene where the President addressed that the World will end. And despite having the volcanoes in Hawai'i erupting scene, it was a let down because it was in the dark, so you couldn't really see much of the scale of the destruction, aside from the buildings burning down by the lava. And given how China was part of the plot, wouldn't it have been an opportunity to show parts of China, both Koreas, Japan, Hong Kong, and Taiwan, getting destroyed too? There were some mentions about Japan being destroyed, i.e. the phone call, but it's not shown on-screen for the most part. And if you included more destruction, at least it could have made the boring plot parts slightly more bearable to watch through. Also, was the Three Gorges Dam already built in China when the movie was being produced? Now that would have been an awesome destruction sequence to witness, but the CCP would have prevented the filmmakers from making that scene.

Another thing that bugged me was that given all of the focus on Curtis's family trying to escape to safety, why weren't there any other scenes of other families or individuals trying to escape, i.e. loading up a full airplane and flying away, or even something small like a group of people getting on a boat or a raft to try to swim away from LA.

I also found the cruise ship capsizing scene to be funny in a way, as if they were trying to rip-off the capsizing scene in the 2006 Poseidon movie, which was a remake of The Poseidon Adventure. It's as if they could have copy-pasted that said capsizing scene from Poseidon, into 2012.

It was also a shame that Sasha, Tamara, and Gordon, had to be killed off, as they were some of the less annoying characters that were somewhat likeable.

Also, given how that there was originally going to be a sequel TV show, 2013, that would follow up to the ending of the film, but was cancelled, I saw that as a missed opportunity. Maybe they could have made that said 2013 into a movie, where humanity tries to rebuild, but inevitably starts cannibalizing itself to extinction. Although in that case, it would have made the original movie pointless.

On a side note to mentioning Poseidon, I liked the ship capsizing and sinking scenes, even though the characters were dull and boring, and it felt like that they had blatantly obvious plot armor. It got to the point that I wanted to see them all die, just to make the pain of seeing all of that plot armor go away. And the captain's order to have everyone stay in the ballroom would not age well, when the Sewol Ferry Disaster occurred 8 years later, and the captain said the same order, for all the passengers to stay put, leaving them all to die, so he can save his own ass.

In regards to other disaster movies, I didn't find Deep Impact to be as memorable as Armageddon was, given the latter had Bruce Willis going out in a fiery glory. Also, it seemed like that the flooding in Deep Impact could have been bigger.

I also didn't find The Day After Tomorrow to be as memorable either, as the World freezing aspect doesn't yield as much destruction in your face, compared to shit getting blown up. The Climate Change part of the plot also comes off as being too preachy.

Also, it's safe to say that Seltzer and Friedberg's Disaster Movie was a massively missed opportunity, as the film hardly poked fun at actual disaster movies. It also had the unfortunate timing of coming out before 2012 did, had it came out after that, then would Seltzer and Friedberg actually made the movie make sense to the title, by parodying 2012 massively?

And despite the Sharknado films being a prime example of the "so bad, it's good" term for movies, the only scene I find memorable was the NASCAR race scene in the 3rd movie, because of the poor special effects being imposed over actual race footage (poorly), and seeing Brad Keselowski get crushed by a shark:

 

[Pickle Dick]

Yes

 

[ToroidalBoat]

When I was younger, I liked the original Independence Day.

a mac can hack an alien computer

 

[The Penultimate Warrior]

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Yes

I only found out recently it's pretty much a comedy remake of one film, Zero Hour, rather than a general spoof of disaster movies.

Side-by-side comparison: Zero Hour! (1957) Vs Airplane! (1980)

An extended look at the similarities between the original 1957 film and the more well-known comedy-remake from 1980. Produced for education purposes only.

www.youtube.com

Independence Day is still one of my all time gulity pleasures, cheesy but a lot of fun, and probably one of the last blockbusters to rely mainly on practical effects, most of which still hold up today. Sequel was awful though, aprime example of just throwing so much at the screen it becomes a visual mess.

 

[The Cunting Death]

The Towering Inferno is comfy as all hell

 

[Thiletonomics]

Independence Day is still one of my all time gulity pleasures, cheesy but a lot of fun, and probably one of the last blockbusters to rely mainly on practical effects, most of which still hold up today. Sequel was awful though, aprime example of just throwing so much at the screen it becomes a visual mess.

Also, how much did the lack of Will Smith contribute to the sequel being needless and awful garbage? Did Jeff Goldblum's character get butchered in the sequel as well?

 

[Mullti Port RDRAM]

San Andreas was comfy. I will say that The Rock has filled the gap Arnie once occupied, where he acceptably can make any schlock fun. It's a fun popcorn movie.

 

[Registration]

I only did read the manga but there is also a movie adaptation

Sinking Of Japan Disaster Scenes

This is a video of disaster scenes from the 2006 movie Sinking Of Japan (Nihon Chinbotsu). It includes volcanic eruptions, tsunamis and earthquakes. I edited...

www.youtube.com

 

[DeadwastePrime]

not to be confused with disaster movie, which counts because the movie itself is a disaster

(deja vu i've just been in this place before)

 

[Constellationzero]

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Yes

Reminds me of Airport and the sequels.

The sequels remind me of the Love Boat because I swear to God, every GOT DAMN fading celebrity at the time was shoehorned into these. Shit, Eddie Albert, Buddy Ebsen, and fucking Charo were all in Airport 79.

 

[Chester Rigby]

Reminds me of Airport and the sequels.

The sequels remind me of the Love Boat because I swear to God, every GOT DAMN fading celebrity at the time was shoehorned into these. Shit, Eddie Albert, Buddy Ebsen, and fucking Charo were all in Airport 79.

'79 is the one with the Concorde, right?

Gee, that movie was awkwardly bad...

Back on topic, I think the best things that came out of The Day After Tomorrow and 2012 were the excellent visual effects. I mean, TDAT is from 2004 and it still looks great.

Also, I was remembering that particular movie lately thanks to the floodings in New York. Best city in the world, my ass...

 

[Constellationzero]

Yep. (I have the Airport box set)

The one with Jack Lemmon is soooooooo fuckin' bad, lol! The one where it's under water. Has Jimmy Stewart. And a bunch of reeeeeeeecycled footage badly shopped throughout.

 

[Pokemonquistador2]

I consider the Poseidon Adventure (the original, not the remake) to be a pretty good example of the genre, even though it's 70's as all hell. Some of the deaths seemed rather arbitrary, as if the script had said "Welp, it's time for someone to die now. Have Roddy McDowall fall into a chimney funnel." Despite its cheesiness, I liked how the story tried to have a deeper theme - the importance of faith and self-sacrifice, and not giving up even in the face of despair. I don't think any other disaster movie ever really aimed for that, not even the godawful sequel to the Poseidon Adventure.

 

[Thiletonomics]

I consider the Poseidon Adventure to be a pretty good example of the genre, even though it's 70's as all hell. Some of the deaths seemed rather arbitrary, as if the script had said "Welp, it's time for someone to die now. Have Roddy McDowall fall into a chimney funnel." Despite its cheesiness, I liked how the story tried to have a deeper theme - the importance of faith and self-sacrifice, and not giving up even in the face of despair. I don't think any other disaster movie ever really aimed for that, not even the godawful sequel to the Poseidon Adventure.

I watched that film, and the one detail that still erks me is when someone got pinned down while trying to swim a rope to the engine room, and then the fat swimmer lady has to rescue to him. How was he able to hold his breath for that long? And how did the ship still stay afloat until morning, where the survivors were rescued? Then again, maybe I was just used to how the ship actually sank at the end of the 2006 Poseidon film, as well as the IRL Sewol Ferry disaster.

I also noticed the similarities in The Poseidon Adventure, with the 2006 remake Poseidon. I wonder if those similarities were intentional to fit the ideal of a film remake, which can't be said for some remake films. (Looking at you, 2008 version of Prom Night, which has almost no similarities to the original 1980 Prom Night.)

On a side note, with Climate Change becoming more and more of a talking point (regardless if it actually happens or not), will we see more disaster films, tackling that very topic? I know that The Day After Tomorrow was one example of that, but I don't remember how much talk there was about Climate Change, back when that movie released in theaters.

Also, has there been any disaster films that involve sandstorms burying a city, like how Doha, Qatar, is abandoned and buried in sand in the Hourglass map in Battlefield 2042, and Spec Ops: The Line, takes place in a Dubai that is also buried in sand, in a similar manner?