MY TOP TEN FAVORITE DISASTER MOVIES – part one

MY TOP TEN FAVORITE DISASTER MOVIES

part one

Let me warn you right now this is a highly subjective list based entirely on my loving these movies. It has nothing to do with how famous they are, or are not, how popular they are, or how much money they made. TITANIC did not make the cut and neither did THE POSEIDON ADVENTURE. I simply do not like those movies as much as I love these ten. And yes METEOR is on my list. Get over it!

Number Ten

INDEPENDENCE DAY (1996)

A really ugly alien race comes to Earth looking for trouble. In the process they destroy the world’s major cities with their ships and high-tech weapons. But never fear a geek scientist, a hotshot Marine, a heroic President of the United States, and a group of ragtag pilots band together to save the planet from destruction.

Ya gotta love this movie! Is it scientifically accurate? Hell no! Who cares? I just groove on a President of the United States who puts on a helmet and climbs into a fighter jet to kick ass. Can you imagine Trump doing that? That wouldn’t be science fiction that would be fantasy.

Number Nine

METEOR (1979)

There is a giant meteor heading towards Earth. The only way to save the planet is to use a secret, and illegal, nuclear weapons platform pointed at the Soviet Union and turn it around. The problem is it hasn’t enough firepower so now they have to convince the Russians to help the planet by using their secret illegal nuclear weapons platform as well.

This movie stars Sean Connery. Mister Connery is my favorite actor of all time. I don’t care what he does I will like it. He could recite the phone book for two hours and I’d buy a ticket and popcorn and watch. And in this film it’s not just Sean Connery, it is also Natalie Wood, and Brian Keith – who by the way steals the movie. So yeah the movie is a little dated and the special effects don’t compare to today. I don’t care. It has Sean Connery. Enough said!

Number Eight

GEOSTORM (2017)

Dutch Boy is a space platform directing a network of satellites that control the world’s weather. But something is wrong with Dutch Boy, people are getting killed, and the scientist who designed and built this thing now has to go back up there and fix it before the world dies.

You have space travel, you have political intrigue, you have romance, you have mystery, you have an unknown bad guy, and you have explosions – lots and lots of explosions! What more can you possibly ask for? Just sit in your chair eating popcorn and let this movie take you for a ride – you will not be disappointed.

Number Seven

DANTE’S PEAK (1997)

A paranoid volcanologist must convince a mayor that a volcano is going to erupt and wipe out their community unless she evacuates. But then she discovers her kids went up the mountain to get their grandmother. Now it becomes a race to rescue the kids and grandma before the volcano erupts with nuclear force.

This movie scared the crap out of me. It somehow manages to teach you the warning signs of a volcano erupting. I didn’t know that the sulfur turns water (H2O) into H2SO4 (sulfuric acid). At the same time the film keeps your heart in your throat. That last bit where the mountain buries them alive traumatized me. The whole movie they are trying to evacuate the town and when I saw what happened to them I evacuated in my seat. Not pretty.

Number Six

THE CORE (2003)

The Earth’s inner core stops spinning. This causes the planet’s electromagnetic field to deteriorate putting us in danger of solar radiation and super storms. The only way to save the day is to reset the core spinning again. And the only way to do that is to build a ship, manned by an intrepid crew, that can take them to the Earth’s core and start it spinning again using nuclear weapons. In the movie this sounds like a really good idea.

This movie made me very uncomfortable. Much of it is claustrophobic which is bad enough. But as crew members begin dying off they do so in some of the most gruesome ways possible and this film pulls no punches. We watch a guy get crushed to death. Usually for something like that the camera will pan away. Not in this movie. Does that mean I didn’t like the movie? Hell no! Disaster movies are kissing cousins to horror movies and both have a gross-out factor. You have to expect this kind of stuff even if it gives you nightmares.

Okay gang that is it for this time around. Next time I’ll show you my top five disaster movies and you can really get mad at me. Until then remember this – if you’re going to dream then dream BIG!