Tag Archives: Disaster

Twisters – Movie Review

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TL;DR – It has a lot of charm and action as long as you don’t dwell on the science for a moment.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5.

Post-Credit Scene – There is a mid-credit scene.

Disclosure – I was invited to a press screening of this film.

A tornado bares down on a truck.

Twisters Review –

Well, today, we look at a bit of an odd duck in that this could almost be classed as a straight-up legacy sequel to the seminal 1996 film Twister. However, bar one significant reference right at the start, you would be remiss to see any connection between the two films beyond vibes, narrative structure, and a deep love for tornadoes. But that love is still there, as well as a metric spoonful of unreserved swagger.

So, to set the scene, Kate Cooper (Daisy Edgar-Jones) is a whiz at tornadoes. She just has a feel for them and how they form. But growing up in Oklahoma, which is smack dab in the middle of tornado alley, Kate also knows the destruction that they can cause. To combat that, she and her team, including Javi (Anthony Ramos), Addy (Kiernan Shipka), Jeb (Daryl McCormack), and Praveen (Nik Dodani), have put together a plan to use reagents to suck the moisture out of a tornado. They planned to test it on a small EF1 tornado, but something went wrong, and the target intensified to EF5, and you can’t run from that. Five years later, Javi catches up with Kate, who works in New York. He needs her skill to help map a tornado using newly developed military technology. She is hesitant but agrees to come back for one week only. It is a week that just so happens to have some of the worst storms in living history, and where she comes face-to-face with the rascally Tyler Owens (Glen Powell), professional tornado chaser.      

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Leave the World Behind – Movie Review

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TL;DR – What happens when the world slips away from you but only fragments at a time until you don’t even realise you ran off a ledge?

Rating: 4 out of 5.

Post-Credit Scene – There is no post-credit scene.

Disclosure – I paid for the Netflix service that viewed this film.

An Oil tanker crashes into the beach.

Leave the World Behind Review –

The disaster film is such an intriguing genre, especially when you are not sure what disaster you are in or even if there is one going on. For me, it is not the disasters themselves that bring the core of the work, but how people respond to the crisis. This week, we look at a film that focuses mainly on that, and I found it to be deeply compelling.  

So to set the scene, Amanda Sandford (Julia Roberts) and her husband Clay (Ethan Hawke) have had a long, stressful year, and one morning, as Amanda was up not sleeping, she decided to randomly book the family for a trip away in a hamlet by the beach. The aim is to leave the world behind for a time, and the house absolutely provides all of that. All is going well until an oil tanker crashes into the beach, and the TV and Wi-Fi stops working. Which is when late at night, there is a knock on the door when the purported owners of the house, G.H. Scott (Mahershala Ali) and his daughter Ruth (Myha’la), arrive and decide to stay.   

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Godzilla Minus One (Gojira Mainasu Wan, ゴジラマイナスワン) – Movie Review

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TL;DR – A visual riot and fascinating story that shows that Godzilla still has it after 70 years.

Rating: 4 out of 5.

Post-Credit Scene – There is no post-credit scene.

Disclosure – I paid to see this film.

Godzilla stalks a boat underwater.

Godzilla Minus One Review –

Few icons can last 70 years and still feel fresh and engaging, but Godzilla is very much the exception. There is something so iconic that even a single frame can invoke an emotion. It is in this space that we look at today’s film, which goes back in time to tell a very modern story.

So to set the scene, it is in the closing days of World War 2, and Kōichi Shikishima (Ryunosuke Kamiki) feigns technical issues with his kamikaze plane and lands on Odo Island. The mechanics humour the boy and check out his plane before he is sent on his way on the inevitable suicide mission. However, that night, a siren goes off as something attacks the beach. But it is not the Americans, island hopping their way to the mainland. It is Godzilla. Shikishima is given a second chance to prove himself, only to fail again, with a shame that follows him all the way back to the ruins of Tokyo.

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Jurassic Park Review (1993) – Exploring the Past

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TL;DR – A masterpiece in cinema that still moves you thirty years later.    

Rating: 5 out of 5.

Post-Credit Scene – There is no end-credit scene.

Disclosure – I paid to watch this film.

the entry gate to Jurassic Park.

Jurassic Park Review –

Some films captivated you the first time you watched them, getting your claws into you and never letting go. As a kid, one of those films was Jurassic Park. It delighted and terrified in equal measure. But even though it is in my Top 10 Films of All Time, it is a film I never watched on the big screen because I was far too young when it was released. But on the 30th anniversary of its release, it was back in cinemas, and it was time to rectify that.

So to set the scene, on a remote island off the coast of Costa Rica, an animal transfer at a new type of zoo goes terribly wrong. Investors start to panic, so John Hammond (Richard Attenborough) and his lawyer Donald Gennaro (Martin Ferrero) bring in three experts: Dr Alan Grant (Sam Neill), Dr Ellie Sattler (Laura Dern), and Dr Ian Malcolm (Jeff Goldblum) to give the park their stamp of approval. But why would a zoo need palaeontologists? Cue the John Williams soundtrack.   

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The Wandering Earth II (The Wandering Earth 2/流浪地球2) – Movie Review

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TL;DR – While frustratingly slow to build, I must say that it captured me in the end.     

Rating: 3.5 out of 5.

Post-Credit Scene – There is a mid-credit scene

Disclosure – I paid to see this film.

MOSS

The Wandering Earth II Review –

Back in 2019, this fascinating film slipped onto the scene and fascinated me. The Wandering Earth was one of the most unique scenarios I have ever seen put to film, and a movie with some of the most frustrating characters put to screen. It was this juxtaposition that both delighted and annoyed me. However, we now have a second bite at the pie, and it is time to see if they have learned from the issues of the last film.

So to set the scene, tragedy is brewing on Earth as it is clear that the Sun has prematurely entered its final phase and will soon expand to engulf the planet in the next 100 years. The United Earth Government was formed to find a solution with some form of Digital Life and The Moving Mountain Project being proposed. Time is of the essence as the globe slowly descends into chaos. In Libreville, Gabon, a test engine and space elevator is the first step towards The Moving Mountain Project, but this means it is at a critical phase, and if you could disrupt it at the source, then the whole thing could come crumbling down.

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Moonfall – Movie Review

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TL;DR – An interesting premise let down by a desperate need for at least another script pass

Rating: 2.5 out of 5.

Post-Credit Scene – There is no post-credit scene

Disclosure – I was invited to a screening of this film

Moonfall. Image Credit: Roadshow Films.

Moonfall Review –

One genre that I am always here for is the Disaster Movie. I like the exciting scenarios you can create, the engaging stories you can tell, or even just the wholesale destruction you can depict. Every part of this genre allows you to swing for the fences and create something interesting. Unfortunately, today, we got a film that took the safe option at every moment.

So to set the scene, on January 11, 2011, astronaut Brian Harper (Patrick Wilson) was in space helping repair a satellite while Jocinda “Jo” Fowler (Halle Berry) watches on from the Endeavour as both engage in the banter that only happens from long-time colleagues. However, the mission is interrupted by an electrical interference as a presence attacks the shuttle before making a beeline to the Moon. Ten years later, Brian has been booted out of NASA for insisting it was an alien entity that damaged the mission. However, at the University of California, Irvine, Dr K. C. Houseman (John Bradley) made a terrible discovery that the Moon’s orbit has changed and heading towards Earth.   

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Greenland – Movie Review

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TL;DR – A disaster film that leans into the emotion and is better for it.    

Rating: 4.5 out of 5.

Post-Credit Scene – There is no post-credit scene

Disclosure – I paid for the Amazon Prime subscription that viewed this film.

Greenland. Image Credit: STX Films.

Greenland Review –

After falling off the face of the Earth, disaster films have started to make a resurgence in the cinemas. There have been good disaster films and bad, but one of the core similarities is that a bunch of them have stared Gerard Butler. Well, we now have another entry into this particular genre so let’s dive in.  

So to set the scene, we open in Atlanta, Georgia as architect John Garrity (Gerard Butler), is trying to keep things as normal as possible for his son Nathan (Roger Dale Floyd) after his marriage with Allison (Morena Baccarin) fell apart. While this is happening, all of Earth is looking up at the Clarke Comet that was picked up only weeks ago. The scientists say it will burn up in the atmosphere and make a great light show, but after John gets a Presidential Alert, he realises that something more is going on and then the first boom hits.

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Movie Review – Just a Breath Away/Hold Your Breath (Dans la Brume) (2018)

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TL;DR – A good concept for a disaster film, but it does not quite hit where it needed to hit.     

Score – 3 out of 5 stars

Post-Credit Scene – There is no post-credit scene

Just a Breath Away/Hold Your Breath (Dans la Brume). Image Credit: Mars Distribution.

Review –


Given the state of Australia, where I live at the moment, it has been difficult to turn on the television and not see another disaster unfold. With that in mind, it was interesting timing that saw a film about not being able to breathe outside just as it is happening in real life. Today we dive into a film that does just that, though not in the streets of Australia, but in Paris, France.

So to set the scene, in the not too distant future Mathieu (Romain Duris) lives across the road from his ex-wife Anna (Olga Kurylenko) and their daughter Sarah (Fantine Harduin). While they are no longer together, they work to help raise their daughter who has Stimberger’s Syndrome and is confined to a protective bubble to isolate her and keep her safe. One day Paris is shaken by an earthquake and as Mathieu goes out to investigate he discovers a deadly mist exploding from underground killing all those who breathe it in. Running he is able to get Anna to safety upstairs, but they have to leave Sarah behind in her bubble as the smoke comes pouring in.

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Movie Review – Angel Has Fallen

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TL;DR –  I don’t think anything here will surprise you, but it was still a solid action flick, touching on all the big buzzword fears of the moment.   

Score – 3.5 out of 5 stars

Post-Credit Scene – There is no post-credit scene

Angel Has Fallen. Image Credit Roadshow Films.

Review –

A couple of years ago I popped and on a whim caught a showing of London Has Fallen. It was a perfectly fine if boilerplate action film and overall I did quite enjoy it. Though my mileage was a lot further than a lot of people as I had not seen the first film, so the fact that they hit almost the same plot beats was not as much of an issue. Well the third film in the series is out today and overall it’s pretty much the same as last time, with maybe a little something extra.

So to set the scene, we open with United States Secret Service agent Mike Banning (Gerard Butler) holding off a bunch of goons while under attack only for it to be just a paintball exercise. His old Army buddy Wade Jennings (Danny Huston) runs a training outfit and with Mike probably about to take over has head of the Secret Service he’s hoping he can send some training contracts his way. It is not likely as President Allan Trumbull (Morgan Freeman) has but a ban on contract armies. Well one day after visiting a doctor’s to discover how bad his back really is Mike is out protecting the President when they come under attack by drones. When he wakes up all of his team is dead, the President is in a coma and he is under arrest because they think he was the one who set it all up.

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Movie Review – Geostorm

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TL;DR – Its, well it’s, ok, it’s not great, it’s not awful, it’s just ok.

Score – 3 out of 5 stars

Geostorm. Image Credit: Warner Bros.

Review –
So there is a satellite system that controls all of the world’s extreme weather, with a flip of a switch you can take out that cyclone barrelling towards the Australian coast, that heat wave over Paris gone, that mark-5 tornado, what mark-5 tornado. It all sounds great, but if you can see the flaw with this plan, well you can see where the film is heading. Overall, it has been a while since I have seen a big scale disaster film, maybe 2012 was the last one, so it was at least interesting to visit this genre. However, just be prepared that this is science-fiction, not science-fact film, I’m pretty sure there are some laws of thermodynamics that get thrown to the wolves to make this movie happen, nor do we have enough material to build a partial Dyson sphere. So overall I found Geostorm to be well fine, it had some things I liked and some others that I didn’t, and mostly they cancelled each other out. So today we will look at both sides of Geostorm, the good, the bad, and the surprisingly Scottish.


So to set the scene, in 2019 global warming sent the plant into a spiral of extreme weather events which killed millions. Looking death in the face, the world on the brink of destruction put aside years of amenity to create the ‘Dutch Boy’, a series of satellites around the world, designed to stop the extreme weather events. The main engineer of the project was Jake Lawson (Gerard Butler) a man who is equal parts brilliant as he was obstinate, and after many years of work his brother Max (Jim Sturgess) who is employed by the White House was forced to fire him after a bad Senate hearing. Well three years later, and a couple of weeks before Dutch Boy is meant to be officially handed over to an international oversight team, a village in the heart of Afghanistan is discovered to be completely frozen. The Dutch Boy system had never failed before, and given the potential fallout from the lack of trust, or even a cascade of failures, it was a serious issue. So the Secretary of State Dekkom (Ed Harris) recommended to President Palma (Andy García) that there is only one person for the job, yep fired former main engineer Jake, so up he goes, but the clock is ticking.

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