Disaster in the Making
Anyone have any recommendations for good disaster movies or novels? I'm pretty open to how you define "good" in this situation -- exciting, nice characterization, neat special effects, a memorable scene, whatever. Thing is, I don't watch a heck of a lot of movies, and am having trouble thinking of novels I've read that could be classified as "disaster novels," and yet here I am, suddenly facing the realization that I'm writing a disaster/love story/fantasy. Lovely.
Posted by Karina Sumner-Smith at 11:23 AM
3 Comments:
"Armageddon" sticks in my mind as being one of the least offensive in a cheesy genre. It's full of cliches and impossibilities and rah-rah American jingoism, but it had a few genuine moments. It's the only one that made both my husband and I tear up at one father-daughter scne -- and that's saying a lot. Independence Day, I suppose, comes in second.
I'd define a "good" disaster movie as one with spectacularly good special effects -- "Armageddon" and "Independence Day" definitely do -- and characters that at least try to sound human rather than corrugated.
By all means avoid "The Deep," "The Core," and "The Day After Tomorrow" unless you have a high tolerance for cheese.
--Jena
By 
, at
4:05 PM
Thanks for the recommendations. I'll give "Armageddon" a try, especially as I know someone from whom I can borrow a copy. (I'm trying to watch as many of these films as I can WITHOUT going to Blockbuster.)
And I don't mind cheese, truth be told -- unless, of course, we're discussing actual cheese of the dairy sort, in which case cheese and I have issues that will never be settled. Rah-rah American jingoism strikes me as being so much worse, tiring and frustrating all at once, but then that's nothing out of the ordinary, either.
By 
Karina Sumner-Smith, at
11:23 PM
I've always liked "Deep Impact", way better than Armageddon. The notable absence of Ben Afleck and that guy with the crooked nose make the movie so much easier to watch.
There's the always classic "Earthquake" from 1974. I think that's the movie they based that piece of crap ride at disney land on, you know, the one with the bus.
By , at
4:14 PM
