You always worry about the movies that are certain to be a victim of their own hype. No matter how good they are, they will sustain some damages. Whether it be deserved or not, there will be some wounds inflicted from all the madness. You can't bungee without getting a little thigh burn.
Cloverfield, however, was all it promised to be and maybe even some more. It's an intense, full-throttle ride which is certain to be understood and adored by those who enjoy that genre which is disaster/apocalyptic flicks.
Where Cloverfield was the strongest was how it let us see what was going on within Manhattan while never straying from our core group of characters. As you can tell from trailers, this is all shot handheld, by one of those caught in the midst of the madness. You would think this would limit it or, at the most, would give way to some pretty goofy tricks in order to show the monster. However, some of the tricks it used were pretty ingenious and believable. Capturing shots from television broadcasts in the windows of electronics stores and one terrifying scene using the camera's nightvision feature, Cloverfield does its best to keep us in the loop without throwing us out of the story.
Another strength that Cloverfield has is its characters. We don't get to know them that well, but it doesn't matter because they only have a little while to tell us their stories. Despite the little time we are able to spend with them, we are still able to emote with them. Anyone who has ever been on one of these rides, whether it's a good-ole Romero flick or a Stephen King novel, knows that very few, if any, come out of these situations alive. We brace ourselves for the inevitable. We will lose some of our storytellers. We may even lose all of them.
But a good disaster/horror flick makes you shed your inhibitions over getting too involved and jump right in there with them and Cloverfield's first person narrative makes that jump quite easy.
At the center of the story is a love story that has already been riddled with problems. But it's those problems that lead us into the labyrinth of madness.
Spoilers follow, people. Don't say I didn't warn you.
Upon finding out that October 15 was "Blogging for the Environment Day," my first question was: "How will I turn this into something that fits with my blog?"
The answer? Natural disaster movies.
Obviously, this blog entry is posted as part of a huge effort throughout the blogosphere to bring awareness to the needs of our environment. As many of you know, we're in dire straits these days in terms of our home planet. Today's blog action day is an effort to get in your face one more time concerning our environment. To find out more about blog action day and what you can do, visit their site.
Now, on with the show.
Some of these films feature natural disasters on a local scale. Others on a globally destructive scale. Seeing as how the changes in our climate can bring about both, I think both are appropriate. Oh. And fair warning: some of these movies are, well, not that great, but they have some killer (pun intended) disaster sequences.
1. The Day After Tomorrow - For the most part, this movie is so out in the stratosphere when it comes to plot resolution that it's hard to appreciate. However, the disaster sequences in the first half of the film are mesmerizing. Unfortunately, that's about all you're going to get out of the film, but still, worth watching for that alone.
2. Twister - You know, this is one I would categorize as so stupid that it's fun. When a rash of twisters break out over the midwestern U.S., a group of scientists set out to throw some really cool and funky balls up into one of the "big ones." Yeah. Remember - so stupid, it's fun. The best part of the film, however, is a sequence where a twister rips through a drive-in theatre playing "The Shining." Word.
3. Waterworld - Apparently, it's really difficult to make a decent natural disaster film. While Waterworld wasn't as bad as the oh-holy-hell-what-in-the-shit-is-that way that many made it out to be, it still definitely wasn't worth what they put into the film so that it could be made. Best sequence: Kevin Costner diving under the abyss and seeing the relics of the world that was once above water.
4. Volcano - Seriously, sometimes you gotta wonder what sort of crack people smoke when they come up with these ideas. It wasn't that it was so bad, but that it was just....so bad. Okay. Yeah. The truly memorable scene in a "what in the holy hell" kind of way was of some guy walking through hot lava in order to save a kid from an underground rail car. He's walking as his legs are burning off. I'm serious. I know it sounds like I'm making that crap up, but I'm not the one that was smoking the crack.
5. Earthquake - I'm really disappointed. I had somehow always pictured the title of this film with an !! at the end of it, but upon checking IMDb, I discover no exclamation points. What what? So, points deducted for exclusion of exclamation points. However, points added for Charlton Heston in yet another movie about the shit really hitting the fan. If you've ever been to Universal Studios, you know that this is the movie they base that forgettable attraction "Earthquake" on. Shocking, right? Still - it has an earthquake, bricks and buildings toppling over and lots of destruction. So, points for participation.
6. The Ten Commandments - Heston for the win. I know you're thinking: "That can't be a disaster film?" Okay, what is wrong with you? This movie has it all - plagues, floods, babies in baskets. Scary stuff, people.
What did I miss? C'mon. Tell me. I'm waiting. If you need a little help, you can visit my Squidoo lens on Apocalyptic and Post Apocalyptic Movies.
And while you're thinking up those movies, check out Blog Action Day's resources on ways to prevent winding up in a really bad disaster flick yourself. This ain't the movies, kid. There won't be any retakes.
