While I get round to watching and then reviewing more disaster movies, why wait for me to pop reviews up when you can start off conversations about them in our new forum. Slotted in nicely with a new forum collection that also includes the other blog/websites I run, everyone is more than welcome to sign up and chatting. Of course, its new and will be quiet to begin with but over time it will capture more survivors for gossip.
Archive for April, 2010
New Forum Section
Posted in Uncategorized with tags Forum, Site News on April 24, 2010 by Higher Plain MusicFilm Review: Terror Peak
Posted in Terror Peak with tags Antony Starr, disaster movie, Emily Barclay, film, film review, Lynda Carter, movie, Parker Stevenson, Peter Elliott, Review, Terror Peak, William Davis on April 15, 2010 by Higher Plain Music
Some made for TV movies are just pure tat that never really get going and struggle to be recommended for any real reason. “Terror Peak” pretty much fits into this category. It doesn’t quite know what it wants to be until the final act and by then you’ve all fallen asleep waiting… nonetheless… here’s the full review!
The Premise
Divorced newlyweds Janet & Kevin decide to take a working vacation looking at tour operators in New Zealand, trying them out before offering funding to help make more profit for them and theirselves. However they’ve come to Extreme Mountain (oh dear) with Janet’s grumpy daughter just in time for the volcano to erupt. God job Janet’s an ex volcanologist huh?
The Disasters Faced
Volcanic eruption, ash clouds, lava, steam (oh no!) and a ancient Maori lady who sings at you in the woods at random intervals.
The Execution
Maybe most of the budget was spent on getting Lynda Carter (Wonder Woman) onboard because at no point was anything spent on the special effects, the built sets or rehersals for acting. From the bizarre range of New Zealand, Irish and Amercian accents that all seem to waiver (especially the Irishman’s) to the cave’s that have full lighting in them underground without lights to the fact that to try and slow desperation the slowmo the action and shake the camera or drop it to the floor and shake it – you can tell this is very low budget and a lot of corners needed to be cut.
Also a must have for all TV disaster movies – extreme sports – seems to take up a vast quantity of the first half, with Woman Woman screaming at everything in sight from rock slides to light switches, taking up the rest of the first half. Plot devices such as “aaah my ankle… I can’t walk” get people stuck, only to see them running away from what appears to be someones drawing of tomato soup aka lava, a minute later. It’s all so cheap and ropey. Sometimes this makes for a good movie, but Terror Peak for me didn’t go quite silly enough to make it enjoyable again and therein lies my problem with the film. It takes itself a bit too seriously but doesn’t execute anything properly to back it up.
The Effects
The volcano is actually showed in stills the whole time with drawn on lava bombs coming out at the very end. The camera shaking for tremors would work if objects in the scene would move with the camera but everything stays still. The whole slow-motion camera wiggle that the film dips in and out of is embarassing – the worst one being a “rock fall” actually being someone throwing two clumps of mud at the camera – but in slow motion with the camera shaking. Just… no! Lava is orange according to this film too, and when it drips on you, you’re fine as long as you place a jumper over your head.
Why It’s Worth Watching
Well, its a stretch granted, but there is an interesting sub story about Maori people and their beliefs on volcanos and the like which was quite unique to bring to a disaster movie. Instead however of going at in intelligently, everyone wants to scream and run away from the chanting granny and then the movie tries to pretend she’s a ghost which is just plain silly. Also reasons to watch the movie are to laugh at how bad the Irish accent of Patrick gets and just how pathetically hopeless the emotionally unstable daughter gets as she injures herself and/or cries in about 95% of all the scenes she’s in and I promise you I’m not overestimating that guess. Yes the girl cries very well but the director must have had a bad few weeks in order to make her cry all the way through a volcanic eruption.
Also for what its worth, the final 10 minutes of the disaster is actually quite passable indeed.
Favourite Character
Apart from the not-a-ghost Maori woman, the “comedic” duo of Patrick and Rangi worked well together as ex bussiness partners who now can’t stand the sight of eachother.
Best Death
There is only one death and he’s at the very beginning so he wins the award by basically coughing a lot trying to escape toxic gases but just taking so long about it he collapses and instead of just choking to death – just conks out.
Weirdest Moment
Despite the entire place being decimated by a volcano, the leading guy Kevin actually then decides to invest in the area as a tourist opportunity. Yes, everyone wants to invest in a company that crashed their car twice in one journey, burnt their daughter, nearly drowned her absailing and then when they’re in a helicopter they run out of fuel, the hydraulics blow and it catches fire causing them to make an emergency landing. Has the guy not heard of risk assessments?!
Conclusion
“Terror Peak” despite Lynda Carter’s best efforts, just isn’t entertaining enough to justify proper entertainment, and not quite awful enough to be plain helerious. Sure, there’s plenty to point and laugh at here, but I found myself rolling my eyes at the film for being far, far too obvious and safe and therefore the assests that it had get dilluted and spoilt.
Film Review: Impact
Posted in Impact with tags benjamin sadler, david james elliot, disaster movie, film, film review, florentine lahme, james cromwell, movie, natasha calis, natasha henstridge, owen best, Review, steven culp on April 11, 2010 by Higher Plain Music
Some films are content with just having a meteor crashing into Earth, Impact however would much rather have a meteor crash into the Moon, which sends the Moon itself crashing into the Earth! Cue a 3 hour TV movie full of hammed up disaster action, which actually does a very good job of holding its own suspense and pacing, and succeeds much better than most TV disaster movies.
The Premise
Once in every god knows how many years, a metoer shower flies close to the Earth. Everyone comes out to watch it however behind the shower is a meteor (and a brown dwarf as its later revealed) which veers offcourse and smacks into the Moon. This sends the Moon off orbit causing no end of strange scenerios and resulting in the discovery that the Moon is now destined to crash into Earth in 39 days. Can it be stopped?
The Disasters Faced
Here we have meteors, chunks of the Moon falling to Earth, the Moon itself coming to Earth and gravitational fluctuations causing some helerious sequences.
The Execution
As with all three hour disaster movie mini series, there’s a lot of story and White-House style chaos. Impact though manages to intercut all this with just small little disaster clips and so actually three hours goes by a lot quicker than you’d first imagine. The key to this is a generally good cast. The leading trio of David James Elliot, Natasha Henstridge and Benjamin Sadler all underplay their characters so the film avoids being over acted and silly and gives it all a bit of credibility. Steven Culp does a good president avoiding a lot of the usual bunkem, although America seems easier to deal with than Bree from Desperate Housewives! The children are also very good with the amount of crying they do, yet don’t become annoying upstarts. The only character I found annoying was Lloyd, the uncle who manages to get his speech out before he pegs it. Martina’s voice is very jarring as well, maybe because unlike everyone else on the German side of the story, actress Florentine Lahme is actually German and doesn’t need to pretend. However she plays her role very well.
As a result the cast work well together, there’s some nice views on how when faced with the world’s end, everyone actually stays calm and spends time with their loved ones, instead of running riot. Also the range of disaster sequences are quite refreshingly different too.
The Effects
The effects are a real mixed bag. A few of them, such as the ship lifting out the water, looks pure CGI and very poor at that. However when the CGI effects are worked into the real world, such as the meteor showers, the cars lifting off the floor and to some extent the train sequence, things fair much better. The cars in the city sequence in particular is quite believeable and is one of the set pieces of the film. When the CGI is gone and we have pure set work on screen, the results are very good. In what is obviously a low budget film, there’s plenty of carnage on screen for the aftermaths and using clever camera angles, it makes things look a lot more hectic than what was really there.
Why It’s Worth Watching
Impact is an example of a good made for TV disaster movie. The acting is good, the effects passable, the pacing ensures there’s always something going on. It serious enough to not look like a complete farce and its quite clear a lot of effort has gone into making the film be the best it could be from the materials they had, even if the science is a bit wobbly. If you close your mind and run with it, there’s some good stuff to be had here.
Favourite Character
Benjamin Sadler’s character Roland Emerson (is that a tip of the hat to someone else I wonder…) has more personality and character than most scientists in his little finger than most of the rest of the characters. That is why I knew he would die! It’s Shelley Winters & Jennifer Jones all over again!
Best Death
Surprisingly there’s not many to choose from but perhaps one of most unfair and comical was that of the female rocket pilot who fell to her death right at the end of the film… but in extreme slow motion due to the gravity on the moon meaning everything happens a whole lot slower! She was screaming for a loooooong time.
Weirdest Moment
Apart from the dad and son clinging onto the swing moment to massive dramatic music, the most “huh?” moment came for me at the end when everyone is busy hugging eachother, the little boy smiles and hugs the man who gave his grandpa a heart attack and killed him literally! Now all of a sudden they are laughing, joking, smiling and hugging each other. I’d have thought a headlock would have been closer to the mark!
Conclusion
Impact is good at what it aims to be. An interesting, but not very deep, made for TV disaster movie. It doesn’t have the usual sag in the middle like most of the films do, keeps you entertained throughout and at the end of the day, if you actually want to return to the dvd in a few months time to watch it again, it can’t be that bad a film at all!
Film Review: Nature Unleashed: Avalanche
Posted in Nature Unleashed: Avalanche with tags adam croasdell, andrew lee potts, disaster movie, film, film review, jessica brooks, kate henry, movie, Review, zahary baharov on April 4, 2010 by Higher Plain Music
The Nature Unleashed series was a collection of made for TV films obviously made on a shoestring budget desperately trying to masquerade as credable disaster movie entries. Some fare much better than others but Avalanche is well, just plain helerious.
The Premise
Not enough to just have a normal avalanche, it looks as though a whole ridge of a mountain is going to collapse causing a “super avalanche”! On yes, twice the fun! Poor little ski resort sitting underneath…
The Disasters Faced
An avalanche, a super avalanche (which looks suspiciously similar) and a lady with only two toes!!!
The Execution
I’ll admit it. I knew this was going to be awful by the fact you can only get it in the UK in a slimline £1 store case and the DVD menu is a static screen with the title and “play movie”. The disc has no artwork at all. However the actual film is just as bizarre. From the massively stilted acting which varies from some passable actors and some people who sound like they could struggle to actually read the lines from a page infront of them. The set and location is great even if the effects are far from it.
After an initial avalanche (where the skidoo’s can outchase the snow) and many pointless story set ups and arguments (such as the two main men whom are brothers having a row with each other only to burst out laughing and go for a drink) the two toed scientist (not a joke) warns that a super avalanche is coming. Sadly no one really bothers with her except for one of our leads in the most least likely of pairings. That then cues one of the many sub characters, almost all of whom have awful personalities to trigger off the big finale which then leaves a third of the characters trapped, a third trying to rescue them, and the last third running for dear life from the massive amounts of polystyrene that’s coming to get them all. It’s all done heleriously, in a camp, stilted, low budget, lots of stock footage and shaky cameras.
The Effects
A lot of stock footage is used for the big avalanches coming down the hills, but when effects are needed, they are abolutely awful. Given the film as a whole though, I wouldn’t have it any other way. From the toy models, to the eccessive polystrene to the extreme sports tricks that they actually reuse but try to make out its another day (see if you can spot them) its all done so cheaply, it brings a whole new hue of enjoyment. The stock footage doesn’t quite fit in with the film either as it looks like a completely different mountain.
Why It’s Worth Watching
For all the wrong reasons, this movie’s actually quite compulsive. The script is dire! The two love interests have absolute no emotion. The laws of physics are completely disregarded too with some interesting escapes from the avalanches. When the film has to show snow sliding down the hill taking characters with it, its just where the characters standing that moves, everything else above and below stays still. Blocks of polystrene (I mean big chunks) hit characters head on and get dented. The hotel owner voice doesn’t actually change pace or tone during the entire film either, and he was one of the better actors…
Favourite Character
Character is something that actually everyone lacked, but there’s a bit part of an old drunkered who keeps recounting the 1966 avalanche they had. I’m really digging here!
Best Death
The “baddie” of the film (which is a joke, he doesn’t do anything) gets his date with the devil while dangling off a broken ski lift in the final avalanche. He looks like a full sized version of Matt Lucas and thankfully wasn’t about for too many scenes.
Weirdest Moment
It’s time for the scientist to pull off her shoe and sock and reveal she only has two toes. This propels the start of a new love interest…!
Conclusion
Nature Unleashed: Avalanche is the perfect example of when bad films are good. Everything here screams “noooo” but you can’t help but laugh at it and spot as many mistakes, goofs and strange directorial decisions and acting cock ups you can. As my favourite line of the film states “Hell isn’t hot.. its cold!”
Film Review: 2012
Posted in 2012 with tags amanda peet, beatrice rosen, chiwetel ejiofor, danny glover, disaster movie, film, film review, johann urb, john cusack, liam james, lisa lu, morgan lilly, movie, oliver platt, Review, thandie newton, tom mccarthy, woody harrleson, zlatko buric on April 1, 2010 by Higher Plain Music
Roland Emmerich, the master of disaster for the 90′s and 00′s bounced back into the limelight with 2012, the all singing, all dancing ultimate end of the world disaster movie. To say the special effects steal the show is an understatement as not even some ultra annoying characters can ruin this epic movie from being a rip roaring popcorn flick.
The Premise
2012, as predicted by the Mayans, is the year the world will end. Here, solar flares have boiled the core of our planet and thus the mantle melts, the crusts start to shift and that means plenty of earthquakes, volcanic eruptions and tsunamis to contend with, as piece by piece the world shifts dramatically into a whole new state.
The Disasters Faced
Earthquakes, crust shifts, solar flares, volcanoes, tsunami’s, water, terra-deformations, landslips, general chaos! A general bad day at the office then…!
The Execution
No stone has been left unturned in the special effects department and that is the key success to 2012. This is action all the way from start to finish. The world is falling apart about 20 minutes. From the massive earthquake scenes at the begginning with first a car, then an airplane escaping through collapsing skyscrapers to the Yellowstone volcanic eruption to the latest way Roland destroys the White House, you will be absolutely amazed at the sheer quality and detail of the effects. In the buildings, you can see people sliding to their deaths in the tiniest of backgrounds and as the ship capsizes you can see everything sliding across the lit up windows. It’s the attention to each shot that really gives everything the extra authenticity.
However, the same can not be said about a few of the characters. John Cusack fails to shine in the lead and is actually so every day he is forgotten as his wife, the President and his daughter, the scientist and basically everyone else in the film basically has much more character built into them. While I can understand why to an extent, it just feels a bit too underplayed for my liking. Danny Glover as the President does a good job, as does Thandie Newton and Chiwetel Ejiofor as the secondary duo. Also great are the children actually. Sadly, spare Tamara (Beatrice Rosen) and the underused Sasha (Johann Urb), the Russian people we follow iritate and annoy beyond belief and its all a bit stilted. The combination of all the above meant that I really did not care if some of them died or not, and that is really the film’s main downfall. A bit of likeability doesn’t hurt anyone, and one of the few characters that does have some character development pops it in a very quick and underplayed scene, it, along with several other deaths lacked impact.
The Effects
As I’ve said before the effects are fantastic. The tsunami sequences are cut down in size as to not go over old ground from The Day After Tomorrow, and the way how possibly 90% of screen time has some kind of CGI in it is somewhat mind boggling, its shocking just how seemless most of it is. Once again CGI animals are back, which is probably the weakest part of the graphics but its great to see just how things have come on in the last 14 years since Independance Day.
Why It’s Worth Watching
I’ve been quite critical so far, but I have to say I thoroughly enjoyed it. While it’s not my favourite disaster movie by a long shot, it’s possibly the most visually impressive. Schmultz is kept to a bear minimum (hurrah!), America once again saves the day but is ultimately destroyed as with all these films and the old Chinese lady decapitating a chicken will always get two thumbs up from me! Plus with film could win cutest animal character award with Tamara’s dog. Finally Woody Harrelson’s character Charlie is fantastic as the crazed conspiricy theroist who cheers on the end of the world with such joy, perhaps should the worst happen, we’d all need to join him at the nearest party!
Favourite Character
Easily Charlie, whom featured heavily in the promotional materials and websites for 2012 with all his crazed podcasts and video shows.
Best Scene of Destruction
The inital Earthquake scene is an absolute marvel. When I first got the film on DVD (I know, not Blu-Ray – shocking) I watched the same sequence several times over looking at different parts of the screen seeing what was going on everywhere.
Best Death
Although most of the world cops it, the President not only stays behind to face the ingoing tidal wave, but is taken out by his own war boat too! If that wasn’t a political message I don’t know what was!
Weirdest Moment
Realising the evil twins and their father were legitimately going to be part of the long term cast… I had all kinds of visions, they weren’t favourable…
Conclusion
2012 is a full on popcorn film. There is no time for emotional antics, it is bums in seats special effects marvelling. If you would like a bit of depth in your disasters, you will not find it here. If you’re looking to be amazed by on screen effects and visual treats and aren’t fussed about who survives in the process – this is your 10/10.
