Let's talk about disaster movies, a.k.a. I rewatched Dante's Peak last night for the first since '97

[Guestx]

I remember a time when disaster movies were all the rage. The 90s: The decade when movies liked to fuck shit up. And since I'm sure many others here remember those days, I figured it would be a good time to discuss our favorite disaster movies.

And with that said, I'm going to smoothly segue into some thoughts on Dante's Peak, which I rewatched last night for the first time since catching it in the theater 20 years ago.

​

I have to say, this movie is actually BETTER than I remembered it being. Seriously. It's directed by Roger Donaldson--who also directed the underrated Thirteen Days--and while watching it I had the feeling that if Spielberg only had about 2/3 of his talent and decided to make a disaster movie, then Dante's Peak is pretty close to what you'd get.

I identified three primary strengths with this film:

1. There's an emotional core. Brosnan, Linda Hamilton and the kids all did a good job and made me root for them. I wanted to see them survive.

2. The science seems legit. I'm not a volcanologist, so I can't say for sure that it IS legit, but it definitely feels that way and I enjoyed the procedural elements that brought the science team to the point of being convinced the volcano was going to blow.

3. The FX. Holy shit are the effects good in this film! I mean they are goddamn GOOD, not just for '97 but even today they hold up extremely well. The film's real strength in this regard is that instead of just going full CGI the filmmakers decided to marry CGI with traditional miniatures and I think the results are excellent.

I mean, just watch this clip:



All in all, I found this to be a surprisingly enjoyable film that holds up much better than I expected it to. A well-told story, strong performances, and great effects win the day.

For anyone who may be interested, this guy did an EXELLENT retrospective on the movie:

 

[John Wang]

Love this movie. Pierce Brosnan is a beast and I was always fascinated with volcanoes when I was a kid

 

[Hidden_Hand]

Always loved that film and other disaster movies.

Twister, Day After Tomorrow etc.

Have you seen Volcano: Fire on the Mountain?

My dad used to put that on everytime me and my sister came over, we was only about 7/8, good times haha.

Just found the both of them on youtube lol

 

[Tamriel Terror]

I love Pierce Brosnan.

Damn this thread makes me realize just how bad movies are these days lol. I use to go see a dozen or so movies per year and now I'm lucky if I go see 3 or 4.

 

[Rod1]

This is the best disaster movie.

Anyway on a more serious notice i recall Twister being really enjoyable, and that movie where a volcano explodes in LA.

 

[Guestx]

Twister, Day After Tomorrow etc.

Twister is fucking great. I just rewatched that one recently.

And last night, believe it or not, I also watched Day After Tomorrow. I was doing a disaster movie double-feature.

It actually was the first time I watched The Day After Tomorrow. It was okay, but not great. I'd probably give it a 6/10. The premise was too unbelievable to really take seriously and the all-CGI effects made much of the film look like a big cartoon. It's a fine movie to watch while doing the dishes or something like that.

Have you seen Volcano: Fire on the Mountain?

Can't say I've even heard of it but it looks like it's a made-for-TV movie?

 

[Hidden_Hand]

Jesus, can't believe I forgot Volcano with Tommy Lee Jones!

 

[HOV]

Anybody here see Miracle Mile?...While it doesn't fit in with natural disaster movies, it does go hard on its own catastrophes

 

[RollSonnenRoll]

One of my favorite movies from childhood.

Chilling


Brosnan killed it and how badass was that Suburban


It's not as good but I liked Volcano as well. You can never go wrong with Tommy Lee Jones taking control of a situation and telling everyone what to do.

 

[Guestx]

Anyway on a more serious notice i recall Twister being really enjoyable, and that movie where a volcano explodes in LA.

Jesus, can't believe I forgot Volcano with Tommy Lee Jones!

It's not as good but I liked Volcano as well. You can never go wrong with Tommy Lee Jones taking control of a situation and telling everyone what to do.

Volcano is another one that I haven't seen since it was released and I remember it . . . not being that great. Maybe I should re-watch that one as well, though.

 

[TrippleOG]

Pierce Brosnan is my only man crash.

Volcano sucked also.

 

[DIABOLUS]

I don't remember much about this film, but that scene of the grandmother carrying the child across knee-high water that was acidic? boiling? was forever ingrained in my mind.

 

[Guestx]

Of course no discussion of disaster movies can go down without a mention of Armageddon. This is one I have mixed feelings about. It's a fun movie, but it's also too fucking long. It's Bay at his most Baysian.

 

[Hidden_Hand]

Twister is fucking great. I just rewatched that one recently.

And last night, believe it or not, I also watched Day After Tomorrow. I was doing a disaster movie double-feature.

It actually was the first time I watched The Day After Tomorrow. It was okay, but not great. I'd probably give it a 6/10. The premise was too unbelievable to really take seriously and the all-CGI effects made much of the film look like a big cartoon. It's a fine movie to watch while doing the dishes or something like that.



Can't say I've even heard of it but it looks like it's a made-for-TV movie?

I literally watched all of these when I was a kid so they probably would suck if I watched them now lol

Yeah it was a TV movie i'm sure.

 

[Guestx]

I don't remember much about this film, but that scene of the grandmother carrying the child across knee-high water that was acidic? boiling? was forever ingrained in my mind.

Acidic. Yeah, that was a rough.

There were were some fairly brutal moments in this film. There's also a scene where Brosnan suffers a compound fracture and you're just like, "Oww, shit! I bet that sucked!"

 

[europe1]

Anybody here see Miracle Mile?...While it doesn't fit in with natural disaster movies, it does go hard on its own catastrophes

Dante's Peak is really good. Miracle Mile is just in a whole different ballpark though. A great premise which it excecutes wonderfully.

 

[RollSonnenRoll]

Volcano was just weird because they tried to do this weird tension relationship with TLJ and Anne Heche. Bad enough that there was like a 30 year age gap but he's this traditionalist midwestern blue collar guy and she looks like a lesbo so it really doesn't fit. Then the whole movie operates on the same principle as the "floor is lava" game you played in your living room growing up, as long as you don't touch the lava then you'll be fine. Nevermind that being within 100 feet of something that hot would burn you. It has a lot of cool effects though and TLJ is at his usual best plus Don Cheadle has a great supporting part.

 

[Guestx]

Dante's Peak is really good.

The funny thing is that, for whatever reason, I didn't REMEMBER it being all that great. Like, I remembered it being just okay and nothing more.

But rewatching it last night, I was like, "Holy shit, this is actually a pretty good film!" I mean, it's easily one of the best disaster films.

 

[OneManOrgy]

The Poseiden Adventure 1972! My Mother introduced me to this movie.

 

[Guestx]

Volcano was just weird because they tried to do this weird tension relationship with TLJ and Anne Heche. Bad enough that there was like a 30 year age gap but he's this traditionalist midwestern blue collar guy and she looks like a lesbo so it really doesn't fit. Then the whole movie operates on the same principle as the "floor is lava" game you played in your living room growing up, as long as you don't touch the lava then you'll be fine. Nevermind that being within 100 feet of something that hot would burn you. It has a lot of cool effects though and TLJ is at his usual best plus Don Cheadle has a great supporting part.

I might rewatch it soon. I'm suddenly feeling nostalgic for these kinds of movies for some reason.

Like I said earlier, I watched BOTH Dante's Peak and The Day After Tomorrow last night. And I watched Twister just a few weeks ago as well.