Earth Day Movie Night: Environmental Disaster Movies

BuzzSugar — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 15:30:50 -0700

As I was researching environmental disaster movies it was interesting to see how long this idea has been around that humans could destroy the earth simply by taking its resources for granted. Long before Al Gore's An Inconvenient Truth, filmmakers and fiction writers were clearly aware that manmade pollution has a chance of bringing about an apocalyptic scenario here on earth. So, in honor of Earth Day I present a few movies that, in their own over-the-top ways urge audiences to heed the warnings of the day lest we succumb to a future worse than what these films imagined.

The Day After Tomorrow
This is probably the first cautionary global warming tale that springs to most people's minds when you think "environmental disaster." In The Day After Tomorrow the rising temperature of the planet speeds up the disaster effects some real-life scientists predict will happen eventually. The film stars Daniel Quaid as a sexy - wait for it - paleoclimatologist who tries to save his son (Jake Gyllenhaal) and the other survivors stuck in New York after the city is flooded and then frozen over by the rising ocean. The movie is all CGI effects and silly one-liners but the action is heart-pounding and Quaid and Gyllenhaal are easy on the eyes.

For more movies that may scare you into recycling and using energy-efficient light bulbs, read more.

Logan's Run
Before Star Wars wowed audiences with stellar effects, there was the campy and slightly corny Logan's Run. The film is based on the bestselling science fiction novel of the same name that was written in 1967. The movie takes place in the future (23rd century to be exact) where the earth has basically been destroyed by overpopulation and pollution. A few survivors live in a domed society which would be rather lovely if it weren't for the fact that everyone must die at age 30 (population control). The movie stars Michael York (a.k.a. Basil from Austin Powers) and actually won an Academy Award for visual effects at the time. It's a bit dated, but is still an interesting look at a scary dystopian future.

Soylent Green
Similar to Logan's Run, Soylent Green was released in the '70s, but this time takes us to the year 2022. Now that overpopulation and global warming have led to a world where food like fruits, vegetables, and meats are rare, most of the population lives off "soylent green" processed food. Charlton Heston stars in this classic thriller about the potential for corruption when resources are scarce and humankind is desperate.

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2012: Apocalyptic Good Times

BuzzSugar — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 05:30:00 -0800

In terms of end-of-the-world movies, 2012 packs it all - a love story, teary family moments, action-packed adventure, over-the-top-CGI, and a ton of recycled film cliches - in a two and a half hour package. That's lengthy by today's standards, but I wasn't bored for a minute. This is pure escapist entertainment.

The film opens in 2009 as a scientist in India and his American associate Adrian Helmsley (Chiwetel Ejiofor) discover that the Earth's core is overheating. His forecast: Tectonic plates will shift, thereby causing a worldwide catastrophe that will wipe out the human race.

Dun, dun, dun! (Doesn't take long to pull you in, does it?) To hear my full assessment, read more.

The real action goes down three years later in 2012 when, according to the Mayan calendar, the Earth will reach its end. The entire So-Cal coast starts crumbling, so our hero Jackson Curtis (John Cusack) and his family begin a journey to China where the governments around the world have supposedly assembled spaceships to carry select humans to safety.

What? You expected this to be plausible?

Of course not, but the film does include tons of cool CGI - volcanos, snow storms, giant tsunamis. It's like every disaster movie you've ever watched combined. (That should come as no surprise seeing as how the director is Roland Emmerich who created The Day After Tomorrow, Independence Day, and Godzilla.)

As for the characters, we've seen them all stereotyped in other films before, but they're still enjoyable here. (Even though I admittedly winced over a Russian family complete with a fur coat, tiny dog, and an employee named Sasha.) This is thanks to the actors who play their parts with believability, even when the scenes feel ridiculous. Ejiofor portrays a great bleeding heart swept up in a governmental plan that's looking out for No. 1, and Cusack pulls off his father role without being over-the-top or sappy. Also, watch for Woody Harrelson as a nutty conspiracy theorist living in Yellowstone National Park.

2012 is purely meant to be fun, and it succeeds. There's a constant barrage of cliff-hanger moments that never let up, and though you pretty much know where things are headed, it's easy to get sucked in.

(Don't forget that if you see a movie that you'd like to review, you can post your write-up in the Movie Review Group in Community - I may even post it here on the site!)

Photos courtesy of Sony Pictures