The Towering Inferno

This is the 1970's disaster movie in all its glory.

There is a FIRE in the HIGHEST BUILDING ON EARTH on the night of its first big party way, way up on its top floor. It may all be the fault of the owner's son-in-law, who was responsible for the electric wiring and cut corners because he was expected to work as cheaply as possible. Wouldn't want to upset wife's daddy, since he's got the big bucks and all.

While the attendees of the party are kept in the dark for a bit, because the building is so state of the art and the fire is way down on the 81st floor (initially), surely there is nothing to worry about. Wouldn't want to cause a panic when nothing much may be happening.

Among the ones not blissfully ignorant to the unfolding disaster are the architect and the commander of the fire department, heroically portrayed by professional heroes Paul Newman and Steve McQueen. Also on their side is the security chief, played by O.J. Simpson back in the day when he could still get a job in films.

The fire expands and expands looking magnificent and, yes, people will die, because in the 1970's everything was out to get you.

Of all the disaster movies of the decade, this is the one with all the stars in it. I kind of love it.

7/10

Day of the Animals aka Something Is Out There

In the beginning, text on screen (very helpful device) informs us that in 1974 scientists started warning about the long term effects of the damage to the ozone layer. And that "This motion picture dramatizes what COULD happen in the near future IF we continue to do nothing to stop this damage to Nature's protective shields for life on this planet."

As the story unfolds, however, I lose the connection with the implications made in that statement. See, the danger to humanity as depicted here are animals. Considering that we are animals, as well, something is very wrong with the premise. But of course, there is no point in arguing with logic in a 1970's disaster (sort of) film. The damaged ozone layer influences animal behavior and that is that.

Our group of characters is out on a hiking trip. In what appears to be the worst timing ever. As soon as they set off, there is increasing news coverage of impending danger in places of high altitude. The hikers are heading - you guessed it - up, up, up.

Soon, the first of the group is attacked and injured. Luckily, she is still fit to walk and is sent back down the hill with one of the hikers going with her. A man. For protection. As weirder and more dangerous things start to happen to the group, not least of all the ravaging of their food supply, the group splits into two teams - one headed by the guide of the expedition and the other by Leslie Nielsen.

This is Leslie Nielsen before he became a total goofball and still pulled off bad guy. He is a loudmouthed, arrogant, racists (someone had to make bad jokes about Native Americans with one of them around - for tracking, no doubt) but still manages to convince a few of the idiot hikers to go with him even further up the hill while all the others decide to go down.

It is then that Leslie Nielsen goes bat shit. And it is glorious.

People continue to die, despite the men trying to keep the womenfolk safe. The job of the female in the film is to stand in corners, shaking from fear and/or point and scream at some dangerous sight. Also, they are given ridiculous lines like, "But they're dogs... Just dogs." And when the few survivors flee from the dogs they head straight for the water, where they believe themselves safe from the dogs. Because, you know, dogs fear the water (in this version of the future). Too bad that the woman in the scene can't swim. Always need someone to save them.

How does it all end, you ask.

Why, all the animals just drop dead, of course.

4/10

Aftershock

After boozing and dancing several nights away in Chile, a group of friends (some old, some new) are caught in some big ass dance hall during an earthquake. The main group (three boys, three girls, how inventive is that?) that the film follows doesn't come away unscathed - far from it. In the initial aftermath, one of the guys loses a hand and when his friends try to send him to safety up a rack railway, he cable breaks, the car falls and everyone in it dies.

The next to croak is the gringo with the group, played by co-writer and co-producer Eli Roth....and he's not really much of an actor, is he? He gets burned alive by a group of escaped convicts, who turn out to be much more of a threat to the survivors than the aftershocks of the earthquake are. They give as much as they get, though. The burning is followed by a rape, which leads to the rapist being killed with an ax and the rape victim being shot. 

That is three down and three to go.

The remaining guy in the group gets shot by a terrified woman trying to prevent the beaten gang from coming to relative safety. He dies soon after (courtesy of the escaped prisoners), the two girls left (sisters! awww!) follow who they think is a firefighter (wrong!) into a church and then - now with the priest in tow - into a down to a secret tunnel. Things go wrong, still. The priest falls to his death and the firefighter turns out to be just another convict and kills one sister and dies through the hand of the other.

The last woman standing stumbles out of the tunnel onto a beach. But wait, wasn't there to be a tsunami that everyone throughout the film was dreading? 

Yes. Yes, there was.

3/10

A Night to Remember

One of many dramatizations of the sinking of the Titanic on her maiden voyage.

Here, the focus is not so much on a handful of people only (as it was in James Cameron's cheesy version) but on groups representing the different classes as well as showing the entire palette of reactions to the tragedy. While some panic, some are rather incredulous, almost joking about what they never believe that the unsinkable ship will really go down.

All this it does very gracefully without all the sensationalism that was to come in later versions (again, see James Cameron). Of course, it also gives the classical visual of the often told tale of the band that continued to play until the very end.

Really good.

8/10

The Quiet Earth

Scientist Zac Hobson wakes up one day to find that everybody has disappeared. He believes that this is due to a project he and his team have been working on with (or for) the US.

In the beginning, he is going a little crazy, wearing a woman's nightgown and holding speeches to cut-out figures of famous personalities. Gradually, his senses come back and one day he chances upon another human being, Joanne. Together the set out to check the surrounding towns for any other survivors.

That is how they meet Api. After a while they figure out that the disappearance of the world population happened through some 'effect' caused by the project Zac was a part of. The reason the three of them are still alive is that at the precise moment the effect took place, they were about to die. Hence, their deaths kept them alive.

Zac calculates that the effect is about to repeat itself and figure out a plan to influence the outcome. The plan involves a truckload full of explosives. Of course, them being a group of two men and one women, eventually their relationship gets strained.

Whereas the character Zac is somewhat amusing and likable, I strongly disliked both, Joanna and Api.

6/10

It's a Disaster

Every Sunday several couples meet for a brunch. This Sunday, however, is bound to get dramatic, because not only are the hosts about to reveal that they are getting a divorce but they also are about to share the end of the world.

There was a series of explosions of dirty bombs in town and people are urged to stay inside and board up windows and doors. Initially, they have no idea what is going on other than cable, phone reception and electricity are going out. Then the next door neighbor shows up in a protective suit and gas mask and updates them on the situation.

Before the end, however, the friends have to go over issues that have been happening within their circle in the past while trying to prepare themselves the best way they can for certain death.

The film ends with them sitting around the dinner table, each with a glass of poison in front of them and the agreement to down them all at the same time.

6/10

Life of Pi

If any of the films recently released (and recently nominated for a heap of Academy Awards) deserves the description beautiful, this is the one.

Life of Pi tells the story of young Pi Patel, who leaves Pondicherry, India, together with his family and an entire zoo for Vancouver, Canada. When the freighter sinks in the vastness of the Pacific, Pi finds himself on a lifeboat with an injured zebra, a hyena, an orang utan and Richard Parker, a Bengal tiger.

The situation is as bad as it sounds and the boy immediately has to start his fight for survival - not only surviving the sea, but also the two carnivorous animals on board. The zebra is the first to go. Easy target that it is, the hyena sets upon it almost immediately. Next is the orang utan. The most furious kill, however, is of the hyena itself. Richard Parker finally makes an appearance jumping out from below the tarp cover to end the hyena's reign of terror - and making everyone in the cinema jump out of their seats. The rest of the story is of Pi and Richard Parker having to find some sort of arrangement in order for both of them to survive - the tiger needing the boys help to get food and water, the boy kept alert at all times by the tiger's presence.

The ocean setting is a feast for the eyes, thanks to the magic of the cinematography department and the technicians bringing the tiger to life. I wasn't that taken with the visuals of a film since Hero.

I read a few reviews that complained about the ending (the tiger's departure, the second - less adventurous but more credible - story version) but having read the book, I didn't really have to bother with that. If anyone wants to take issue, they have to take it with the book and/or its writer, Yann Martel. It has been too long since I read it for me to say that this or that detail was different. Overall the story was as I remember from the original text.

I recommend both, book and film.

9/10

Tángshān Dàdìzhèn (Aftershock)

The film Tángshān Dàdìzhèn tells the story of one family torn apart by what was the deadliest earthquake of the 20th century.

It starts with the Great Tangshan Earthquake of July 28, 1976. The twins Fang Deng (a girl) and Fang Da (a boy) are trapped underneath a large concrete slab, that is settled in such an unfortunate way that lifting one side to save one of the children will almost certainly kill the other. The mother, Yuan Ni, who has already lost her husband in the disaster, is pressured by the rescue team to make a decision on which child to save. When she refuses and the rescue team is about to move on to help someone else, she asks them to save the boy. She takes her injured son to a military base to get medical help, thinking her daughter dead. Fang Deng wakes up beside her father's body and in the chaos of the aftermath, gets placed in a childrens' home, from which she gets adopted by her foster parents.

The biggest part of the film follows the parallel story of mother and daughter. One refusing to leave the town and repeatedly telling her deceased husband and thought-dead daughter the directions to her new house in Tanshan, the other pretending not to remember anything about the earthquake and her family, when in reality she cannot forget (or forgive) hearing her mother chose her twin brother's life over hers.

What follows are the ups and downs of everyday life lived in different towns and different cicumstances. Over the course of the next 32 years, both twins have children - giving them the same name, Dian Dian. Fang Deng eventually marries a 'foreigner' and moves to Vancouver. She only returns in 2008 when another devastating earthquake hits China and she works on what is called the Tangshan Rescue Team, where she meets her long lost brother again. Mother and daughter get reunited and the film ends with the family visiting the (empty) graves of father and daughter.

A very sad film, dedicated to the survivers of the Great Earthquake. For all the devastation depicted, it carries itself with dignity and never gorges on the blood and bodies of the victims.

The only irritating thing is that the actor playing the Canadian husband is very bad and stands out among a cast delivering stellar performances.

8/10