A conspiracist discovers the moon is on a collision course with Earth. Cheerfully shambolic SF disaster flick, cribbing from across the genre from Contact to The Core as well as from the director’s back catalogue. A sturdy cast of B-listers helps, with John Bradley being especially good value.
Here’s the trailer.
An ancient Egyptian artefact proves to access a wormhole to a distant planet: a team investigates. Cheerfully unpretentious blockbuster, nicking bits of business from everything from Lawrence of Arabia to Aliens via Erich von Daniken. A great David Arnold score and a solid cast help no end.
Here’s the trailer.
A scientist warns against a new ice age: when it hits, he embarks on a quest to rescue his son. Earnest though daft ecological disaster flick: its environmental messaging gets somewhat lost in soap operatics, awkward storytelling, and contrived menace.
Here’s the trailer.
Six months after the Pearl Harbour attack, the Japanese and US navies battle in the Pacific. Clunkily-scripted military action-drama that doesn’t have quite the effects budget needed to pull off its ambitious visual ideas. Poor lighting of greenscreen work doesn’t help. A decent cast of hunks and character actors do what they can.
A geological event threatens global disaster. Another of Emmerich’s gently-satirical throw-em-to-the-lions iconoclastic pictures, this time playing with Mayan prophecies and CG tectonic plates shifting. Fun if you go with it.
Aliens invade Earth. Patriotic, team-oriented, and generally satisfactory War of the Worlds update which shoehorns in Wells’ ending and makes space for an ensemble cast having fun plus then-state of the art effects work. Slyly tongue-in-cheek throughout.
20 years after Independence Day, the aliens return. Sequel/reprise of the 1996 original, taking a lighter, space operatic tone. ID4:R works because it plays as B-movie fodder, and is less interested in plausibility than in creating fun moments.
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