Thursday 3 March 2016

Thursday Movie Picks: Thursday Movie Picks #86: Storms/Adverse Weather




Missed the last few weeks for reasons, but returning for this one. This week it's Adverse weather movies which could include The Day After Tomorrow, a film that my year 9 geography teacher hates for being stupid and unrealistic. - http://wanderingthroughtheshelves.blogspot.co.uk/


In Take Shelter Michael Shannon's Curtis LaForche is plagued by apocalyptic versions of an approaching storm, as a result he builds a shelter to protect his family. This is an interesting film that takes a unique look at anxiety, obsession and mental illness in general. Take Shelter is one of the films that put Jessica Chastain on the map back in 2011 when she seemed to be everywhere.

There's something deadly lurking in the fog that is covering a small costal town in the California. It isn't one of Carpenter's most famous films but it's still a chilling film. Also 2007's The Mist is worth checking out.


Three weather fronts collide creating a perfect storm leaving our six fisherman caught right in the middle of a storm where 50 foot waves crash into the small fishing vessel. Director Wolfgang Peterson is much more in his element when the storm is at its peak, but struggles when developing character.

18 comments:

  1. Welcome back! I've only seen The Fog but the 2006 remake and it was awful. I think I'll check out Take Shelter.

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    1. Ain't see the remake. Never heard anything good about it.

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  2. I can't believe I didn't think of Take Shelter! DAMN IT!! lol

    I really love that movie. I haven't seen The Fog, I know I have seen The Perfect Storm but I don't remember much from it.

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    1. Haha. It can be painful when you think you completely fogotten something obvious. Strangely, it was the first film that came to my head.

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  3. Take Shelter is a great choice for today...and it's a GREAT movie!

    I also chose The Perfect Storm. It's not a perfect movie, but it's well made and is a film I think more people should talk about.

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    1. Yeah...A Perfect Storm lacked character and Diane Lane was bloody annoying, but I did like the film.

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  4. I've not seen any of these. Sad, I know. Guess I'm adding these to the watchlist.

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    1. Another three on a already long watch list (if mine's anything to go by)

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  5. I found them all to be decent at best.

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    1. Decent is probs fair for the latter two. Take Shelter is above decent.

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  6. Great choices! I liked but didn't love Take Shelter, what great performances it contained especially Michael Shannon. I just watched The Fog at last within the last year and it's good cheesy fun...what a cast!! I'd read The Perfect Storm before seeing the film so I thought I was prepared for it but by the end it was almost suffocatingly intense. Decent film but I can't imagine ever watching it again.

    Funny you mentioned The Day After Tomorrow, it's the title of the week including in mine. I admit that it's absurd but for some reason it's always been one that I get a kick out of watching, but then I'm a disaster film junkie.

    Here's my three:

    Into the Storm (2014)-Soggy in every way movie about a mega-storm front that lays waste to a Midwest town. Like many current disaster movies this puts a group of people that the audience knows nothing about in peril and then expects them to be invested in their plight. Some good special effects but that’s about all. Starts out okay but quickly slips into absurdity.

    The Day After Tomorrow (2004)-Big, dumb but fun cautionary tale. Climatologist Dennis Quaid and his team witness a huge crack in an ice shelf and warn the world authorities that it’s a sign of a coming cataclysm but no-one’s listening. Next thing you know superstorms start forming and causing havoc and who should be stuck right smack dab in the middle of the biggest? Why Quaid’s son Jake Gyllenhaal of course! Hits its fever pitch when Quaid outruns the Ice Age!

    The Rains Came (1939)-In Ranchipur, India the faithless Lady Edwina Esketh (Myrna Loy) and her cruel husband Lord Esketh meet Major Rama Safti (Tyrone Power) a doctor and heir presumptive to the throne and Edwina renews her acquaintanceship with artist Tom Ransome (George Brent), a former lover. Bored she sets out to seduce the principled Safti as a distraction but finds herself falling in love. It’s high class soap opera with good performances until the seasonal rains come and then watch out! An earthquake hits during the heaviest downpour causing a dam to collapse followed by a cholera epidemic while the water keeps rising! Winner of the first Oscar given for special effects.

    Welcome back!

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    1. Yeah...Into the Storm wasn't a great film, and you hit the nail on the head. It's hard to be gripped when you care so little about the characters.

      Haven't heard of your last one. May check it out

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  7. I figured The Perfect Storm would be the big pick of the week. It's good - I remember being amazed by the effects when I saw it in the theater. LOVE the performances in Take Shelter. The movie isn't quite at that level but it's really good.

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    1. Haha. Would have been great to see in the cinema. Those 50ft waves would have looked pretty huge.

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  8. I thought, also, The Perfect Storm would be picked all over. I saw this film and thought it was quite good even though we really don't know what happened on the boat. I haven't seen the other 2 but the first sounds interesting to see.

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    1. That's true. Leaves a lot to the imgination I guess.

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  9. I haven't seen any of your picks, though if The Fog is anything like The Mist...that had an ending that I cannot forget.

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    1. Similar premise but The Fog doesn't have anything like the ending of The Mist.

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