Wait, The San Francisco Earthquake is OK but the 2004 Tsunami (caused by an earthquake) is not?

Is it a date thing?

I'm sure the 2004 Tsunami could be a fine backdrop for a Disaster Flick.

So how are you two going to settle this difference of opinion?

I'll offer to be Mousepod's second if needed.

I'd say that a real historical event could be the backdrop, though best one with little strong societal emotion still involved, but the specific dramas depicted need to be well in the realm of fiction.

Airport '75 and United 93 are both movies essentially about a plane full of people in peril and the reactions of those people as well as spectators on the ground. But emotionally they are very different things. And I'd say there is a certain emotional remove to Disaster Movies that isn't necessarily reflected in the literal meaning of the phrase.

Perfect examples, Alex. Airport '75 is a disaster movie. United 93 is not. If you cannot grok the difference, there's nothing I can do to help.



mousepod is unequivocally wrong. :p Titanic, for example, may be many terrible things, but it is not a disaster movie. Mixing plenty of hogwash fiction with remarkable depictions of fact does not change that the disaster really happened. Such a thing cannot be cheesy enough to rise (er, lower) to the level of a Disaster Movie. And believe me, Titantic tried real hard.

Titanic was both a disaster and a Disaster Movie.

Don't get me started on Titanic....

ok, since you ask (hey, you and i never had that discussion) ...


I loved the verisimilitude of the "look" They bothered to get every set perfect, down to the china patterns. The ship, the costumes, all were top notch and spot-on. The special effects were great. If you turn the sound off, you have a fantastic visual representation of the Titanic's maiden fateful voyage.


That is all. When I watch the film, which I rarely do ... but I'm a Titanic buff, so I must every now and again ... when I do, I simply pretend the director meant to do it in the style of a corny mellodrama of the era.



Too bad the far better film, A Night to Remember, which did not fictionalize the characters, was filmed on a ferryboat with no budget to speak of.

If only the two films could be melded, with the best qualities of each left intact. Le sigh.

Somewhat on topic:

I just saw the funniest logline for a screenplay that supposedly has been sold and will be produced:

"Pride and Predator." An alien crash lands and begins to butcher the mannered characters of a Jane Austen novel.

Sounds like an attempt to capitalize on the success of Pride and Prejudice and Zombies.