Day After Tomorrow

Saw The Day After Tomorrow last night, and surprise, surprise, I loved it. I'm all about disaster movies, so when the previews promised a disaster movie with multiple KINDS of disasters, done by Roland Emmerich (he who proved with ID4 that big-budget summer films are definitely his thing), I vowed I had to see it soon.

The verdict: Overly predictable (you can see most plot points coming a mile away), average acting except for one or two standouts (Ian Holm, Jake Gyllenhaal, Emmy Rossum), cliched disaster-movie dialogue, cliched disaster-movie slow-motion shots of people trying to outrun various onrushing disasters, cliched disaster-movie situations, science that is so dramatically exaggerated as to be laughable, an overly dramatic score, and proselytizing about the global climate and humankind's responsibilities to Mother Earth that's about as subtle as a brick to the face.

But. Two words (and I am indebted to the amazingly talented pfarley for these two words):

STORM. PORN.

If you're like me, you're not going to this film because you want Oscar-worthy acting, or a tightly scripted plot, or surprises around every corner. You're going for the storm porn. And, baby, you will GET IT in this film. Some of the best effects work I have seen yet give us masses of whirling clouds, huge walls of wind-driven stormsurge, eerily sylphlike and amazingly destructive tornadoes, and of course flash-freezing ICY CLOUDS OF DOOM.

No, it won't win any Oscars, or any awards, and most critics will probably savage it. But who cares? It'll make millions, it's a fun mindless summer action film, and it's a good time.

Storm porn, baby.

-- END OF LINE --

Currently playing: Jonn Serrie -- Ixlandia. A bit more pop-oriented than some of Jonn's efforts, but still mellow and soothing.

Word.

Here's a useful program. Image sent to me by my friend Matt Smith, he of the outstanding prog-metal project Theocracy. Not sure where he got it.

Word.

( Image behind a cut for those of you on slow connections. )

This seems particularly appropriate right now, since I'm playing through Need for Speed: Underground at home, which is very directly targeted at, shall we say, the urban crowd. :)

-- END OF LINE --

Currently playing: Symphony X -- The Damnation Game. Not as good as their later efforts, but still a fine heavy prog-metal album.