No, not movies that are disasters; we can talk about Michael Bay movies at another time. This is going to be a short list of some of the silver screen’s most entertaining genres: the disaster flick.

I’m not an expert film critic, I’m a guy who loves movies and, unless it’s an absolutely terrible film, then I will most likely enjoy it. So don’t expect an in-depth review of each film, because I don’t do that sort of thing. So without further stalling for time, let’s get to that list.

3. Twister

The most important thing to do when watching a disaster movie is to shut off your brain. You’re here for a good time. If you spent your time worrying about techno babble, then you’re going to miss the point of the entire movie: watching some crazy fun characters chasing down tornados in a truck. That’s awesome.

The basic plot of this movie is that two competing companies are trying to win the hearts of the nation by getting tiny computers up in the air to take data from a moving tornado.  The reason people watch the movie though, is for the wanton destruction.

2. Volcano

I didn’t want to pick two disasters of the same type, so while I enjoyed “Dante’s Peak”, I chose not to include it on this list because a) Tommy Lee Jones has always been, and will always be, more fun on the screen than Pierce Brosnan, and b) I really enjoyed seeing the director’s vision for how a major metropolitan city suddenly had a volcano in the middle of it. Remember, ignore the science behind it because it won’t make sense anyways and just go have a good time.

Seriously though, how would you react if a volcano was suddenly tearing apart the downtown of your city? That’s a really freaky concept and, for the most part, I felt that the reactions to the situation were true to life.

1. Dr. Strangelove: Or how I Stopped Worrying and Learned to Love the Bomb

Okay, so this isn’t a disaster movie per say, but I’d say a nuclear doomsday scenario is scary enough to put this on a list of tornados and volcanos. Besides, I never said that I would only be covering movies where the disaster was a man vs. nature theme.  Not only is it a fantastic doomsday movie, it’s a brilliant satire that makes fun of both sides of the Cold War.

While this movie is filled with classic scenes that any movie fan should know, like the cowboy riding the bomb as it falls from the sky, the best part of this movie is watching the extremely talented and funny Peter Sellers play three different parts: an Air Force Officer, the President of the United States, and the insanely funny Dr. Strangelove. Peter Sellers, the man who brought us the original Pink Panther movies, is a genius and this is one of his best performances.

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By Andrew Whittaker

Andrew is a graduate of Utah Valley University’s Creative Writing Program. He writes SEO articles for companies like Idaho Disaster Kleanup. When not watching movies, Andrew likes to write fantasy and create his own disaster scenarios.