These bold films confront viewers and dare to offend
As if sailing in a slowly sinking boat in the middle of the ocean wasn't enough, Robert Redford's lone yachtsman also has to contend with high seas and atrocious weather in this compelling survival-at-sea drama.
Stranded pilot Overgård (Mads Mikkelsen) is left stranded in a frozen Arctic wasteland after surviving a plane crash. A rescue helicopter is also downed, leaving the co-pilot severely injured. All this in sub-zero temperatures, freezing blizzards, and an ever-present threat from hungry polar bears.
Survivors of a series of extreme weather events face an uncertain future as meteorological mayhem ushers in global cooling and the dawning of a new ice age. Dennis Quaid and Jake Gyllenhaal are among those desperately trying to avoid frostbite.
John Carpenter's supernatural horror classic features a strange glowing fog that envelops a small coastal community, bringing with it the vengeful ghosts of mariners who perished in a shipwreck there 100 years before.
The title refers to an ice storm that descends over Connecticut, the heavy accumulations of ice threatening to bring down trees and topple utility poles and communication towers. It also serves as a metaphor for the tumultuous social changes of the early 1970s and the lives of two dysfunctional families as they prepare to celebrate Thanksgiving weekend in 1973. Kevin Kline, Joan Allen, and Sigourney Weaver head the cast.
A mysterious new planet is on a collision course with Earth. Its trajectory causes the weather to change erratically. The imminent catastrophe induces depression and paranoia among many including two sisters, Justine (Kirstin Dunst) and Claire (Charlotte Gainsbourg).
Fueled by extreme drought and strong winds, a wildfire threatens the town of Yarnell in Arizona. What unfolds is nothing short of a national tragedy. 'Only the Brave' stars James Brolin and Jeff Bridges and is based on the true story of the Granite Mountain Hotshots.
The storm in question is the 1991 Perfect Storm, a cyclone that absorbed Hurricane Grace. The monstrous low-pressure system struck the east coast of America in October. The loss at sea with all hands of commercial fishing vessel Andrea Gail after being caught in its destructive path is the subject of this biographical disaster film, which stars George Clooney and Mark Wahlberg.
Shot in remote, far-away locations under natural light, 'The Revenant' tested cast and crew in enduring freezing cold conditions, with hypothermia a constant possibility. Leonardo DiCaprio plays the lead, real-life frontiersman Hugh Glass (c. 1783–1833).
A meteorologist (Helen Hunt) is obsessed with tornadoes and joins a team of storm chasers after inventing a device that could revolutionize tornado research. The only way to test the apparatus is by placing it in the path of a F5 twister. Bill Paxton costars.
Set in a future where the polar ice caps have melted and Earth is almost entirely submerged, 'Waterworld' follows the "Mariner" (Kevin Costner) as he seeks out dry land with a woman and a girl in tow while fighting off a ruthless gang of pirates.
The simultaneous detonations of nuclear devices from the United States and Russia cause the Earth's orbit to be altered. As a consequence, strange meteorological events begin to affect the globe that ultimately set the planet spiraling towards the Sun. The movie is notable for a then unknown Michael Caine playing an uncredited police officer diverting traffic.
A FedEx cargo plane gets caught in a storm and crashes into the Pacific Ocean. Chuck Nolan (Tom Hanks) is the sole survivor who ends up stranded on an uninhabited island where his survival skills—and mental strength—are tested to the extreme.
As Brooklyn melts on the hottest day of the year, racial tensions simmer between African-American residents and the Italian-American owners of a local pizzeria. Spike Lee's comedy-drama stars John Turturro, Samuel L. Jackson, and Lee himself.
The frozen, frigid landscape of North Dakota in mid-winter provides the backdrop for the Cohen brothers' masterly black comedy starring Frances McDormand, William H. Macy, and Steve Buscemi.
Catastrophic flooding caused by a severe storm serves as a useful diversion for a gang intent on robbing US$3 million from an armored truck. Treachery and intrigue only deepen the plot. Christian Slater and Morgan Freeman head the cast.
This romantic comedy is played out in snowy weather in a Fargo-esque setting as old rivals Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau vie for the attention of Ann-Margret during a white Christmas.
Set in an unforgiving Antarctica, 'Whiteout' stars Kate Beckinsale as Special Deputy US Marshal Carrie Stetko, who's tracking a killer as the sun is about to set for six months, plunging the continent into near-perpetual darkness.
'Everest' recounts the tragic events of May 10, 1996, when a huge storm engulfed Mount Everest to claim the lives of eight climbers—the worst loss of life ever on the mountain on a single day. The ensemble cast includes Jake Gyllenhaal, Josh Brolin, and John Hawkes.
A network of satellites designed to control the global climate suddenly run amok and attack Earth. Satellite designer and tech wizard Jacob "Jake" Lawson (Gerard Butler) is the only one who can reverse the threat to the planet's environmental stability.
Based on the 1980 novella of the same name by Stephen King, 'The Mist' opens with a severe thunderstorm that unleashes a weird mist that conceals a species of bloodthirsty creatures intent on attacking a small town. Thomas Jane, Marcia Gay Harden, and Andre Braugher number among the terrified residents.
Based on events surrounding the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami that claimed around 230,000 lives, 'The Impossible' follows the experience of María Belón and her family as the tidal wave struck, and its awful aftermath. Naomi Watts, Ewan McGregor, and Tom Holland, in his film debut, star.
A fierce hurricane battering the Florida Keys effectively barricades residents and gangsters alike inside a Key Largo hotel, a situation that raises tensions and creates danger as Humphrey Bogart's visitor confronts mob boss Edward G. Robinson while the storm rages outside. This classic film noir is directed by John Huston.
Sources: (National Park Service) (Associated Press) (History) (Britannica)
See also: Will this be the first country destroyed by climate change?
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Paul Walker, Bruce Greenwood, and Moon Bloodgood star in this tale of a guide at an Antarctica research base who risks his life and the lives of his colleagues to save his dogs.
After being pummeled by a destructive storm, two lighthouse keepers (Willem Dafoe and Robert Pattinson) find themselves marooned on their remote New England outpost. In the wake of the tempest, the pair eventually fall into psychological turmoil.
An undersea earthquake results in a huge tsunami that barrels across the ocean to broadside the SS Poseidon, overturning the cruise liner and trapping dozens of passengers in air pockets below the surface. Gene Hackman, Ernest Borgnine, and Shelley Winters are among the all-star cast appearing in one of Hollywood's first great disaster films of the early 1970s.
Set in a future where a failed climate change experiment has decimated all life except for survivors who boarded the Snowpiercer, a train that travels a globe-encircling track and effectively carries the last remnants of humanity, this movie paints a picture of a post-apocalyptic brave new world set in a frozen wasteland.
The terrifying climax to Stanley Kubrick's screen adaptation of Stephen King's horror novel is set outside the Overlook Hotel in a freezing blizzard. Jack Nicholson's memorable and manic Jack Torrance is seen stumbling through a maze intent on axing to death his son Danny.
Inspired by the biblical story of Noah's Ark from the Book of Genesis and the Book of Enoch, Noah (Russell Crowe) acts on a vision from God before an apocalyptic flood cleanses the world.
Drought, floods, tornados, hurricanes, snow... bad weather has played a major role in some of Hollywood's most memorable films. Indeed, our often capricious climate has provided a backdrop for all sorts of movie genres including horror, drama, and even comedy. Many of these pictures are pure, albeit realistic, fiction. Others, however, are based on fact and the pressing issue of climate change. So, what films are spot on with their forecast?
Click through for movies in which extreme weather plays its part.
Movies in which extreme weather plays its part
Analyzing Hollywood's portrayal of climate crise
MOVIES Climate
Drought, floods, tornados, hurricanes, snow... bad weather has played a major role in some of Hollywood's most memorable films. Indeed, our often capricious climate has provided a backdrop for all sorts of movie genres including horror, drama, and even comedy. Many of these pictures are pure, albeit realistic, fiction. Others, however, are based on fact and the pressing issue of climate change. So, what films are spot on with their forecast?
Click through for movies in which extreme weather plays its part.