▶ GEOSTORM
“The Impossible” (2012)
A couple (Naomi Watts, Ewan Mcgregor) and their three sons vacationing in Thailand are swept away in the 2004 tsunami in this drama based on a true story. With rancid brown water covering every possible surface, Watts and a young Tom “Spider-man” Holland spend plenty of time clinging to whatever floats. For her efforts, Watts was nominated for a best actress Oscar.
“Waterworld” (1995)
In a flood of a different kind, “Waterworld” takes place in a future where the polar ice caps have melted, erasing almost every square inch of land. The movie opens with Kevin Costner’s Mariner on his catamaran, taking a whiz in a jug, then pouring it through a series of test tubes before gulping it down. It’s mostly downhill from there.
“Hard Rain” (1998)
A rainstorm of near biblical proportions hits tiny Huntingbird, Indiana, stranding an armored car filled with $3 million in cash from evacuated banks. It’s up to the driver (Christian Slater) to protect that money from a gang of thieves (led by Morgan Freeman) in this surprisingly entertaining action spectacle that includes a jet ski chase through a school, Randy Quaid as the sheriff, Minnie Driver as a plucky church restorer and Betty White toting a shotgun.
“Noah” (2014)
Any movie about the original rainstorm of biblical proportions was going to be problematic, considering the source material is parts of four brief chapters of Genesis. Still, there must have been better ways of fleshing out that story than adding a bunch of rock monsters.
“Twister” (1996)
Sure, it’s pure escapist entertainment. But with a cast including two late greats — Bill Paxton and Philip Seymour Hoffman — and that flying cow, it’s fun escapist entertainment.
“Atomic Twister” (2002)
When a Tennessee nuclear power plant is hit by two tornadoes, it’s up to the plant’s supervisor (Sharon Lawrence) to try to avoid a meltdown in this movie that’s roughly 1 percent as exciting as its name implies. MarkPaul Gosselaar gets to be heroic-ish as a sheriff ’s deputy, and Olympian Carl Lewis turns up as a security guard named Stu. Spoiler alert: Not even the nine-time gold medalist can outrun a tornado.