Storm Movies Free On Youtube
Olympia Brackin
While the thought of trying to survive a doomsday scenario or extreme weather event doesn't sound like a lot of fun, watching a disaster movie makes for a better experience: all the thrills, none of the cleanup. Some are over-the-top B-movies, some are Oscar-bait, and some are excellent finding a balance of both.
The latest throws back to a fan favorite: The original 1996 "Twister" starred Bill Paxton and Helen Hunt as storm-chasing exes in the center of deadly tornadoes, and the new sequel "Twisters" ups the windy threats alongside Glen Powell and Daisy Edgar-Jones.
Got an appetite for destruction of the environmentally conscious sort? Climate change gets its revenge in this thriller, where Jake Gyllenhaal co-stars as a climatologist alongside a nasty hailstorm that pelts Tokyo, tornadoes that hit LA and a flood that makes New York City a swimming pool, all leading to a sudden new ice age.
It would have had more of an, ahem, impact if the similarly themed (and better) "Armageddon" hadn't come out the very same summer. This one, which centers on a pair of comets headed toward Earth, doles out plenty of property damage but leans more thoughtful, with a commanding presidential performance by Morgan Freeman.
Aside from the flying cow, the blockbuster holds up for two reasons. Bill Paxton is fantastic in an energetic yet still soulful role as a storm chaser opposite Helen Hunt. And even nearly 30 years later, those increasingly gnarly "Twister" tornadoes are still freaky as they ever were, roaring like angry beasts.
Lorene Scafaria's big-hearted pre-apocalyptic comedy follows an insurance salesman (Steve Carell), dumped by his wife three weeks before an asteroid hits Earth, who takes a road trip with his neighbor (Keira Knightley) to track down the high school sweetheart who got away.
The ultra-intense action flick revisits a harrowing real-life 2010 oil-rig explosion and spill in the Gulf of Mexico, with Mark Wahlberg's electrician heading up a working-class crew fighting to rescue each other amid the complete onslaught of mud, fire and deadly circumstance.
While the movies it spoofs rank higher on this list, surely you can't leave out this pitch-perfect comedy sending up Hollywood's 1970s disaster-flick golden era. (Don't call me Shirley.) From Robert Hays' flop-sweaty pilot to Peter Graves asking that kid if he's ever seen a grown man naked, it crash-lands every choice gag.
George Clooney and Mark Wahlberg play embattled sailors in this white-knuckle thriller based on an actual 1991 maritime incident. After a lackluster fishing season, a boat captain (Clooney) puts a crew together for a last haul that ends up heading right into a hurricane with raging seas and one deadly serious wave.
The most infamous TV movie ever, and one many parents wondered if their kids should watch. Amid cold war tensions, the Emmy-winning drama graphically imagined a nuclear attack on America, with disturbing scenes of people and buildings being vaporized. A bleak cautionary tale no one alive in that era will forget.
Steve McQueen and Paul Newman were on fire back in the '70s, especially with this suspenseful thriller. As a San Francisco fire chief and an architect respectively, they team up to save a bunch of partygoers in a blazing skyscraper played by Fred Astaire, Faye Dunaway, Richard Chamberlain, Robert Vaughn and more.
Director Lars von Trier veered artsy with his end-of-the-world drama, which stars Kirsten Dunst and Charlotte Gainsbourg as sisters and a narrative about a rogue planet smashing into Earth. The film deftly explores people's wildly varying mindsets when such a situation arises, plus doesn't skimp on its doomsday denouement.
This one definitely hits different after COVID-19. Steven Soderbergh's thriller follows the quick spread of a virus that turns into a disruptive global pandemic (sound familiar?) starring Gwyneth Paltrow as the patient zero, Matt Damon as her husband, Jude Law as a conspiracy theorist and Laurence Fishburne as a Fauci-esque physician.
Speaking of COVID, this entertaining gem got a bit lost when the movie industry was in turmoil. Gerard Butler is rather terrific as an Everyman dude trying to get his family back together in the action thriller, which takes a realistic and intimate perspective on the crisis that would unfold if a comet was speeding directly toward us.
Michael Shannon is an Ohio construction worker wracked by apocalyptic nightmares and waking visions of dark storms and black birds, so much so that he worries his wife (Jessica Chastain) when souping up their tornado bunker. The quasi-horror drama is a thoughtful exploration of mental illness, with an emotional gut-punch ending.
Director Michael Bay was at his Bay-est with this action-adventure sending a bunch of roughnecks (led by Bruce Willis but don't forget Ben Affleck) to space so they can nuke an incoming, planet-killing asteroid the size of Texas before it can crash into Earth. To quote Aerosmith, you don't want to miss a thing in this machismo-fest.
A flying mass of attacking feathered fiends pecking at people's faces sounds like a disaster scenario to us. Alfred Hitchcock drove audiences more than a bit psycho with his freaky narrative, where Tippi Hedren and Rod Taylor are among the poor unfortunate souls traumatized by multiple bird species working together for maximum mayhem.
Sure, it turns into pretty much a patriotic sci-fi action film. But hoo boy, it nails being a disaster-piece early, with the aliens arriving and waiting a bit before just brilliantly unleashing hellfire on major cities (including blowing up the White House in memorable style). All that, alongside the popularity of "Twister," sparked a major '90s resurgence in the calamitous genre that included ...
James Cameron's mega blockbuster (and Oscar best-picture winner) checks all the appropriate disaster-movie boxes, from soap opera to big names. (And Kate Winslet and Leonardo DiCaprio were the biggest around then.) "Titanic" goes hardest with the spectacular sinking of the iconic boat, a special-effects bonanza as key as the emotional love story to why this three-hour-plus epic works so well (even today).
Meteor Storm is elevated from utter tosh by its credible acting, tightly paced flow and some characters whose decisions are so stupid you have to watch to see what situations their ineptness takes them next. Coming in at a tight hour and a half, its fun, mindless and cheesy but instead of outwardly going for that edge like say Megasnake, this disaster movie straddles serious relationship drama with silly idiotic behaviour and gets the tone spot on for its budget. Better than expected.
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Conventions in Group A were found in at least 60% of both English-language and Japanese-language disaster movies; those in Group B were found in at least 60% of English-language movies, but less than 60% of Japanese-language ones; those in Group C were found in less than 60% of English-language movies but at least 60% of Japanese-language ones.
The movie opens with a devastating blow to the couple. Balor is sitting in front of a fireplace, praying, with their wedding picture in hand, as Aislin is giving birth in the bedroom. We then see a little grave under a tree in their yard and complete silence in the house. The McNeils were probably not the epitome of marital bliss earlier but now they are obviously avoiding each other. They do not talk. They do not smile. They sleep in separate bedrooms. Trying to cope in their own ways.
This severe shock is not the only thing causing distress for Balor. The main source of employment on the island is mining, and now that the mine is getting shut down, the population is leaving to work at the factories on mainland. Balor is at the brink of losing everything he has found meaning in: His church. His congregation. His life.
Early in the movie, Mrs. McKinnon, a depressed woman from his congregation, visits Balor. Her husband has changed since they got the news about the mine closing. He is constantly drinking and talking about the old days. He is turning violent and and scaring off their sons.
Balor finds God in obedience, structure and respect while Aislin finds God in the nature. There cannot be a worse match in marriage while there cannot be a better match in casting. Damian Lewis and Andrea Riseborough are powerful together. But you cannot help ask WHY this spirited, independent-minded woman has stayed with this man. It is not romantic love. But she has feelings for him. It is subtle but it is there. Is it gratitude? Familiarity? Is it some kind of Stockholm syndrome where strong emotional ties develop in a relationship where one side periodically beats, abuses, or intimidates the other? Or is it compassion for this self-repressed man who is, after all, a victim of his own rigidity?
As his world is shattering all around him, Balor prays and drinks, he prays and drinks a bit more, and finally hears God speak to him and give him a task of a lifetime: Balor will now dismantle his entire church and take the parts to the mainland on a boat.
The Silent Storm makes a poetic play with the scenery that the foggy and stormy weather leaves with Balor and the sunny skies appear for Aislin and Fionn. She lets her hair down. He gets flirty. They reveal secrets. And, the Isle of Mull, with its sublime beauty, shines like a star than just a stunning backdrop in the movie.
There is a scene towards the end of the movie where Damian is absolutely at the top of his acting powers. Balor does something wrong, VERY wrong, and you can absolutely feel he deeply hates himself just after doing it. And you do not even see his face. It is just the way he moves and you know.
With some exceptions and exaggerations, disaster movies hit home because of an element of realism. Tornadoes, earthquakes, even volcanoes. We can imagine any possibility thanks to CGI and wind machines and questionable acting.