FINAL DESTINATION (2000)

Right as he and his fellow students board an airplane headed for France, high school student Alex has an intense vision of the plane exploding and killing everybody. He wakes from the vision and when he sees some of the minor things in the vision coming true, he freaks the fuck out and runs off the plane like a 1990's daytime talk show guest who just found out his girlfriend is pregnant with his neighbors dogs 3rd cousin. A few people go with him (not all voluntarily) and as they stand at the terminal arguing, the plane takes off and explodes into a million pieces. Alex's vision has thrown a monkey wrench in "Death's design" and they are all suppose to be dead, but they're not. So now Death has to correct the books, but I don't think he likes correcting the books because when he comes for you it seems to always be in brutal, disgusting and sometimes elaborate ways.

The idea for this movie is brilliant and in 2000 it was a breath of fresh air in a genre that was kinda stagnate with poo-poo like THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT, STIGMATA, HOUSE ON HAUNTED HILL and I STILL KNOW WHAT YOU DID LAST SUMMER stinking up the New Release Horror section at the neighborhood video stores. I mean, it's still not a hardcore horror movie, but it's a great guilty pleasure. The best part is the elaborate lengths that Death goes to get his kills. At moments, especially later on in the series, it's almost like Death grew up watching Wile E. Coyote and Roadrunner cartoons and that's where he got all of his ideas. It's great! The biggest crowd pleaser in this installment has to be the bus.

I understand this film was targeted to the teenage crowd, but I think the film would have been even better if the kills had been bumped up a few notches on the gore meter. Also, some nudity would have been nice.

Definitely worth checking out.

Part 2 - Final Destination 2 (2003)
Part 3 - Final Destination 3 (2006)
Part 4 - The Final Destination (2009)
Part 5 - Final Destination 5 (2011)

VOLCANO (1997)

You like volcanoes? You like the sound of Tommy Lee Jones' voice barking orders nonstop? You like humans coming together and being heroic as fuck?  Well, have I got the film for you!

Some strange stuff is going on in downtown Los Angeles...lake temperature up, underground workers mysteriously getting burned to death, dogs and cats living together, etc. The scientists try to warn them, but they just won't listen!!! So the next morning, the city's disaster management guy, Tommy Lee Jones, is driving to work when suddenly lava starts spewing out of the La Brea Tar Pits. Being the quick thinker that he is, Jones jumps out of his whip and starts saving lives. Emergency crew show up and eventually they get the situation under control only to discover that a quick moving lava flow is using an underground train tunnel and headed straight for the city's major hospital.

If you don't take it too seriously, it's a good movie to laugh at.  Dated special effects, forced emotional music, zero character depth, made-for-TV feel, hilarious dialogue, acting that borders on overacting, good pace, daughter that might just be the most helpless character in disaster movie history.  The opening build-up portion was easily the best part of the movie.  Unfortunately, it was too short.

VOLCANO is a fun guilty pleasure.

VOLCANO drinking game: anytime somebody does something heroic, anytime somebody says "Oh my God" or the like, every time Tommy Lee Jones yells out an order, every time the firemen aim their fire hoses towards the middle of the lava flow instead of the leading edge, every time something doesn't melt when the lava hits it (streetlight poles are a good example), every time a dog barks at the lava and every time Tommy Lee Jones's daughter just stands there frozen like a brain dead idiot.