Blaine Train Ranks Top Weather Movies of All-Time

By Blaine Fentress
Senior Writer for lancewilkerson.com

Hello there, remember me? Yeah, I am that crazy guy who thought the O’s were going to be bad this year, claimed Coach K was the best of all time, and wondered why the NHL likes to screw things up. Yep, I am that guy.

After taking a couple of weeks off, I am back at the Train Stop to resume my duties. I do apologize to Phelps if he happens to read this. O’s aren’t nearly as bad as my Astros, who are turning into one of the worst teams in professional sports. Driving me nuts.

I was going to do a long, drawn-out preview on the Kentucky Derby. If anybody knows what I like, horse racing is one of those things. But, as I worked on it, I noticed something…I wasn’t going to be able to do it justice. I didn’t know everything on all 20 horses and I would have been ripping off other previews. I knew about the favorites but, that race and the conditions behind it made it anyone’s game. So, I couldn’t confidently tell you who I thought was going to win. And, you know what, I was right. I had money on Sydney’s Candy. This horse hadn’t trailed a race in 2010 and if he got out to the lead, I thought he could hold off the field. Candy did get out to the lead group and was running a great race until the last turn, when it appeared that he hit a bit of a wall and the rest of the field caught up.

And, I should have also taken my own advice to my dad. I told him, “ You can’t bet against Calvin Borel, he knows how to win the race.” My dad was smart enough to hear me, as he placed some money on the horse. I wasn’t and now I know better next year.

I am sure you all know by now about the flooding in Nashville and the surrounding area. This has been unreal to me. First off, as far as I know my family in Clarksville are ok. My sister, who lives in Brentwood, was up in Elizabethtown, Kentucky at the time of the flooding. She was able to make it back into the area Sunday night and she hasn’t had any flooding in her area. But, she was one of the lucky ones. Houses were destroyed on in one case, taken off its foundation and floated across a street. Interstates 24 and 40 were turned into parking lots. And, worst of all, the death toll continues to rise as emergency workers are starting to get into areas and looking to see if people did make it out of the area or not.

The images are just sometimes hard to look at. LP Field, home of my favorite NFL team, Tennessee Titans, had water up to the first row. Never thought the river would ever reach the stadium. It is built by the Cumberland, but I thought that it was up high enough from the river and far back enough that it would never be affected. I was wrong. Opryland Hotel, a place that my family has been to over and over again, filled with water. I wonder if it will be back up and running by the time the holidays hit because that is when people from all over flock to the hotel. That whole area, including the Grand Ole Opry theater and Opry Mills, are places that I have visited over and over again.

So, this is where I help convince you to donate. If you have 10 dollars to give up, text REDCROSS to 90999 to donate. I would highly encourage this.

That leads us to the main event of this week’s column. On Friday night, when the storms started to run through the Tennessee Valley, the Weather Channel was doing what they are normally doing during any severe weather…THEY WERE SHOWING A MOVIE. Instead of helping to alert Arkansas and Mississippi that deadly tornados were rolling through the area, they were airing a movie called “Wind.” You see, part of the problem of the Weather Channel now being owned by NBC Universal is that the higher-ups like to save money. So, instead of staffing some people to sit there and talk about the weather, LIKE THE CHANNEL WAS SET UP TO DO, they want to give people some hours off and air a movie instead.
But, this got me to think about weather movies. The ability to take a dramatic event and amp up the drama. We all have seen weather movies and have are favorites. So…





                                          Train Stop: Top 5 Weather Movies


5. Dante’s Peak / Volcano: Two movies dealing with the same thing. Both came out around the same time. Both featured a big name male actor (Pierce Brosnan / Tommy Lee Jones). Both featured a big name actress ( Rene Russo / Anne Heche ) I will be honest, I like Volcano much more than Dante’s Peak. It was believable that a volcano can grow overnight in downtown Los Angeles, right? I mean, that is possible that you could be driving down the road and then, all of a sudden, you notice a volcano in the nearby tar pits. Happens in Kentucky all the time. Dante’s Peak was just some bad acting, mostly coming from Pierce. All I remember from this movie is Pierce driving in a truck, avoiding rocks flying out a volcano. All I have to say is that I can’t wait for a movie about the Iceland Volcano, starring Europe’s leading heartthrob Jason Pumo.

4. The Day After Tomorrow / An Inconvenient Truth: Again, two movies dealing with the same topic of Global Warming. One was a great piece of fiction they dramatize certain things to catch the audience’s attention…and The Day After Tomorrow was pretty good too. Ha, kidding, kidding. Of course, An Inconvenient Truth was a documentary, hosted by Mr. Lock Box himself- Al Gore. If anything else, whether you agree or disagree with the points in the movie, it did bring the conversation to the fore-front and helped change a few things. It did make me stop running my engine in idle. I finally stopped putting those 6-pack rings in the ocean. All those aerosol cans I had remained full as I didn’t just spray them into the sky. All I have to say about The Day After Tomorrow was they it was a downer. Yep, global warming led to the tidal wave to destroy New York and tornados in Los Angeles. We are all going to die when the world starts to cool. It is all over then.

3. Hard Rain: Booyah. What, you don’t know this movie? You don’t know why it is ranked as high as it is? Why would I even have it in my top 5? Simple. Huntingburg, Indiana. The movie was set and filmed in the town that sits on the infamous 231 corridor that I have covered for high school football in the last year. Flood in a small Indiana town where Christian Slater and Morgan Freeman are shooting at each other. Plus, I think Randy Quaid’s character dies and that always is a good time. Plus, Betty White is in this movie, isn’t that enough. All right, yes the only reason I have this movie very high is because it is an action film about flooding in an Indiana town that I have been in over and over again. That’s enough for me.

2. Perfect Storm: Before “Deadliest Catch” there was this movie. Fishermen heading out for a big day of fishing. But, of course, 23 storms all combine at the same time to create…wait for it…A Perfect Storm. I like this movie. It did make me want to move to the northeast to become a worker on one of those boats, catching as many cods and lobsters as I can. Of course, the second half of the movie deals with them surviving a storm, which they don’t. That I could probably live without. Outside of Ocean’s 11 and 13, Up In The Air, and Michael Clayton, this was one of the better George Clooney movies I have seen.

1. Twister: This is the best weather movie I have ever seen. You watch this movie and then you pack up your bags and head for Tornado Alley to follow tornadoes. As a photographer, when I have been sent to areas that has either suffered tornado damage or where they have spotted a funnel cloud, I think about this movie. I have still never seen a tornado or funnel cloud yet in my life. I can’t imagine what I would act like if I did. Would I shoot it? Would I be scared? Would I drink a bottle of whiskey and swear at it? This movie does make me pumped up for it when I have to follow it. Plus, easily the best movie Bill Paxton and Helen Hunt have ever done. Outside of his role on Apollo 13 and Weird Science, I can’t tell you another good Paxton movie out there. And, Helen Hunt….what more can be said. Plus, I want to drive through a house. A house, right on the road, I want to drive right through it.

So, those are my top 5. What are yours? Am I wrong? What would you list as your top 5 weather movies? Yes, I know this didn’t have much to do with sports, but we might hit that up next week. Plus, Running With The R’s need your support. I will explain a little bit more next week. Until then, the Train rolls on…

Comments

[Jim]

Perfect Storm was a great movie.. I'm glad that it made you list...nice job.. I watch at http://www.ertx.com over 28,000 movies available !