SAN ANDREAS

I watched this movie on my birthday in Taiwan. It was my first choice because I would prefer to watch a chinese movie while I was there but this was the only feasible choice then given the time.

Starring Dwayne Johnson as the lead Ray, Carla Gugino as his ex-wife Emma, Alexandra Daddario as his daughter Blake, Ioan Gruffudd as the cowardice real estate developer Daniel, the asian actor Will Yun Lee as Dr Kim Chung, Colton Haynes as the helicopter rescuer Joby, this was a highly unrealistic movie where Ray, a helicopter rescue pilot, went about with his helicopter and a boat to save his ex-wife Emma and daughter Blake from the killer earthquake which measured 9.6 on the Richter scale, the tsunami, and all the effects of the catastrophe e.g. crumbling buildings.

Kylie Minogue had a cameo role as Emma's sister Susan and she died together with an entire building of people, except for Emma who managed to make it to the rooftop of the building and was rescued by Ray on his helicopter before going all out to locate Blake, who was saved by a stranger Ben Taylor, who later became her boyfriend, and his younger brother Ollie, before the father came to the final rescue.

Well, I looked past how unrealistic the plot was, and enjoyed the movie for what it was - an action-packed movie.

the collapsing Hoover dam 

seismologist Lawrence Hayes and the reporter Serena

San Franciso destroyed by the earthquake and tsunami

Ollie, Blake and Ben (L to R) watched on with horror as the tsunami hit their building

Ray and Emma

NOAH

Based loosely on the biblical "Noah's Ark", this movie starred Russell Crowe in the lead role of Noah, Jennifer Connelly as his wife, Anthony Hopkins as Noah's father, Ray Winstone as King Tubal-cain, Emma Watson as Ila and Logan Lerman as Ham. 

Noah's family belonged to a bloodline descended from Adam and Eve, who had 3 sons Cain, Abel and Seth after eating the forbidden fruit in the Garden of Eden. Cain was said to have killed his brother Abel and gave rise to savage and ruthless descendants, who were protected by fallen angels who turned into stone giants known as the Watchers, who continued their rampage to kill anyone and anything who were in their paths. Seth, on the other hand, was the good one who escaped and continued his lineage by living as nomads to protect earth and its inhabitants.

Noah received a message from the Creator through a dream which warned him of an impending great flood that would kill all men and signaled to him to build an ark to save what's left of earth's creatures. With the help of the Creator and the Watchers, Noah painstakingly built the ark but offended the king Tubal-cain, who was Cain's descendant, by refusing to accept him and his people on the ark when they came seeking for refuge. Tubal-cain vowed to seek vengeance on Noah and this very much summed up what the rest of the movie was about.

Noah was portrayed as a staunch believer of the Creator and he was fixated with building the ark and doing what he felt was necessary, including sacrificing the innocent and killing, to carry out the Creator's orders at all costs. But his conviction was tested and he wavered when he was forced to decide whether to take the lives of the newborn twins, from his eldest son Shem and daughter-in-law Ila.

This movie was banned in some countries because of its religious content, which was fictitiously controversial to some religions. I, for one, just enjoyed this movie as what it is - a movie.

Noah, his wife, Ham and Leo

Migration of the snakes to the Ark

Animals migration to the Ark before the pivotal flash floods

Ray Winstone as the evil King Tubal-cain