2009 (Roland Emmerich) 14A, 156 min
Starring: Amanda Peet, Chiwetel Ejiofor, John Cusack, Thandie Newton

Roland Emmerich just can’t get enough of destroying the White House. First he had aliens vaporize it from above (Independence Day) and then he buried it under an avalanche of ice and snow (The Day After Tomorrow). This year he completes the hat trick, drowning it under a 10-mile high, aircraft carrier-toting tidal wave. This is only one of innumerable and spectacular effects sequences that make up the bulk of 2012. Los Angeles sinks into the ocean, the Vatican splits in half, Las Vegas burns to the ground. In the middle of all this mayhem, John Cusack, playing a failed novelist/limo driver, makes a desperate attempt to save the lives of his family. Along the way, he assembles a motley crew of fellow survivalists, including an aging Russian boxer, a truck driving monk and a scrappy poodle. While each of these characters is fun in his own right, the real pleasure comes from watching director Emmerich lay waste to the entire planet. The apocalypse never looked so good.