2012: Ice Age (Travis Fort) - 2011

This is a really bad movie that is fun to watch because it is so improbable.  After a humongous volcano explodes in Iceland, it sends the mother of all glaciers racing toward the east coast of the United States.  The movie follows the Hart family as they race from Bangor, Maine to New Jersey ahead of the glacier that is traveling at 200 mph.  At one point they are 50 miles from New York City with the glacier in the rear view mirror.  If you liked story problems in Algebra I, you will realize that director Fort was not a math wizard.  The Hart family turns out to be the luckiest of all evacuees, always able to find brand-new SUVs with keys in the ignition and also a small airplane in a garage.  The family is racing to find their daughter who is a college student in New York.  Can you imagine how unlikely and preposterous that would be in the face of this mammoth catastrophe?  The special effects are not that great - mostly snow and giant hunks of ice that almost hit their toy vehicles.  I also noticed that the credits list only four stunt actors.  The lead actor (Patrick Labyorteaux) is the perfect combination of science-nerd, out-of-touch parent, and luckiest-guesser-in-the-world who is never fazed by unsurmountable odds.  The ending will go down in bad-movie history.  [JAM 9/25/2011]