Mage Effects - How do you pull of classic tropes?

[Uwotm8]

So, I was curious about a couple classic magical tropes found in media and was curious about how to pull them off in Pathfinder. (Yes, yes, I realize not every one may be possible.)

For example/to start, lightning/column-o-power from the sky. Most any effect that deals with weather, lightning, etc. generates from yourself. Control weather takes 10 minutes and isn't impressive even in any kind of 'look what I can do' challenge when people are 5 minutes into the casting and wondering wtf is going on. Call lightning is only 30 feet long. How would you do this?

Feel free to give solutions and/or pose a new question!

[Avoron]

Ironically, illusion spells are the best way to do that.

A level 5 wizard who wants to show off their power is probably going to be able to do that best by casting major image to create a 10x10x50 pillar of lightning that crackles with electricity and gives off heat.