Books for Prep | |
 - Is there a forewoman somewhere?A catastrophe film has a simple formula. A perfectly beautiful situation. Los Angeles. With a hint of a problem. Earthquakes. Then some small elements that could lead to something else and a few geologists to prove it with theories that prove nothing but create anxiety. The geologists are women and that adds a touch of male-chauvinism when all the men (and they are only men, firemen, policemen, all kind of city workers and underground operators and security people, men, men and men again, and if you can find women they are geologists, doctors, nurses, news journalists, but not security personnel, though there might be one or two on the fringes but not in the middle of the action) of the security services don't believe her. Add to that a few simple but strongly emotional personal situations like a "single" father and his 13 year old daughter caught in the mess, and a couple more elements like that, even a couple of dogs, and you have what you need to create an emotional and fascinating catastrophe film. The rest is just special effects and there no one is better than catastrophe film makers to get these special effects right. So the catastrophe that has one chance in a million years to happen can be imagined in Los Angeles, but not too hard though like the volcanic eruptions that created Japan or those that submerged northern India with an immense basaltic plateau a couple of miles thick. Just a small little thing but right in the middle of LA with the underground as one of the main in-going avenues, along with Wilshire boulevard or whatever, for the lava to seize the city from underground. Spectacular. The heroes are set in extremely dangerous situations and miraculously saved by fate. The film you need in order to imagine the end of the world on a largo pianissimo level of intensity. We keep the vivace prestissimo for when it will really happen. Dr Jacques COULARDEAU, University Paris Dauphine, University Paris 1 Pantheon Sorbonne & University Versailles Saint Quentin en Yvelines Rating:  - BADThis is just a bad movie. Despite the big names it has a B-movie feel to it. The effects look cheap and unreal. The dialogue is often sappy. I mean really, really sappy. Take for example the ending where everyone is covered in ash, and a child observes that they all look the same. What a heart-touching racial commentary. Gag me with a spoon! One more thing, the announcer's voice sounds like that of the annoying troll from TMZ and Court TV, Harvey Levin. Rating: - Hollyweird tries to cash in on weather extremes.After the success of Twister I knew we would have a flood (no pun intended) of bad weather, environmental movies. Volcano is probably the worst of the worst. Not even Tommy Lee can save this total disterpiece of a movie. Positively craptastic from start to finish, the fx are good but......... The story? The dialogue?? The acting??? Oh my............DREADFUL!!!!!!!! Did I mention the dialogue? The part where Lee puts his daughter in the cab with the sappy music playing in the back ground and all you can see is her wailing face sticking out of the back window of the cab. The entire audience was in HYSTERICS!!!!!!!!! Not even a "so bad it's good". Just bad. Bad idea, bad directing, bad acting, bad EVERYTHING!!!!!!!! Easily in the top twenty worst movies of all time. Another Hollyweird stink bomb if there ever was one. AVOIDDDDDDDDDD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Rating: - VolcanoI will tell you up front that the vast majority of disaster movies have a hard time holding my interest. Most are so soaped down with romances I could care less about, that I shut them off after about fifteen minutes. This movie does not suffer from that movie killer affliction and in fact it is one of the few I actually like. Tommy Lee Jones is a great part of the reason. Cast in the lead as the FEMA Director trying to control a Volcano that has erupted in the city, it is well handled and with the normal available resources. Nothing over the top and therefore it earned my respect. Granted they probably could not have handled the real deal as well as they do here, but it didn't seem so outrageously ridiculous as most disaster movies. The action mainly involves Jones, Anne Heche, and their assistants trying to predict the path and scout areas to see if they have been hit and change the flow when necessary. I found the movie moved at a good pace without the undue buildup found in so many disaster movies. This one felt like it moved along from beginning to end. If you enjoyed this be sure to catch "Dante's Peak" and "Twister". Good quality DVD with decent replayability. Rating:  - VolcanoIn 1997 there were two eagerly anticipated volcano movies released. Dante's Peak was more of a blockbuster hit, but not very accurate from a geologist's standpoint. Volcano was more realistic and accurate. It was nice to see a disaster movie depicted as it would naturally happen. Tommy Lee Jones and Anne Heche were wonderful to watch! In association with Amazon.com | |