Š-DR- VOLCANO de Mick Jackson (1997) p17

10/11/2013 14:21 par tellurikwaves

A pretty simplistic disaster movie with all the usual clichés but
just enough stuff happening to make it passable entertainment

Author: bob the moo (1)
29 October 2004

Despite a history of major geological events in the area, nobody really suspects anything when a handful of pipe engineers die from intense burns while underground. Investigating the accident, OEM chief Mike Roark almost gets killed himself when an underground fissure throws up intense heat and flame.

Expert Dr Amy Barnes believes that magma may be coming up to the surface of the earth and causing the events but, would you believe it, nobody buys it. Nobody that is, until the tar pits overflow and start to pour lava onto the streets, destroying everything in its path. With Roark convinced and Barnes wishing she had been wrong, the race is on to protect the city.

Better known as 'that other volcano movie of 1997', this film gets out the disaster movie handbook and follows it step by step. So we have a manly and practical hero, an expert, children and pets in peril, human conflict, sacrifice, special effects, 'bad' politicians etc etc. So far so formula, and so it all continues. The basic set up does the usual things by setting up the most basic of characters for us to use as a focus before then just letting the lava go and relying on special effects to do the rest.

The need to turn the drama into a specific story around Roark means that it occasionally forces him and his into unlikely dangerous positions that require them to be inches away from the action; this is not convincing and at times just feels like overkill, sucking any real tension out of the film.Without much real excitement the film just piles on the special effects and, unfortunately, these look dated with some poor back projection failing to  really cut the mustard.

Š-DR- VOLCANO de Mick Jackson (1997) p16

10/11/2013 14:13 par tellurikwaves

Good, but the Underdog Wins!

Author: Fiendish_Dramaturgy from .: Fiendish Writings in the Dark :.
22 March 2007

I have to say this is a big blockbustery KABOOM popcorny effects extravaganza, with a solid story, and good performances. This (released in April of 1997) was 20th Century/Fox's answer to Universal's Dante's Peak (released in February of 1997), a superior movie in all ways except one...It doesn't have Tommy Lee Jones.

I have to say that Jones makes Volcano. Without him, this work would be nothing than an overblown, over-written piece of popcorn trash. As it is, this is a delightful "Mother Nature Gone Awry" flick, with totally kick butt effects. I found it riveting, but liked Dante's Peak more.It rates a 7.4/10 from...the Fiend

Š-DR- VOLCANO de Mick Jackson (1997) p15

10/11/2013 14:08 par tellurikwaves

Makin'off (en haut maquette real size/En bas la fabrication de la lave)

Š-DR- VOLCANO de Mick Jackson (1997) p14

10/11/2013 14:04 par tellurikwaves

A good 'just sit down and watch' film

Author: horseygurlz from United Kingdom
25 June 2011

I'm not going to pretend that this movie is realistic. It isn't. But if you want to just sit down and watch a film with action, drama and entertaining characters, then this is the film for you.

Most disaster films are unrealistic, have no science behind them and if you think about them too much just get worse and worse. This movie is no exception. However, it is still a brilliant film if you want to sit down and not think too hard, or if you want to put a movie on without having to give it your full concentration.

Personally, I think this film is great. There are better films out there, including better disaster films, but there are so many films that are ten times worse yet get better reviews. That's probably because they have better actors or are more realistic - but the job of a movie is to entertain, and this film does that brilliantly.

Š-DR- VOLCANO de Mick Jackson (1997) p13

10/11/2013 13:59 par tellurikwaves

The Good & Bad Of 'Volcano'

Author: ccthemovieman-1 from United States
10 September 2006

BAD NEWS - Unlikeable female lead in Anne Hesch, who had too foul a mouth for me. Other irritating characters with stupid dialog. A predictable ending with the needlessly drawn out save-the-daughter scene trying for maximum suspense.

GOOD NEWS - Some awesome disaster scenes. Hollywood's special-effects just keep getting more awesome as the years go on. A fast-moving story that was just about the right length. A likable lead character played by Tommy Lee Jones. Overall, a movie that keeps your attention but doesn't get your respect with the dumb dialog.

Š-DR- VOLCANO de Mick Jackson (1997) p12

10/11/2013 13:21 par tellurikwaves

The script is the real natural disaster in "Volcano"(fin)

Author: Glacier571-3 from San Francisco
6 February 2002

And, lest we forget that "Volcano" takes place in L.A., there's the obligatory racist-cop episode in which a black man asking the fire chief to help his neighborhood is suddenly handcuffed out of nowhere by an officer for "harassing" him, a tacky scene complete with (groan) references to Rodney King and Mark Fuhrman. (The whole time he's cuffed, the black man makes carefree wisecracks to the officers all while his 'hood is burning to cinders.) But, of course, everything's eventually resolved. "You're a good man," the other cop praises his partner after the latter grudgingly dispatches fire trucks to the black man's neighborhood, as if he has performed some immense display of generosity.In another lovely homage to L.A., there's also a looting scene, where extras run incredibly slow while carrying empty boxes.

And what in the world was with the constant barrage of news reporters? Did we really need someone reporting "The house behind me has just exploded into flames...all hell is breaking loose!" while people were running for their lives all around her? As the volcano explodes out of the La Brea Tar Pits and lava is running onto the street, it's from a reporter describing this sight from where we hear one of the worst lines in the film: "It's as if the tar had caught fire, melted and somehow expanded." Hey, McFly, if tar is already a liquid to begin with, then how in the world can it melt?When an army of helicopters drops gallons of water on the lava blocked off on Wilshire, the reporters and camera crews, who are camped right up against the  concrete barriers, manage to stay conveniently dry the entire time.

Despite a high body count, scores of injured civilians and billions of dollars in damages, everybody's smiling as soon as a rainfall ensues, like those 7up commercials circa 1986. ("Feels so good comin' down!" Remember that?) Lots of questions are left unanswered: How will they clean up and repair everything? Will a future eruption occur soon? Will the Cubs win the World Series?Yet for all its pretentiousness and gaping flaws, I have to admit that "Volcano" was entertaining. It's a load of escapist camp that doesn't have a care in the  world. And I do have to give credit where it's due; somehow the filmmakers managed to keep slow-moving lava exciting for 104 minutes.Plus, you can't help but get a kick out of a disaster film that includes the line "This city's finally paying for its arrogance," and finds the time to include a Bible quotation. 7/10 (ah quand même)

Š-DR- VOLCANO de Mick Jackson (1997) p11

10/11/2013 13:14 par tellurikwaves

The script is the real natural disaster in "Volcano"(part1)

Author: Glacier571-3 from San Francisco
6 February 2002

Watching Mick Jackson's disaster flick, in which the eponymous natural disaster wreaks havoc throughout Los Angeles, is like watching a 3 a.m. infomercial. It's such silly, mindless fluff, yet there's just something about it that keeps your eyes glued to the screen.

"Volcano" is admittedly well-cast and acted, despite a dreadful script and a plot whose summary could fit on a matchbook. Tommy Lee Jones, who would give 110% making a McDonald's commercial, stars as Mike Roark, the hard-boiled head of the Office of Emergency Management, where he is assisted by his sidekick Emmit (Don Cheadle). After initially pooh-poohing the thought of a volcano in L.A. from geologist Amy Barnes (Anne Heche, who constantly ends her lines with a four-letter word like a period after a sentence), it's only a matter of time before he is proved wrong before his very eyes. Other solid performances come from Jacqueline Kim (Dr. Calder), John Carroll Lynch (Stan, the oft-maligned subway boss), and Keith David, a great actor who is otherwise wasted here in a role as a police lieutenant who has no impact on any events in the film, which is halfway over before he even appears on screen for the first time.

However, there's the small problem of having something resembling a good story to go with the awesome visuals,which are indeed spectacular.But forget the volcano;Jerome Armstrong 's script poses the greatest threat to the characters. To put it mildly, it's the biggest piece of cliché-ridden muck to come along in awhile, laden with plot holes, smarmy sentimentality (the offender here being a dog rescue scene near the beginning) and heroics, forced we-are-all-brothers morals, and implausibilities. Yes, this film is rooted far from reality, but it should make a little sense along the way. Working at the OEM must be the cushiest job in the world, for all the employees do throughout the picture is holler at each other and stare blankly at computer monitors. (And why do they continuously show news broadcasts on their big screen? Is that where their disaster briefings come from?) Mike's sullen daughter Gaby Hoffmann, in a thankless role in the tradition of "True Lies" and "Face/Off"), due to her own incompetence, is suddenly thrust into peril and is thus separated from her father, a subplot that helps build up what turns out to be one great big joke of an ending.

Describing it here can't do it justice. (After being taken to the hospital in Dr. Calder's Land Rover to receive treatment for a second-degree burn on her right leg, she is seen some time later with a bloody scab on her left cheek as she talks to Mike on the phone. And you thought your HMO was rough.) Plus, I seriously doubt that someone who jumps right into a pool of hot lava would slowly melt like a snowman in Miami while he screams and tosses the body of a man nearly twice his size to safety from a burning subway train. Then there's the wonderful family-oriented scene of two firemen burned alive in their overturned truck.

Š-DR- VOLCANO de Mick Jackson (1997) p10

10/11/2013 12:51 par tellurikwaves

What America needs is a few good volcanic eruptions?(fin)

Author: jpsaldibar from Colorado
19 August 2000

But "Volcano"is not just a dumb disaster flick with bad science. No! It's also a Socially-Important Commentary on our Society Movie! Throughout the film there are numerous "social messages". These are so corny and contrived that they could only have been written by people who have never actually experienced them. A racist cop tries to arrest a guy for assault (in the middle of a disaster scene!), but then the two team up to help save the day. Aww. Later, a little kid notes that "everybody looks the same" when covered by ash and soot. Aww. America's racial troubles could be ended, if only a giant volcano threatened us all.

More? Oh sure, there's more! Tommy Lee Jones is the too-hard-working dad who comes to value his daughter. Said daughter is a selfish brat who learns some responsibility, and respect for her dad. There's a guy whose only role in the movie is to say obviously insulting things. This makes him the "bad guy". One can see the writers of this movie hammering his role out: "We need someone who's rich and yuppie-like and snooty. Someone like us, only not as enlightened.

Someone who wouldn't make a Socially-Important Commentary on our Society Movie like we are!" Of course, bad things happen to him and all is right with the world.In the end, the mysterious, glowing, sometimes-hot substance we come to know as "lava" is channeled into the sea, and all of LA lives happily ever after in a just and fair world. A world, of course, with a big smoking volcano plopped down into the middle of it. Certainly that won't affect the real estate values?the lessons of this movie are quite clear. 1) lava is harmless if you don't touch it; 2) small children will inevitably wander into incredible harm (but emerge OK), and 3) only through the trauma of sudden volcanic activity will we come to appreciate the true Brotherhood of Man.Whoever thought up this movie should be thrown into a volcano...

Š -VOLCANO (1997) p9

10/11/2013 12:44 par tellurikwaves

What America needs is a few good volcanic eruptions?(1)
Author: jpsaldibar from Colorado
19 August 2000

As a Big Budget movie, I'm sure that "Volcano" took more than a few months to make. Too bad someone associated with the movie didn't take that time to wander into the local library (the children's section, perhaps), and check out a book on "Volcanoes". I've seen Saturday-morning cartoons that have a better understanding of lava.

Instead we get many scenes of outright stupidity that would challenge even the densest of viewers. In one scene, Tommy Lee Jones and an assistant are standing near a volcanic vent, and their protective suits start to melt (of course skin is stronger than a protective suit, so they escape unharmed). But in numerous later scenes, people walk by lava like you might walk past a lake. Maybe this is because no one seems to know it's lava. I lost count of how many times a character said something like "What is that stuff?" or "There's something really hot and glowing coming down the street, and things are melting into it. Wonder what it could be?"

In what has to be one of the worst scenes ever filmed, two characters load an injured man onto the outstretched ladder of a hook & ladder truck. Then they hang onto a dangling fire hose as the ladder is lifted above the lava. The heat is so intense that the fire hose SPONTANEOUSLY COMBUSTS, but our characters are unhurt (their boots smoke a little). I didn't know that fire hoses were so flammable...

Š-DR- VOLCANO de Mick Jackson (1997) p8

10/11/2013 07:39 par tellurikwaves

La critique (moins conne) de James Berardinelli (fin)

Tommy Lee Jones' Roark is a wonderfully heroic figure -- a man of action who never has time to rest. The fate of the city rests on his shoulders, and he knows it. Jones' fierce, unflagging portrayal helps us accept Roark not only as the man to save L.A., but as a loving father who is more concerned about his daughter's safety than that of every other citizen. Anne Heche (Donnie Brasco), a young actress who has experienced quite a bit of recent exposure,offers a spunky interpretation of her sidekick-turned-love interest role. Don Cheadle (Rosewood) is in top form -- most of the film's comic moments revolve around him. The rest of the cast isn't nearly as impressive, but, since no one else has much screen time, any number of acting deficiencies can be forgiven.

All that most people want from a disaster movie is a jolt of adrenaline and a chance to "ooh" and "ahh", and Volcano fills both cravings. After all, there's a lot at stake -- this isn't some sleepy Northwestern town, it's the second most populous city in the United States (L.A. has suddenly become a favorite target of motion picture mayhem -- see Independence Day, Escape from L.A., and next year's Godzilla for other examples). The special effects are top-notch. When a lava river starts flowing down Wilshire Boulevard, we believe that it's actually happening.

Normally, I detest any voiceover narration, but Volcano manages to do something in that department to enhance the picture.Many scenes feature broadcast commentary by television stations reporting on the crisis. There's more than a hint of parody as correspondents react in horror to events around them while staying out of harm's way. Screenwriters Jerome Armstrong and Billy Ray should be commended for this aspect of their script -- it's right on target.

Volcano has opened the "summer" movie season at an astoundingly early late-April date. But there's no mistaking this as anything but a blockbuster trying to get a running jump on competition like The Fifth Element and The Lost World. This isn't the kind of film where it's worth waiting for the video tape -- it's too big and brash, and demands the speakers and atmosphere of a state-of-the-art theater. Like Twister, it pushes the cinematic experiencecloser to the level of an amusement park ride. However, unlike Twister, Volcano doesn't demand a complete short-circuit of all mental functions.

Although you see this film for the spectacle, the other stuff (characters, plot, etc.) doesn't get in the way, and that's the formula for success in this genre. Volcano triumphs with a resounding bang.***/****(3 sur 4...pas mal pour un soi disant "navet")