Chirphymium
It's entirely possible that sending the audience out feeling lousy was intentional
Erica Derrick
By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.
Sarita Rafferty
There are moments that feel comical, some horrific, and some downright inspiring but the tonal shifts hardly matter as the end results come to a film that's perfect for this time.
kevincarr
Well, best thing about the film was the contra dance band at the end, the Hillillies from Mars, of which I am a member. Actors were competent I thought, though working with very poor material. I will say that lunch was pretty good. Though the extras didn't get the same grub as the stars. My buddy Ray, unfamiliar with the movie class system, managed to wander through the first class lunch line and get actual meat instead of the spaghetti we lowly serfs were served. Cast and crew seemed like nice folks. Strange business this second line Hollywood stuff. I think the director must have gotten tired when editing, and the writer gave up after awhile as well. Wonder what it would have been like had everyone mimed their parts?
jenniferny
I saw this movie on LMN and it was titled "California Firestorm". They usually run high quality movies that deal with prominent social issues, many of which are true stories. Unfortunately this time they really chose badly. Two of the lead characters were a mother and daughter. Normally when you watch a movie there are actors that play the part of a person and do so very well to the point that you cannot tell that they are actors because they play the part so well. That is not the case with this movie. It is so obvious that these are actors trying to play two real-life people and they do it very badly. It is like watching a high school play and the actors sound like they are over-dramatizing the lines. The mother plays a chief of a fire jumping crew in California during a fire. Much of her dialog is so unnatural sounding that I wanted to switch channels after the first ten minutes, but there was nothing else on so rather than turn off the TV I kept watching hoping that it would get better, but it never did. For example, while they are playing a scene where they are in the forest fighting the fire there is CONSTANT dialog between the actors much of which is everyone telling everybody else what a good job they are doing. The way it was done sounded very unnatural and "staged", like they were saying it for the benefit of the camera. Even the scenes portraying the typical conflicts between a mother and teenage daughter are over-acted and when the confrontation is over it seems like there is something missing, like they cut out a part of the scene that should have been left in. LMN is probably the channel that I watch the most so I was really disappointed that they ever ran this movie. Do yourself a favor and if it is ever run again watch something else, ANYTHING else. It was so bad that I went right to IMDb and posted this review, something that I very rarely do.
tim000_1998
I have seen so many movies about fires but by far this is the worst one. I like the female firefighter idea but her character was not fully developed. The visual effects are OK for a low budget movie. The acting. Well this is a different story. First of all the kids are really stupid in this film. Kylie deserves what she gets. Her boyfriend is silly and more importantly Mary, the little girl, she looks like she is having fun at the park while the fire is on. The mayor character played by Stockwell is underdeveloped supporting character. It is too bad that they could not use him. Soulless characters, dull story, OK visual effects and bad acting. I think this is a deadly combination. Rent another movie or watch something else on TV.
useonce
Warning: Contains Spoilers! This film (if one can really call it a film), is probably the worst I have ever seen. I stopped watching halfway through it, but forced myself to watch the rest after logging into imdb, to give this comment. About 11 mins. in, this happens; (the "firefighters" are removing vegetation to stop the fire from spreading). Darcy: "Listen, the wind has shifted. Get everybody out of here NOW." Suddenly, ten-feet-tall flames are shooting out of nowhere, and most of the men get knocked over, then run away. A firefighter gets knocked down by a falling burning tree. His pants catch fire(!), but Darcy puts it out, and drags him to "safety". There is almost no smoke, and very little fire around, except for when the ten-feet-tall flames suddenly erupt out of nowhere. That scene was so incredibly unrealistic, that I couldn't watch it without grinding my teeth and curling my toes. Much of the "film" is that bad, or worse.The scene when blowing the dam is very much up to your imagination. To me, it just looks like they're blasting a few holes in the side of a hill (with a few inches of water on the other side), and you don't get to see any water flowing out of the reservoir.I'll watch this again, when the sun turns blue..
