<div><p>1997 was the year of <em>Titanic</em>. No one else won any Oscars, no other movie even got watched. Or that's what most people's memories seem to say. <em>Titanic</em> is an iconic movie, a great love story and a groundbreaking disaster flick. Despite all it's technical achievements though, a real movie buff knows that not only was <em>Titanic </em>not the best movie of 1997 it wasn't even the best <em>disaster</em> movie of 1997.</p><h3>Hot Stuff</h3><p>That distinction lies with a sadly lesser known film called <em>Volcano</em>.</p><div><figure><amp-img src="https://www.shared.com/content/images/2017/04/volcano-3.jpg" srcset="https://www.shared.com/content/images/2017/04/volcano-3_GH_content_550px.jpg 550w, https://www.shared.com/content/images/2017/04/volcano-3_GH_content_650px.jpg 650w, https://www.shared.com/content/images/2017/04/volcano-3_GH_content_750px.jpg 750w, https://www.shared.com/content/images/2017/04/volcano-3_GH_content_850px.jpg 850w, https://www.shared.com/content/images/2017/04/volcano-3_GH_content_950px.jpg 950w, https://www.shared.com/content/images/2017/04/volcano-3_GH_content_1050px.jpg 1050w, https://www.shared.com/content/images/2017/04/volcano-3_GH_content_1150px.jpg 1150w" sizes="89vw" title="Volcano" alt="Volcano" height="9" width="16" layout="responsive"></amp-img><figcaption class="op-vertical-center"><cite>Forbes</cite></figcaption></figure></div><p><em>Volcano</em> follows Tommy Lee Jones (so it's already a win) as Mike Roark, the head of the Los Angeles Office of Emergency Management, as he tries to keep millions of people safe from the eruption of a volcano that suddenly appeared in downtown L.A.</p><p>I have to take a moment because I just love the plot that much.</p><p><!-- [invalid-shortcode] --></p><h3>A-List Cast</h3><p>Roark, Anne Heche's Vulcanolgist Amy Barnes, and co-worker Emmit Reese (played by Don Cheadle years before he came to America's attention) have to divert a deadly flow of lava through the streets of L.A.</p><p>And in <em>THIS </em>traffic?</p><div><figure><amp-img src="https://www.shared.com/content/images/2017/04/jones-and-heche---nerds-uncanny.jpg" srcset="https://www.shared.com/content/images/2017/04/jones-and-heche---nerds-uncanny_GH_content_550px.jpg 550w, https://www.shared.com/content/images/2017/04/jones-and-heche---nerds-uncanny_GH_content_650px.jpg 650w, https://www.shared.com/content/images/2017/04/jones-and-heche---nerds-uncanny_GH_content_750px.jpg 750w" sizes="89vw" title="Jones and Heche" alt="Jones and Heche" height="9" width="16" layout="responsive"></amp-img><figcaption class="op-vertical-center"><cite>Nerds Uncanny</cite></figcaption></figure></div><p>It has incredible special effects (for the time and even by some of today's standards) and never got the recognition it deserves. That's probably due in large part to <em>Dante's Peak</em> exploding into theaters just a few months before the release of Volcano.</p><p>Volcanoes were really "in" in 1997.</p><p><!-- [invalid-shortcode] --></p><h3>Surprising Depth</h3><p>Not just dealing with the urban planning nightmare of surprise volcano, the movie also touches on elements of civil unrest, racism, parenthood and other themes.</p><div><figure><amp-img src="https://www.shared.com/content/images/2017/04/jones-and-daughter---scared-stiff-reviews.jpg" srcset="https://www.shared.com/content/images/2017/04/jones-and-daughter---scared-stiff-reviews_GH_content_550px.jpg 550w, https://www.shared.com/content/images/2017/04/jones-and-daughter---scared-stiff-reviews_GH_content_650px.jpg 650w, https://www.shared.com/content/images/2017/04/jones-and-daughter---scared-stiff-reviews_GH_content_750px.jpg 750w, https://www.shared.com/content/images/2017/04/jones-and-daughter---scared-stiff-reviews_GH_content_850px.jpg 850w, https://www.shared.com/content/images/2017/04/jones-and-daughter---scared-stiff-reviews_GH_content_950px.jpg 950w" sizes="89vw" title="Daughter" alt="Daughter" height="9" width="16" layout="responsive"></amp-img><figcaption class="op-vertical-center"><cite>Scared Stiff Reviews</cite></figcaption></figure></div><p>Also Tommy Lee is at his grumpiest best which is always fun.</p><p>It's really not even close, but with the success of <em>Titanic</em> so well-documented I'll have to be contented with my own grumpy rumblings.</p><div><div><div><amp-youtube height="9" width="16" layout="responsive" data-videoid="67oe0_s9EIw"></amp-youtube></div></div></div></div>
90s nostalgia | Vintage | Celebrity | Movies