SKYFIRE

I watched this on my futon today, Monday, November 6th, 2023, via my TUBI Streaming app.

 NR, 1h 33 m

-

An entrepreneur capitalizes on people's need for thrills. He goes on to build the world's first Active Volcano 🌋 theme park for daring thrill seekers. What do you expect will happen soon? Talk about Disaster Movies! This is it. 👍🏼

-

It's a good movie for popcorn 🍿. But don't be surprised if you forget that you have a tub of buttered popcorn with you as this movie pretty much cuts to the chase for an edge-of-your-seat thrill ride! Of course, it stretches the "Believability Factor."  🤓

The leading lady says, "You cannot outrun a 400 mph ( 644 kph ) cloud of ash." What I learned in Geology is that such a cloud of ash, i.e. Nuee Ardante, travels at 90 mph (145 kph ). This 400 mph speed is a new one on me. 😕 But when someone radioed her that something large was traveling fast behind their SUV, she orders the driver to stop. 🤦🏻‍♂️  When they survey a particular area and open the SUV's windows, not one of them is overcome by the ash cloud. 🤷🏽‍♂️  I've actually stood just a yard/meter away from molten metal several times so I know that being surrounded by all of that molten Lava should have toasted them all ( Hint: It has to do with a body's surface area ). From Molten Lava to Scaldingly HOT Steam---Yup, those villagers are doomed either way! ( Would you like your human Steamed or Deep Fried? ) When the professor jumps down into a Lava Tube, why doesn't the Volcanic Ash cover-up the tube? Instead, the professor's POV shows a clear sky with no ash blocking the view.  🌞  Understand that a Nuee Ardante, i.e. cloud of ash, can be 👉WAY👈 over a mile ( 1.6 kilometers ) in length! I don't know what the distance is between the Crater and the Lava Tube but the daylight should have been obscured by the ash for At Least a minute to 1½ minutes, conservatively speaking! 

FYI: A Nuee Ardante travels on a cushion of very hot, toxic gas whether it's at 90 mph or even at 400 mph, which this movie suggests. In other words, before it even reaches you, the hot, toxic gas will have already toppled you down to the ground. I guess that nobody told those 2 geologists about it.  😁 And Molten Lava should have ignited those trees to either side of the flow. 😒

But, as I said previously, this is a 🥤🙂🍿 movie. And should be enjoyed as such! And It Helps A LOT That The Women In This Movie Are Beautiful! 😍

Fun Facts: When Mt. Saint Helens erupted in 1980, a lot of trees were pushed into the lake by Volcanic Ash. And it questioned some long-held beliefs in Geology. Geological Soil Layering can and do take place in a day instead of in millions of years. The acidic ash that buried the trees in the lake turned the trees into Crude Oil 🛢️ after just a few dozen years instead of in millions of years. Yes, Organic Matter Is Constantly Being Turned Into Oil EVERYDAY for millions of years before Crude Oil was even turned into Gasoline in the 1800s. So, there's plenty of Crude Oil in Nature❗ And it's not "fossil fuel," a term coined by J. D. Rockefellerr to jack-up the price of the " UN-renewable" source of energy! But I bet you that "climate change" expert  🙄 Greta DUNDERHEAD is keeping mum on the subject while lots of European households are without adequate heating this Winter! 😠👎 

Pres. Trump did try to warn the European nations that jumping onto the "climate change" bandwagon wasn't going to end well for them. They just laughed at him. Unfortunately, he was right all along! 

Also, Mt. Saint Helens is a hotbed for 👹 paranormal 👽 activity. In fact, after the eruption, the US government surveyed the area in search of a particular species among the 7,000 + dead, large "crispy critters." And, supposedly, they stumbled upon the remains of Bigfoot❗😧❗

The Mystery That Is Mt. Saint Helens:

https://fb.watch/ozoSJnvFAS/?mibextid=K8Wfd2

-

POMPEII, PG-13 ( 1 hr & 38 min )

-

where: C ENTURY 14 VALLEJO in Vallejo, CA
when: Tuesday, February 25th, 2014
show: 11:55 a.m. ( Dollar-Off ) Early Bird Matinee
costs: $6.75 Ticket + $1.00 medium upgrade on a Free Small Popcorn ( Cine-Mark E-Mail Coupon Special ) + $4.50 medium 30.0 oz Powerade Mountain Berry Blast = $12.25
auditorium: 2
seat: 6th row ( counting from the front ), 6th column ( counting from the left )

-

2nd time

where: CENTURY 14 VALLEJO in Vallejo, CA
when: Wednesday, February 26th, 2014
show: 2:35 p.m. ( Dollar-Off ) Early Bird 3-D show
costs: $10.25 Ticket + $1.00 medium upgrade on a Free Small Popcorn ( Cine-Mark E-Mail Coupon Special ) + $3.75 3.2 oz Nestle Buncha Crunch + $4.50 30.0 oz Powerade Mountain Berry Blast = $19.50
auditorium: 2 ( yes, the very same auditorium )
seat: 4th row ( counting from the front ), 7th column ( counting from the left )

synopsis/overview: Milo ( Kit Harrington  ), a Celt who's the last remaining survivor of his tribe which was slaughtered by the Romans, is forced into becoming a gladiator. When he is sent to Pompeii to fight in the arena, he falls in love with Cassia ( Emily Browning ), the daughter of a very rich merchant, and he also sees an opportunity to exact revenge on the very men who killed his whole tribe. When Mt. Vesuvius awakens, he goes after the men responsible for his tribe's slaughter as he tries to save the object of his love.

noteworthy scenes: 1.) Nighttime raid; 2.) "They call him, Celt"; 3.) Horse; 4.) "He wants to know your name"; 5.) Lake shore; 6.) "Why did you save my life"; 7.) "Minor opposition"; 8.) Party; 9.) "Is this normal"; 10.) Horses' stable; 11.) "I believe you understand the question"; 12.) Fifteen lashes; 13.) "Perhaps, the gods spared me for a reason"; 14.) "This is a massacre"; 15.) Threat; 16.) Roman banner; 17.) "Your reputation is your weakness"; 18.) "Vulcan speaks"; 19.) "Single combat"; 20.) "This blade's dull"; 21.) "How about 20 of us"; 22.) "I've decided not to invest in your little city"; 23.) "You have your freedom, my friend"; 24.) "You came back for me"; 25.) "You came back for me"; 26.) Volcanic bombs; 27.) Horses; 28.) "Romans everywhere"; 29.) "He is mine now"; 30.) "Gladiators do not beg"; 31.) Chariot; 32.) "I die a free man"; and 33.) Kiss.

audience reaction: There was just a mild reaction to this movie.

recommendation: I liked the special effects in this movie. If you can afford it, see this movie in 3-D--it's worth the extra money to go see it in 3-D!

spoiler alert! During the slaughter of the Celt Horse Tribe, the little boy showed no reaction at all even when his parents were both killed before his very eyes. The slave girl was more beautiful than her mistress. He said that his sword was dull but both swords were truly dull. The birds--obviously CGI'd--could never have flown across the active volcano's crater for one good reason: Convection; the cold air from the sky above would have rushed down with such force and the hot air from the volcano below would have rushed up with such force, too, that the birds would have had no choice but to veer off to the side or be cooked to death while in flight! Milo went running from the arena all the way to the villa but he never panted. When Cassia went up to her dead parents, I think I saw her father twitch! Why wasn't Cassia thrown from the chariot? Why did the horse just stay around when it saw what was coming. That volcanic death cast of the kissing couple was wrong on two things: There should not have been hair on them and, since they were still alive when they were overcome by the Nuee Ardente ( super-heated cloud of volcanic gas and ash traveling at high speed ), they should have fallen and curled into a fetal position instead of being locked in a kiss! Everybody died in this movie---'Sucks big time!!!

fyi: One of the courses I took in college was Geology. My Geology professor told us of an anecdote involving a colleague of his who was a professor at some other college. Said colleague went overseas to study a volcano after it had erupted. The professor collected some volcanic bombs to take home as souvenirs of his trip and as a teaching tool for his own class. When he went through the security x-ray section of the airport ( this happened years before 9-11 ), the guard asked him about the odd-looking objects in his luggage. He casually replied, "Bombs." Needless to say, he was detained and missed his flight back home!

Jerusalem was burned by Titus in 70 a.d. In the Jewish letter/number system, the number 10 is the symbol of God. And it is interesting to note that ten years after Titus burned Jerusalem, Rome burned, too. Can you say, "Divine Pay-Back?"

I found this on Wikipedia. It is of what once was Pompeii. Mt. Vesuvius is in the background.

Would you believe that, to this very day, people still live around the base of Mt. Vesuvius even though it is by no means an extinct volcano?!?!?!

word of advice: Don't tempt Fate.

tidbits: After the movie, I asked an employee why the right half of the auditorium was cordoned-off. He said that the janitors cleaned the seats the night before and they haven't dried yet. And I made the stupid comment that I thought it was because somebody pooped in one of the seats! Ha, ha, ha.

2nd tidbits:  The same section was still cordoned-off!


*