The Sky's on Fire (TV Movie 1999) Poster

(1999 TV Movie)

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3/10
Light and brainless way to spend 90 minutes
donald_rose10 November 2005
Provided your belief is suspended about 60,000 feet above sea level (in-joke) this is a brainless, harmless way to spend 90 minutes. It isn't great science so don't expect too much.

Some of the actors are really quite good and it is fun to see them out of their normal milieu. Bradley Whitford is a smooth, skilled, understated actor with just enough quirks to make him always interesting. John Billingsley is always delightful although it would be nice to see him stretch outside his typecast and nearly trademarked nerdiness.

Corbett is quite competent but not in Billingsley's or Whitford's class. The other leads are jobbing actors, good enough, but without the high skill level to make something interesting from their cardboard characters.

Keep your belief well suspended and don't be too critical of the science and this is a way to spend 90 minutes of a boring, rainy day.

Anyway Billingsley's always fun to watch with his weird mannerisms.
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5/10
A little mindless fun
MissTRious4 August 2006
OK, so this will never win an Oscar but it wouldn't win a Razzie either! This is the televisual equivalent of an airport trash novel. A little love, a little danger, a little science mixed together to make a quick, frothy eco-drama.

The story concerns the damage that Mankind has inflicted on Mother Nature and the fact that even the most benevolent of entities will get hacked off from time to time.

Basically, it is a morality tale that we reap what we sow. As we blindly pour CFC's and the like into the atmosphere and the earth, eventually something will happen.

In this case the "happenings" stretch from the ridiculous to the sublime. The beached whales, psychotic birds and my personal favourite the full grown human held hostage by maggots and spiders (OK when it comes to the second creepy crawly I can see why she did what she did urghh).

The characters never really have the opportunity to develop more than two dimensions, but even then the actors carry it well and I have to say to their credit this movie could have been "hammed up" a heck of a lot more. Even the "it might just work.....it has to" solution to the situation was handled well and didn't feel to easy a plot feature.

As for the main stars, John Corbett (Dr. Evan Thorne) managed to convey the eco-scientist without either hysterical apocalyptic panic or cold detached "I told you so". He made the character reasonably believable (for all it's dimensional limitations as previously noted).

Bradley Whitford (John Morgan), favourite of mine, added some credibility to the film just by being in it. His character again was played middle of the line. Not so closed minded as to be Anti-science/Anti-tree hugger but not so open minded as to be looking for his next quote from Revelations! The love interest/action parts were left to the two "youngsters" Josie Bissett (Jennifer Thorne) and Ben Browder (Racer, never knew if this was his whole name, first name, surname or nick name! But it was pretty annoying as a name anyway). Here we have the double love interest (Jenny is Racer's Fiancé and Dr. Thorne's sister), the obligatory hero (Racer is a Airforce Jet Pilot) and the human element (Both are affected by the situation at one time or another). They were credible performances and again not over the top or soppy! So all in all, it is not a film I would give up shopping or visiting friends to watch. But saying that if I saw it on Channel 5 (UK) or TNT (US) one quiet afternoon I would happily while away and hour and a half with a good cuppa and a digestive.
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4/10
The only thing more volatile than the ozone layer is the disaster genre
thniels11 June 1999
And perhaps it should be left for the scientists to fiddle with. This movie clearly shows that the disaster genre is even more volatile than our ozone layer. If it had been a comedy the sheer unbelievability of this plot would be acceptable, but posing as serious it definitely isn't. So poorly made it is almost tragic.

"Hey! I have ten minutes to spare. Let's go patch up the environment!"
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2/10
Someone tell me this is some twisted nightmare!
jurgen20012 December 2005
I'm one of those people who really enjoy schlocky B-movies (I thought Category 6 was a good film) but this is an insult.

For a start, the movie grinds to a halt in the middle and features 10 minutes of nonstop riot footage.

An infinite number of interesting subplots and ideas are thrown out, and it really feels like the production ran out of money at the end! Watch it, as soon as the jet takes off, the money runs out.

The plot is absurd, and not good-absurd either. It's BAD-absurd!! The characters make bad decisions just to build some suspense, for example: if your house is overrun by bugs, lock yourself in the closet and wait in there for the bugs to come in and bite you. The same shot of the sun is repeated at least 15 times, and "deadly atmospheric firestorms" are little more than (over)actors writhing in bright light.
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3/10
Poor plot, sick science and questionable continuity
alarchdu10 November 2003
I watched this film by accident (a slow Monday afternoon is my excuse). Overall, it doesn't make even B-grade. I've never condemned a film because it is cliched, but in this case I will make an exception.

My only question is: did the producers run out of film and shoot the last third on video? That is the only reason I can think of for the change in film quality.
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2/10
DIY Mystery Science Theatre 3000
PolkainWarsaw23 March 2013
Using my best Comic Book Man voice I say, one of the worst........ movies.......... EVER. There is more cheese in this film than in the entire state of Wisconsin.

I take that back. Wisconsin is too nice a place to associate with this loser. Sorry Wisconsin. As of this writing, I'm STILL waiting for something to happen in this movie.

It is not a total loss though, if viewed in the proper setting. Have your own MST3K night! Pop some corn, chill a bottle or two, and maybe do the twist,,,nudge,nudge ;o) . You'll soon be "riffing" as if you're trapped on a space station ! Peace out from sunny Tennessee.
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6/10
ABC is on the disaster trail
Sycotron16 July 2000
Just saw this movie which ABC showed last night. I liked this better than I liked another recent TV-movie about the earth caving in beneath New Orleans. Both are dopey but this one was a lot of fun. Preposterous? Sure but that is the kick in all of these movies. Everything keeps moving and we see the usual scenes of bureaucratic incompetence, animal panic, people panic and various and sundry calamities. All in all a good entry in the TV-movie disaster genre.
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9/10
good disaster flick
kairingler14 February 2008
don't know why these people are bashing the movie,, it's quick, compact, precise to the point , in you're face unique,, original,, some thing new,, that i've never seen anyway,, highly believable,, i mean global warming,, ozone layer, pretty convincing stuff to me,, i thought the movie was funny, interesting, and set out to prove a point and it did so very well i might add, the acting was better than average, it ain't gonna win no academy awards, or Emmie's,, but hey what do you want here from a supposed to be b-grade movie, the parts about the animals acting strange,, the whales getting beached in groups the bees swarming,, the insects,, and the best is the Birds homage to Alfred Hitchcock,, the birds flying into the windows,, now that ladies and gentlemen is a cause to freak out,, and definitely think that the sky is falling. overall i don't have any problems with the movie at all, excellent disaster flick,, not overdone,, not underdone either,, so thumbs up,, to heck with what everyone else is saying on here.
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7/10
Small scale sci-fi flick that, nevertheless, entertains its audience well
inkblot1120 January 2011
Warning: Spoilers
Dr. Evan (John Corbett), a reputed ecological scientist, was once let go from a government position, for his rather extreme views on ozone depletion. Now, he works out of his own LA area laboratory. His sister Jennifer (Josie Bissett), who is married to a pilot, Racer (Ben Browder), still lives and works near him. One day, Racer is sent to investigate the downing of a small plane in the desert. After finding the aircraft and the passengers/crew deceased, Racer, too, is struck with a mysterious ailment and calls for help. Once paramedics arrives, they escort him straight to the nearest hospital. Doctors are baffled. Meanwhile, a dozen humpback whales are found dead on a nearby beach. At the scene, a brash reporter (Bradley Whitford) asks a lovely biologist, Elizabeth, what has gone wrong. She speculates a virus, until she can further review the situation. However, its she soon discovers the cause was not viral. The whales starved to death. Why? Dr. Evan, now involved, states that according to his data, the ozone layer over a part of the Pacific is lethally thin, warming the water and killing the whale's food source, plankton. Not only that, Los Angeles is also about to "heat up" and cause death and destruction, as the hole is headed that way. Naturally, the government scientist in charge calls it nonsense and tells the mayor that there is no reason to evacuate. But, with birds crashing into windows, insects taking over houses, and fishermen dying on their boats, what can be done? Evan just might have the answer and get a chance to be a true hero. Hurrah! This is a small scale science fiction film from the late nineties that is still entertaining and thought stirring. Corbett makes a great unconventional scientific know-it-all while Bissett is so beautiful and talented that you wonder why she didn't become more of a star. Whitfield and the rest of the cast support them nicely. Of course, there's nothing spectacular about the sets, costumes, camera work, script or direction but they all work together to create a polished, intriguing little film. Do you love science fiction or disaster films? If you've run out of viewing options, get this one.
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10/10
We need to learn more about the Ozone and what protects Earth from space elements
bunnyjeanne415 August 2008
I have got to read his book. This movie leaves me with a lot of questions about what we are doing to ourselves. We are responsible for what we do and need to know much more about how we are depleting natural resources. It is imperative we clean up the world for future generations.

I have a little more understanding of what the ozone does for us thanks to this movie. We take to much for granted today. Dumping trash in our water, adding chemicals to water and food. How many of the illnesses that humans suffer are direct results of adding chemicals to milk, dehydrated foods etc; so that they are edible past the date of natural consumption. Are we creating new illnesses, new problems by our actions. "For every action, there is a reaction". We need to remind ourselves with movies like this that we reap our own consequences.
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