What a disaster...

"Volcano" (1997)

What goes wrong: A volcano erupts in Los Angeles’ La Brea tar pits, flooding Wilshire Boulevard and threatening the tony boutiques of Beverly Hills.

Who the movie blames: Evil mass-transit supporters who opened the door to disaster by building an unwanted subway line to Beverly Hills.

The real disaster: Interest in disaster films was revived by improvements in visual effects and the success of “Twister,” but the real excess in '90s disaster epics was an overdose of sickly sweet personal melodrama. Tommy Lee Jones may have to save a city from a river of lava, but all he really wants is to be a good dad to his teenage daughter and to score with Anne Heche.