While Sept. 11 helped embellish the already heroic image of firefighters, "Ladder 49" doesn't owe any direct debt to such recent events. It plays, rather, like an old-fashioned, by-the-numbers drama ...

DETROIT -- John Travolta can't see the hand before his face, but he can feel the heat. He thinks he hears someone to his right, though it could just be a voice bouncing off a wall. He gropes in front ...

HOLLYWOOD, Calif. -- "Ladder 49" made a blazing debut on the big screen Monday night at its jam-packed, star-studded Hollywood premiere. Crowds swarmed the streets and balconies around the El Capitan ...

Everybody loves firefighters, and even before they became the national heroes of 9/11, Hollywood movies about the profession -- from 1903's "Life of an American Fireman" to 1974's "Towering Inferno" ...

When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Here’s how it works. They are willing to lay their time, energy and lives on the line to protect the property and ...

The attacks of Sept. 11, 2001 brought firefighters a long-overdue surge in appreciation and acknowledgement. As heroes of the moment, firefighters (and, to a lesser extent, Dalmatians) basked in the ...

When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Here’s how it works. It’s hard to make a bad firefighter movie. Unlike most action films, you don’t have to worry ...

One of the most enduring images in the weeks and months after Sept. 11, 2001, centered on the cleanup at the wreckage of the World Trade Center towers at Ground Zero. As the tons of debris were ...

It's loud. It's noisy. It's downright cacophonous. That being the case, I'm led to wonder if turning up the volume is a director's ploy to draw an audience's attention away from corny melodrama. Is ...

The problem with this film is that it's hardly a film, more an extended promo for the American firemen. And any advertisement stretching on for two hours will always be a bit too hard to take. Of ...

Starring Joaquin Phoenix and John Travolta. Rated PG. Ladder 49 goes down with difficulty and leaves a horrible aftertaste. But like that cough syrup, it's good for you. Director Jay Russell's drama ...