Small-scale (human-scale) apocalyptic thriller, written and directed by Steve De Jarnatt. A nice chain of coincidence brings our common-man hero to the receiving end of a wrong phone number, alerting him to the imminence of nuclear holocaust. (You have an hour and ten minutes until the strike. What do you do?) Coincidence continues to play a large role thereafter -- a too-large role -- and a vein of quirky humor somewhat deflates the tension. But the finale concentrates on pumping up that tension, and the movie overall has both a broadness of vision (all of evolution) and a closeness (a couple of star-crossed lovers). With Anthony Edwards and Mare Winningham. (1989) — Duncan Shepherd
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