Plane

2023 Lionsgate

Rated: R

Length: 1 hr 47min

Action ~ Adventure ~ Thriller

Starring: Gerard Butler, Mike Colter, Yoson An, and Tony Goldwyn.

“The crash was only the beginning…….”

Gerard Butler stars as Captain Brodie Torrance, an airline Pilot for Trailblazer Airlines. He is piloting Flight 119 on New Years Day from Singapore to Tokyo. There are 114 passengers and three crew members on board. At the last minute Louis Gaspare (Mike Colter), a fugitive wanted for murder is being brought on to the plane by the police. Handcuffed and with a police escort, he is escorted to the back of the plane. As Captain Brodie and his Co-Pilot Samuel Dele (Yoson An) prepare to take-off they notice that their flight plan takes them right through a very bad storm.

The Flight Director assures them that they will be fine flying into the storm. It is a shortcut and if they fly high enough they should avoid the worst of the storm. They take-off and shortly after encounter the storm. They climb high enough to avoid the turbulence, and at first everything seems to be ok. Then all of a sudden there is a lightning strike and the plane loses it’s avionics. As it gets tossed around, Captain Brodie takes a good hit to the side of his head. The Officer escorting Louis Gaspare and a stewardess who were unbuckled get knocked around like a couple of rag dolls and are killed.

Captain Brodie decides to use the ten minutes of battery power they have left to land as quickly and safely as possible, otherwise they will drop out of the sky and crash. They bring the plane under control and prepare to land in the water, but at the last possible moment Captain Brodie sees land. They manage to land on a dirt road and stop the plane with minimal damage but soon realize that it is a hostile island with no authorities. Gangsters and criminals run the island and Captain Brodie and Louis Gaspare team up to find a way to get the passengers out safely.

Like the tagline says, “The crash was only the beginning……..” It is a thrilling action adventure that will keep you on your toes. Gerard Butler is a bad-ass in this right behind Mike Colter who completely goes rogue and mercenary on the local criminal population. There is a lot of tense drama as they fight their way through trying to escape. Gerard Butler did a movie I reviewed last year entitled Last Seen Alive. I gave it and Gerard a pretty negative review, BUT he redeemed himself with this one. The Gerard Butler I’m used to, the down to earth normal guy who’s not afraid to kick your ass if he needs to. Anything he needs to do to save his passengers. He is the Captain and they are his responsibility and he takes that very seriously.

Yup, this is a good one!

Two Thumbs Up!

Daniella Pineda as Bonnie Lane, Gerard Butler as Brodie Torrance, and Yoson An as Samuel Dele in PLANE. Photo Credit: Kenneth Rexach
Courtesy of Lionsgate

Mike Colter as Louis Gaspare in PLANE. Photo Credit: Kenneth Rexach
Courtesy of Lionsgate

PLANE Movie Poster
Courtesy of Lionsgate

Twister

1996 Warner Brothers

Rated: PG-13

Length: 1 hr 53min

Action ~ Adventure ~ Thriller

Directed by: Jan de Bont

Starring: Helen Hunt, Bill Paxton, Jami Gertz, Cary Elwes, Lois Smith, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Alan Ruck and Sean Whalen.

“When you said you chased tornadoes, deep down I always thought it was just a metaphor.”

Helen Hunt star as Dr. Jo Harding, a Meteorologist in Oklahoma leading a group of storm chasers. Having lost her Dad to an F5 Tornado when she was very young, she has been obsessed with chasing tornadoes and trying to figure out what makes them tick. If she figures out the secret to a tornado’s make-up, she might be able to find a way to predict them better. Which would lead to better early warning systems and save people’s lives. Jo and her team are attempting to launch “Dorothy” for the first time, a device that contains hundreds of small sensors into a tornado. They are gathered together preparing Dorothy when her estranged husband………….

Bill (Bill Paxton) shows up in his brand new red Dodge Ram pick-up truck and his fiancé Melissa (Jami Gertz). Bill got tired of chasing tornadoes and arguing with Jo, so he moved away to the city to become a Weatherman. He has come to get Jo to sign the divorce papers she has stalled on. Before Bill can get Jo to sign the papers, she shows him Dorothy. He immediately gets excited because Dorothy was his invention, and just then there is word of a big tornado touching down nearby. They all race to hit the road so they can launch Dorothy into the tornado and Bill just can’t not be a part of it and joins in the hunt.

And what follows is a thrilling chase through the Oklahoma countryside chasing the perfect tornado to launch Dorothy in. To make the chase even more thrilling, there is another storm chasing team that is Bill’s old rival from the past. He has developed technology that looks just like Dorothy and the race is on to be the first to change Tornado technology. The action is non-stop as they get dangerously close to tornadoes trying to launch Dorothy. Bill was always something of a Tornado whisperer, Jo’s team calls him “The Extreme”, and leads them in the right direction while his rival is often a step behind.

I remember seeing this when it first came out. Back in the day I probably saw it half a dozen times. I have to say almost thirty years later it still holds it’s own. The close-up of the tornadoes and the noise is terrifying. And the CGI still holds up, the tornadoes look like giant mad demons picking up and throwing everything in their path. I witnessed a waterspout one time, it appeared very suddenly and we were way closer than I wanted to be. I’ll never forget the sound and the sight of it. It is definitely an entity all it’s own. So powerful, I can’t imagine being anywhere near an f3,4 or 5 tornado.

Helen Hunt and Bill Paxton were perfect in this movie, the real deal. The rest of the cast were awesome as well, Jo’s team had some very young unknowns at the time who later became very popular. Philip Seymour-Hoffman for one. I loved and still love everything about it, even the soundtrack. A classic in my opinion. I would definitely recommend it, especially before the new movie Twisters, which I just saw yesterday. I should have watched Twister first. Either way they are both really good movies.

Highly Recommended.

Two Thumbs Up.

Twisters

2024 Universal Pictures

Rated: PG-13

Length: 2 hr 2min

Action ~ Adventure ~ Thriller

Directed by: Lee Isaac Chung

Starring: Daisy Edgar-Jones, Glen Powell, Anthony Ramos, Brandon Perea, Maura Tierney, and Sasha Lane.

“If you feel it, chase it.”

Daisy Edgar-Jones stars as Kate, a Muscogee, Oklahoma University Student studying Meteorology who wants to be able to “Tame” a tornado. By understanding how it works she has a theory that she can insert material and chemicals into a tornado to rob it of it’s energy. She and her team of students set out to test the theory in real life but the experiment ends badly. Kate eventually moves to New York city to live and work as a meteorologist, giving up on her idea to “Tame” tornadoes. Five years later Kate is surprised by a visit from her old team mate……………

Javi (Anthony Ramos) who convinces Kate that he and his team back in Oklahoma have new technology that could help in identifying and warning people about potential tornadoes and need her expertise. She agrees and goes back to Oklahoma with Javi and meets his team of storm chasers backed by a wealthy investor. As they are getting ready to head out and chase a possible tornado, a rowdy bunch of storm chasers arrive led by a Red Dodge Pick-up Truck driven by a brash YouTube personality by the name of……….

Tyler (Glen Powell) and his associates are rough and rowdy storm chasers with their own YouTube channel of a million subscribers and are accompanied by a photojournalist from England. They are a rag-tag looking bunch with their beat up Red Dodge Truck, old vintage RV and VW wagon. Tyler and Kate immediately dislike each other and both teams try to outwit one another to be the first to reach a tornado. I have to say I really like the ingenuity of Tyler’s team with the truck. They have welded a square tube steel frame all the way around and encased 4 augers that dig down into the ground. In essence anchoring the truck to the ground.

I am a fan of the movie Twister that came out in 1996, back then it was a blockbuster. I just went back and re-watched it before I watched Twisters. Does it compare, yes. It is as good? I’d have to say yes. Is it a sequel? It is a stand alone sequel that actually pays more homage to the original than being a sequel in my opinion. For an in depth comparison, check out Twister, Twisters & Twisted Trivia.

Yes I recommend it, I think it’s a good one that will keep you on the edge of your seat.

Two Thumbs Up!

The Call Of The Wild

2020 20th Century Studios

Rated: PG

Length: 1 hr 40min

Adventure ~ Drama ~ Family

Directed by: Chris Sanders

Starring: Harrison Ford, Omar Sy, Cara Gee, Dan Stevens, Karen Gillan, and Bradley Whitford and……..BUCKLEY.

“Every summer when he comes down to the valley, he remembers kind hands and old Masters. Before he became his own Master, before he heard…….The Call Of The Wild.”

THE CALL OF THE WILD is a Classic Movie starring a Classic Movie Star based on a Classic Novel by Jack London . It reminds me of The Disney Movies I watched on Sunday Nights on The Wonderful World of Disney as a kid. It tells the story of Buck, a 140 pound St. Bernard – Scotch Shepherd dog, living the good life in Santa Clara, California with his owner Judge Miller and his family. It is 1897 and the Gold rush is in full swing in the Yukon region of Alaska. There is a growing need for strong dogs to pull the sleds and huge bounties are being paid for suitable dogs. Judge Miller’s Gardner notices how big a dog Buck is and sees a quick way to make some money. He tricks Buck with a treat, locks him in a wooden crate and sells him to a dog trader.

Buck ends up in the Yukon in Alaska and is sold to a Mail carrier and his wife. Buck has California feet and it is a rude awakening away from the life of luxury he was taken from. Turned into a sled dog seemingly overnight Buck must fight for his survival and grow into an amazing sled dog. Along the way he meets John Thornton (Harrison Ford) who Buck will eventually team up with for an adventure that will change both Buck and John Thornton’s lives. It is a great adventure that Buck has gone on. Starting as a domestic pet to full time sled dog in the Yukon, changing from slave to master of his own destiny, changing the very nature of Timber Wolves in the Yukon.

It is a great story. It is a great movie, I consider it classic. Harrison Ford does an outstanding job of acting with a CGI dog. I think of Buck as a real dog in the movie, he is CGI but I immediately grew fond of Buck. As the director Chris Sanders and his wife Jessica Steele-Sanders tells the story to Disney, I now know why. The real Buck was found by Jessica Steele-Sanders on the app Pet finder by accident. He was found on the street in Kansas, an exact duplicate of the breed in Jack London’s novel. Jessica drove two days from California to go get Buckley (The dog’s actual name believe it or not). Everyone immediately fell for Buckley and The CGI Buck is based on Buckley. Buckley now lives with Chris and Jessica.

All of the CGI dogs in the movie were based on real life counterparts. Watching the video about Buckley you can see that his character was realistically portrayed by the CGI Buck. I have to confess that I am a dog guy and fell for Buck. I am actually a little jealous of Buck. No, I have no desire to pull a dogsled, but I am envious of his journey. After all he went through, in the end, he finds true happiness and freedom.

I’ve probably seen this half a dozen times and would gladly watch it again.

Highly Recommended!

Two Thumbs Up!

In The Heart Of The Sea

2015 Warner Brothers Pictures

Rated: PG-13

Length: 2 hr 1min

Action ~ Adventure ~ Drama ~ True Story

Directed by: Ron Howard

Starring: Chris Hemsworth, Benjamin Walker, Cillian Murphy, Tom Holland, Ben Whishaw, and Brendan Gleeson.

“Since we have discovered that whale oil can light our cities, it has pushed man to venture deeper into the deep blue unknown. We know not it’s depths nor the creatures that live there.”

From the 17th to the early 20th century The Whaling Industry was a well organized worldwide business. Up to 80% of a whale’s weight is made up of oil, which was perfect for oil lamps and heat. It was also used for lubrication in machinery and making soaps. Whaling ships outfitted exclusively to hunt and harvest whales were plentiful, and being a Whaler was seen as an admirable occupation. They would head out to sea for a couple of years until their hold was filled with barrels of whale oil.

When the whaling ship would get close to a pod of Whales they would lower three smaller boats laden with men and harpoons with long ropes attached. They would maneuver the boats right up to the whales and then harpoon them. As the whale took off the men followed in the boat, being towed by the harpoon imbedded in the whale. They would ride it out until the whale bled out and died, then they would tow it back to the ship. There they would harvest it by cutting sections of the whale and boiling it down to oil, then storing it in barrels in the hold.

In 1820 in Nantucket Massachusetts, a whaling company outfitted The ESSEX for a whaling expedition. Captain George Pollard (Benjamin Walker) is brought on due to his family’s deep ties to the whaling industry although he has little experience as a Captain or a whaler. Owen Chase (Chris Hemsworth) is hired on as First Mate and, having a rich history of being a whaler and a seaman, he and Captain Pollard clash from the start. The ESSEX has little luck in the first three months of their journey and at a stop in Ecuador a Spanish Captain tells them of a sweet spot 2000 miles to the west. He also warns them about a vengeful huge white sperm whale that destroyed his ship and killed six of his men.

The ESSEX and her crew head for the spot in the Pacific and find the spot full of whales. They also find the huge white scarred sperm whale the Spanish Captain had warned them about. What happened to the ESSEX and her crew after encountering the massive white whale became a worldwide story after what remained of the crew returned. Thirty years later it was this story that Herman Melville wanted, felt compelled, to write his next novel MOBY DICK about. As the movie opens we see Herman Melville (Ben Whishaw) travelling to the home of Thomas Nickerson (Brendan Gleeson), who was a 14 year old cabin boy on the ESSEX‘s doomed journey thirty years earlier, to get his firsthand account of the tragedy.

As Thomas Nickerson recounts the true tale of The ESSEX and the encounter with The Great White Whale, we watch it unfold on the big screen. It is a fantastic True Story told in 3-d directed by Ron Howard, beautifully filmed in The Canary Islands of Spain. The movie is based on the 2000 book by Nathaniel Philbrick titled In The Heart Of The Sea. I have seen this several times since it was first released, and I just watched it again on Netflix. I think it is a classic. Obviously a classic tale but I think Ron Howard did a great job at bringing the story to life. The lengths that Ron and the cast went to for realism was above and beyond, to the point of having the crew go on a strict diet to mimic the starving crew of the ESSEX.