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Sir Terrence the Terrible
03-05-2006, 03:04 PM
Jodie Foster is simply an amazing actor. She has a huge dynamic range of emotion, and is one of the few actors that can convey a thousand words with just a look.

Flightplan is an exceptionally well crafted movie. It begins slowly, and gradually builds to a quick climax. The movie constantly keeps you wondering who the kidnapper is, and reveals nothing until the climax unfolds. It is relentlessly suspenseful, keeping you at the edge of your seat for the full 98 minutes of the movie. In Hollywood, this is called a "slow burner". Few directors can do this kind of film well, and even fewer can do it without revealing the plot before the end.

After an accidental fall that killed her husband, Kyle Pratt (Jodie Foster) and her six-year old daughter Julia accompany the body from Berlin to New York. Traveling on an ultra-modern new airplane that Kyle helped design, they prepare themselves to return home when suddenly the child vanishes during the flight during Kyle’s nap. Desperately she tries to find her missing child but there is not a trace. After a fruitless search of the passenger cabin, Kyle suggests searching the holds and storage closets but the Captain (Sean Bean) refuses as there are no records of the little girl ever having been onboard. She's not on the passenger manifest, no boarding pass has been issued and no one has seen her come aboard. In fact, records indicate that Julia died with her father. But despite all attempts to convince her that she's suffering from post traumatic stress, Kyle is desperately determined to find her daughter, trying to find out what exactly is going on.
The head stewardess (Erika Christensen) and the airplane air Marshall (Peter Sarsgaard) both work with, and against Kyle in her search for her daughter, and convincing her that she never boarded.

The Picture:

Buena Vista Home Entertainment delivers a wonderful DVD for this film, featuring an anamorphic widescreen transfer in the movie's original 2.35:1 aspect ratio. The transfer is exceptionally clear without a hint of grain and entirely free of picture blemishes. An incredibly high level of detail marks the presentation, and the well saturated color reproduction further adds to the spectacular look of this release. Blacks are deep and the good contrast makes sure the image is firmly rooted and also offers up clean highlights that never bloom. Skin tones are naturally rendered at all times, and the rich bluish tones of the airplane's interiors and displays are very well rendered. No edge-enhancement is evident in the transfer and the compression is also flawless. In short, this is a reference transfer that convinces on all fronts.

The Sound:

This release features a 448kbps Dolby digital soundtrack, and a 754kbps Dts soundtrack. It also includes English and Spanish tracks as well. The soundtrack is very effective in conveying the action on screen and is never over the top or distracting. The LFE is used effectively to punctuate the action on screen and the front left, center and right also carry quite a bit of bass information, though not nearly as much as other movie soundtracks I have listened to. The surrounds are used effectively in both a direct and ambient manner, but never sounding forced or gratuitous to the mix. The bustling of turbulence is especially effective in all channels to give air to what could be a pretty claustrophobic atmosphere.
I listened to both soundtracks, giving the Dts soundtrack a slight edge for its ability to project low level detail, and wider soundstage from front to back, and is harmonically better for the film score.

The extras on this DVD are pretty interesting. Starting with a commentary track featuring director Robert Schwentke. The director is very candid in this commentary discussing in detail many of his decisions as well as the production aspects. I found his comments very helpful in understanding the difficulty of this production.

A five-part documentary about the making of the film is also included, covering various aspects, including the story, the director, the cast, post-production and the movie's visual effects. It is a well-crafted documentary that gives a good overall look at the production of the film.

Another featurette on the disc discusses the design of the aircraft used in the film. Although in reality this plane does not exist, if it did, they show how true to airplane construction they stayed in order to craft this oversized airplane for the movie. They also discussed how to turn a plane this size into a flexible structure for filming as well.

This film is a keeper for any film collector, and a must rent for those who do not buy. It is a great film from the beginning to the end.

paul_pci
03-05-2006, 04:14 PM
Sorry, I love Jodie Foster and all, but this movie was total crap. And I'm usually a forgiving person when it comes to outrageous plot conceptions, but this was way out of any forgivable bounds of unlikely plots.

GMichael
03-06-2006, 06:05 AM
Nice review Sir TT. It gives us just enough to give us an idea of what to expect without spilling all the beans and spoilling the ending. Sounds like it might be worth putting on my list of "like to gets".

Kam
03-06-2006, 07:31 AM
agree that jodie foster does a great job with what she's given in the script, its just that she's given a lot of crap. the plot holes and humongously ginormous leeps of logic neccessary to move the plot forward were just too much for me. i agree it was suspenseful at times, and the build up was nicely done (mainly because of jodie being able to build the 'slow burn' entirely with her own performance) but once everything is explained and all the reveals are done... it had to have been the dumbest heist plots ever.

kexodusc
03-06-2006, 07:52 AM
I dunno about "total crap"...but it had "some crap".
I found it entertaining enough though. Jodie Foster saved it for me. Good popcorn muncher...you could rent much worse.

Speaking of Foster, I'm not sure I can agree with Sir T's comment on her huge dynamic range of emotion.
Seems every movie she's in she plays the same character...and she's always under attack by someone or something or trying to uncover the big mystery (or both). She plays it to perfection though. I don't think that's a bad thing. Pacino is similar, all his good roles are the diabolic, cerebral boss-character types. I'd rather an actor who excelled at one role than one who struggled at many (see Affleck).

shokhead
03-06-2006, 08:30 AM
I thought panic room was ok and it was abit better then FP. We need her to get a real good role to show all the upstarts how its done.

Geoffcin
03-06-2006, 08:43 AM
Sorry, I love Jodie Foster and all, but this movie was total crap. And I'm usually a forgiving person when it comes to outrageous plot conceptions, but this was way out of any forgivable bounds of unlikely plots.

It can never be, as a review can only be one persons point of view.

A debate about a particular movie is perfectly fine, but should not be attached to a review.

Sir Terrence the Terrible
03-06-2006, 10:32 AM
It can never be, as a review can only be one persons point of view.

A debate about a particular movie is perfectly fine, but should not be attached to a review.

Thanks Geoff.

While I highly disagree that this film is crap, there are some elements that do exceed my suspension of belief. Did these what I call minor flaps effect the overall total viewing? In this case no, but in the case of The Fog, it ripped me out of the storyline so many times it was unescapeable. When reviewing a movie, you have to strike some sort of balance between entertainment and quality of content. In my opinion, this had a nice balance.

Many things in life seem unplausable to use until they actually happen. The very idea of using a plane in real life as a weapon to not only destroy a 110 story building, but to kill thousands wasn't really a plausable thought process to many until it actually happen.

I do not know if what happen to Kyle could happen in real life, it certainly hasn't happened yet. However there may be one day some hijacker really pulls something like this off, it would be a surprised to us all.

Kam
03-06-2006, 10:50 AM
It can never be, as a review can only be one persons point of view.

A debate about a particular movie is perfectly fine, but should not be attached to a review.

ok am a leeeetle bit confused. we should NOT have content/or other, related debates when a dvd review is posted? so then should we start another thread to discuss flightplan unrelated to this one?

kexodusc
03-06-2006, 10:56 AM
I thought all the replies were just a whole bunch of other reviews? :D

Geoffcin
03-06-2006, 11:11 AM
ok am a leeeetle bit confused. we should NOT have content/or other, related debates when a dvd review is posted? so then should we start another thread to discuss flightplan unrelated to this one?

A review, is a review. If you look in the consumer review section, everyone has a chance to speak his mind, but NOBODY can start a debate about someone elses review.

I'm glad that these reviews are sparking interest in the movie, but I think the real problem is that they are posted in a public forum rather than a closed topic. There's no other reviews pro, or consumer that are done that way on AR, or any other website that I can think of.

Sir Terrence the Terrible
03-06-2006, 11:54 AM
A review, is a review. If you look in the consumer review section, everyone has a chance to speak his mind, but NOBODY can start a debate about someone elses review.

I'm glad that these reviews are sparking interest in the movie, but I think the real problem is that they are posted in a public forum rather than a closed topic. There's no other reviews pro, or consumer that are done that way on AR, or any other website that I can think of.

You know Geoff, you are absolutely right. Reviews should probably be in a closed forum, and debate on the review SHOULD take place here. I'll talk to Eric about it.

kexodusc
03-06-2006, 12:03 PM
Guys, I kinda like what you're proposing here, but at the same time, some of the best, most hilarious threads I've seen were started by an open-forum movie/product review where people shared their differences of opinion (and in some cases stole their opinions from people with real jobs and mortgages).

Will a poster like me still have the option of posting my review to an open forum, free for anyone to call me as stupid as they see fit? Gosh, sirs, it'd really be dog gone shame if we lost that.

GMichael
03-06-2006, 12:17 PM
Hmmmm... Maybe I'm out in left field here, but how about this for a compromise? Add a field to the review section for movie/DVD reviews. But When someone is entering these reviews they have the option to post a copy of it to the forums as well. That way the reviewer can decide for themselves if they want to begin a thread or not. In either case, the original review will be closed for discussion. While anyone could start a new thread as they like if they read a review that they would like to talk about. Best of both worlds.

Programers/Ericl? Can you make this happen?

Geoffcin
03-06-2006, 12:57 PM
Guys, I kinda like what you're proposing here, but at the same time, some of the best, most hilarious threads I've seen were started by an open-forum movie/product review where people shared their differences of opinion (and in some cases stole their opinions from people with real jobs and mortgages).

Will a poster like me still have the option of posting my review to an open forum, free for anyone to call me as stupid as they see fit? Gosh, sirs, it'd really be dog gone shame if we lost that.

If there's a place to post a "non-debatable" review, you'll likely see more people doing reviews. Also, it will get more members to post threads in here (about the movies that were reviewed). This hasn't been the most used of the forums, and it could use a boost.

kexodusc
03-06-2006, 02:22 PM
If there's a place to post a "non-debatable" review, you'll likely see more people doing reviews. Also, it will get more members to post threads in here (about the movies that were reviewed). This hasn't been the most used of the forums, and it could use a boost.
No question, and I'm not trying to discourage that. Just getting greedy wondering if I can have my cake and eat it too...just tell me to buzz off..:ciappa:

GMichael
03-06-2006, 02:32 PM
If there's a place to post a "non-debatable" review, you'll likely see more people doing reviews. Also, it will get more members to post threads in here (about the movies that were reviewed). This hasn't been the most used of the forums, and it could use a boost.

Hmmmm... Maybe I'm out in left field here, but how about this for a compromise? Add a field to the review section for movie/DVD reviews. But when someone is entering these reviews they could have the option to post a copy of it to the forums as well. That way the reviewer can decide for themselves if they want to begin a thread or not. In either case, the original review will be closed for discussion. While anyone could start a new thread as they like if they read a review that they would like to talk about. Best of both worlds.

Programers/Ericl? Can you make this happen?

Sir Terrence the Terrible
03-06-2006, 03:33 PM
I don't think having a seperate closed review section would quell any posts of that review here. You could read the review in that section, come back here and comment on that review and spur a discussion on the movie. That is the way it is done in other forums. Geoff is right on the mark on this one, more people would review(I have one other, and still trying to coodinate another), and we could always use more reviewers to cover all the different genre's of film, and increase the amount of quality reviews posted in a given week. I have a limited capacity to review everything that comes out, so I find myself doing reviews at home, at work(there is a great 5.1 system with a huge plasma screen there) and at our sister station in Reno (which also has a very good 5.1 system and large LCD screen) to do my reviews because I am on the road quite a bit between stations.

I really enjoy everyones comments on the reviews and really do appreciate them. I personally don't mind if somebody elses likes and dislikes are different from mine. I also like that some folks do not particularly care for mainstream Hollywood movies, and prefer indie and obsecure titles instead. I would like to see reviews cover the entire spectrum of movie genre's in the near future. I am also looking and working with Wooch to establish a format that works well and is somewhat unique.

Keep in mind, we are just getting the ball rolling. Kinks take some time to work out. I however am very enthused about our movie reviews, and will work as hard as I can to give you guys what you want. Please be patient with Eric and I as we will get this right.

Thanks for all of the input guys, it is very welcomed here for sure.

kexodusc
03-06-2006, 07:05 PM
I see, I mistook this as a "no debating what the reviewer said" initiative...my mistake guys.
Sounds cool...Too bad it's gonna be a closed section, I was gonna nominate Lexmark for moderator....

Sir Terrence the Terrible
03-07-2006, 04:49 AM
I see, I mistook this as a "no debating what the reviewer said" initiative...my mistake guys.
Sounds cool...Too bad it's gonna be a closed section, I was gonna nominate Lexmark for moderator....

LOLOLOL. I broke the little printer into thousands of tiny little pieces. If you can put him back together again, I am sure he will take the job.

Kam
03-07-2006, 08:15 AM
moderators and co: (prescript: all the below meant in positive light, no negative or illwill at all from me as i really enjoy this place and want it to be as much fun as possible as that is the key to everything, i think and most of the below is just me thinking outloud).

i totally understand the need to generate traffic and keep the fav films traffic going as much as possible, but it seems like its just adding another step in order to discuss the film. (but i understand if that itself creates more traffic that is desireable) for e.g. this case here (and the doom thread). say we wanted to then discuss terrence's pov's etc. and things he brought up in a discussion/debate, we would have to come back to the 'closed' review, copy what he wrote, then start a new thread and paste it in there. (i guess i am just being superlazy in the thoughts here, not that what i just described is such an onerous task, but just trying to think outloud to help streamline the process).
it seems like wherever the 'debate' is going to happen, it is inspired by the review and someone would have to go back and forth between the 'debate thread' and the closed review. also as kex mentioned, tangents sometimes occur (ok, maybe not 'sometime' but all the time) and are just part of the fun.

no one is debating or calling in to question terrence's point of view (just like an equipment report, his findings are his findings), whatever he reports is exactly that, but if i, or anyone, disagree with a point he makes (e.g. great thriller vs. not so great), right here in this thread would be the place to have it. film review, (particularly the content portion of it) is extremely subjective (actually it can only be described as subjective, there is nearly no objective analysis to art) and what makes it so much fun to discuss the different reactions people have seeing the exact same movie. also, not that this is even close to the same situation, but in our favorite obsolete printer's former "official reviews" there were numerous factual errors in technical audio/video issues which t3 and wooch and co. all took him to task for, which... in the review itself was the place for that to happen. had that been a 'closed' review, then you would have this horrible review standing alone, and then in another section, all the debate about how crappy it is (again an extreme example, which i know is what your trying to avoid, .i.e. finding reviewers who wont make such blatantly amateurish and factual errors in their reviews).

so i guess am just voting for the format to stay as-is, where the review is posted and any convo that it may spark about that movie, sticks with the review. personally, just my own two cents, there's only 2 reasons why i post any reviews of the movie's i have watched on here:
1. to tell people (who have similar tastes as i do) about movies they might not know about and should absolutely, hopefully see, and support (with the hidden agenda to help generate revenue for said movies and make it easier for indie filmmakers to keep making inspiring films over such dreck as Doom, etc), and
2. to discuss those movies with everyone here.

the fun part of all this is having a disagreement with someone on an issue and debating it. perfect example is right here, i dont think the elements of a great thriller was satisfied by Flight Plan, quite the opposite. and would be great to discuss the 'whys' behind what made sir t enjoy it and what made me not. if that has to happen in a second thread entitled...? Flight Plan Review Discussion? then that's fine, just seems like its adding another thread just to add another thread.

as far as having a closed review means more people would want to sign up for writing reviews, am not sure that would be the case. if the 'fear' is that having an open review subjects you to the general public's critique of your work, then that is still present in the closed review example if rogue printers were still writing closed reviews. (again, with the caveat that i do understand you are trying to pick people who have a better understanding and a more than average knowledge of what they are reviewing and of the format they are reviewing, etc) but the point is (if i ever have one) is to keep things as open as possible. my knowledge in this arena (again, if i have any at all) is solely on content of the films, in the acting, the writing, the directing, the cinematography, any of the artistic elements that comprise the movie. my reviews focus on that. if i were to have any comments on audio/video quality, they would be very minimal and i would gladly like to have anyone else add an addendum to the audio/video quality (as someone did to my Into the Blue section of my last movie review) which again, i have some movies coming up i will be posting reviews of (Blow Up, El Crimen Perfecto, Frankie and Johnny are Married) three non-mainstream movies who the majority probably havent even heard of as i myself hadnt until recently. now after posting them, if, for eg. wooch or sir ttt has seen these movies as well and wanted to add on to the audio/video section by saying say... for e.g. that Blow Up has a reference quality transfer for an older movie... i'd think that should be included in the 'review' thread, not the 'discussion inpsired by the review' thread. and maybe that could be part of the process, as i could send my review in and then have it go through your internal quality controls before it gets posted with an: "Editors Note: audio/video quality comment here" type thing added on to it.

whew, that was very long winded, but just wanted to get another two cents in for some thought and debate. :) (btw, overall, i dont think its such a bad idea to have a closed review, and i think with the proper safeguards in place, can work, as that is how established places post their reviews (e.g. nytimes, rogerebert.com, etc).)

GMichael
03-07-2006, 08:28 AM
Is this out of the question?

Add a field to the review section for movie/DVD reviews. But when someone is entering these reviews they could have the option to post a copy of it to the forums as well.

This way, a reviewer can decide for themselves if they want to begin a thread or not. In either case, the original review in the review section would be closed for discussion.

Anyone wanting to start a new thread here about a review they read in the review section could do so.

Sir Terrence the Terrible
03-07-2006, 12:04 PM
Here is the reason I think there should be a closed movie review section. First, if it is posted in fav films, as other topic come online the review tends to disappear onto the second page, third page etc. This makes it pretty difficult if a person was looking for a review of a particular movie. A central place, with the ability to alphabetize, or arrainge by genre is a much better option than scattering them all over the forum.

Secondly, it should be no problem for a person to read a review in the closed section, and then comment on it here. You don't even need to repost the review to do that. All you have to say is "regarding the review of x disc" and make your comments, and that should get the conversation going.

My main point is having a review only section keeps the reviews up front and center, keeps people from having to search for a title, and does not prevent one from commenting on the review. Of course what do I know, I eat chocolate covered ants for breakkie.