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Flash Movie Review: Plane
I LOOKED OVER AT THE PERSON playing a video game on their phone and wondered how they would help in a crash. They were small in stature and appeared to still be in college. Looking in the opposite direction, I looked at the person sitting by the window. Hopefully, I am not sounding judgmental; but they looked like they had been in their senior years for some time. I wasn’t sure if they were staring out the airplane window or dozing. All of us were sitting in the emergency row; my main reason was for the extra legroom. Before we had taken off, the flight attendant came over to ask each of us if we understood what was required in the case of an emergency. Each of us had to answer her with a yes or no answer. In all my years of flying on airplanes, I have only witnessed two people who said no to the request. They were asked to take a different seat on the airplane. This may sound weird; but when I find myself sitting in the emergency row, I tend to pay more attention to the other passengers. I am not sure entirely why I do this, but I think I am doing a quick assessment of who might be resistant to following the rules in the case of a crash or emergency landing. I know I would be freaked out, but I do not think I would bolt and forget about helping others get off the plane. THERE WAS ONE FLIGHT I WAS on, where I thought I would find myself assisting the flight attendants in an evacuation. The captain had announced over the speakers that we were headed into a rough patch while they tried to go around a bank of storm clouds. He turned on the seatbelt light and told everyone to hold tight; he would try to get through as fast and as safely as possible. We certainly hit a rough patch because there were a few times where the plane suddenly dropped in altitude. My stomach felt the same as when I am experiencing a sudden drop on one of those huge mega roller coasters. I was tightly gripping the armrests. Gratefully, the captain made good on his promise to get through the bumpy air quickly, though at the time it seemed awfully long. Listening to the chatter among the passengers, it was clear everyone was freaked out. Luckily none of us were on a flight like the one that took place in this action thriller. FORCED TO MAKE AN EMERGENCY LANDING, the pilot of a passenger plane was lucky to have spotted a small patch of land on an island, where he might be able to keep the plane relatively intact and the passengers alive. Unfortunately, there was more danger waiting for them after they landed. With Gerard Butler (Den of Thieves, A Family Man) as Brodie Torrance, Mike Colter (Black and Blue, Luke Cage-TV) as Louis Gaspare, Yoson An (Mulan, Jawbone-TV movie) as Dele, Paul Ben-Victor (The Irishman, Get Hard) as Hampton and Evan Dane Taylor (Castle Falls, The Enemy Within-TV) as Datu Junmar; this was a typical Gerard Butler film. I am not knocking it, but it was easy to figure out what would be taking place in this story. Having said that, I have to say this film was still exciting to watch. Put reason to the side and just go for the ride, would be my suggestion. I did like the variety of scenarios, and thought they kept the story on a steady clip. There was nothing new presented in the script; but if one just wants to experience a couple of easy thrills, then this movie would provide it and in a safe way. There were multiple scenes of blood and violence.
2 ½ stars
Flash Movie Review: Black and Blue
SO ANNOYING, FOR THE PAST TWO weeks I have been trying to stop receiving a company’s daily email advertisements. I receive several every day and it is getting on my nerves. At first, I thought it would be an easy thing to do by going online to unsubscribe via the link they listed on their emails. Going through several steps before finally receiving a confirmation of the stoppage, I thought I was done. Sadly that was not the case because sure enough the very next day I got the same amount of email advertisements in my inbox. Once again, I went through the same steps online to put a stop to them, receiving another confirmation of my success. I was not buying it until I had seen proof; it never came since there was not even a slowdown in the amount of emails coming to me. My next step was to call them on the phone, easier said than done. I had to search multiple pages online before I found a phone number. When I called, the phone rang and rang without anyone ever picking up. Jumping back online, I looked for another phone number and when I dialed it I was greeted with a message that told me to dial the number I had previously dialed. This just ticked me off further; so, I set up my computer to block this company’s emails. THE LESSON I LEARNED FROM THIS WAS believing that the larger a company was, the more chances their employees would be apathetic towards their customers’ experiences and needs. I know this is a broad generalization, but I have experienced this in other situations. I was with a friend when they tried returning a couple of items they bought online from a store’s website. Figuring it would be easier and faster to stop at the store to return them, my friend was met with an unpleasant store employee behind the customer service counter. One thing I cannot stand is when a store employee does not even look up when addressing you and this is exactly what the employee did to my friend. Explaining the situation that the items were the wrong size, the employee said they could not help because the items were bought online. My friend agreed they were ordered online, pointing out to the employee it was from their store’s website. The customer service rep then did something that if I was returning the items I would have taken the discussion up a notch or two. They rolled their eyes at my friend. It was obvious they were not going to budge so I told my friend to dispute the purchase on their charge card. Just because the company was large it was apparent its employees were not interested in bucking the system to do what was right. In a way, it was similar to what the main character was experiencing in this action, crime drama. INVESTIGATING THE SOUND OF GUNSHOTS COMING FROM a deserted factory police officer Alicia, played by Naomie Harris (Moonlight, Skyfall), discovered something that she should not have seen, according to the people on the scene. She saw it differently and because of that there was a chance she might get killed for it. This film festival winner also starred Tyrese Gibson (The Fast and Furious franchise, Transformers franchise) as Mouse, Frank Grillo (Captain America franchise, The Grey) as Terry Malone, Mike Colter (Men in Black 3, Luke Cage-TV) as Darius and Reid Scott (Dean, Veep-TV) as Kevin. The best part of this movie was Naomie. Not only was her acting excellent, but also having her as the main character gave this story a different twist to the usual cat and mouse game. This picture was pretty much all about the action and despite it being easy to figure out, I still felt I was being entertained. The script needed some finesse to make the moral messages less heavy-handed and soften the bluntness in its delivery, especially in the latter half of the story. Despite these issues, I did feel the movie studio was not lax in trying to provide a worthwhile product for the viewing audience.
2 ½ stars
moviejoltz 