Movie Review: Rough Air: Danger on Flight 534

Rough Air: Danger on Flight 534 a.k.a Rough Sky
Carlton America, Tele München Fernseh Produktionsgesellschaft (TMG)  USA, Germany, Canada, 2001.

First Officer Mike Hogan (Eric Roberts) has a trauma because of a failed crash landing years ago. He is assigned as replacement co-pilot on short notice as no one else is available. Flight attendants Katy (Alexandra Paul from "Baywatch" and "Melrose Place") and Tracey (Anne Openshaw) try their best to serve the spoiled passengers. There are students, soccer player Ty (Mark Lutz) and airplane engineer Roger (Russell Yuen). On the flight there is also convicted murderer Grant Blyth (Dean McDermott) on his way to prison escorted by Detective Muldoon (John Furey). 

Mike Hogan

Katy

Tracey

Captain Jack Brooks (Kevin Jubinville) is pompous and full of himself. Captain Jack (hey yo captain Jack!) believes in the flawless modern flight technology but Mike is an old school pilot (of the Real Men(TM) era) who believes that pilot's skills are important when the technology fails.

Detective Muldoon and Grant Blyth

Wrongly attached shipping container gets loose, breaks cargo bay door and causes a pressure leak. Storm hits the plane and Mike must get it to safety.  Heroics await for the brave passengers too.

Although it was meant to be a realistic drama about airplane passengers in dire situation, after the accident struck it went kind of silly. When Captain Jack got concussion, he was all like "lemme fly, lemme fly!" And Mike was like "Nope." Then Jack was tied to a seat to let Mike fly in peace.

Grant tries to escape, but where would he go? Worst of all, VIP Mr. Matthews (Carlo Rota) runs of whiskey. Grant has also piloting skills so he can help Mike. But the darn computer breaks and won't let the Real Men(TM) fly! (Unrealistic? Just wait when self-driving cars decide that the shortest route goes through a brick wall!)

Mr. Matthews

I won't let you fly!

There are also Real Women(TM). Katy and Tracey use their wits to calm the panicking or arrogant passengers and Icelandic air traffic controller Sara Lundattir (Leah Pinsent) has a rough night shift.

Sara Lundattir

Roger and Mike

TV-movie is quite light to watch, with some thrills, heroics and unintentional comedy. The traditional script could be from 1970s airplane disaster film, and it is just the type of film "Airplane!" parodied. Eric Roberts does a solid role and the other actors are decent too. As a TV-movie it goes but otherwise there's nothing too special.

Rating: Average

Starring: Eric Roberts, Alexandra Paul, Anne Openshaw, Kevin Jubinville, Russell Yuen, Mark Lutz, Sergio Di Zio, Carlo Rota, Dean McDermott, John Furey, Ryan Scott, Kelly Ivey, Susan Aceron, Eliza Roberts, Daryn Jones, Leah Pinsent, Andrew Gillies, Larissa Gomes, Alexis Cassar
Director: Jon Cassar

Movie Review: Air Panic

Air Panic a.k.a Panic
Nu Image, Millennium Films, USA, India, 2001. 

Terrorist hackers remote control airplanes and cause deadly crashes. This time the culprit is not an Islamistic  fanatic but a crazy computer genius Cain (Alexander Enberg). Federal Aviation Administration analyst Neil (Rodney Rowland) tries to tell that the new Oxceelis-computer chip is easy to hack, but do his superiors believe him. Oh no they don't. 

Neil

Cain

Air hostess Josie (Kristanna Loken, before her role in "Terminator 3") has a last day at work. She plans to open a company selling hippity-hoppity clothes. Neil tracks the next possible target for the terrorist attack, and gets on board the plane. Unluckily for Josie it is her plane. And so Cain hijacks the plane and plans to strike Washington DC. The pilot is injured and Cain is listening every discussion in the cockpit, so how to cut the remote control is the million dollar question.

Josie

Along the passengers are annoying besserwisser Ray (Billy 'Sly' Williams), mysterious woman Bernadette (Barbara Carrera) and workaholic Doctor Philip (Gulshan Grover) with his family. Somehow all of them become important for the survival of the passengers. Although Ray's importance vas vague to me, i must have blinked at the wrong moment.

Ray

Bernadette

Doctor Philip

Direct-to-video Terrorsploitation was filmed in 2001 but apparently it was unreleased until 2003 in USA after 9/11 strikes. Understandably so as the airplanes striking buildings feel unnervingly prophetic. The movie is not as bad I was hoping but not nearly good enough to be memorable. Basic thriller repeats the usual tricks of airplane disaster films. Airplanes crash and some passengers are given more screentime to make them sympathetic. If there was something going in the direction of real drama, it was Captain O'Kelly (Ted Shackelford) and Bernadette getting acquainted. Kristanna Loken is pleasant to watch and Alexander Enberg boasts entertainingly as a psycho, while the other actors feel average at best.

Rating: Average

Starring: Rodney Rowland, Kristanna Loken, Alexander Enberg, Ted Shackelford, Barbara Carrera, Scott Michael Campbell, Tucker Smallwood, Billy 'Sly' Williams, David Bowe, John Bishop, Boti Bliss, Tereza Rizzardi, Gulshan Grover, Duke Stroud, Sanyogetta, Armaan Kandhari, Bob Misiorowski, Stephen David, Scott Putman, Roly Jansen, Rashmi Sharma, Brian O'Sullivan, Shaun White, Lalith Sharma, Grant Hulley, Tiger Ali Razavi, Samsher Pawer, Lucky Louie
Director: Bob Misiorowski

Movie Review: Thrill Seekers

Thrill Seekers a.k.a The Time Shifters
Abandon Pictures, Avenue Pictures, Carlton America, Hamdon Entertainment, USA, Canada, 1999. 

Tom Merrick  (Casper Van Dien) was a star TV reporter whose overambitiousness cost the live of two of his working partners in power plant disaster. He was only saved because he was confused when he saw a strange man loitering in the burning building. Tom is traumatized, loses his marriage and says goodbye to his career.

Years later he is happy getting a job in a quality magazine. You know, the kind of magazine with articles such as 'Hitler found: exclusive first interview' and 'Boy trapped in furnace eats own foot.' His first assignment is to write an article about historical disasters. Researching old pictures reveals that the same man with a black hat (Julian Richings) has always been sighted at the locations of disasters. Maybe there is a centuries old conspiracy behind the accidents. That could be scoop of the century if the photographs are real. So Tom travels to find the original archived photos only to notice that the same man is in the airplane and that the airplane is about to crash. 

HIgh quality journalism

Time Tourist

Tom hijacks the airplane to avoid the crash. After preventing the disaster Tom is arrested by the FBI only to be kidnapped by agents from the future (Theresa Saldana and Peter Outerbridge). He manages to escape but the cops think he is a terrorist. Apparently tourists from the future are coming to watch the disasters. Together with colleague Elizabeth Wintern (Catherine Bell) Tom tries to prevent the next disasters. 

Elizabeth Wintern

Cortez and Felder

Better than average TV-movie has an interesting idea although the economic production reminds that you are watching a TV-movie and it could have worked also as a higher budget film. In Casper Van Dien's filmography this is one of the more interesting ones. The plot keeps in its grip, with couple of clever twists although the time paradoxes that the story creates are quite absurd if thought seriously. Director Mario Azzopardi has scifi-experience for directing episodes for such series as "Outer Limits" and "Stargate SG-1." Martin Sheen appears as a travel company boss from the future. Many of the actors are familiar faces from TV. Catherine Bell appeared in "JAG" and Theresa Saldana in "The Commish". Julian Richings looked familiar and no wonder as he has a long career of acting in scifi-films and TV-series, including "Cube", "Supernatural" and "Orphan Black." 

Recommended for scifi fans who liked "Outer Limits."

Rating: Good

Starring: Casper Van Dien, Catherine Bell, Theresa Saldana, Peter Outerbridge, Julian Richings, Lawrence Dane, Catherine Oxenberg, Mimi Kuzyk, James Allodi, Deborah Odell, Martin Sheen, Matthew Bennett, Marc Donato, Stephen Bogaert, Sumela Kay, Carole Mackereth, Trevor Bain, Matt Birman, Jim Codrington, Brendan Connor, Kathryn Humphries, Oscar Hsu, Tony Meyler, Billy Otis, Lee Smart, Robert Thomas
Director: Mario Azzopardi

Here's Jack Blogathon Special: Man Trouble

Man Trouble

Penta Entertainment, American Filmworks, Budding Grove, Cecchi Gori Pictures, USA, Italy, 1992.

This review is part of Here's Jack Blogathon hosted by Gill at Realweegiemidget Reviews to celebrate Jack Nicholson's 80th birthday. "Man Trouble" stars the birthday hero in a romantic comedy that was produced by former Italian Prime Minister Silvio "Bunga Bunga" Berlusconi himself!

Jack Nicholson as Harry Bliss

Harry Bliss (Jack Nicholson) is a slick guard dog trainer. Harry is hiding from his debtors and living under false name. He is a ladies' man so his marriage with Adele 'Iwo Jima' Bliss (Lauren Tom) is in crisis. There is a serial killer roaming around Hollywood and when a stalker starts to stalk opera singer Joan Spruance (Ellen Barkin), she hires Harry for help. Harry starts immediately flirting with the customer and Joan does not mind at all. To make things more complicated there is a sideplot involving Joan's sister Andy (Beverly D'Angelo) and a scandalous manuscript about Andy's gangster ex-husband Red Layls (Harry Dean Stanton).

Ellen Barkin as Joan

Viveka Davis as Harry's secretary

Harry Dean Stanton as Red Layls

Sad to say but "Man Trouble" is a messy flop. Every great actor has some films that can be considered as their unimportant minor works and "Man Trouble" counts as one. The screwball comedy fails as the jokes are not funny enough or miss their mark completely. The main pair's chemistry does not feel right either and the thriller sideplots (the stalker plot and the gangster plot) do not really make sense or matter. The actors can't be blamed but the problem is with the script that never catches the pace and craziness of the comedy classics. Jack Nicholson tries to carry the film for a while but even he can't hold together the shaggy dog story and finally he just seems to give up. And so in 1992 Jack earned two Golden Raspberry nominations as worst actor: for "Hoffa" (undeservingly in my opinion) and "Man Trouble."

Maybe fans of Jack should just pretend that this movie doesn't exist.

Beverly D'Angelo as Joan's sister Andy

Michael McKean as Joan's friend Eddy

Rating: Bad

Starring: Jack Nicholson, Ellen Barkin, Harry Dean Stanton, Beverly D'Angelo, Michael McKean, Saul Rubinek, Viveka Davis, Veronica Cartwright, David Clennon, John Kapelos, Lauren Tom, Paul Mazursky, Gary Graham, Betty Carvalho, Mark J. Goodman, Robin Greer, Sandy Ignon, Rustam Branaman, Lenny Citrano,Christopher Garr, Rob LaBelle, Raymond Cruz, Ed Kerrigan, Daniel J. Goojvin, Thomas Griep, June Christopher, Matt Ingersoll, Rebecca Broussard, Mary-Robin Redd, John D. Russo, Anthony Frederick, Max Delgado, Jeff Record, Mary Pat Gleason, Gordon Reinhart, David St. James, Susan Bugg, Virgil Frye, Ken Thorley, Gerrielani Miyazaki, Jennifer Yang, Suzanne Lodge, Suzanne Q. Burdeau, Ginger LaBrie, Charles A. Tamburro, Michael Tamburro, Jacqueline M. Allen, Marti C. Pia, Stephen W. Anderson, Gloria Grace Prosper, Samela A. Beasom, Ellen Rabiner, Bernice Brightbill, Paula Rasmussen, Martha L. Cowen, Mary Heller Rawcliffe, Michelle A. Fournier, Sally Stevens, Linda Harmon, Susie Stevens-Logan, Ron Hicklin, Diane O. Thomas, Marie T. Hodgson, Maurita L. Thornburgh, Laurel L. James, Kerry E. Walsh, Darlene Koldenhoven, Kari Windingstad, Cathy A. Larsen, Jorga Caye, Alan Doshna

Director: Bob Rafelson

Movie Review: Windfall (2003)

Windfall (2003)
American Cinema International, Media Pro Pictures, Nu Image / Millennium Films, USA, Romania, 2003. 

Mr. Wescott (Ray Wise) opens Casino Royale in South Carolina. Scratch (Robert Englund) and Ace Logan (Casper Van Dien) try to rob the casino but security chief Bill Trask (Gregg Henry) foils their plan. After a furious chase the boys get caught. However they avoid prison by agreeing to work for Mr. Wescott as casino guards although Trask and assistant Amber Malley (Libby Hudson Lydecker) express their disagreement about the deal. Ace and Scratch, a little bit criminals but good men.

Ace

Scratch

Mr. Wescott

Hurricane Brenda is approaching the island where the casino is located. Meteorologists John (Jeff Celentano) and Melanie (Brenda Epperson) try to warn. Meanwhile Trask is stealing money from Wescott, and his gang tries to get rid of Ace and Amber who are becoming close. Trask plans to rob the casino during the storm. Not going to happen if Ace, Scratch and Amber have their say. 

Amber

Trask

Melanie and John

Direct to video action thriller / disaster movie hybrid has some familiar faces, there is Laura Palmer's dad, Freddy Krueger, Casper Van Dien himself and Gregg Henry, known for numerous movies and TV-series. Also the henchmen are commonly visitors in TV-shows. The story has the style of 1990s action thrillers. This seems to be a quite little known film although it is far from being Casper Van Dien's worst. Make no mistake, it has a silly script, some questionable acting and obvious goofs are plentiful. Night turns into a day in just five minutes et cetera. But it is dumb and fun, a slightly positive surprise as I wasn't expecting much. It is still better than, let's say, most Steven Seagal's East-European productions. There are some nice chase scenes too. Ray Wise has the best role as a benevolent casino owner. Robert Englund is underused but has some fun scenes. Van Dien is playing the same hero role as always. Gregg Henry imitates Gary Busey's villains. 

Rating: Good (as a direct to video movie)

Starring: Casper Van Dien, Gregg Henry, Libby Hudson Lydecker, Robert Englund, Ray Wise, Cyril O'Reilly, Daniel Roebuck, Jeremy Roberts, Jeff Kober, Florin Tanase, Paul Andreescu, Kristin Herold, Brenda Epperson, Jeff Celentano, Adrian Codrescu, Ion Cavase, Marian Vasile, Andi Marian, Corina Danila, Plavitiu George, Ion Constantinescu, Ted Pretty, Loredana Groza, Adrian Pavlovschi 

Director: Gerry Lively

Movie Review: Resident Evil: Damnation

Resident Evil: Damnation a.k.a Biohazard: Damnation 

Capcom Company, Digital Frontier, Sony Pictures Entertainment, Japan, 2012. 

In a former Soviet state civil war is raging (kind of foreshadoing the Ukraine crisis) and the rebels are using biological weapons. Zombies and mutant monsters are approaching the President's palace. Special Agent Leon S. Kennedy (Matthew Mercer) is recalled home but he decides to finish his mission without American support. After a fight with Licker-monster Leon finds himself captured by trio of rebels: America fan J.D. (Val Tasso), old coughing Ataman (Robin Sachs) and bitter rebel Alexander a.k.a Buddy (Dave Wittenberg).

Leon

Licker

J.D and Buddy

Mysterious thief Ada Wong (Courtenay Taylor) is also on her own mission. Her motives are always shady and this adventure doesn't really make them much clearer. Still she has liking to Leon and Leon gets also some unlikely allies that are helpful when fighting the ever more dangerous zombie mutants. Leon finds out that every faction of the civil war has dirty hands.

President Svetlana Belikova

Just another day in Eastern Europe

Ada Wong

Stand alone sequel to "Resident Evil: Degeneration" is the faithful continuation of "Resident Evil" games (somewhere between parts 5 and 6) that can not be said about the live-action films.  Okay, the first "Resident Evil" movie was good, but the series went downhill since. These computer generated RE animations are getting much better than the live-action films. Although they are not the best scifi-horror made in Japan, they still beat most of the video game adaptations. The story has a good combination of action, intrigue, horror and humour. Leon has some witty dialogue and one liners and the Japanese style adds some tragic aspect to some of the characters. The animation looks good with good character animation, backgrounds and impressive monsters. As a horror-action film it offers solid fun and it is a good video game movie too.

Tyrant

Rating: Good

Voice actors: Matthew Mercer, Dave Wittenberg, Wendee Lee, Val Tasso, Robin Sachs, Courtenay Taylor, Salli Saffioti, David Vincent, Patrick Seitz, Michael McConnohie, Patrick Harlan
Director: Makoto Kamiya