List: Movies About Pilots

Posted on November 4, 2012 at 8:00 am

Denzel Washington’s magnificent performance in Flight made me think of some of my other favorite movies about airplane pilots.  These are all worth a look:

The Spirit of St. Louis  James Stewart was a couple of decades older than Charles Lindburgh was when he made his historic flight across the Atlantic.  But he was a decorated pilot himself, and that helps lends authenticity and dedication to this moving portrayal.

The High and the Mighty John Wayne has to save a disabled plane full of passengers in this exciting drama with a haunting musical theme.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vm6gRWbYU2k

Red Tails George Lucas produced this story of the Tuskegee Airmen.  The on-earth scenes drag a bit but the airplane battles are exciting.

Top Gun This Tom Cruise classic about fighter pilots will make you feel “the need for speed.”

Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines A 1910 airplane race takes us back to the days when airplanes were little more than kites with a place to sit in this very funny, exciting, and romantic story.

Always Richard Dreyfuss plays a daring Forest Service pilot in this Steven Spielberg remake of the WII classic, “A Guy Named Joe.”

Related Tags:

 

For Your Netflix Queue Lists

The Mark

Posted on November 3, 2012 at 3:59 pm

The Mark is the first of a two-part Christian end times film starring Craig Sheffer.  He plays Chad Turner, a non-believer who gets caught up in the fight of his life and of his soul as a courier of a critically important biometric chip with world-changing powers.  On board an airplane with a businessman named Mr. Cooper (Eric Roberts), who will present the chip to the G20 summit, they are taken prisoner by Joseph Pike (Gary Daniels), a brutal man who has been hired by a billionaire to get the chip for him.

But Turner is not carrying the chip.  It has been implanted in his arm.  It is worthless unless he is alive.  Pike and Cooper are utterly ruthless but both have to find a way to fight each other without crashing the plane or killing Turner.  And then, somehow, some of the people on the plane just disappear, without their clothes and jewelry.  Everyone else is left behind.

Turner has lost his faith in just about everything, except perhaps for a lovely flight attendant named Dao (Sonia Couling).  But the brutality and corruption he sees in Cooper and Pike and the goodness he sees in Deo awaken the hero in him.

I have one copy to give away.  Send me an email at moviemom@moviemom.com with “Mark” in the subject line and don’t forget to include your address (US addresses only).  I’ll pick a winner at random on November 7.

Related Tags:

 

Action/Adventure Contests and Giveaways Drama Spiritual films

A New Book about KISS

Posted on November 3, 2012 at 8:00 am

My publishing company, Miniver Press, is delighted to announce the publication of All I Need to Know I Learned from KISS: Life Lessons from the Hottest Band in the Land, from Chris Epting, with an introduction from Stone Temple Pilot’s Robert DeLeo that includes his own teenage fan drawings.   Epting was recently interviewing rock legends KISS when it suddenly flashed before his eyes that, bizarre as it might seem, the band he had loved since childhood actually played a huge part in shaping how he looks at the world. In that instant, he decided to write about his life long journey with the band, starting out in the early 1970s when he joined the KISS Army and continuing until today. Epting takes us through the history of KISS, weaving in historic tidbits and trivia with his personal observations, while laying out the rules for living that he absorbed from “the hottest band in the land.” Insightful, touching, and inspiring, the book is already on the Kindle Music Book best-seller list.

Related Tags:

 

Books

Trailer: “42,” the Story of Jackie Robinson

Posted on November 2, 2012 at 2:54 pm

This movie about the first black player in major league baseball looks terrific:

While you wait for the movie’s 2013 release, take a look at Jackie Robinson playing himself (with Ruby Dee as his wife) in The Jackie Robinson Story

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zqUqj5rlVvs
Related Tags:

 

Trailers, Previews, and Clips
THE MOVIE MOM® is a registered trademark of Nell Minow. Use of the mark without express consent from Nell Minow constitutes trademark infringement and unfair competition in violation of federal and state laws. All material © Nell Minow 1995-2024, all rights reserved, and no use or republication is permitted without explicit permission. This site hosts Nell Minow’s Movie Mom® archive, with material that originally appeared on Yahoo! Movies, Beliefnet, and other sources. Much of her new material can be found at Rogerebert.com, Huffington Post, and WheretoWatch. Her books include The Movie Mom’s Guide to Family Movies and 101 Must-See Movie Moments, and she can be heard each week on radio stations across the country.

Website Designed by Max LaZebnik