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simonandkatie2001
Reviews
Mercy Mission: The Rescue of Flight 771 (1993)
A great rescue story; in the tradition of Flight of the Phoenix
I like to describe this movie as "clean". By that I mean two things.
First is the scenery and cinematography. When you look at the scenery you know exactly what you're looking at because there is no attempt to contaminate it with special effects. Maybe there was just a tad of special effects; when the second small plane crashed on takeoff from Pago Pago. But that only took a few minutes of the movie.
The second thing I mean by clean is the plot. It is straight forward, simple, and easy to follow. No fancy and complex intrigue to take away from the enjoyment. I believe another reviewer of this movie described it as easy to watch. That is so true.
Other good aspects of this movie are sound, score, writing, editing, and production design. The plot (a commercial airliner, with no search and rescue equipment, trying to find a lost small plane, whose navigation instruments have gone kaput, in the vast expanse of the Pacific) is dramatic, exciting, and well-paced. The ending is a source of tremendous joy, especially when you remember that this is a true story.
Finally, Robert Loggia gives a fine performance as the captain of the commercial airliner. Sometimes I felt I was right there in the cockpit with him and his first and second officers. And the people behind the camera also deserve high marks for their contributions to this very entertaining movie.
Sea People (1999)
A mild fantasy; not too far-fetched
As I indicated in the summary, this is a mild fantasy that is not too far-fetched. It is about "sea people"; people who look perfectly "normal", but who are more at home in the sea than on land.
One of the principal characters is a normal person, a teen-age girl, who happens to meet up with two, a husband and wife, of these sea people while they are on land. She learns that they call themselves sea people. She befriends them and tries to learn all that she can about sea people.
The husband is elderly and soon feels that his time on earth is almost finished. But he can live forever is he returns to the sea; permanently. That is what he (and other sea people) is going to do. When he so advises the teen-age girl, that makes for a very emotional farewell scene.
Young Tegan Moss, someone I had never heard of, gives a very good performance as the teen-age girl. She is especially effective in the above-mentioned farewell scene. And Hume Cronyn, the sea person husband befriended by Tegan, gives his usual outstanding performance.
I found this to be a very well done and enjoyable movie.
The Journey of Natty Gann (1985)
If you have not already, buy the video
A group of very talented and caring professionals got together to produce this beautifully told story; highlighted by a very captivating performance by Meredith Salenger. There is the story itself. The scenery and background music are also outstanding. The wolf was an impressive specimen. Wolves are normally fearful of people; so this one must have been human-raised since birth or shortly thereafter.