“It’s a hard thing for me to discuss at the moment, because it really is something that you have to experience.”. Uhmmm, no, I don’t need to see an eighth version of Tom Cruise saving the planet hanging from a Stearman–how much money does one person need? What WOULD be impressive is to see how long he could hang on to the wing of a SuperHornet after being catapulted from the carrier sans helmet. If he hangs on until Mach 1, I will partake.
So it’s a comedy, then?
I’ll pass.
So what kind of aviation-related movies do you guys watch? “Out of Africa”? “Up in the Air”? “Casablanca”? Aviation verisimilitude, with very few notable exceptions (“Sully”), is and should be, boring. Action movies are not intended to be documentaries; all those stunts are expensive so they need to draw the less-discerning eyeballs. And “a willing suspension of disbelief”.
You guys probably didn’t think the “Airplane!” movies were funny, either.
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I go to the movies to be entertained and I don’t expect to be enlightened. The Mission Impossible series is just that… entertainment and nothing more. The genre allows a brief escape from the daily grind. I do envy Mr. Cruise and his airplane collection, though…
Yes, ‘Airplane’ was hilarious and I still get a kick out of it. The sequel with Shatner wasn’t quite as good, but still had some laughs.
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Bingo. There were great masses of pearl clutching how dare theys… And inevitable “it’s beneath me’s” back then… And there always will be…
Playing this month at the theatre: Angry Ol White Guys part deux
What kind of aviation-related movies do I watch? None. Aviation movies are too superficially contrived for dramatic effect for me to be able to watch.
One major exception which is not really an aviation movie but rather a space documentary is Apollo 11. I watch it several times a year and every time I watch Apollo 11 it’s as though it’s my first viewing. All footage in Apollo 11 was filmed in real time on 70 mm film and is the real thing, most of it never seen by the public till the film was released. For me the most dramatic scene in the entire film is actual footage filmed alternately by cameras on the command module and the ascent module of the ascent module flying back to and docking with the command module. This scene begins with the ascent module as a tiny dot against the backdrop of the moon and ends with the visual and audible clunk as the actual docking takes place. It includes close up shots of each vehicle maneuvering for the final docking and takes my breath away every time I watch it. That is real entertainment. Tom Cruise style antics not so.
Yes, yes, it’s about fun, entertainment, have a good time watching. Go wow! Laugh. Wonder how they did that one! Don’t need to take it seriously and let it upset you. All things do not have to be taken seriously. Chill I guess is an appropriate term.
You can denigrate Tom Cruise and the movie but two things, it is entertainment, and if anything like the latest Top Gun movie, in which the filming of the flying scenes were all, I repeat all real flying, no computer generated flying, the only computer work was making an F-18 look like an F-14 because no one was flying F-14s (except Iran) when it was filmed. That Top Gun movie’s plot was not realistic* but it made a good story! *No one would fly down into a heavily defended valley to bomb a target, they would use a smart bomb from above the valley. Lighten up, guys, its entertainment!
It seems like the main point of these movies is for TC to do more and more over the top stunts on someone else’s dime.
Supposedly there is the potential for him to go to the ISS to shoot scenes for a movie. Someone else will be paying for that too.
It makes me crazy in movies when I spot obvious aviation related mistakes, usually made by lazy film makers who don’t know the difference between an airspeed indicator and a speedometer. At least in a Cruise movie, the airplane stuff is accurate and fully thought through. I guess knowing that most pilots are watching means getting the details right, AND it’s almost all actual flying - he doen’t like CGI.
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‘Airplane!’ was hilarious because it was about humor, not an airplane. No need for ya’ll to get pissy about what people watch or don’t watch just because it has an aircraft in it.
Watching the trailer this time hit me like a parody or SNL skit. If one sees it all as cool, I would never criticize that. Enjoy!
Ah, I remember when I was 62, still had oil pressure, knees that worked, and the illusion I had something to prove. But Cruise, hanging off a Stearman like he’s trying to avoid international tariffs? Please.
With the miles he’s got, he should be running the hangar BBQ in socks and sandals.
It’s time to grill, not thrill. 
I’m one up on you having consoled myself with a simpler than Cessna 140 Cessna 120 after retiring from the swept wing global scene. Tom Cruise does not entertain me.
The original Top Gun was ridiculously fun and not to be outdone, just like the car chase in Bullitt.
I’m certain. And stop calling me Shirley.
I’ve talked with many aviators, asking specifically about the REAL impossible parts of missions – popping flaps and gear to dump 100kn to get the bad guys off your tail, sucking them both up and accelerating 100kn in seconds to get on his; the ball turret gunner trapped during a gear-up landing; shooting down multiple ME-262s in a dogfight. They all laugh it off and laugh at it as all good fun.
The old saying of not letting facts stand in the way of a good story applies.
Agree. Especially when the filmmakers have hired a retired O-6 as a military consultant. Flying scenes are one thing, but when you have a flag rank officer whose 60 pounds over weight, his haircut is three months overdue, and he has stripes on his uniform is another. Or Army stripes on a Navy uniform. Or an E-3 running a command center. Or a pilot home on leave during WWII. My recent favorite is the last line of the largely realistic “Masters of the Air,” when the plane is already in flight and the pilot turns to the copilot and says “give me climb power.” So B-17s didn’t take off with full throttle?
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Hell Yeah !now more than ever ,let me loose myself in mindless entertainment!