Author Topic: Aviation Movie Suggestions  (Read 4097 times)

Offline sky_captain

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Aviation Movie Suggestions
« on: October 04, 2012, 05:46:07 PM »
A movie  my family likes a lot, that also has a European flavor, is Porco Rosso by Hayao Miyazaki. It's set the Adriatic Sea in about 1929-30, and focuses on a seaplane pilot and his adventures as a bounty hunter for "air pirates". The movie is from Studio Ghibli, so you know it's good.

Offline YawningMan

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Re: Aviation Movie Suggestions
« Reply #1 on: October 04, 2012, 07:03:07 PM »
There's Always. This is apparently a remake of a movie called A Guy Named Joe. I haven't seen the older movie. The newer one is directed by Spielberg. It's not really about flying, though flying is a major part of the plot.

If anime interests you at all, certain points of Cowboy Bebop lead me to believe the creators have a love of aviation, though aviation isn't really the point of the series. The creators basically just throw "shout-outs" to aviation in their show. The movie has a scene that takes place at an airshow, which is pretty cool. I don't know that you'll dig the whole series just to see a few references to aviation, though.

About all that's left are the myriad WWII re-enactment movies like Tora Tora Tora or Midway. Use of actual aircraft footage is mixed when you watch these movies. Well, Tora Tora Tora was better than average in this regard.

There's The Final Countdown, which is also not solely about aviation. The premise is really cool. There are a few scenes that have plane candy. Bonus points if you can spot the scene where the Tomcat driver nearly crashes his very real F-14. Yes, he was showboating. I bet his commander had a few choice words for him after the shoot.

I almost ended the post without mentioning Strategic Air Command. What do you get when you get a studio who nabs a real Air Force Colonel (or General?), a real squadron of B-36s during the cold war, and a shout out to a man's love of baseball? Yup. This is Strategic Air Command. I haven't seen it all the way through, but I remember thinking I certainly should at some point.

Offline Dysko

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Re: Aviation Movie Suggestions
« Reply #2 on: October 04, 2012, 07:48:22 PM »
I liked a lot "Battle of Britain", "Flight of the Intruder" and "The Right Stuff".
The "Iron Eagle" series has some good flight scenes, but the story is not that good. I watched only 1 and 2 (and this one only in English, as I couldn't find it in Italian even if all the 4 movies were translated in my mothertongue), and I couldn't find 3 and 4 even in English!
And please, don't watch "Mirror Wars" or Steven Seagal's ('nuff said) "Flight of Fury", they are terrible!

Jumping on the "Top Gun" bandwagon, in 1989 the Italian Air Force filmed a series named "Aquile" ("Eagles").
Avoid that too. It's just a typical Italian soap opera with some F-104 shots here and there.
And if you are lucky, it wasn't even translated in your language ::rofl::
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Offline Stef

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Re: Aviation Movie Suggestions
« Reply #3 on: October 06, 2012, 11:32:32 AM »
Well, I got a long list now of movies to see! I've heard of Porco Rosso, and I generally like Miyazaki movies... Funny that I haven't seen that one yet!

Offline Dysko

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Re: Aviation Movie Suggestions
« Reply #4 on: October 06, 2012, 01:14:49 PM »
Other good movies I forgot to add are "Air America", "Bat 21" and "Firefox" (for this one, I also suggest you to read both the novel and its sequel "Firefox Down").

For helicopters fans, there are "Blue Thunder" and "Firebirds", known also as "Wings of the Apache". However, "Firebirds" is much like "Iron Eagle": outstanding flight scenes, but bad story.
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Offline Oddball

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Re: Aviation Movie Suggestions
« Reply #5 on: October 06, 2012, 02:57:58 PM »
Got both novels Dysko, they are pretty good with the film following along with the first one apart from the end (which I won't spoil)
"You can teach monkeys to fly better than that!"and "spring chicken to sh**e hawk in one easy lesson"