# Flightplan out on DVD



## Nick (Apr 23, 2002)

*Flightplan*, starring Jodie Foster, out on DVD this week.

Rating: PG-13 (violence, intense plot material)

Being somewhat of a Jodie Foster fan, I faithfully bought the DVD, already discounted to $16.97, this past Tuesday, the first day on the shelves at my local wally world. I bought the DVD, but not the movie.

As much as I have liked Ms. Foster in _most_ of her other films, her performance in Flightplan, while playing the part of a grief-stricken, stressed-out mother of a missing 6 year old child who, in addition to the panic (room) of waking from a nap on a huge, new double-deck aircraft only to find her young daughter gone, she has, tragically, recently lost her husband due to an unexplained fall from the roof of their apartment building in a foreign country, left me feeling empty and disappointed. IMO, director Robert Schwentke placed too much emphasis on maintaining the extreme stress level of the lead character without giving her time to show any warmth or depth in this 98 minute film, for me to develop an affinity for her character.

Technically, I thought the movie was well-made and visually intriguing. In fact, I enjoyed the behind-the-scenes _"Making of the Movie"_ bonus feature more than the film itself. I would have done better to have waited for it to hit premium movie channel distribution and saved my money.

Reluctantly, I give *Flightplan* 3 out of 5 stars.


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## DonLandis (Dec 17, 2003)

I saw it last night from Blockbuster- Movie Pass plan (meaning I paid a whole lot less than you did.  ) I enjoyed it but not $16.97 worth. I enjoy very few movies enough to pay to keep them on my shelf.


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## Bogy (Mar 23, 2002)

I saw it in a local theater for $1, so I spent less than either of you, although I did also pay for my wife and two kids, so that makes it $4. We thought it was pretty good, although we discussed the many plot holes on the way home. If you can ignore those it was very entertaining. Just don't think about "Safe Room" to much while you watch it, or it may seem derivative.  (I am also a Foster fan.)


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## JM Anthony (Nov 16, 2003)

I'm also a Jody Foster fan and have added this to my NetFlix list, but I suspect it will be a long wait. I liked her best in "Silence of the Lambs."

John


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## Danny R (Jul 5, 2002)

_I'm also a Jody Foster fan and have added this to my NetFlix list, but I suspect it will be a long wait. _

Sorry about that. I've kept my copy all week. Will dump it back in the mail saturday. 

FYI: If you want just released movies in a timely fashion, make certain they are #1 in your queue on monday mornings and you time mailing back your returns so they have open slots monday too.


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## DonLandis (Dec 17, 2003)

Bogy said:


> I saw it in a local theater for $1, so I spent less than either of you, although I did also pay for my wife and two kids, so that makes it $4. We thought it was pretty good, although we discussed the many plot holes on the way home. If you can ignore those it was very entertaining. Just don't think about "Safe Room" to much while you watch it, or it may seem derivative.  (I am also a Foster fan.)


Truce mode on-

I have BlockBuster movie Pass. The rates are different at each store but my neighborhood store has this $19.95 for max 2 videos per check out, no restrictions and keep as long as you want but the most I can do is 2 per day if I'm not working much that month. I average about 40 DVD's per month so that's about 50 cents rental and my wife and I watch. I paid about 25% of what you did!  It seemed better than netflix since I didn't have to deal with sending them back or ordering. I pick them up and can watch same day. If I stop in on Tuesday afternoon, I get new releases on virgin DVD's


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## Bogy (Mar 23, 2002)

DonLandis said:


> Truce mode on-
> 
> I have BlockBuster movie Pass. The rates are different at each store but my neighborhood store has this $19.95 for max 2 videos per check out, no restrictions and keep as long as you want but the most I can do is 2 per day if I'm not working much that month. I average about 40 DVD's per month so that's about 50 cents rental and my wife and I watch. I paid about 25% of what you did!  It seemed better than netflix since I didn't have to deal with sending them back or ordering. I pick them up and can watch same day. If I stop in on Tuesday afternoon, I get new releases on virgin DVD's


But if I go on Wednesday night I get free popcorn.


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## JM Anthony (Nov 16, 2003)

Danny R said:


> _I'm also a Jody Foster fan and have added this to my NetFlix list, but I suspect it will be a long wait. _
> 
> Sorry about that. I've kept my copy all week. Will dump it back in the mail saturday.
> 
> FYI: If you want just released movies in a timely fashion, make certain they are #1 in your queue on monday mornings and you time mailing back your returns so they have open slots monday too.


Danny, I must have had good NetFlix karma this week as I checked my queue and it's in the mail!! So with luck . . .

John


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## DonLandis (Dec 17, 2003)

Free popcorn is on Friday night here. That is because all the good movies get rented out before so that is how they attract poor folk in ( most look like homeless street people with the free popcorn ) to grab those a la carte cash customers. And I thought that popcorn gimmick was just a local store thing?????


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## Bogy (Mar 23, 2002)

DonLandis said:


> Free popcorn is on Friday night here. That is because all the good movies get rented out before so that is how they attract poor folk in ( most look like homeless street people with the free popcorn ) to grab those a la carte cash customers. And I thought that popcorn gimmick was just a local store thing?????


No, one of my local movie theaters does this on Wednesday night. That is one of the benefits of living in this area. I've been seeing more movies in a theater than I have in a long time.
One theater (stadium seating, etc.) has normal ticket prices at $4, with Saturday and Sunday matinees $2.50, and every fifth ticket is free. Free popcorn night is Wednesday. First run movies, either timed with the national opening, or a week later.
The other theater we go to quite often is the $1 theater, which just installed new seating, a big improvement. The movies there have sometimes only been out a few weeks, and sometimes a month or two. Actually, its a good place to catch a film you missed when it first came out.

The concessions stands in these theaters are also a lot more reasonable than in the places where a ticket will set you back 8 or 10 bucks.


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## chaddux (Oct 10, 2004)

Bogy said:


> I saw it in a local theater for $1, so I spent less than either of you.


The studio sent me the DVD for free. I win. 

It's a great movie. I gave it a B+.

I wish my theaters had some sort of cheap promotion. The best promo around here is a $5 student ticket (but only Monday-Thursday). You can also get a $1 hot dog on Mondays if you enjoy eating movie theater hot dogs (which I don't).


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## DonLandis (Dec 17, 2003)

Well, I'll be the real theater party pooper here. I loath going to the theater. I try to avoid it at all costs. The reasons are obvious and making it cheap would only make that experience worse. The only time I go to the theater is when I can try to go at the most undesirable times for others so I can possible have lots of space between me and others. Preferably where I or my wife and I are the only ones in there.


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## Nick (Apr 23, 2002)

DonLandis said:


> Well, I'll be the real theater party pooper here. I loath going to the theater. I try to avoid it at all costs. The reasons are obvious and making it cheap would only make that experience worse. The only time I go to the theater is when I can try to go at the most undesirable times for others so I can possible have lots of space between me and others. Preferably where I or my wife and I are the only ones in there.


I agree, Don. The "theatre" experience is no longer what it used to be, that's why I appreciate having my own W I D E S C R E E N home theater, modest as it is.

I don't miss the rude talkers, the sticky floors, the acrid ammonia smell of old urine. :eek2: OTH, cell phones were never much of a problem for me -- I stopped going to theaters _before_ cellphones and rude cellphone users became ubiquitous. 

With all the airborne diseases going around these days, I feel safer and more comfortable going to the movies at home.

Two thumbs up for home theater! :up: :up:


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## Bogy (Mar 23, 2002)

Obviously people are much better behaved in Iowa than they are in Florida and Georgia.  For one thing, I don't recall the smell of old urine in any theater I've been in. We watch a lot of DVDs at home, and we have a stack right now we haven't had time to watch, but there are some movies I don't want to wait to see, or that I want to see in a really big screen setting.


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## JM Anthony (Nov 16, 2003)

Bogy said:


> . . . For one thing, I don't recall the smell of old urine in any theater I've been in. . . .


Makes me wonder what kind of movies Nick was going to watch!!!!

John


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## JM Anthony (Nov 16, 2003)

OK, so Megan, my 17 y.o. and I just finished watching Flight Plan and we both thought it was a very good movie. I was disappointed that it got pretty trashed on Rotten Tomatoes as Meg and I would give it two thumbs up. Well worth the watch.

John


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## Danny R (Jul 5, 2002)

_I don't recall the smell of old urine in any theater I've been in. _

I've never smelled that in any 1st run theater, but I have experienced it in the various $1 second-run theaters that I've been too, which seem to universally be in poor condition.

--

Back to Flightplan, the main problem I had with the film was the whole suspension of disbelief required.


Spoiler



We are supposed to believe a) the bad guys killed her husband just to set up the whole crime, somehow predicting she'd just fly back to the states immediately - with the body? Just as likely she'd continue living where she was, or perhaps cremate her husband and bury him there. b) that she would react the way she did to her daughter being missing, eventually opening up the coffin for the bad guys?


 Seems a bit much there, and thus is demoted to just the "brainless" action/suspense flick.


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## ntexasdude (Jan 23, 2005)

Jumping in late, like Danny. I finally saw it. Decent, but not great. To me it's the same tired old plot. Evil guy tries to cause grief, super agent, super cop, super mom or whatever, foils the plot and kills the bad guy. Hmmm....how original.

However, if you're male, not gay and have *ANY* testosterone in your bloodstream how could you *NOT* be a Jodie Foster fan?


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## Bogy (Mar 23, 2002)

Danny R said:


> I've never smelled that in any 1st run theater, but I have experienced it in the various $1 second-run theaters that I've been too, which seem to universally be in poor condition.


We have a really nice one about 10 miles from us. They just installed all new seats. Everything is very clean, and the movies are often there within a few weeks of opening nationally.


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## JM Anthony (Nov 16, 2003)

Danny - you're too much of an idealist!!! Since when did movies and reality go hand in hand.


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## Nick (Apr 23, 2002)

JM Anthony said:


> Danny - you're too much of an idealist!!! Since when did movies and reality go hand in hand.


Right you are, John. Let's keep 'reality' in the so-called "reality tv shows" where it belongs. :grin:



ntexasdude said:


> ...if you're male, not gay and have ANY testosterone in your bloodstream how could you NOT be a Jodie Foster fan?


Right you are, Robert. I've been a Jodie Foster fan since she was a child actor. I especially enjoyed "seeing" her in "The Little Girl Who Lives Down the Lane" and "Nell". 

Among her many credits, Jodie also appeared in two episodes of Mayberry R.F.D.

Filmography


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## JM Anthony (Nov 16, 2003)

Nick said:


> Right you are, John. Let's keep 'reality' in the so-called "reality tv shows" where it belongs. :grin: . . .


Right there along with 'rasslin.' (where's Jesse Ventura when you really need him??)


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## pez2002 (Dec 13, 2002)

i liked the movie could have moved a little faster though


now playing sister morphine the rolling stones from i tunes


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