Fire in the Sky
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Movie Reviews of Fire in the Sky
Movie Review: fire in the sky
Summary: 5 Stars
I am a beleiver of ufos.I know this movie is based on a true story & I wanted to see it. Im glad I did.Movie Review: great
Summary: 5 Stars
I am very pleased with my purchase> Also happy with the quick shipment. Thank youMovie Review: Fire in the Sky, thought-provoking stuff on film
Summary: 4 Stars
The 1975 UFO-abduction of Travis Walton near Snowflafe Arizona is probably the most convincing such case on record. It was multiply witnessed; Travis (the abductee) was missing for five days and nights to be returned traumatised and dehydrated; extensive investigation including polygraph testing of all the witnesses only strengthened the reality of the case, and not one of the witnesses has changed a single detail of his testimony after 35 years. Anomalies in tree growth compatible with high radiation exposure have been identified in subsequent years in the precise location where the encounter with the UFO reportedly took place, so despite being outside our normal paradigms of consensus reality, it looks like it really happened.
Tracy Torme's 1993 film is a thoughtful piece of work which conveys the essential elements of the story and is largely faithful to the real-life narrative. D. B. Sweeney as Travis and Robert Patrick as Mike Rogers are particularly outstanding in an excellent cast. All the cast and crew became convinced by the story during the shoot. A town in Oregon substituted for Snowflake in the film.
The film begins on the morning of 5 November 1975, a normal day for the young loggers engaged in their tree-thinning contract. The encounter takes place as the seven loggers make their journey home down a mountain road in Mike Rogers' pick-up truck in the early evening, shown from the perspective of the six witnesses as Travis is knocked off his feet by a beam from the hovering UFO. The subsequent difficulties experienced by members of the crew during the five days Travis was missing is well realised, as they deal with accusations and incredulity from the wider community and suspicion from the local police authorities. Then Travis is returned, confused and traumatised, the story attracts the international media and things get even worse for all involved. The film has a good script, dramatic tension, is convincingly acted, well edited and rewards occasional repeat viewings.
In his literary and informative book of the same name, Travis describes the making of the film and his involvement with it. He explains the reasons why the abduction scene aboard the UFO and the appearance of the aliens in the film differ from his real-life recollection; why these changes were made to enhance the drama and to communicate the horror and strangeness to the audience. He also felt D.B. Sweeney was well cast, shared his attitude to life and had a similar general character, and was pleased with his portrayal in the film. I really recommend reading the book to anyone interested in the story. Travis is a good writer and discusses many things including his own life prior to the abduction and some of the far-reaching philosophical implications of non-human extraterrestrial life, particularly as it seems to be visiting us here.
I met Travis in Snowflake AZ in May 2010 and found him to be as genuine, straightforward and principled as everyone who meets him describes him to be. He wishes he'd stayed in the truck with the others, and would have preferred had the incident happened to somebody else. The international exposure has been so unwelcome that for years he didn't even have a phone and shunned virtually all media contact. He and Dana (who have been happily married all these years) have four children and eight grandchildren, and almost never discuss the incident within the family or with neighbors. They still live in Snowflake, as quiet a middle-American town as you could imagine, where on a weekday everything seems to close at 9pm. He is a man of few words but those he does speak are well-chosen. He radiates integrity and has a terrific dry sense of humor.
It's a pity Torme's film generated only US$20 million in 15 years, but nevertheless it was a modest commercial success. It's good, has stood the test of time well, and deserves a bigger audience.
Movie Review: One of my favorite childhood films...seriously
Summary: 4 Stars
I was roughly 9 or 10 when the film came out and quite frankly, it scared the hell out of me. Revisiting it several times since then, it's one of those kind of films where it holds up, even though my critical eye became keener. Back then, I wouldn't have cared about pacing or character development or anything: if it was good, then it was good. Does the film still entertain and at times, terrify? Sure, but maybe not as much as it used to. For new viewers though, you'd probably like it.
Based on the controversial real-life story, a group of loggers see their friend, Travis Walton, encounter a UFO and find him missing. The story centers around the search for his body since everyone believes the loggers killed him and getting the full brunt of their cries is Mike Rogers, Travis' best friend. Travis is later found bloodied and bruised and seriously disturbed.
Looking up the actual story on the net, you find evidence that it was either all a big hoax or X-Files-like cover up. Watching the film though, you tend to believe it and wonder whether it really happened or if it was something else. Luckily the film doesn't say one way or the other that it really did or not. You have scenes that strongly suggest it did while you have everyone saying it was all a big lie but it's ultimately up to you whether you want to believe it but it sure makes you want to believe it.
The acting mainly falls on the shoulders of Robert Patrick and D.B Sweeney as Mike and Travis. Largely known as T-1000 from Terminator 2, it's surprising by just how effective Patrick can be. And although absent for a good chunk of the film, D.B certainly makes an impression in his limited screen time. The rest of the actors are admirable in their roles but they don't really require much else to do which is fine. Craig Sheffer plays the attitude man, Allan Dallis while James Garner plays the investigator sent to solve the case. He essentially plays the one emotion: that he's right, no such thing as UFO's and even when Travis returns and tells the story, it's like "he's lying too!" While that's what he's supposed to play, he does come off as irritating as if himself getting abducted would warrant a disbelieving emotion.
The film arguably succeeds in its beginning and ending: a little bit into the film we get a dramatized account of Travis getting abducted and it's every bit as unsettling as it should be, letting sound design take over and creep in. But definately the highlight, not only in this film but probably in sci-fi films, is Travis' experience on the mothership. Sure the idea might sound hokey: Travis on a ship flying around with aliens inside but it's creepy, unsettling and it's one of the more effective scenes I've seen. It's also ironic that what starts the scene is some kind of syrup which I find funny looking back but the scene works so you kind of forget it all started with Aunt Jemima.
If there's a DVD that needs special features it's this one. This is literally first generation DVD stuff with not even a theatrical trailer or anything. Commentaries, behind the scenes, documentaries, featurettes: zip. But I'm assuming it's going to be similar to Deep Impact's special edition: one commentary and about 5 featurettes lasting 10 minutes and that's it. Too bad cause as flawed as some parts, this is one of my favorite films from the 90's.
Movie Review: Who Woulda Thunk? An Alien Movie That's Not Corny!
Summary: 4 Stars
Remember this movie? Pretty damn cool, isn't it? Whether or not you believe the story being told, it still made for an entertaining movie. And admittedly, having the "Based On A True Story" line attached does tend to add a bit more creepiness to an often told Hollywood tale.
I remember this being marketed more as a science fiction film, but other than the premise and the sequence near the end of the film that shows Walton's experience aboard the ship, this is really more of a mystery/drama.
The film tells the tale of Travis Walton and his logger buddies who witness a UFO in the mountains one night in 1975 while driving back to town. Travis leaves the truck, is shot by a light from the ship and disappears. His buddies return to town to tell the story, but soon find themselves suspects in Walton's disappearance. But no matter how hard they try to convince friends, family and law officials of what they saw, they find the town turning against them and the whole thing turning into a media circus that nearly ruins their lives. When Travis is found alive five days later, it opens a whole new can of worms. Now no one is suspected of murder, but are now accused of trying to pull a huge hoax(ya just can't win when you get abducted, can ya?).
It's a fascinating movie that could have come off as corny, but ends up being rather effective. Good performances all around by a cast of mostly character and lesser known actors including Peter Berg(writer/director of Very Bad Things and star of Wes Craven's Shocker), Craig Sheffer(Nightbreed), Henry Thomas(E.T of course!!), D.B. Sweeney(The Cutting Edge and Spawn) and Robert Patrick(everyone's favorite liquid metal robot assassin). Sweeney may be the figure which the film revolves around, but a good chunk of the film belongs to Robert Patrick, who does a damn good job in a dramatic role. Sweeney does a fantastic job of showing sheer terror in the spacecraft scenes, as well as his post-traumatic state. I've always felt that both Sweeney and Patrick are horribly underused actors. The star power here is James Garner as the detective working on the case. He doesn't believe a damn word of their story-even when a polygraph test shows they are all telling the truth-and is hellbent on discrediting and exposing them as fakes.
The alien sequence at the end of the film is very effective and creepy. This sequence could have sunk the movie if handled wrong, but thankfully it works damn well. Granted it's been Hollywood-ized and differs from Walton's actual account of what happened to him, but movies have to be sensationalized, right?
If you didn't catch this one the first time around(I don't remember it making a huge splash at the box office), I'd highly suggest seeing it. Hell, I'd highly suggest seeing it even if you have seen it before. It just might make a believer out of ya.