Apple TV+’s hit limited series “Hijack” starring Idris Elba is a nail-biting thrill ride set in real-time. Over the years, there have been many types of hijack films. Besides planes, there have been suspenseful takeovers of ships, trains, subways and even trucks.
“The Taking of the Pelham One Two Three,” from 1974 — avoid the two remakes — is a superb thriller about four men who take over a New York subway car and hold the passengers, conductor and an undercover policeman hostage unless they get $1 million (remember that was a lot of money 49 years ago). If their demands aren’t met, they will start killing hostages. Directed by Joseph Sargent and adapted by Peter Stone from the best-selling novel by John Godey, “Taking” boasts a stellar cast at the top of their game including Walter Matthau, Robert Shaw, Hector Elizondo and Martin Balsam. David Shire penned the influential score.
A year...
“The Taking of the Pelham One Two Three,” from 1974 — avoid the two remakes — is a superb thriller about four men who take over a New York subway car and hold the passengers, conductor and an undercover policeman hostage unless they get $1 million (remember that was a lot of money 49 years ago). If their demands aren’t met, they will start killing hostages. Directed by Joseph Sargent and adapted by Peter Stone from the best-selling novel by John Godey, “Taking” boasts a stellar cast at the top of their game including Walter Matthau, Robert Shaw, Hector Elizondo and Martin Balsam. David Shire penned the influential score.
A year...
- 8/8/2023
- by Susan King
- Gold Derby
Warner Bros. Pictures
There’s nothing the movie industry loves more than a true story. You can pour over comic books or jet off into space all you want, but few things can match just how crazy the real world can get.
This naturally creates a problem that can be less of an issue in totally made up movies; authenticity. There’s an added pressure to make period dressing accurate and, rather than picking an actor based on a character description and maybe a concept sketch, the film’s team have to cast someone can at least skew moderately close to a fully existing person.
Sometimes you may see a real person actually play themselves. United 93 had various people, most prolifically Faa National Operations Manager Ben Sliney, cast as themselves in a recreation of the September 11 terrorist attacks. That’s not really feasible much of the time, with various...
There’s nothing the movie industry loves more than a true story. You can pour over comic books or jet off into space all you want, but few things can match just how crazy the real world can get.
This naturally creates a problem that can be less of an issue in totally made up movies; authenticity. There’s an added pressure to make period dressing accurate and, rather than picking an actor based on a character description and maybe a concept sketch, the film’s team have to cast someone can at least skew moderately close to a fully existing person.
Sometimes you may see a real person actually play themselves. United 93 had various people, most prolifically Faa National Operations Manager Ben Sliney, cast as themselves in a recreation of the September 11 terrorist attacks. That’s not really feasible much of the time, with various...
- 9/26/2014
- by Alex Leadbeater
- Obsessed with Film
Well, we all saw this coming, right? Deadline is reporting that Eric Johnson and Paul Tamasy, two of the writers behind David O. Russell's "The Fighter" with Mark Wahlberg and Christian Bale, have optioned the screen rights to "Boston Strong," a retelling of the events around the Boston Marathon bombings.
As the horrific events played on mostly live on TV, a comment often repeated was that the aftermath of the initial explosions and the manhunt for the bombers was like something out of a movie. When the ordeal ended with a gunfight in the streets Watertown, Massachusetts, it seemingly cemented the story's cinematic future.
But with the horrific events of those five days in April so fresh in the country's collective memory, how can the film version honor the tragedy instead of exploit it? There are a few recent examples of fact-based movies that handled touchy subjects with sensitivity...
As the horrific events played on mostly live on TV, a comment often repeated was that the aftermath of the initial explosions and the manhunt for the bombers was like something out of a movie. When the ordeal ended with a gunfight in the streets Watertown, Massachusetts, it seemingly cemented the story's cinematic future.
But with the horrific events of those five days in April so fresh in the country's collective memory, how can the film version honor the tragedy instead of exploit it? There are a few recent examples of fact-based movies that handled touchy subjects with sensitivity...
- 7/9/2013
- by Kevin P. Sullivan
- MTV Movies Blog
Chicago – When Paul Greengrass’s “United 93” opened in American cinemas on April 28, 2006, the vast majority of buzz surrounding the film centered on the controversial question of whether it was in fact “too soon” for a film based on the 9/11 terrorist attacks to hit the big screen. It apparently wasn’t too soon for the small screen, since Peter Markle’s TV dramatization “Flight 93” played to little fanfare in January of that year.
Watching Greengrass’s “United 93” a mere five years after the historic tragedy was one of the great out-of-body experiences I’ve ever had in a theater. Though various films have attempted to function as memorials, this one actually succeeds in honoring the lives that were lost while resisting every opportunity to exploit the material for cheap theatrics. The film takes an intimate god’s eye view of the people on the ground and in the air,...
Watching Greengrass’s “United 93” a mere five years after the historic tragedy was one of the great out-of-body experiences I’ve ever had in a theater. Though various films have attempted to function as memorials, this one actually succeeds in honoring the lives that were lost while resisting every opportunity to exploit the material for cheap theatrics. The film takes an intimate god’s eye view of the people on the ground and in the air,...
- 9/8/2011
- by adam@hollywoodchicago.com (Adam Fendelman)
- HollywoodChicago.com
Rank the week of September 6th’s Blu-ray and DVD new releases against the best films of all-time: New Releases X-men: First Class
(Blu-ray & DVD | PG13 | 2011)
Flickchart Ranking: #91
Win Percentage: 64%
Times Ranked: 16606
Top-20 Rankings: 109
Directed By: Matthew Vaughn
Starring: James McAvoy • Michael Fassbender • Kevin Bacon • Jennifer Lawrence • Rose Byrne
Genres: Action • Based-on-Comics • Comic-Book Superhero Film • Fantasy • Science Fiction • Sci-Fi Action
Rank This Movie
Hanna
(Blu-ray & DVD | PG13 | 2011)
Flickchart Ranking: #570
Win Percentage: 60%
Times Ranked: 5675
Top-20 Rankings: 19
Directed By: Joe Wright
Starring: Saoirse Ronan • Eric Bana • Cate Blanchett • Tom Hollander • Olivia Williams
Genres: Action • Action Thriller • Crime • Crime Thriller • Hitman / Assassin Film • Mystery • Thriller
Rank This Movie
Everything Must Go
(Blu-ray & DVD | R | 2011)
Flickchart Ranking: #5694
Win Percentage: 53%
Times Ranked: 854
Top-20 Rankings: 2
Directed By: Dan Rush
Starring: Will Ferrell • Rebecca Hall • Laura Dern • Michael Peña • Stephen Root
Genres: Comedy Drama • Drama
Rank This Movie
Last Night
(Blu-ray & DVD | R | 2010)
Flickchart Ranking: #7377
Win Percentage:...
(Blu-ray & DVD | PG13 | 2011)
Flickchart Ranking: #91
Win Percentage: 64%
Times Ranked: 16606
Top-20 Rankings: 109
Directed By: Matthew Vaughn
Starring: James McAvoy • Michael Fassbender • Kevin Bacon • Jennifer Lawrence • Rose Byrne
Genres: Action • Based-on-Comics • Comic-Book Superhero Film • Fantasy • Science Fiction • Sci-Fi Action
Rank This Movie
Hanna
(Blu-ray & DVD | PG13 | 2011)
Flickchart Ranking: #570
Win Percentage: 60%
Times Ranked: 5675
Top-20 Rankings: 19
Directed By: Joe Wright
Starring: Saoirse Ronan • Eric Bana • Cate Blanchett • Tom Hollander • Olivia Williams
Genres: Action • Action Thriller • Crime • Crime Thriller • Hitman / Assassin Film • Mystery • Thriller
Rank This Movie
Everything Must Go
(Blu-ray & DVD | R | 2011)
Flickchart Ranking: #5694
Win Percentage: 53%
Times Ranked: 854
Top-20 Rankings: 2
Directed By: Dan Rush
Starring: Will Ferrell • Rebecca Hall • Laura Dern • Michael Peña • Stephen Root
Genres: Comedy Drama • Drama
Rank This Movie
Last Night
(Blu-ray & DVD | R | 2010)
Flickchart Ranking: #7377
Win Percentage:...
- 9/6/2011
- by Jonathan Hardesty
- Flickchart
Robert here, continuing my series on important contemporary directors. I feel sorta bad featuring Paul Greengrass just a week after his most divisive film. What's interesting about that film is how both the pro and the con arguments seem to be in agreement on what the film is, just their reaction to it differs. But more on that later. First...
Maestro: Paul Greengrass
Known For: Historical recreations and Bourne movies.
Influences: Independent film, activist film, documentaries.
Masterpieces: United 93
Disasters: None
Better than you remember: Everything here seems on the up-and-up.
Box Office: over 220 mil for The Bourne Ultimatum
Favorite Actor: You guessed it, Matt Damon.
In order for you to properly experience this post grab both sides of your monitor and shake it vigorously; up down, side to side, every which way. More and more. Just shake the bejesus out of it. There, now doesn't this piece feel gritty and realistic?...
Maestro: Paul Greengrass
Known For: Historical recreations and Bourne movies.
Influences: Independent film, activist film, documentaries.
Masterpieces: United 93
Disasters: None
Better than you remember: Everything here seems on the up-and-up.
Box Office: over 220 mil for The Bourne Ultimatum
Favorite Actor: You guessed it, Matt Damon.
In order for you to properly experience this post grab both sides of your monitor and shake it vigorously; up down, side to side, every which way. More and more. Just shake the bejesus out of it. There, now doesn't this piece feel gritty and realistic?...
- 3/18/2010
- by Robert
- FilmExperience
There are Famous Monsters…and then there are famous monsters.
Both Psycho and The Texas Chain Saw Massacre were inspired by the real-life crimes of mass murderer Ed Gein; The Silence of the Lambs, book and film, incorporated character traits of multiple serial killers in the depiction of Jame Gumb, the psychopath hunted by FBI agent Clarice Starling — with a little help from the imprisoned Hannibal “The Cannibal” Lecter, himself a (still-mysterious) amalgam of stranger-than-fiction monsters of past and present.
While the profoundly disturbing thriller Se7en reeked with authentic nihilism, and films like Dawn of the Dead and Hostel took blood-soaked pains to offer satiric commentaries on the sorry state of humanity, there’s an entire genre of films that bypass the more commercial goals of “escapism” in favor of more directly dramatizing the horrific tales we’ve read about in the newspapers, pored over in paperback, or seen described...
Both Psycho and The Texas Chain Saw Massacre were inspired by the real-life crimes of mass murderer Ed Gein; The Silence of the Lambs, book and film, incorporated character traits of multiple serial killers in the depiction of Jame Gumb, the psychopath hunted by FBI agent Clarice Starling — with a little help from the imprisoned Hannibal “The Cannibal” Lecter, himself a (still-mysterious) amalgam of stranger-than-fiction monsters of past and present.
While the profoundly disturbing thriller Se7en reeked with authentic nihilism, and films like Dawn of the Dead and Hostel took blood-soaked pains to offer satiric commentaries on the sorry state of humanity, there’s an entire genre of films that bypass the more commercial goals of “escapism” in favor of more directly dramatizing the horrific tales we’ve read about in the newspapers, pored over in paperback, or seen described...
- 3/15/2010
- by Movies Unlimited
- FamousMonsters of Filmland
Press notes for motion pictures are usually filled with dispensable, self-congratulatory puffery, but the one for the soul-searing film "United 93" contains this trenchant comment from its English writer-director, Paul Greengrass: Speaking of the 40 individuals aboard United Airlines Flight 93, the fourth hijacked plane on that day of infamy, Sept. 11, 2001, he notes that these were the only passengers and crew members on any of those ill-fated flights who knew about the other planes having been used as weapons and realized what was happening to them. "They were the first people to inhabit the post-9/11 world," Greengrass says. These were the first to react to the worldwide conflict we find ourselves in today. Within the microcosm of that reaction, Greengrass has made an emphatic political document, a movie about defiance against tyranny and terrorism.
How many moviegoers will be willing to endure "United 93"? I suspect many will, but what that adds up to in terms of boxoffice is anybody's guess. Understandably, controversy engulfs this film. Is now the right time for such a film? Why make the film at all? These are legitimate questions. No one possesses a "right" answer. But Greengrass has made not only a thoroughly fact-checked film but a film that incontrovertibly comes from the heart.
Greengrass wants the 91 minutes United 93 was in the air to speak to our tenuous situation in a scary, riven world. A previous film by him anticipates this work. The invaluable "Bloody Sunday" (2002), shot as if it were made by a camera crew at the time, dramatized a 1972 incident in Londonderry, Northern Ireland, where 13 unarmed civil rights demonstrators were shot and killed by British soldiers. Here again he takes a hard look at a cataclysmic event to provoke dialogue.
To keep things as accurate as possible, Greengrass reportedly interviewed more than 100 family members and friends of those who perished. He hired flight attendants and commercial airline pilots to play those roles; hired several civilian and military controllers on duty on Sept. 11, including the FAA's Ben Sliney, to play themselves; culled facts from the 9/11 Commission Report; and rehearsed and shot his actors in an old Boeing 757 at England's Pinewood Studios.
Even Barry Ackroyd's hand-held cinematography, John Powell's muted, anxious score and the plane set fixed to computer-controlled motion gimbals to simulate the pitch and roll of the aircraft urge the viewer to think of this as a you-are-there experience. Yet no one really knows what happened on United 93. We have evidence from phone calls made from the plane and those interviews, but that's where it ends. And that is where an artist can pick up the story.
This is what it probably was like, and the experience overwhelms. Time passes in weird ways. The four nervous terrorists wait seemingly forever to make their move. The panicked passengers wait seemingly forever to make theirs. Helplessness engulfs us, then determination takes hold.
During these breathless moments, Greengrass cuts away to the desperation and confusion in airport control towers, the FAA's overwhelmed operations command center in Herndon, Va., and the military's unprepared operations center at the Northeast Air Defense Sector in upstate New York. For all their monitors and electronic equipment, there is a horrific, low-tech moment when controllers at Newark Airport get a perfect view across the Hudson of the second plane hitting a World Trade Center tower. No one can even speak.
In years to come, United 93 may enter our mythology in ways unimaginable. But for now, we have a starting point. "United 93" is a sincere attempt to pull together the known facts and guesses at the emotional truths as best anyone can. Then, in the movie's final moments, the impact of the heroism aboard United 93 becomes startlingly clear.
UNITED 93
Universal Pictures
Universal Pictures and StudioCannal present in association with Sidney Kimmel Entertainment a Working Title production
Credits:
Screenwriter-director: Paul Greengrass
Producers: Tim Bevan, Eric Fellner, Lloyd Levin, Paul Greengrass
Executive producers: Debra Hayward, Liza Chasin
Director of photography: Barry Ackroyd
Production designer: Dominic Watkins
Composer: John Powell
Costume designer: Dinah Collin
Editors: Clare Douglas, Christopher Rouse, Richard Pearson
Cast:
Donald Freeman Greene: David Rasche
Himself: Ben Sliney
Capt. Jason M. Dahl: JJ Johnson
Todd Beamer: David Alan Basche
Sandra Bradshaw: Trish Gates
Wanda Anita Green: Starla Benford
Maj. Kevin Nasypany: Patrick St. Esprit
Jeremy Glick: Peter Hermann
MPAA rating R
Running time -- 111 minutes...
How many moviegoers will be willing to endure "United 93"? I suspect many will, but what that adds up to in terms of boxoffice is anybody's guess. Understandably, controversy engulfs this film. Is now the right time for such a film? Why make the film at all? These are legitimate questions. No one possesses a "right" answer. But Greengrass has made not only a thoroughly fact-checked film but a film that incontrovertibly comes from the heart.
Greengrass wants the 91 minutes United 93 was in the air to speak to our tenuous situation in a scary, riven world. A previous film by him anticipates this work. The invaluable "Bloody Sunday" (2002), shot as if it were made by a camera crew at the time, dramatized a 1972 incident in Londonderry, Northern Ireland, where 13 unarmed civil rights demonstrators were shot and killed by British soldiers. Here again he takes a hard look at a cataclysmic event to provoke dialogue.
To keep things as accurate as possible, Greengrass reportedly interviewed more than 100 family members and friends of those who perished. He hired flight attendants and commercial airline pilots to play those roles; hired several civilian and military controllers on duty on Sept. 11, including the FAA's Ben Sliney, to play themselves; culled facts from the 9/11 Commission Report; and rehearsed and shot his actors in an old Boeing 757 at England's Pinewood Studios.
Even Barry Ackroyd's hand-held cinematography, John Powell's muted, anxious score and the plane set fixed to computer-controlled motion gimbals to simulate the pitch and roll of the aircraft urge the viewer to think of this as a you-are-there experience. Yet no one really knows what happened on United 93. We have evidence from phone calls made from the plane and those interviews, but that's where it ends. And that is where an artist can pick up the story.
This is what it probably was like, and the experience overwhelms. Time passes in weird ways. The four nervous terrorists wait seemingly forever to make their move. The panicked passengers wait seemingly forever to make theirs. Helplessness engulfs us, then determination takes hold.
During these breathless moments, Greengrass cuts away to the desperation and confusion in airport control towers, the FAA's overwhelmed operations command center in Herndon, Va., and the military's unprepared operations center at the Northeast Air Defense Sector in upstate New York. For all their monitors and electronic equipment, there is a horrific, low-tech moment when controllers at Newark Airport get a perfect view across the Hudson of the second plane hitting a World Trade Center tower. No one can even speak.
In years to come, United 93 may enter our mythology in ways unimaginable. But for now, we have a starting point. "United 93" is a sincere attempt to pull together the known facts and guesses at the emotional truths as best anyone can. Then, in the movie's final moments, the impact of the heroism aboard United 93 becomes startlingly clear.
UNITED 93
Universal Pictures
Universal Pictures and StudioCannal present in association with Sidney Kimmel Entertainment a Working Title production
Credits:
Screenwriter-director: Paul Greengrass
Producers: Tim Bevan, Eric Fellner, Lloyd Levin, Paul Greengrass
Executive producers: Debra Hayward, Liza Chasin
Director of photography: Barry Ackroyd
Production designer: Dominic Watkins
Composer: John Powell
Costume designer: Dinah Collin
Editors: Clare Douglas, Christopher Rouse, Richard Pearson
Cast:
Donald Freeman Greene: David Rasche
Himself: Ben Sliney
Capt. Jason M. Dahl: JJ Johnson
Todd Beamer: David Alan Basche
Sandra Bradshaw: Trish Gates
Wanda Anita Green: Starla Benford
Maj. Kevin Nasypany: Patrick St. Esprit
Jeremy Glick: Peter Hermann
MPAA rating R
Running time -- 111 minutes...
- 4/20/2006
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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