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| View From The Top - 2003 |
Coming up next we have 2003's "View From The Top", a story about a girl from a small town in Nevada who dreams of making it big by flying the friendly skies.
The film's cast includes Gwyneth Paltrow, Christina Applegate, Mark Ruffalo, Candice Bergen, Joshua Malina, Kelly Preston, Rob Lowe, Mike Myers, Jessica Capshaw, George Kennedy, Marc Blucas, Jon Polito, and Nadia Dajani.
Donna is a young lady from Silver Springs, Nevada, who has just been dumped by her boyfriend for another girl. Feeling alone and depressed with no direction in her life, she goes to a local bar.
There she sees a news interview with Sally Weston, the world's most famous flight attendant and motivational speaker. Sally's story encourages Donna to take a leap of faith and try something new: becoming a flight attendant.
Donna applies to regional carrier Sierra Airlines, a pretty low-class commuter airline. Their motto is "Big Hair, Short Skirts, and Service with a Smile". She's accepted into their ranks.
She gets paired with senior flight attendant Sherry, who shows Donna the ropes of the job. (Check out the gross carpet on the walls of the plane! Yuk!)
Donna does a pretty bad job on her first flight. But the co-pilot is there to give her a pep talk. "You're a pro. You're going places," he tells her. "Ya think?" asks Donna doubtfully. "I'm a pilot. It's my job to know where people are going," says the co-pilot reassuringly.
Donna eventually takes to the job. She does so well they even give her a trainee of her very own, Christine.
Donna, Christine, and Sherry spend a lot of time together when they aren't flying. "There wasn’t a lot to do on weekends. But there was always tanning at Lake Havasu," says Donna.
It's here that Donna meets the man who will become her boyfriend, an aspiring lawyer named Ted.
Christine and Donna decide to apply to a bigger airline, Royalty Airlines. They are accepted and taken to a training school.
Donna is super excited to find out that her idol Sally Weston is a mentor in the program. They are all invited to Sally's house for dinner and a chat.
Sally gives Donna a private talk. She tells her that her goal as a flight attendant should be one thing: "Paris, First Class, International". Donna takes Sally's words to heart and applies herself wholeheartedly to the course.
When the time comes to take the final exam, Donna answers each question with ease and confidently turns in her test.
Strangely, Donna is shocked to learn that she scored very low, and as a consequence, she must work on the company's regional carrier Royalty Express in Cleveland. She is less than thrilled about that prospect. Christine, however, gets transferred to a glamorous New York flight attendant job.
After she feels there has been a mistake made, Donna goes to Sally and asks her to look into the matter. They find out that Christine switched tests with Donna. Christine has also been stealing from the airline repeatedly, for which she may instantly be fired.
Donna gets the chance to re-take her test. She passes with flying colors and is rewarded with her dream job: "Paris, First Class, International." Leaving her boyfriend Ted behind, she bases herself in New York.
Once she gets to Paris, Donna wastes no time in enjoying what the city has to offer. However, she can't help but feeling a little empty inside. She misses Ted.
During a Christmas flight, Donna runs into Sally, who is traveling. Sally senses Donna's unhappiness, and advises her to leave this job behind and be with the man she loves.
Sally arranges to take Donna's place on the flight. As they arrive in New York, Sally's voice rings out over the intercom: "Welcome to New York, where the local time is
7:13am. I’d like to personally thank you for
flying with us today, and to remind you that the last one off the
plane has to clean it."
Donna rushes to Cleveland to find Ted. They patch up their relationship after he overhears a speech she gives to his deaf grandmother.
Donna then finds a job that will allow her to remain based in Cleveland: a pilot. "Sally had said that life is a series of arrivals
and departures, but I learned there is more
than one way to spread your wings," says Donna with a smile.
Cast rundown:
Gwyneth Paltrow..............................Donna Jensen
Christina Applegate...........................Christine Montgomery
Mark Ruffalo....................................Ted Stewart
Candice Bergen................................Sally Weston
Joshua Malina...................................Randy Jones
Kelly Preston....................................Sherry
Rob Lowe.........................................Co-Pilot Steve Bench
Mike Myers.......................................Steve Witney
Jessica Capshaw................................Flight Attendant
George Kennedy................................Passenger
Marc Blucas......................................Tommy Boulay
Jon Polito..........................................Roy Roby
Nadia Dajani.....................................Paige
And that's all for View From The Top. Filming for this movie was completed in 2001. However, the events of 9/11 caused the release of the film to be pushed back to 2003, as it was considered inappropriate for a comedy about flight crews.
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| Contagion - 2011 |
Coming up next is 2011's "Contagion", a film that eerily mirrors the events of today's COVID-19 pandemic. (By the way, this film has no opening credits). In this film, the world shuts down after a respiratory illness is found to be highly contagious and deadly.
The film's cast includes Matt Damon, Gwyneth Paltrow, Kate Winslet, Marion Cotillard, Jude Law, Laurence Fishburne, Jennifer Ehle, Elliott Gould, Sanaa Lathan, and Dr. Sanjay Gupta.
A disease is coming out of Macau. This disease is unknown to scientists and the medical community. They are at a complete loss as to be able to combat this deadly and highly contagious disease.
Schools begin to close. Students are sent home in the wake of the deaths of 3 students and the school nurse.
Funeral homes are unwilling to hold services for people that died of this mysterious disease. The families left behind are left to grieve in a new way.
Sports centers are turned into hospitals to help with the overwhelming onslaught of new medical cases.
Anxiety and terror reign supreme as the supermarket shelves are emptied and general pandemonium runs rampant through the populace.
Those in authority encourage "social distancing" (a term actually used in this film), which includes not shaking hands, staying home when sick, and other preventative measures.
And high school seniors are forced to be inventive in the way they celebrate things that would normally be done with their classmates, including prom. Sound like today? When watching this film, it's scary to see the parallels.
Our cast includes Dr. Erin Mears, whose work on the ground includes finding out about the day to day of this disease and the way to educate the public about it. Dr. Mears says, "The average person
touches their face two or three thousand times a day. Three to five times
every waking minute. In between, we're touching doorknobs, water
fountains, elevator buttons, and each other."
Dr. Ellis Cheever and Dr. Ally Hextall are busy in the lab researching the disease and how to come up with a way to test it for weakness and ultimately a vaccine.
Mitch Emhoff is the husband of the first patient to have the disease. He's immune to it, and he must keep his teenage daughter safe at all costs.
Dr. Leonora Orantes works with the WHO, and it's her job to find out just how the disease began. She's later kidnapped by a government official who wants her help with his village.
Alan Krumwiede is a conspiracy theorist and an anti-government journalist. His reports cause hysteria among citizens anxious to believe the worst about their government.
Eventually, Dr. Ally Hextall is able to find a way to grow the virus securely and treat it. The monkey she tests it on lives, and she creates a vaccine that saves millions of lives. However, the vaccine is distributed by lottery using birthdates.
We eventually find out how the disease came about. An infected bat dropped a banana into a pig enclosure. One of the pigs ate it. The pig was killed and prepared at a Macau casino. The chef (while preparing the pig) was called out to greet Beth Emhoff. He wipes his hands on his apron and then shakes her hands while smiling for the camera.
Cast rundown:
Matt Damon....................................Mitch Emhoff
Gwyneth Paltrow..............................Beth Emhoff
Kate Winslet....................................Dr. Erin Mears
Marion Cotillard...............................Dr. Leonora Orantes
Jude Law........................................Alan Krumwiede
Laurence Fishburne..........................Dr. Ellis Cheever
Jennifer Ehle...................................Dr. Ally Hextall
Elliott Gould....................................Dr. Ian Sussman
Sanaa Lathan..................................Aubrey Cheever
Dr. Sanjay Gupta.............................Himself
And that's all for Contagion. In 2020, this film received renewed popularity and interest for its resemblance to the COVID-19 pandemic. It became the 7th most popular film on iTunes. During one period, HBO reported that the film was their most viewed film for two weeks straight.
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