United 93

[polkablues]

And Gamblour, I don't know if I was just unclear before, but I believe this film shows events outside of the airplane.  If the whole event happened in a half an hour, as you say, then what else is in this movie?  It's obviously not just all about this singular event.  There were accusations that the American government had some knowledge of this plot, and this movie might possibly delve into that.

From interviews and articles I've seen, it sounds like the movie intercuts between the events on the plane and in the air traffic control and military control facilities.  It also sounds like it's not going to touch anything more controversial than "they might not have responded quickly enough" with a forty-foot pole.

I have no problem with the film being made, I just have yet to hear any legitimate reason for anyone to actually watch it.

[Sal]

It's films like this that make me hate people.

Well said.  This was an awful trailer, too.  Everybody involved should be embarassed.

[hedwig]

I have no problem with the film being made, I just have yet to hear any legitimate reason for anyone to actually watch it.

i know a guy who laughs at horrifying events when they occur in movies, like suicides and people dying of AIDS, and he LOVES that "Faces of Death" series. i'm sure he'll get a kick out of this.

[grand theft sparrow]

It's just too goddamned soon for a movie about this.

Way too soon.  I have faith in Paul Greengrass making something good out of it though, so I look forward to seeing this in maybe 10 years.

[squints]

Isn't this an A&E movie?

[MacGuffin]

Isn't this an A&E movie?

And before that, it was a Discovery Channel movie:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0470764/

[matt35mm]

Well, the A&E movie did really well, scoring as the network's most watch thing ever.  That bodes fairly well for the Greengrass movie, insomuch as whether or not people are ready for a 9/11 movie.

[polkablues]

Well, the A&E movie did really well, scoring as the network's most watch thing ever.  That bodes fairly well for the Greengrass movie, insomuch as whether or not people are ready for a 9/11 movie.

But then it just adds to increasing pointlessness of it all.

What is the purpose of these movies' existence?  Is it just enough to go, "This happened"?  And if so, why do we need two TV movies and one theatrical to point that out?  If they're going to keep reiterating this story, can't someone at least go a little ways out on the limb and say, "This happened, and this is what that means"?

[picolas]

If they're going to keep reiterating this story, can't someone at least go a little ways out on the limb and say, "This happened, and this is what that means"?

someone who watched it can.

[polkablues]

If they're going to keep reiterating this story, can't someone at least go a little ways out on the limb and say, "This happened, and this is what that means"?

someone who watched it can.

And yet I don't think these films' target audience is really the "context" crowd.

[Gamblour.]

New Trailer


Hmm this doesn't appear to be the disgusting film it's cut out to be. For some reason, I find the the air traffic controllers' point of view very interesting. Did the terrorists have bombs like that? What about security? This seems like it's respectful, but people will still hate it.

[squints]

I'm skeptical.

[matt35mm]

Most people are/will be skeptical, and my guess is most people who do see it will acknowledge that it's a good film but hate it anyway.  And all of that is reasonable, I think.

For me, I expect interesting things based on a few clues.  First, I thought Bloody Sunday was brilliant, so Greengrass will always be on my list of filmmakers whose films I'll catch.  Secondly, this film, as with Bloody Sunday, was written by Greengrass (unlike The Bourne Supremacy), and so it's important to note that he wrote and directed from a British perspective, which should be interesting, and perhaps not as blindly patriotic as this film could have been.  What this means is that this could be less of the studio picture that it might seem like.  I'd be tons less interested if there were 3 writers for hire credited with the screenplay.  Thirdly, there are no famous actors in it, which, paired with the new trailer (and lack of elaborate action sequences), give me the impression of a much lower-budget picture than it might initially seem like.

This all adds up to make it closer to Bloody Sunday--that is, a raw, intimate, fascinating, and almost behind-the-scenes look at this huge event--than some brainless studio venture.  None of this guarantees anything for me, and I could still hate the movie if it really is an exploitation piece, but I hold out hope.  We shall see.  I can't fault anybody for being skeptical, but I will be watching this (unless the reviews are horrible).

[Pubrick]

Thirdly, there are no famous actors in it,

that's what i like about it.

and i'm in the mood for a rousing story of minor victory among greater tragedy.

[matt35mm]

September 11 plane drama to open NY film festival

NEW YORK (Reuters) - "United 93," a film dramatization of the events on the hijacked plane that crashed in Pennsylvania on September 11, will have its world premiere at a New York film festival next month.

"'United 93' recreates the doomed trip in actual time, from takeoff to hijacking to the realization by those onboard that their plane was part of a coordinated attack unfolding on the ground beneath them," organizers of the Tribeca Film Festival said on Wednesday.

The festival was founded by actor Robert De Niro in 2002 to help revitalize lower Manhattan after the September 11 attacks on the World Trade Center.

Opening films in previous years have been comedies such as "About a Boy" and "Down with Love" as well as the thriller "The Interpreter" last year. This year's choice of "United 93" as the opening film returns the focus to Tribeca's roots.

"The festival was basically created eight months after September 11 and it was to give our neighborhood something to look forward to and to help the renewal, and to do that you need to laugh," the festival's co-founder Jane Rosenthal told Reuters.

"We found ourselves for several years saying we need a comedy. In year five, we need to remember," she said.

Written and directed by Paul Greengrass, director of "The Bourne Supremacy," the film is billed as a drama about the passengers, crew, their families on the ground and the flight controllers who watched as events unfold on the fourth airline hijacked on September 11, 2001.

Two of the planes crashed into the World Trade Center and the third into the Pentagon. Passengers on the fourth plane sent messages to loved ones saying the plane had been hijacked and they were going to try to overcome the hijackers.

Rosenthal said that after nearly five years there was a danger the events of September 11 were fading from people's memories. "A lot has happened in the world and as a country we seem to have a short term memory loss," she said.

Some of the relatives of those who died on United 93 are expected to attend the premiere in New York on April 25, the first night of the festival which runs until May 7.

"It is never easy to relive the events of 9/11, yet I support 'United 93' as a tribute to the heroism of my brother and the 39 other passengers and crew who collectively chose to say 'no' on that fateful day," Gordon Felt, who lost his brother Edward on September 11, said in a statement.

The films in competition at the festival include several with political themes, particularly related to the Middle East and the war in Iraq.

"We're a festival that was started because of an act of war, so we have always had films and panel discussions that bring up difficult subjects," Rosenthal said.