• The Secret World of Arrietty
     
     http://bartybooks.com/the-secret-world-of-arrietty.htm
  • Gone
     
     http://bartybooks.com/gone.htm
  • Wanderlust
     
     http://bartybooks.com/wanderlust.htm
  • This Means War
     
     http://bartybooks.com/this-means-war.htm
  • Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance
     
     http://bartybooks.com/ghost-rider-spirit-of-vengeance.htm
  • The Vow
     
     http://bartybooks.com/the-vow.htm
  • Safe House
     
     http://bartybooks.com/safe-house.htm
Home » dir » Awvr O Scale

Unstoppable (2010)

Trains, Denzel and Tony Scott, again? Yeah, but this one’s so much better than that dreadful Pelham remake.

Unstoppable is a pulse-pounding runaway thrill ride with iron-sided save-the-day heroism on display courtesy of Washington, Pine and Dawson.

Spoil sports have been grousing that Unstoppable can’t possibly be “inspired by true events.” In fact, the runaway AWVR777 in Unstoppable is based on the real-life CSX8888 (crew) Y11615 incident that took place in 2001.

CSX8888 was a single engine pulling 47 cars, 22 of them loaded, for in-yard car switching. The Final Report on the CSX8888 incident is available on the Internet along with other accounts and documentation.

All six “gross errors” committed by the engineer responsible for CSX8888 are reproduced in Unstoppable, one of them being sugar coated with magic pixie dust, when the engine selector handle auto-magically pops out of “dynamic brake” and into “power” mode, with the throttle handle set to 8, the maximum setting.

The dynamic brake should never have been set during yard operations (gross error #4). Dynamic braking is optimal at speeds >=40MPH and it is ineffective at speeds <10MPH (except on AC locomotives, of which 8888 wasn’t).

The independent brake of the locomotive was also set, which nullified the alerter switch system, which would have otherwise acted as a circuit breaker to the incorrect selector and throttle settings.

All six gross errors really happened and had to be made in the proper sequence in order to result in a powered runaway.

Two CSX employees chased CSX8888 in a private vehicle to a grade crossing, because they feared that its engineer had suffered an heart attack at the controls. The engineer had already stepped off the moving train back at the yard (gross error # 3). The CSX employees intercepted CSX8888, but were unable to board it.

The runaway CSX8888 did have hazardous cargo on board, variously reported as two cars of molten phenol acid (CNN) or molten sulfur (local Ohio news sources), the latter being less hazardous than the former, although both are toxic. The two hazmat cars were in the middle of the train and they were not considered to be at risk if the train had derailed. The hazmat cars were far enough in, for the surrounding terrain, that they should have remained on the track even if an engine derailment had succeeded.

CSX8888 had an average speed of 30-35MPH and may have been going as fast as 47MPH at one point. Four attempts were made at derailing CSX8888, three by diverting it through sidings and one by using a portable derail. CSX8888 dislodged the portable derail and threw it from the tracks. All attempts to derail CSX8888 failed.

CSX8888 was eventually stopped by a pursuit locomotive, running in reverse, CSX6462 (crew) Q63615. Avoiding a collision course, CSX6462 had to run in reverse, which blindsided the engineer during right hand turns. That required the conductor to setup at the rear of the locomotive, now the front, so that the conductor could spot for his engineer. The maximum unloaded speed rating for CSX6462 was 30MPH. It had to achieve speeds in excess of 50MPH to catch up with CSX8888. This meant that the conductor’s end of CSX6462 swayed 18″ from side-to-side at times. Had CSX6462 derailed, there would have been no way for the conductor to survive. Life and limb were definitely at risk.

CSX8888 was stopped without loss of life, limb and/or property.

When CSX6462 caught up with the runaway, it coupled from the rear and then the engineer applied CSX6462′s dynamic brakes, to slow CSX8888 down, exercising great care not to break the train apart between the two locomotives. Once CSX8888 slowed to less than 11MPH, a prepositioned engineer was able to run alongside, board it and take control of CSX8888, bringing it to an orderly stop.

Almost all of these elements are incorporated into the story of Unstoppable, albeit in Tony Scott’s ScottFree way. It’s reality x2 and all of that’s in the service of delivering a ripping yarn.

The same people complaining about Unstoppable probably swallowed everything Scott & Co served up in Top Gun without chewing.

Unstoppable does make a point of belaboring the fact that the hoses for the air brake system were never connected, but that happens to be SOP for in-yard flat car switching. You can’t properly “kick” cars if their hoses are still connected. (That’s my only beef.)

There are plenty of other things that never happened, or couldn’t have happened, but none of that matters thanks to the acting talent on board.

Denzel Washington’s Frank Barnes is a seasoned engineer and 28-year AWVR veteran who never shows any of is his inward concerns, whether they be about job security in downsizing times or worry for his two daughters working their way through college. Denzel’s Barnes is all about the j-o-b and doing it right. Chris Pine’s Will Colson is relatively new to the ranks of conductors. Rumor in the yard is that Colson’s a beneficiary of union boss nepotism. Will’s also got domestic problems at home that distract him from the job. This sets up professional tension when Barnes are Colson are paired to crew AWVR1206 for a routine run. Although Barnes has seniority, Colson’s technically in charge. Pine & Washington have a lot of tension-cutting fun with this.

Rosario Dawson plays Connie Hooper, a rail control supervisor, who has got to plow through considerable BS, not only to find out what’s going on with double-engine AWVR777, but also to figure out how best to deal with it, once it’s determined that 777 is a fully powered runaway. Even after “corporate” cuts Connie out of the CBA/CYA loop, Dawson makes us believe that Connie is going to do the right thing, no matter what.

Kevin Corrigan deserves special mention for his turn as FRAMPE Inspector Werner. He convincingly supplies crucial factoids needed to solve the problem of 777, with a Spock-like just-in-time manner.

frank barnes, frank barnes and will colson, frank barnes train, the real frank barnes and will colson, connie hooper train, will colson

Posted in: Action, Drama, Movies, Thriller.
Tagged: · ·

frank barnes, frank barnes and will colson, frank barnes train, the real frank barnes and will colson, connie hooper train, will colson

Home » dir » Awvr O Scale

One for the Money Review

The trailer would remind you of the forgettable The Bounty Hunter starring Gerard Butler and Jennifer Aniston with the former being the titular character whose target happens to be his ex-wife, having them bicker and run from various misadventures together. Reverse the roles in order to have a female bounty hunter going after an ex-boyfriend, and the stage is set for more of the same, no? Not quite. One for the Money has a lot more going for it, predominantly being a film written by and made by females for its intended audience, and being an engaging flick chick that wonderfully encapsulates a whodunnit.

Katherine Heigl seems to be on a successful roll on celluloid, and is in her element here in this romantic action adventure comedy as lead character Stephanie Plum, a rookie bounty hunter drawn to the profession only because she’s desperate for a job to pay off impending bills. An ex-lingerie model, we follow her transition from girly girl to a somewhat tough cookie ready to hold her own in her cousin’s business, where an added incentive is to hunt down and bring in her ex-boyfriend Joe Morelli (Jason O’Mara), a cop wanted for the gunning down an unarmed felon.

Yes one would expect the usual laughs coming from her inexperience in a new field, her constantly being outwitted by slier opponents in the big bad town of Trenton, New Jersey, and having that pitch perfect sexual charisma with her mark since they share a common romantic history before in their youths. But to my surprise One for the Money has a little bit more depth in its story than I would have imagined, playing out like a mystery with a crime at hand to solve, with Stephanie stumbling her way from fact to fact, interacting with various interesting caricatures who don’t bore, and plays out exactly like an 80s private detective film of old in spirit.

Written by Stacy Sherman, Karen Ray and Liz Brixius off the well received novel of the same name by Janet Evanovich, this probably accounts for a lot of female-centric focus on elements in the storyline, as well as director Julie Anne Robinson’s ability to center this very much like a chick flick, wrapped around an old fashioned whodunnit. I mean, only in a story with an attractive female protagonist would you have other females in the story either old, or matronly, and having not one but two hunks – Morelli and fellow alpha-male bounty hunter Ranger (Daniel Sunjata) – involved at the crossroads of her life. Plenty of characterization goes into the lead character of Stephanie Plum, and Heigl brings a certain sass to the role, with little street smarts that cover for her lack of experience in the field.

Granted the mystery doesn’t quite play out with that kind of tension and suspense as one would expect from a true blur genre film, but it does enough with its slight touch and managed to keep interest afloat. While there are 18 novels to date in the series of Stephanie Plum’s adventures in bounty hunting, with each novel title starting with a number / numerically related, reality is that any subsequent film will have to rely on how much this makes at the box office. My bet is that it’ll likely be something quite modest with a potential of 17 more films made only if Heigl wants to be stereotyped (if not already) or typecast. Still, One for the Money sits above average on the entertainment scale, and can be recommended fare if you’d give it a chance.


Fast Tube by Casper

katherine marx missing person, 1982 Katherine Marx, carthy images for, desaparicion de katherine marx 1982, images of katherine marx, Katherine Marx Murder

Posted in: Action, Comedy, Crime.
Tagged: · ·

katherine marx missing person, 1982 Katherine Marx, carthy images for, desaparicion de katherine marx 1982, images of katherine marx, Katherine Marx Murder

Home » dir » Awvr O Scale

The Secret World of Arrietty

Sitting in the theater yesterday, I found myself peering up into the endless shadowy heights of a vast cavern, listening to the booming, deafening echo of a faraway…ticking clock.

The dark cavern was the bedroom of our supporting lead, Sho, a boy with a brave but rapidly failing heart; but at the moment, I was standing in the lovingly handmade boots of our heroine and main character, Arrietty the Borrower. It was her first time exploring a human habitation, no small task when you stand barely as tall as a child’s finger, and it was impossible not to feel some of her sense of awe and wonder at the gigantic world unfolding around her.

This newest Ghibli film is filled with such tiny people, but nevertheless stands a cut above the studio’s recent releases (“Howl’s Moving Castle”, “Tales from Earthsea”, even “Ponyo”), delivering a warm and evocative experience that stays with the viewer long after leaving the theater.

Pacing and plot have been stumbling blocks for Ghibli in recent years, with their otherwise delightful films spinning wildly out of control in visually fascinating but bewildering finales. “Arrietty” thankfully breaks this pattern. The film is beautifully paced and stays true to the spirit of its source material, establishing an engaging world and then carrying the viewer through a well-crafted tale that twists here and there without flying off the tracks before coasting to an ending that borrows nicely from the original while adding a few touches that feel just right. No incomprehensible final act here, just satisfying storytelling.

However, what really makes the film a winner, in my opinion, is its masterful use of atmosphere. The sense of the balmy, lazy, sun- and rain-drenched Japanese summertime is beautifully conveyed and pervades every scene, helped along by Corbel’s warm and wistful Celtic-styled soundtrack and gentle vocals, but just as memorable and far more unique is the sense of sheer scale.

Since the beginning of filmmaking, plenty of movies have tackled the special effects challenge of portraying tiny people in a human-sized world, but although they’ve integrated their miniature stars more and more skillfully into their surroundings, few have given such a sense of the sheer size of those surroundings from the heroes’ vantage. There’s no such disconnect here, and Ghibli uses the versatility of animation to their full advantage. The view as Arrietty peers over the edge of a kitchen cabinet is dizzying. Scenes of climbing inside the hollow wall joists feel as hazardous as a documentary on spelunking. Coming in from the rain, Arrietty impatiently brushes clinging water droplets as big as her hands from her hair and clothes. The rustling of Sho’s clothing as he stands or sits is like the unfurling of a schooner’s sail in the wind, and speaking human voices (although not pitched down to the uncomfortable point that full realism might require) are sometimes underscored with an unsettling rumble. I left the film with a heightened awareness of my own vast(?) size, scanning around me for spots where a Borrower might hide in the theater lobby or creep out to fetch stray popcorn kernels.

Inhabiting this gorgeous world are plenty of charming characters: brave and spirited Arrietty, who shinnies up curtains like a monkey and draws her borrowed pin to stare down danger with a sound like Errol Flynn unsheathing a blade; her hard-working and stoically affectionate father, Pod, and fretful but loving mother, Homily; the young human Sho who longs for a friend as he ponders the possibility of his own extinction as well as the Borrowers’; his gentle-spirited aunt and their grubby-fingered housekeeper, who both have their own reasons to wish to see a “tiny person”; and an unexpected visitor who brings startling news to Arrietty’s family.

Fans of the book series will be delighted with the film’s respectful and vivid adaptation of Norton’s work–I know I was. (Without spoiling too much that hasn’t been shown in the trailers, I have three words for those in the know: Spiller. Stream. Teapot.) And those unfamiliar with the material will find plenty to love in this version. It’s hard to believe that this confident, solid work is the first film of a freshman director.

For the first time in several years, I feel real confidence in the ability of Studio Ghibli to live strongly beyond its celebrated founders’ legacies. Here’s hoping this little film is a huge success, as it so richly deserves to be.


Fast Tube by Casper

the gray secret ending, newbiemove, dvd release date for a perfect ending movie, 1206 777, sukhdave seehra, kathryn marcs

Posted in: Adventure, Animation, Family.
Tagged: · ·

the gray secret ending, newbiemove, dvd release date for a perfect ending movie, 1206 777, sukhdave seehra, kathryn marcs


Page 1 of 3123

51 queries. 0.980 seconds.