tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5486647021928910059.post5374260331529846342..comments2023-05-21T02:03:43.034-07:00Comments on A year in the CAGE: #52 Fire BirdsSkyler Weaverhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13516715611434524812noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5486647021928910059.post-71916955982191965802021-05-16T05:50:35.331-07:002021-05-16T05:50:35.331-07:00Get on the alert: Many travelers report seeing sec...Get on the alert: Many travelers report seeing secretive big horn sheep. it's normal practice to tip your guide if his services are exemplary.<br /><a href="https://www.privatejetshouston.com/" rel="nofollow">helicopter rides houston</a>MAXhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06566708911478379498noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5486647021928910059.post-66234068413783261332019-06-29T16:04:50.106-07:002019-06-29T16:04:50.106-07:00#11 Fire Birds (1990) YouTube. First Time View. No...#11 Fire Birds (1990) YouTube. First Time View. Not great. Fourth rate Top Gun & I didn't even care for Top Gun.KaBluiehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07032525501051762974noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5486647021928910059.post-72997956929447854922013-02-11T09:19:06.413-08:002013-02-11T09:19:06.413-08:00Oh where to begin?
As was pointed out, this came ...Oh where to begin?<br /><br />As was pointed out, this came along 4 years after Top Gun because the Apache had just come out and someone thought helicopters deserved their time in the spotlight too. The Apache really is an amazing piece of technology, but it is nothing compared to an F-14 blasting past at super-sonic speeds with twin jets of blue flame from its engines. Compare and contrast this, landing on a pitching aircraft carrier deck while trying to catch a wire across its deck and punching full throttle in case you miss it, and gently touching down on patch of dusty Arizona soil. Blasting past your opponent at hundreds of MPH and zig-zagging through canyons at less than 100 MPH. Excuse me while I stifle a yawn. Even if the Apache could compare to a Tomcat we spend the movie in training rooms, simulators, and watching the commander video-conferencing with some general which is a really low budget video game mechanism to present the plot to the viewer. Top Gun was very mano-a-mano both against the enemy and trying to become the best of the best. Fire Birds tried to do this but failed miserably.<br /><br />The other thing that bugs me is that you can just picture how this film came into being. Some schmuck sees Top Gun and is jealous because he thinks he can do better. He can't just make another F-14 movie so while watching the Army-Navy football game that year he has the bright idea to showcase the new Apache. He approaches the army who is excited to get the good publicity so they agree to support making the movie, but it must stay on base in TX so the entire movie is filmed in Arizona and Texas which makes for zero change of scenery. Also consider this, the drugs are grown and produced not the the arid deserts, but up in the lush jungle and mountainous regions. We're supposed to believe that the drug lords prefer to expose their operation by transporting all of the goods out into the desert rather than operating in the dense jungles where it is produced? This is the point when the movie should have been majorly revised or canned. Know when to pull the plug and have the brass to do it.<br /><br />Other plot holes and stupidity:<br />- A single man in a fictitious helicopter with a Sean Connery beard is supposed to strike fear into our hearts. Oh no, bad man just put down his tinted visor, Mommy!<br />- The drug lords have a pair of Swedish made jets that belong in northern Europe for air-to-air defense, but because the Army training base this was being filmed at had a couple the director thought it would be a smashing idea to have them be a surprise addition to the combat and use them for ground strafing while the helicopter that would have been ideally suited for that job was out doing air-to-air fighting. Nuts.<br />- Their temporary base in S. America has no defenses and when attacked by some unknown force (that seems determined to destroy tents instead of helicopters) they don't seem concerned about stopping the attack, just in launching their own attack with zero element of surprise.<br />- No one goes into the laundromat to wash a half a dozen items, you don't visit that sucker till you have enough to keep a couple machines running at the same time.<br />- At the beginning when bad guy first attacks everyone goes unnaturally wide-eyed in an amateurish attempt to convey terror and astonishment. It didn't look good in films from 1930 and it still isn't convincing 60 years later on.<br />- The sound track had its moments, but was mostly uninspiring. Who doesn't know at least two songs from the Top Gun sound tracks?<br />- The leading lady should be attractive.<br /><br />If Cage measures success by the amount of his spittle on the camera lens then he did great. There were several flip-out, plenty of ego, and enough creepy passes on Billie to ruin the average appetite. I can't help but wonder what kind of movie this could have been if the director wasn't a baboon.Steve Mhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01691715956208605416noreply@blogger.com