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wan2doit

Movie titled "Point Break'

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Yeah, saw it at a pre-screening in Toronto a week back. Invites were given out to skydivers at a few DZ's and the local wind tunnel, and a hang gliding school too. (Not sure why; none of that sport in the movie) The guy who played Johnny Utah was there, Luke Bracey, as was one of the producers or something like that.

Overall verdict: Well, it was watchable when parking one's brain with friends in a theatre, but it wasn't that good a movie. Their emphasis on the action sequences did put the plot somewhat in the background. Still, it made sense for the FBI agent to be slowly trying to work his way "in" with the bad guys as they go through sporting adventures.

The producer and actor said they travelled to something like 11 countries on 4 continents in 6 months while making the movie. So there was some nice background scenery. They also proudly said that they did a lot of "in camera" work to minimize CGI. I'm a little old fashioned as it still seemed chock full of CGI. At least there were real people usually in real environments, maybe with some CGI background work for dramatic effect.

Sometimes they tried too hard. Jumping off Angel Falls with no parachute, and living, as the culmination of some weird spiritual quest to both rob rich companies and attain the greatest extreme sports achievements?

The action sequences were sometimes so chopped up with super quick edits and multiple camera angles, that it became hard to follow the action. That's sometimes becoming too common these days. If you want an exciting wingsuit proximity flying seqence, without a fake "woosh" noise every few seconds as they fly by a cliff or tree, just go to youtube and watch Dream Lines or something like that. (Hmm, two of the wingsuiters listed in the credits are dead already.) At least the action in the sports sequences was filmed outdoors using some good athletes, even if highly edited, and put together into less than believable scenarios.

In the down time between action sequences, people spouted a bunch of stuff trying to be philosophical stuff about life and adventure. I'm no movie critic but the quotes and one liners seemed rather hackneyed, so I'm not sure they'll attain any cult status down the road.

My favourite frustration (as a skydiver getting picky) is when a cargo pallet stacked high with paper money, pretty much into a cube, was dropped out of a C-130. The netting around the money got cut and it all starts fluttering away. That thing, CGI'd, flew so amazingly stable after dumping off the ramp. Despite the massive mass, it fell at a convenient freefall speed to skydive with, and didn't seem to vary speed much when the bills started to all fly away in the wind, totally changing its mass to surface area ratio. It sure didn't tumble and jump around like cars dropped over the Arizona desert in old Joe Jennings videos. AFF instruction would be so easy if we had students as stable as that pallet of money!

If someone really wants to go see the new Point Break, why not, go for it, have a laugh. If you're a bit sceptical about dumb action movies, skip it.

Edit to add all this:

There are IMDB reviews already and they are even harsher.

A few quotes I liked from amateur reviews:
"the pace is awful they jump from scene to scene like monkeys jump from tree to tree. "

" It's littered with so much "save the planet" preachy acts as the writing struggles to place FBI agent in the hippie nirvana angle. The motivation is just a mess of random vague one-liners, even the on-screen characters are perplexed by it. "

"One of the charms of the original, while it had some great action sequences, even the characters are interesting to watch. Even if it's trifle, it's still worth spending your time. Now, it somehow becomes uninteresting filler, "

"The characters have nothing at all about them; they all seems to merge into one hipster bearded blob on the screen"

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Jim Wallace did both training jumps and stunt double jumps with Patrick Swayze. The producers were concerned that Patrick would be hurt while filming, so they shot all the crucial scenes using Jim as his double and then when the movie was complete Patrick went through AFF taught by Jim. Patrick did a few scenes then that were then later added in to the final release.

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Three reviews:

James Marsh: http://www.screendaily.com/reviews/point-break-review/5097584.article

Maggie Lee: http://variety.com/2015/film/reviews/point-break-review-remake-1201652697/

Elizabeth Kerr: http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/review/point-break-film-review-845457

Something to note is that the director and the cinematographer are one and the same.
IMDB shows 18 credits as a cinematographer, but only 4 credits as a director.
"There are only three things of value: younger women, faster airplanes, and bigger crocodiles" - Arthur Jones.

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billvon

>You might just think I'm crazy for saying this but did anyone here happen to
>jump with Patrick Swayze in the past?

No, but did a few bigways with his brother.



Not "big ways" just a coupe of 6-way, 8-way's or the like with Don and hang out at the Bomb shelter....You know the drill!!
SCR-2034, SCS-680

III%,
Deli-out

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>Not "big ways" just a coupe of 6-way, 8-way's or the like with Don and hang
>out at the Bomb shelter....You know the drill!!

I remember during one big way we were loading and Don had recently broken his foot. So someone was helping him onto the plane, cast and all. "This won't end well" I thought. (And it didn't; he ended up getting it amputated.)

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billvon

>Not "big ways" just a coupe of 6-way, 8-way's or the like with Don and hang
>out at the Bomb shelter....You know the drill!!

I remember during one big way we were loading and Don had recently broken his foot. So someone was helping him onto the plane, cast and all. "This won't end well" I thought. (And it didn't; he ended up getting it amputated.)



Ouch. I wonder if anyone asked him if it was worth it... LOL
"Mediocre people don't like high achievers, and high achievers don't like mediocre people." - SIX TIME National Champion coach Nick Saban

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BillyVance

***>Not "big ways" just a coupe of 6-way, 8-way's or the like with Don and hang
>out at the Bomb shelter....You know the drill!!

I remember during one big way we were loading and Don had recently broken his foot. So someone was helping him onto the plane, cast and all. "This won't end well" I thought. (And it didn't; he ended up getting it amputated.)



Ouch. I wonder if anyone asked him if it was worth it... LOL

this something you normally would do billy!

:D:D:D
“Some may never live, but the crazy never die.”
-Hunter S. Thompson
"No. Try not. Do... or do not. There is no try."
-Yoda

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virgin-burner

******>Not "big ways" just a coupe of 6-way, 8-way's or the like with Don and hang
>out at the Bomb shelter....You know the drill!!

I remember during one big way we were loading and Don had recently broken his foot. So someone was helping him onto the plane, cast and all. "This won't end well" I thought. (And it didn't; he ended up getting it amputated.)



Ouch. I wonder if anyone asked him if it was worth it... LOL

this something you normally would do billy!

:D:D:D

It's gotten me in trouble before... to the point of getting banned. :D:$ Well he's not on here so there's no risk is there. :P
"Mediocre people don't like high achievers, and high achievers don't like mediocre people." - SIX TIME National Champion coach Nick Saban

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billvon

>Not "big ways" just a coupe of 6-way, 8-way's or the like with Don and hang
>out at the Bomb shelter....You know the drill!!

I remember during one big way we were loading and Don had recently broken his foot. So someone was helping him onto the plane, cast and all. "This won't end well" I thought. (And it didn't; he ended up getting it amputated.)



Ouch! I met Don at Perris about 9 years ago I think. I guess the day he showed he hadn't been for a few months and got a sarcastic welcome over the PA. When did the amputation happen? I don't remember seeing a foot (or lack thereof) issue, but don't think I was looking either.

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Don did have the foot amputated. He came back out to be trained for re-currency by Jim Wallace again but after a couple of jumps severely sprained his good ankle! I believe there was a discussion along the lines of what his abilities would be with a broken good ankle and he decided to stop jumping.

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Your review of the movie is spot on with my impressions. It's watchable, but the characters didn't capture my imagination, much of the action is too CGI (My wife and I even had the same "go to YouTube" comment about the prox. flying).

The hipster preachiness dragged the story down. I missed the simple, greed inspired bad guys of the original. Maybe it has to do with my age bracket. Any of you younger jumpers like the new characters/motivations better?


In their overarching attempt to outdo the original, they took it to the point of unbelievable, IMHO.

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ryoder

***Who's Dumbledor?



Richard Harris or Michael Gambon

He's Lilly's Sancho, and Harry's dad and his uncle too.
I'm not usually into the whole 3-way thing, but you got me a little excited with that. - Skymama
BTR #1 / OTB^5 Official #2 / Hellfish #408 / VSCR #108/Tortuga/Orfun

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