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Altitude  (2010)
[+]
(Foreign Titles)
Tagline(s):Don't Look Down.
 Fear Is in the Air.
Nomination Year: 2015
SYNOPSIS: Ten years(ish) ago, Sarah's mother was a private pilot, flying a young family -- father, mother, and 10(ish)-year-old son -- on a charter. Their plane mysteriously broke up in mid-air and everyone was killed, except the son, who landed in a lake and survived, though with many broken bones.

Now Sarah has followed in her mother's footsteps and is also a private pilot. She's rented an airplane to fly two of her friends (the Drunk One and the Moody One), who are in a band, to a weekend gig. Accompanying them are the Drunk One's Girlfriend and Sarah's Creepy, Stalkerish Orphan Boyfriend (his parents were killed in a car crash 10(ish) years ago), who's clearly waaaay more into her than she is into him.

Unfortunately, the rental plane has some maintenance issues and, when the plane encounters turbulence, a screw comes lose and jams some of the control surfaces, rendering it difficult to control. Sarah is unable to avoid flying into a suddenly-appearing storm (or does the storm reach out to gab them, as she tries to maneuver away from it?). As soon as they enter the storm, the instruments fail and they lose contact with air traffic control. And the Drunk One keeps seeing something out in the clouds. Or is it just that he's drunk too much?

What follows is a primarily a psychological drama, by which I mean, five scared people trapped in a small space shouting at each other. To its credit, the movie is actually able to pull this off pretty well at various points. Fortunately for the Smithees, it isn't able to sustain it consistently for 90 minutes. Since the entire movie is five people in a single-cabin aircraft the entirety of which is visible in a single shot, you would think that this is not the sort of movie where the characters can be picked off one-by-one. You would be wrong.

Eventually, the survivors regain control of the aircraft, figure what's going on, and treat us to an ending that is worth retracting everything good I said about this movie up to this point.

Greg Pearson
Smithee Award Nominations
Most Ludicrous Premise
Waking Nightmare
His fear of flying is making the comic book come to life. What a great superpower (no, not really). It's a nightmare, all right.
Deus Ex Machina
Nookie Cures All Ills
He's making the monsters with his mind? How about we turn that mind off? Sara discovers that making out with Bruce will make the monster go away.
Crummiest Ending
Altitude Adjustment
Bruce uses his powers to change the past so the movie never happened, allowing younger versions of the heroine and her creepy stalker boyfriend to get together. How nice. No, wait, I meant how much of an annoying waste of time was this movie?!
Directors
Director Claim to Fame
Kaare Andrews  
Cast
Actor Character Claim to Fame
Jessica Lowndes Sara Has a lot of music video shorts. Was Adrianna Tate-Duncan on the reboot of "90210." 
Julianna Guill Mel Stark's Assistant in Captain America: Civil War and a bunch of solid TV roles, including Scarlet Hauksson on "My Alibi." 
Ryan Donowho Cory Was Scott in High Voltage. Do you suppose this is an ironc stage name, sounding like "Don't Know Who?" 
Landon Liboiron Bruce Played Declan Coyne in TV's "Degrassi" debacles as well as Peter Rumancek on "Hemlock Grove." 
Jake Weary Sal Luke Snyder on "As the Stomach World Turns;" Kevin in the Fred franchise; Hugh/Jeff in It Follows; and Tommy in Zombeavers
Mike Dopud The Colonel Had bit parts in several X- Men movies and the "Stargate" TV shows. 
Ryan Grantham Young Bruce Promising child actor; was the titular Becoming Redwood and Rodney James in Diary of a Wimpy Kid, as well as parts on several supernatural TV shows. 
Chelah Horsdal Mrs. Taylor Helen Smith on "The Man in the High Castle;" Lori Matherfield on "You Me Her;" Kate Spencer on "Arrow." 
Ian Robison Mr. Taylor Lots of tiny parts on "weird" TV shows, from "The X-Files" to "The Twilight Zone" to "The Outer Limits" to "Stargate," "Fringe," and "Supernatural." 
Michelle Harrison Sara's Mother Nora Allen (Barry's mom) on "The Flash," Jane in Paycheck, Cynthia in Love Happens, and a bunch of bit parts on TV "supe operas." 
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