Altitude Falling (2010)

Strong and Moving!

Excellent, a Must See

Great story, amazing characters, superb action, enthralling cinematography. Yes, this is something I am glad I spent money on.

Just intense enough to provide a much-needed diversion, just lightweight enough to make you forget about it soon after it’s over. It’s not exactly “good,” per se, but it does what it sets out to do in terms of putting us on edge, which makes it … successful?

The premise is interesting but don't be fooled. There is nothing to like about this movie. The 'soundtrack' is awful... the script and dialogue is bad and the acting is probably the worst I've ever seen on film.Some movies are so bad they're funny. Not this one. It's just bad, bad, bad.The direction is awful too. A director should be able to make actors look good.... here they just look even more foolish. Not only are the actors not likable in their roles, they sound like third graders reading it for the first time.The story goes from interesting concept to poor execution and ends with a journey to nowhere.

I wish this "writer"/"director" would just hire teenage boys for sex in the confines of his own home rather than writing incredibly creepy, dramatically vacant vehicles for his own chicken fetish. The teddy bear should be a warning: beyond this point, there be creeps. The young lead is such a bad actor, he relies on the "exasperated" tone of voice to make any emotional inflection, and Bright has that terrible monotonous (attempting world-weary) delivery that just makes each scene between the two more excruciating. Bright is staggering in his lack of charisma. If you can't tell that lines like, "Mother, I just don't know about your attempts to run my life!" are embarrassing clunkers, you probably shouldn't be writing or starring in movies at all. And technically? At least learn how to make an eyeline match. It's not hard. The wrong frigging people have money to waste on masturbatory projects like this.

It's hard to do low-budget sci-fi. And when I talk low budget, I am talking about an eight day shooting schedule and very small cast (basically, five main players and a small handful of extras). Plus making a premise that doesn't collapse under it's own weight. "Altitude Falling," a modestly created look at the near future, pulls it off, and is director Paul Bright's best film to date.To summate, it's a decade or so into the future. There's a deep recession going on, and an inexplicable war in Venezuela. People have been implanted with tracking chips, which started out as innocent ways to identify and locate people in case of serious emergencies, like accidents or natural disasters. But now the mere act of entering a mini-market ID's you and offers you a targeted special sale item. It also means that, as the war escalates, the government can find you if they need you.The five lives interconnected here are all tied to the chips and how they evolved. Greg Forrster (Bright) has fled his old life to take residence in New Mexico, and Danny's family has come to escape their unemployed status after tidal surges have destroyed their home (the consequences of global warming are where the movie's title come from). One of the more intriguing aspects of "Altitude Falling" is just how easily this future could occur, without any whizz-bang gizmos or vacuously expensive "Avatar" effects. The fiction is subtle, but realistic. "Altitude Falling" is a provocative and enjoyable film.

The entire gay theme detracted from what could have been a good story.The entire concept of chips in bodies was good and the basic story had potential...but the gay love story just trashed it...well that and the horrible music.The music and production values were just atrocious and that made the story and film just a hideous piece of cinema to watch.Add to that a gay love story which didn't quite fit in and some unbelievably horrible dialogue and flat characters and you have this...something which will go nowhere.Not trashing gay love stories...there are some which I find awesome - even though I am not gay...they are interesting and have character and story. This just kills the entire structure.Maybe it was to get financing for the movie - to seed money from the gay arts vaults - well that;s OK...but the story was bad and the actors were even worse.The script was horrible and of course, the music was downright nasty in all respects.It failed on so many levels with a concept that had plenty of potential - even for a small budget.