Touches You

good back-story, and good acting

Better Late Then Never

The movie's only flaw is also a virtue: It's jammed with characters, stories, warmth and laughs.

I first watched this film shortly after it came out. I remembered it as being 'memorable', without really remembering too much about the characters or the plot.Watching it again now, I have to say I really enjoyed it.OK, you have to suspend some disbelief on the plane-flying front - there have obviously been quite a few reviews by critics with pilot's licenses (no doubt attracted by the title) and certainly there are a lot of highly unlikely flying technicalities to be overlooked. However - this film is really a sort of Lovecraftian sci-fi chiller, and let's face it - how many such films would work if they had to be technically accurate? In reality in this case, the girl would never even have got to hire the plane, let alone get into trouble in it.The cast are a uniformly pretty unpleasant and dim bunch, and it's nice to see them getting knocked off one by one, but I wouldn't say they were bad actors. I could well imagine that if you took a group of college kids and put them in a 'stress' situation like this for real, you would see exactly the sort of mental and social breakdown portrayed here. For the most part the script actually treads a well-chosen line between teenage banality and the needs of the plot.There are a few corny bits in the dialogue between the 'teenagers', and there is a strong temptation to keep saying to the screen 'so maybe you should fly the plane now?' but this is really the practical result of filming a minimal number of actors in the confines of a 6-seater cabin - if the pilot had to sit in front of the controls facing forward the whole time, she would only have a bit part in the movie! The plot has enough twists and turns to keep you guessing, and the sky monster is neatly explained. I cannot imagine why some reviewers have slated its 'realism' when (as explained by the plot) it isn't quite 'real' anyway and so doesn't have to conform to a scientifically-viable form. OK, the CGI isn't brilliant, but at DVD quality you can't see too much detail, and it's really all about the 'lost in the dark' atmosphere rather than the monster effects.The filming is - within the limits of the budget and the CGI - good and imaginative. No, it isn't Avatar, but the director does a good job with what he's got. I don't understand reviewers who continually criticise the filming standards of low-budget monster movies. You have to show the monster eventually, and no money = rubber monster. If they can't understand that, they shouldn't bother watching and reviewing such films.The ending has a nice twist which neatly ties everything together, but I think the immensity of the concept behind the ending - and the great suspension of incredulity necessary to appreciate it - left a lot of reviewers with a bad taste in their mouths. I think most reviewers just wanted the entire cast to die horribly, and gave the movie a low score when it finally appeared they might not have....If you enjoy Lovecraftian films, and can suspend some disbelief for 90 minutes, 'Altutude' is an enjoyable Friday night's viewing.

A bunch of stoopid unappealing young kids up in a flimsy airplane, where they do not belong. One idiot even brought his cheap guitar along in the tiny plane -- can you imagine! The girl flying the plane seems to have a nasal/breathing problem, as her mouth is constantly open;maybe she thinks that's sexy. Nope, it sure ain't! All of these kids need some serious acting lessons, and even then I'd give them only a 5%chance of making it at best. Dreadful film with nothing to recommend it. Do something else instead of wasting time on this. Sleeping would be better!! WHO are the people financing such garbage? Do they really think they have a successful movie on their hands? Or perhaps the flick has cost them only a pittance to make, so no big risk?

90210 star Jessica Lowndes takes off onto to the big screen in this very effective and atmospheric supernatural thriller that takes place entirely on-board a small passenger plane, so if you're claustrophobic hold tight as this movie can get pretty breathless and tight. I think this movie was a straight to DVD, and I avoid them types at all costs, but Altitude caught my attention when I saw those tentacles in the sky and a Kraken like creature roaring in the clouds in the trailer. It's different, I'll give you that, and the twist end was one I didn't see coming. For those who are unsure about watching this re-think it, Altitude is a neat little thriller with surprisingly solid performances, characters that, despite some cockiness, are worth following as well as a lot of suspense, it's probably the only straight to DVD release I own and probably the only one I've ever watched.

Somebody apparently thought they had a good idea. Maybe they did, someplace back there, but it turned into a turkey of a movie. The sad thing is that in most ways this is actually fairly well done. A lot of effort went into making a pretty good-looking movie without spending a ton of money, and they did succeed there. However, the characters are so overdrawn that I started rooting for the storm/monster/fate/whatever.Jessica and Julianna are both good eye candy, and they didn't annoy me all the time, but even their Sara and Mel seemed infected by whatever virus it is that causes movie makers to turn capable actors into cardboard stereotypes and start swapping clichés against each other. (I gave up on the boys within the first third of the movie; what a batch of losers.) Perhaps there just wasn't anything else to be done in a little plane for an hour.Then there's that bizarro ending... I think I may need a flow chart.I don't know what we're supposed to take from this movie, exactly, but all I got was a couple of pretty actresses to keep an eye on -- hopefully in better films -- and some practice scratching my head in confusion. Oh, and I lost count of how many beers Sal opened, but it's not worth going back to recount.