I gave in and took my wife to see Top Gun last Wed night at a prescreening that a friend hooked me up with.

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I had a big brother from big brothers and sisters of America in the Air Farts in the mid to late 80's... I got to see the Blackbird at Beale during some photo op event with the big brothers big sisters program. It was freakin spectacular. We got breakfast and a photo op. It was a great time. Sadly I lost the photo's and negatives in an apartment fire in the early 2000's.

I just watched it again on amazon after originally seeing it in the theater with 5 other peeps LOL. I still say it's a great movie. Plenty of action, great story line. love story and all the easter eggs. That guy can make a freakin movie between him and Scott it was a winner for sure.
Very cool! I would have loved to see one take off!! My uncle related that it can come in at stall speed then hit it and it just disappears into the sky....
 
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We had one land at our base for emergency repairs, it was immediately towed into a hanger and the doors shut with SP posted on all sides.
They flew in a team to work on it and it was pulled back out a couple days later and fueled up, leaking everywhere, and took off, slowly disappearing into the clouds.
Then the cops were driving along the fence taking everyone’s cameras or film out of the camera. Late 80’s time frame.
 
I saw the movie only because it was on a big screen, cost me $3, and I had some time to kill. The cinematography is amazing, really incredible what capable people given an obscene budget can come up with. That said, everything else was pretty awful - dialogue, plot, directing, etc. The entire project clearly exists just to stroke Cruise's ego (what was with that dead-eyes-grinning "personal message" at the beginning??). The first movie was a story - however flimsy, still a narrative - but this was straight-up Cruise in a video game with all the cheat codes and conveniences. However, apart from the visuals, I really enjoyed Val Kilmer's efforts, but I think my favorite thing was Jon Hamm's constant look of being deeply uncomfortable and downright pissed off that he had to follow through on actually being in this movie.

SR-71 crews have some of the best tales. Least relatable, perhaps, but best.

civilsmoker and Nefarious - re: F-4, one of my favorite stories is still Pardo's Push
 
I saw the movie only because it was on a big screen, cost me $3, and I had some time to kill. The cinematography is amazing, really incredible what capable people given an obscene budget can come up with. That said, everything else was pretty awful - dialogue, plot, directing, etc. The entire project clearly exists just to stroke Cruise's ego (what was with that dead-eyes-grinning "personal message" at the beginning??). The first movie was a story - however flimsy, still a narrative - but this was straight-up Cruise in a video game with all the cheat codes and conveniences. However, apart from the visuals, I really enjoyed Val Kilmer's efforts, but I think my favorite thing was Jon Hamm's constant look of being deeply uncomfortable and downright pissed off that he had to follow through on actually being in this movie.

SR-71 crews have some of the best tales. Least relatable, perhaps, but best.

civilsmoker and Nefarious - re: F-4, one of my favorite stories is still Pardo's Push
You can always tell the Cruise/Scientologist haters lol.
 
"Hate" is a strong word for someone I've never met.

I'm not against him because he's Scientologist (or because he's Tom Cruise), I just don't like bad movies. Sub in any other actor and my criticism would have remained the same - all the other characters in the movie exist just to make his look good. (And no, that wasn't the case even in the first movie.) No growth, no development arc, no context, just [here's a near-impossible obstacle] followed by [Maverick breezes through, because Maverick].

By comparison, Behind Enemy Lines was good (and underrated), but this made it look like a top-shelf cinematic masterpiece.

You can always tell the Cruise/Scientologist haters lol.
 
I saw the movie only because it was on a big screen, cost me $3, and I had some time to kill. The cinematography is amazing, really incredible what capable people given an obscene budget can come up with. That said, everything else was pretty awful - dialogue, plot, directing, etc. The entire project clearly exists just to stroke Cruise's ego (what was with that dead-eyes-grinning "personal message" at the beginning??). The first movie was a story - however flimsy, still a narrative - but this was straight-up Cruise in a video game with all the cheat codes and conveniences. However, apart from the visuals, I really enjoyed Val Kilmer's efforts, but I think my favorite thing was Jon Hamm's constant look of being deeply uncomfortable and downright pissed off that he had to follow through on actually being in this movie.

SR-71 crews have some of the best tales. Least relatable, perhaps, but best.

civilsmoker and Nefarious - re: F-4, one of my favorite stories is still Pardo's Push
Just read Pardos Push! Thanks for linking that!
I enjoyed my time working around Phantoms and missed the aircraft when the re-laced them with 16’s.
 
I’ve been waiting to watch it again for the 4K Doby Atmos version which was release a few weeks ago…. Rewatched it last week at home….. holy smokes the Atmos sound was lit!!!!!
 
I was wondering how a Paramount movie was showing on MGM EPIX. Found the answer online, and learned WAAY more than I wanted.

Hulu’s movie library has shrunk.

The streamer’s deal with Epix, which gave the streamer access to movies from Paramount, MGM, Lionsgate and a number of other studios, expired on March 23, according to The Streamable. Hulu’s Epix collection comprised a few hundred pictures from MGM and Paramount, meaning Hulu’s film choices have shrunk significantly.

Epix is still Paramount’s pay-one holder for its films after they leave theaters, but the two companies struck an agreement in June 2021 for non-exclusive rights to Epix’s extensive catalog, which at the time totaled over 2,500 titles. Some movies were also able to be streamed on Paramount+ just 45 days after they were released in theaters, thanks to this partnership.

As Paramount announced at its investors day in March, beginning with Paramount Pictures’ 2024 slate, all of the studio’s films will be exclusively available on Paramount+.

“While this move certainly changes things for Hulu, things may be changing for Epix as well, following Amazon’s acquisition of MGM,” Streamable reports.

The topic of what Amazon will do with Epix now that MGM and Amazon have concluded their merger earlier this month has arisen. Industry sources have previously stated that Amazon is unlikely to wish to maintain a single linear cable channel, and that the streaming service might be replaced with a channel for Prime Video programming.

So, if Amazon decides to shutdown Epix and prior partnerships don’t transfer to Amazon Prime Video, Paramount+ would become Paramount Pictures’ new pay-one holder immediately, and Prime Video would ultimately become MGM’s new pay-one holder, the Streamable reports.
 
If you have ever seen an F4 in person it is more of a rocket with some little stubby arms than a plane. It's hard to believe it would even fly....
It didn't fly. The F4 was a proven theory of vectored thrust. I think it was on of the first production fighters with a symetrical chord wing allowing it to fly upside down. glide slope of 0:1
NAS Miramar in San Diego (not there anymore.
Still there.. Overtaken by the Marines. Now MCAS Miramar and for all you vets traveling to SOCAL.. it's a great place to get a room with breakfast right near the gas station, BX and commissary.. Short drive down to SD and Coronado..

I'm in no hurry to see another TC movie either. For me, IMHO, hollywood is two thumbs down.
 
I didn’t know Miramar changed hands, I got to go there (ground support) when our AF pilots trained against the Navy pilots back in late 80’s.
I have an uncle that was a navy pilot buried there.
 
The Navy pilots and staff got the short end of the deal when MCAS El Toro (Tustin) was shut down due to population encroachment. The Marines moved to Miramar, and Fightertown/Top Gun moved to NAS Fallon, NV.

Fallon is a nice place...in the desert...when it's cool outside...but it ain't San Diego. Summer, three-digit temps, and high altitude base elevation meant you had to calculate if you had enough of a 13,000+ foot runway to safely take off (now extended to14,000 feet).

I've spent many lovely weeks flying out of Fallon, and hundreds of hours poking holes in the desert floor flying out of NAS Lemoore. I recognized all the range targets and many of the valleys in the film. As we were watching the movie, and the missles blew up a runway, I told my wife "They just blew up the South Lake Tahoe airport!"

My wife enjoyed the movie. I kept my "BS" comments to a minimum, and unemotionally answered her questions.
 
We had F4’s back then, one of the last training missions before converting over to F16’s.
A great trip!
 
Now that it’s been out for awhile, I will leave my review.

Jerry Bruckheimer is pathetic.

If you break it down to the basics, this movie was basically nothing more than a modern day re-make of Iron Eagle II disguised as a Top Gun movie.

Fighter pilots must bomb narrow opening in mountainous terrain to take out nuclear reactor in hostile country with misfit pilots who were never cut out to carry out the mission to begin with.

The movie was atrocious. No real thought put into it at all, same tired plot, different actors. The F-14 vs. SU-57 scene was so far out of touch with reality, I couldn't even laugh. It was just disappointing. The dogfighting scenes and maneuvers were equally unrealistic and so far from reality it was equally disappointing.

The original was so much better and it will always be King. C- grade. Hollywoke can't come up with new content so they copycat off stuff that's already been done 20-30 years ago and try to re-brand it as something new and the sheep movie viewers continually fall for it.
 
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Fighter pilots must bomb narrow opening in mountainous terrain to take out nuclear reactor in hostile country with misfit pilots who were never cut out to carry out the mission to begin with.
I haven't seen it, but it also sounds very similar to Star Wars. When Luke takes out the death star.
Chris
 
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Opening presents this morning. A t-shirt from my grandkids.

20221225_075743.jpg
 
Now that it’s been out for awhile, I will leave my review.

Jerry Bruckheimer is pathetic.

If you break it down to the basics, this movie was basically nothing more than a modern day re-make of Iron Eagle II disguised as a Top Gun movie.

Fighter pilots must bomb narrow opening in mountainous terrain to take out nuclear reactor in hostile country with misfit pilots who were never cut out to carry out the mission to begin with.

The movie was atrocious. No real thought put into it at all, same tired plot, different actors. The F-14 vs. SU-57 scene was so far out of touch with reality, I couldn't even laugh. It was just disappointing. The dogfighting scenes and maneuvers were equally unrealistic and so far from reality it was equally disappointing.

The original was so much better and it will always be King. C- grade. Hollywoke can't come up with new content so they copycat off stuff that's already been done 20-30 years ago and try to re-brand it as something new and the sheep movie viewers continually fall for it.
yet still made more money than most movies this year lol
 
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