Unstoppable -- new train movie

[tetters]

I never met a wreckless engineer

I hope you meant reckless!

Well one would hope that a Locomotive Engineer could be "wreckless". Definitely looks better on ones resume as opposed to the alternative.

[RobertInOntario]

Well, my wife has agreed to go see it with me -- she actually wants to see it as she occasionally doesn't mind an action/thriller. We often have trouble agreeing on movies -- I like action/adventure, Sci-Fi, etc., whereas she likes dramas more ....

We've also recently both started watching "Top Gear" -- a British motor car TV show -- that we get via BBC Canada on our Rogers Cable network. She's not really into cars but enjoys the British humour and banter, whereas I like both the humour and the cars.

I also like Top Gear because a couple of their recent shows have featured trains. One episode was when a 1949 motorcycle and a 1949 sports car raced the newly-built Tornado steam train (which is basically a 1949 loco but was built in 2008) across Britain. Another one took place in Japan where one guy, in a Nissan sports car IIRC, raced a Japanese bullet train across Japan -- great fun!

Rob

[rrinker]

James May from Top Gear also has his own show, James May's Toy Stories. On one he built the world's longest OO railroad, connectiong two real cities. He did a similar thing with Scaletrix slot cars. Reportedly, he is a model railroader himself.

--Randy

[RobertInOntario]

James May from Top Gear also has his own show, James May's Toy Stories. On one he built the world's longest OO railroad, connectiong two real cities. He did a similar thing with Scaletrix slot cars. Reportedly, he is a model railroader himself.

--Randy

Yes, I heard a lot about that show but have never seen it. May set up Hornby 00 (similar to HO) track along a bike trail in Devon -- this bike trail follows an abandoned railway line, so he was trying to run trains along that line once again but in miniature form! However, I think bad weather and vandalism got in the way of making the project a real success.

Through James May's Toy Stories, he is trying to get kids away from computers, video games and electronic gadgets and into more traditional "toys," such as model railroads, mecanno, slot cars, etc.

Apparently, James May is also a model railway enthusiast.

Rob

[eightyeightfan1]

Saw that episode. He had three different types of trains, an old passenger train which looked like the one that actually ran the line, a goods train(I'm guessing we call them frieghts here in the Colonies), and a modern Bullet Train, which was a prototype for one that Hornby was going to release. It was a ten mile(Mile?..In England?) between two towns where the real one(I forgot the name of it) ran, and is now a bike path. All three started out fine, but the bullet train ran only seven miles of the ten mile route. Like the other two, it finally died.

[RobertInOntario]

Saw that episode. He had three different types of trains, an old passenger train which looked like the one that actually ran the line, a goods train(I'm guessing we call them frieghts here in the Colonies), and a modern Bullet Train, which was a prototype for one that Hornby was going to release. It was a ten mile(Mile?..In England?) between two towns where the real one(I forgot the name of it) ran, and is now a bike path. All three started out fine, but the bullet train ran only seven miles of the ten mile route. Like the other two, it finally died.

Yes, all of this rings a bell -- I had read some articles about this a few months ago. Yes, a goods train is what they call freight trains in the U.K. They still use miles in Britain, so a distance of 10 miles sounds right. I believe May did try to set up a Hornby Great Western train then ... The trail is called the Tarka Trail, currently a walking & cycling path.

My family & I visited Devon and SW England in 2009. Didn't see too much of the Tark Trail but we were able to visit the West Somerset Railway (<!-- w --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.west-somerset-railway.co.uk">www.west-somerset-railway.co.uk</a><!-- w -->) while we were there -- and that was totally awesome!

Rob

[RobertInOntario]

I've now heard back from two groups of friends who have seen this movie -- a buddy of mine as well as another family whom we know. Apparently, the language isn't really that bad at all. This family even took their kids to see it and they described it as an old-fashioned thriller type of movie!

So our plan is for our entire family to see it this Friday night. Movie review forthcoming!

I'm looking forward to this as I normally enjoy thrillers, such as Speed or The Fugitive, etc. And with the main emphasis being on trains, it should be awesome!

Rob

[RobertInOntario]

Well, the 4 of us (my wife & two sons) saw Unstoppable tonight. It was awesome, really enjoyed it -- it was a 2-hour adrenaline rush and it's hard to come down from afterwards!

So here's my movie review ...
What I liked: It was pretty much what I expected except that there was even more railroad detail, train scenes and lingo in it, which I thought was neat. I really enjoyed the scenes of freight trains at speed, the views inside the cab and around the locos. Practically every scene was about trains.
On the "extreme" side, it was obviously far-fetched -- the final scenes were reminiscient of Indiana Jones!
It was a constant adrenaline, edge-of-your-seat thriller, and probably one of the best train movies I've seen.

What I didn't like: Yes, the language was pretty bad, in almost every scene. I was a little frustrated by this because two friends had recently told me it wasn't that bad! I think people are so used to bad language these days that they hardly notice it when they here it. The folks who told me it wasn't that bad are both conservative/traditional people as well. The movie would have been just as good with only 10-20% of the swearing. However, I also realize that my sons have probably heard far worse in the schoolyard...
Also, they kept showing the runaway train on "live" TV news reports during the movie. This was interesting and added realism at first, but then I grew tired of it because it was so over-done.

I'll probably end up buying this on DVD. The "extras," where they show you how they made the movie & deleted scenes, etc., could be worth it alone ... and I want to see all of those awesome railway scenes again!

Rob

[Paulman]

There's an interesting local article about the filming of "Unstoppable" here:
<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.pa-napus.org/pdf/jan2010.pdf">http://www.pa-napus.org/pdf/jan2010.pdf</a><!-- m -->

Excerpt:

There were several factors that brought Unstoppable to Pennsylvania. In filmmaking as in real estate, the three most important considerations are location, location and location. The screenplay called for a railroad that meandered through rolling countryside and small towns. While north-central Pennsylvania has those in abundance, the producers also needed a railroad that they could shut down for the duration of filming.

A funny thing about railroads is that they make money only when trains are using them. It was a challenge to find a rail line that could afford to halt commercial traffic for a month or longer. They eventually found one— a short line railroad that operates 70 miles of track between Tyrone and Lock Haven—the Nittany and Bald Eagle Railroad.

[RobertInOntario]

There's an interesting local article about the filming of "Unstoppable" here:
<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.pa-napus.org/pdf/jan2010.pdf">http://www.pa-napus.org/pdf/jan2010.pdf</a><!-- m -->

Excerpt:

There were several factors that brought Unstoppable to Pennsylvania. In filmmaking as in real estate, the three most important considerations are location, location and location. The screenplay called for a railroad that meandered through rolling countryside and small towns. While north-central Pennsylvania has those in abundance, the producers also needed a railroad that they could shut down for the duration of filming.

A funny thing about railroads is that they make money only when trains are using them. It was a challenge to find a rail line that could afford to halt commercial traffic for a month or longer. They eventually found one— a short line railroad that operates 70 miles of track between Tyrone and Lock Haven—the Nittany and Bald Eagle Railroad.

That's a neat article -- gives you another perspective on how and where the movie was made. Thanks for posting it.
Rob