On a Wing and a Prayer
The film opens in 2009 with pharmacist Doug (Dennis Quaid) taking a flying lesson. At home in Monroe, Louisiana, he enjoys a good life with his wife, Terri (Heather Graham), and their teenage daughters, phone-obsessed Maggie (Jessi Case), who has a medical condition, and the spunky Bailey (Abigail Rhyne). They are involved in their church and community. Doug is elated when he and his brother, Jeff (Brett Rice), who lives in Florida, win a BBQ competition.
A few days later, Jeff suddenly passes away at his home. After the funeral, Doug and his family board a private plane on Easter Sunday to fly home to Monroe. As they are ascending to cruising level, the pilot, Joe (Wilbur Fitzgerald), has a heart attack. Suddenly, a short flight turns into a fight for survival. As Doug and Terri try to understand Joe’s condition and move him to the back seat, Doug contacts members of the air control tower, who jump into action. They find out that Doug has little flying experience, and none with this Beechcraft King Air 200. Controller Dan Favio (Rocky Myers) breaks protocol and contacts Kari Sorensen (Jesse Metcalfe), a pilot who knows this airplane well.
As Doug tries to manage the unstable plane, he realizes he is flying into dark clouds. Maggie is suddenly in need of medicine, and Bailey fearlessly struggles to get to the baggage on the bouncing plane to help her sister. Terri is Doug’s support, reminding him to trust in their faith that all will be well.
On a Wing and a Prayer is directed by Sean McNamara (Soul Surfer), written by Brian Egeston, and produced by Roma Downey. Quaid, a qualified pilot, uses his experience to play out just the right tension between fear, courage, faith, and a healthy respect for the plane.
The film starts out as a kind of typical made-for-television movie, but as tensions and danger rise—and people come together over great distances to save this family—it has you on the edge of your seat. Streaming on Amazon Prime.
Not yet rated, PG • Peril, fear.
Faraway
Zeynep (Naomi Krauss) is a wife, mother, and grieving daughter living in Germany. As she plans her mother’s funeral, she is shocked to learn that she has inherited a house on a Croatian island. Zeynep feels unappreciated by her angry teenage daughter, Fia (Bahar Balci), and Turkish husband, Ilyas (Adnan Maral), who misses the funeral because he’s infatuated with a young chef at his restaurant. After catching them flirting, Zeynep impulsively flies to Croatia to see her mother’s house, which she intends to turn into a bed-and-breakfast.
She falls into bed when she arrives, thinking that the house is vacant. When she wakes up next to a snoring giant, Josip (Goran Bogdan), they both freak out and the romantic comedy begins. He has lived there for free since they sold it to Zeynep’s mother. Despite their differences, Josip and Zeynep are attracted to one another. While reading her mother’s journal with the help of a dictionary, Zeynep discovers how much her mother really loved her.
Things soon get cozy between Josip and Zeynep. Fia arrives without notice and is shocked at the situation and her mother’s behavior. But then Ilyas shows up, as well as others, including a real estate agent. This combustion of characters makes for the most comedic part of the movie. Directed by Vanessa Jopp and written by Jane Ainscough, the plot is uneven due to the mix of languages and uncertainty of location. At its heart, this is about a woman who finally grows up, secure in the love of her mother and daughter since, as they say, if you don’t go through adolescence as an adolescent, you will have to do it later. Streaming on Netflix.
Not yet rated. • Brief nudity, sexual references, themes of marital infidelity.
Jesus Revolution
This film, directed by Jon Erwin and Brent McCorkle, is based on the recently released book of the same name by Greg Laurie and Ellen Vaughn. In 1971, TIME magazine published a cover story titled “The Jesus Revolution,” which explored the rise of “Jesus freaks,” young people who were protesting social injustices and parental and government control. The young people followed a hippie preacher, Lonnie (Jonathan Roumie), from San Francisco to Southern California where Chuck (Kelsey Grammer), pastor of Calvary Chapel, invites them to worship. Roumie’s magnetic performance as the prophetic Lonnie simply overshadows everyone else.
Jesus Revolution is a telling of the spiritual yearnings of thousands during a tumultuous time. Though the film is somewhat superficial, it is better than the average message-laden Christian movie made for people in the pew. In theaters.
A-2, PG-13 • Teen drug use and mature themes.
