Undescribable Perfection

The Worst Film Ever

It's complicated... I really like the directing, acting and writing but, there are issues with the way it's shot that I just can't deny. As much as I love the storytelling and the fantastic performance but, there are also certain scenes that didn't need to exist.

Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

One of my Facebook friends postings, yesterday about the old flat-iron building in Mt. Auburn, motivated me to look up this movie that was shot in Cincinnati in 1992 and '93, called Airborne.I have a Roku1 plugged into the back of my TV, and I used it to rent Airborne (1993) from Amazon Instant Video.  So, last night, our whole family watched Airborne in the family room for the first time.  I was totally eating up this movie.  I could recognize almost every location scene and I had difficulty following the story because I was totally eating up the familiar location shots.  Watching Airborne was like celebrating my dating years from 1991-1994.  The night time scenes on the Covington Landing barge, old Newport restaurants near Pompilio's, and the Western Hills and Prospect Hill scenes, along with shots around Longworth Hall, near UPS.  I loved the shots in Mt Auburn, Mt Adams, Eden Park, and the Flower Conservatory.I was dazzled with the familiar sights and my kids enjoyed seeing me get excited about it.  The redheaded teenage cousin, Wiley, reminded me of house hunting for my first home in Covedale and Westwood in 1994 walking through beautiful charming old small homes that had at least one bedroom totally "tricked-out," in decorum, by a young teenage sloth.  My first house on Veazey, Ave, between Ferguson and Boudinot, was just a couple blocks away from Western Hills High.Watching this movie is like celebrating my courtship years in downtown Cincinnati, Covington, and Newport.  I'm not qualified to judge this movie at face value because I was totally dazzled and engrossed with all the familiar sights and places that I have grown to love these last 30 years.   The film critics were wrong when they said there is no real Devil's Backbone.  There is a Devils' Backbone that runs off of Ebenezer Rd. on the West Side, near Rapid Run.  Devils' Backbone is close to the large house that Pete Rose used to live in and the road does have some challenging grades and turns. I'm thankful to one of my Facebook friends, from my Mt. Auburn years, for helping me discover Airborne for the first time.

To be fair this isn't a bad movie if anything it's actually pretty good but I do think it's a little disappointing. Let me say a few flaws about the movie. 1. There are times where I feel like i'm watching a commerical. 2. Some of the characters are just jerks for no reason other than to be a jerk. 3. Nikki is completely shallow. 4. Seth Green is like a girl in this movie. His hair is girly, he was wearing a headband when Mitchell was telling about Friday, and the scene where he was trying on different clothes. Well watch that scene with that girls wanna have fun song. Now that I covered what I don't like with this movie allow to talk about why I like it. While Mitchell's personality is on par with a Disney prince he's still an enjoyable character for the most part. The skating stunts are very good. The writing can be funny at times. The race at the devil's backbone was a really good race. It was a really intense race and the crashes looked pretty realistic. Although I was wondering why the devil's backbone went everywhere. What, is the garage part of the Devil's Backbone? Is the stairway part of the Devil's Backbone? Even your GPS would give up at this point! Also when Mitchell jump over the car? Unless your wheels are encased with Flubber, you just jumped the shark. Oh, I'm sorry, "Peppy." But don't let my words get in the way of the movie. Also the soundtrack was good. Either way it's 91 minutes of your life you're not getting back. This is one of those films that should be placed in a time capsule. I'm not saying it totally sums up the '90s, but it sums up how the media saw the '90s, and it's just every '90s cliché that existed at the time. In that sense, it's sort of a wonder. I don't know, but if you're looking for good generic stupidity from the decade where the band Hanson were popular, this would probably be your best bet. Take it for what it's worth.

I thought this movie was one of the best movies ever filmed in the early 90's. Reason for this is because I feel it's about learning to deal with change. Change is all around us, and even when you feel like your life is out of control, there are still things around you in your environment that you can utilize to adjust whatever strange bounces life throws your way. Plus, I absolutely loved the rollerblading scenes. The story was great, the characters real and believable, the locations chosen all of it was a real masterpiece. Personally, I would really enjoy an Airborne sequel, which I feel would re-enhance rollerblading and outdoor activities. My only regret for this film is that since I love to rollerblade, I wish there were more rollerblading scenes in the movie. I give this movie a 9 out of a possible 10.

Good triumphs over evil, boy meets girl, boy loses girl, boy gets girl and great inline skating stunts. This movie has been making the rounds on Cable TV and is suitable for the whole family. For those of you who've never been to Cincinnati, the hills there are monstrous, crazier than San Francisco and the streets more like Boston.There are several young actors whose careers have taken off since ( Seth Green, Alanna Ubach, Jack Black, Jacob Vargas e.g.), the plot is fine theater, the sound track is very good and the whole thing is fun. I've seen it several times and my son, the skater, agrees that the street skating, done by team RollerBlade, is still on top. Even a bit of Zen philosophy: "You don't have to fight the Shark to fight for the Wave." Give this a chance.