When it comes to
customer service, Air Canada
is on par with the characters in Clerks
– minus the witty banter and endearing shenanigans. In fact, it’s the only
company I’ve written an angry snail mail letter to because of multiple
screw-ups (and a customer service line that went to a full voicemail box!). As a
film programmer, though, I gotta admit that it does alright.
This month I broke my vow to never fly the airline again after
I waited too long to book a flight back to Edmonton
for a pre-holiday visit and Air Canada
had the cheapest/most convenient flight by a sizable margin [shakes fist in
indignation]. Sooo… for my flight back to Toronto,
I arrived well before their recommended check-in time and, unable to use the
online service, I joined the rapidly growing line up for the check-in counter. Over
the next hour and 45 minutes, the line-up stretched back about a block, people
were freaking out about missing their flights and I considered breaking both my
legs and seeing if I could crawl back to Toronto quicker. The reason: although
there were ten check-out stations, only two were manned, despite the number of
Air Canada
employees milling around, joking and whatnot. When a third person was finally
added, she admitted to me that she’d try her best because she hadn’t actually
done the job in a year. I looked around for the hidden Just for Laughs camera.
OK, now that I’ve got that off my chest, whoever oversees
the in-flight films for Air Canada
deserves some praise and a bag or two of that crunchy mix stuff. The movies are
free, unlike on some airlines, and there are plenty to choose from, in
categories such as Contemporary (mainstream titles you’d find in a video store
but not in the new release section), Classic, Hollywood, Canadian and French. Obviously,
watching a movie on that small screen isn’t the best way to see a big screen film, but for me, it’s
perfect for seeing mainstream stuff that’s not on DVD yet and I wasn’t able to
catch in the theatre, or that I kinda
wanted to see, but not for $12 to $15.
My pick for the flight to Edmonton fit perfectly in that category: A Perfect Getaway. This
Hawaii-set 
thriller was written and directed by David Twohy, who made the
modern sci-fi-action-horror classic Pitch
Black, the severely underrated historical supernatural-war-thriller Below and the unforgivably bad Chronicles of Riddick. A Perfect Getaway stars not-so A-list
types Steve Zahn, Milla Jovovich and Timothy Olyphant and was in theatres for
probably just slightly longer than the film’s running time. However, it’s a
tense, twisty little film that makes the most of its tropical paradise setting,
even if the big reveal is a bit of an eye-roller. It’s the kind of movie that
you’d be happy to rent, pleasantly surprised by, but not wanting to see a second
time – ideal for killing 90 minutes on a flight.
I also like to use the in-flight movie opportunity to take a
chance on a film. My choice for the flight back, a Quebecois heist comedy
called Les doigts croches
(a.k.a. Sticky Fingers) was just the
thing. Though it stars one of the biggest actors in Quebec, Roy Dupuis, I’d
never heard of it, but the premise – a group of inept 1960s Montreal gangsters
pull of a robbery, yet in order to claim the money are forced to walk hundreds
of miles on a pilgrimage – was entirely original, so I gave it a shot. With
some clever plot twists and a bunch of lovable characters, it was a great
discovery (though, not one I’d watch twice), and, again, ideal for watching on
a plane.
These are exactly the kinds of films that should be on a
plane’s movie menu. Sure, there was also the new Harry Potter film, but you can see that anywhere. I’m all for using
the in-flight movie experience to take a chance on non-mainstream stuff,
especially if it’s harder to find. Air Canada’s Canadian and French
selections offer a bunch of quality Can-con selections that most people wouldn’t
bother with, as well as a bunch of short films that you’re unlikely to see
anywhere else (and which make great time killers if you don’t have enough
minutes available for a feature). Of course, it says something about the state
of Canadian cinema that Air Canada is one of the best sources to discover our homegrown
films.
Now, if only the company was half that good at the other, y'know, airline-type stuff.
-Dave Alexander
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