The Finest Hours: Thrilling and Inspirational! | #TheFinestHours

The Finest Hours: Thrilling and Inspirational!

By Jen Miyagishima

The Finest Hours is a film based on historical events that took place in New England in 1952. In the beginning, we are introduced to Bernie Webber (Chris Pine), a captain in the U.S. Coast Guard and Miriam (Holliday Grainger), a young woman who works as a telephone operator. What starts out as a double date, gradually grows into something more. Bernie is a man of few words, brooding and introspective. Miriam, on the other hand, is a strong, independent woman who doesn’t shy away from challenging someone (more on that later).

Chris Pine stars as Bernie Webber and Holliday Grainger as Miriam in the heroic action-thriller THE FINEST HOURS, based on the extraordinary true story of the most daring rescue mission in the history of the Coast Guard.

Meanwhile a storm is brewing. It’s not just any storm though – it is a massive storm that splits the SS Pendleton in two, trapping more than 30 sailors inside the tanker’s sinking stern! Panic ensues, fights break out among the men and the sailors squabble about whether to jump ship into the tanker’s lifeboats or remain on board. Lead engineer Ray Sybert (Casey Affleck) quietly steps up to the task of leading the sailors and coming up with a strategy that will keep their half of the boat afloat until they can hopefully be rescued.

Ray Sybert (Casey Affleck) and Tchuda Southerland (Josh Stewart) struggle to keep their ship, the SS Pendleton, from sinking in Disney's THE FINEST HOURS, the heroic action-thriller presented in Digital 3D (TM) and IMAX (c) 3D based on the extrordinary tur story of the most daring rescue mission in the history of the Coast Guard.

As word of the disaster reaches the Coast Guard in Chatham, Massachusetts, Chief Warrant Officer Daniel Cluff (Eric Bana) orders a daring rescue mission. There is much debate among the men in the Coast Guard office as to which direction they should approach the SS Pendleton. Do they go the long way around, which is essentially an easier route or do they take a more direct course that requires “crossing the bar” but is more dangerous? Bernie is very committed to his job, having a strong sense of honor and duty. So he doesn’t flinch when he is ordered by Cluff to take three men on a lifeboat to try and save the crew of the SS Pendleton.

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Alexander #VeryBadDay Movie Review

Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day Movie Review

By Erin

*I attended a screening of this film as a guest of Disney for purposes of this post. All thoughts and opinions remain my own. All photos and videos are courtesy of Walt Disney Studios.*

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Today is one of those days for me. I started to come down with a sore throat last night, my back is killing me, I ended up having to call in sick to work today, which I rarely ever do, and I needed to finish up this review when all I want to do is sleep. Not the best way to start off your day! It looks like I am in good company though as the Cooper family is having one of those days too, which you can now go see for yourself in Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day! No matter what kind of day you are having; good, bad, in-between, the Coopers will have you laughing out loud and making whatever kind of day you were having seem like the best day ever in comparison.

“Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day” is based on the 1972 beloved classic children’s book by Judith Viorst. It was one of my favorites growing up, I still have it and love to read it to my students. To make the book into a movie though, they of course had to elaborate quite a bit, and add a lot of crazy events to create a feature-length film. It does stick to the horrible day theme very well as we follow the Coopers on all of their hilarious misadventures together as a family.

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The movie starts out with Alexander Cooper (Ed Oxenbould)– who is an 11-year old with a birthday coming up, experiences the most terrible and horrible day ever, which started out with getting gum stuck in his hair, and just keeps getting worse with one calamity after another. When he decides to tell his super cheerful and upbeat family about his most disastrous day, he gets little sympathy and begins to wonder if bad things only happen to him. The rest of his families lives appear to be pretty perfect. #Blessed.

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The movie continues and soon Alexander learns that he’s not alone when his mother (Jennifer Garner), father (Steve Carell), brother (Dylan Minnette) and sister (Kerris Dorsey) all find themselves living through their own terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day. Anyone who says there is no such thing as a bad day just hasn’t had one. Or they just won’t admit to having one. The important part though is that they all stick together as a family and get through the day.

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