Movies (not Snakes) on a Plane - 03 July 2026

Above: LAX. 21 June 2026.
Seeking the Kimberley.

The flight time from Sydney to LAX is fourteen hours. I couldn't sleep on the plane, so I spent most of the time watching movies. Here are three that I watched, all in the "watch at least once a year" category.

Star Trek: The Wrath of Khan. This film contains one of my favorite lines in all of cinema. Spoken by Spock during his heroic sacrifice at the movie’s climax, it comes as he dies from radiation poisoning after saving the USS Enterprise and its crew: “The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few.” Too often in today’s world of performative empathy, compromising the needs of the many, we engage in empty, symbolic gestures—such as the absurd, gratuitous sign-language interpreters who appear beside public officials during televised presentations.

Mad Max: Fury Road. An adrenaline-fueled masterpiece set in a scorched, post-apocalyptic wasteland where water and gasoline are more precious than gold.
Haunted drifter Max Rockatansky joins forces with the fierce Imperator Furiosa in a desperate, escape from the tyrannical warlord Immortan Joe. What follows is one of the greatest action spectacles ever filmed: a non-stop, visually stunning chase across the desert featuring jaw-dropping practical stunts, thunderous vehicles, and unforgettable characters. Epic, celebration of rebellion and human defiance. Charlize Theron (Furiosa) is good, but Tom Hardy (Max) gives an epic performance.

Blade Runner. The film anticipates today’s AI possibilities: replicants (robots) embody the potential for machines to develop genuine emotions, empathy, and self-awareness, blurring the line between creator and creation while warning of the ethical dangers of building sentient beings for exploitation. Visually stunning, philosophically deep, and emotionally resonant. Dying replicant Roy Batty's parting lines in the film are poignant and unforgettable:

"I've seen things you people wouldn't believe.
Attack ships on fire off the shoulder of Orion.
I watched C-beams glitter in the dark near the Tannhäuser Gate.
All those moments will be lost in time, like tears in rain.
Time to die."

Note: Harrison Ford has managed to work his way into more than one seminal AI related film. In addition to playing blade runner Deckard in Blade Runner, in Ender's Game Ford played Colonel Hyrum Graff, the stern, calculating International Fleet commander who recruits and oversees the training of young Ender Wiggin, playing a pivotal mentor/antagonist role in preparing humanity's defense against alien invaders. LDS insiders will note the uncommon name "Hyrum," likely referring to Hyrum Smith, LDS Church founder Joseph Smith's younger brother. Orson Scott Card, author of the novel, "Ender's Game," was born in Provo, UT (my hometown) and raised LDS.