If you’ve ever oohed and aahed at a fighter jet demonstration, you probably also wondered about the laborious efforts that must go into producing such an enthralling aerial display. The documentary The Blue Angels aims to answer all your questions, providing a detailed, behind-the-scenes look at the venerable United States Navy and Marine Corps outfit that has probably done more to boost enrollment than anything other than the Top Gun films. The connection is further emphasized by the fact that Glen Powell, who played military pilots in both Devotion and Top Gun: Maverick, serves as one of the film’s producers.  

The Blue Angels, which tours the country annually for eight months at a time, consists of six jet fighter pilots flying in dazzling formations, sometimes no more than a terrifying 18 inches apart. Paul Crowder’s documentary chronicles their 2022 season, from the highly competitive selection process to the rigorous training to the exhausting tour that includes not only the aerial demonstrations but also considerable outreach programs including visits to schools and hospitals.  

Naturally, the film provides personal portraits of the various members, including the flight leader, Brian Kesselring, whose all-American, square-jawed good looks and intense personality could certainly provide plenty of acting opportunities should this flying thing not work out. “This place is the great equalizer,” he explains about the rigorous program that separates the men from the boys. And thankfully, finally women, as we’re later introduced to Amanda Lee, the first female pilot ever to be inducted into the program.

Kesselring leads the training, which includes desk sessions that have an almost ritualistic quality. The goal is to make six jets fly as one. “That’s the Blue Angels magic,” he says proudly.

And magic it is, with the film including generous amounts of amazing flight footage, much of it shot from within the cockpit, that illustrates the rigorous flying patterns, including their signature Delta Formation in which the six jets come together with seemingly impossible closeness. External views are provided by a helicopter outfitted with IMAX-certified cameras, representing the first-ever civilian aircraft permitted to fly inside the performance airspace known as “the box.” Not surprisingly, the aerial camera unit involved was also responsible for the flying sequences in Top Gun: Maverick.

We also learn about the history of the Blue Angels, which was the brainchild of Admiral Chester Nimitz, who created it in 1946 to promote public interest in naval aviation. The film doesn’t shy away from the tragedies that have dotted the program, which has had 28 fatalities since its inception. Their names and faces are memorialized on a large portrait displayed in the organization’s headquarters.

The tremendous effort involved in the training process is best illustrated in a harrowing sequence in which we see several applicants participating in a centrifuge testing session. The pilots are not able to wear G-suits while flying because their inflating and deflating could interfere with the plane’s controls. So they must counteract the G-force with sheer physical strength, clenching all the muscles in their lower bodies to prevent the blood from leaving their head and causing them to pass out. Two of the pilots in the session, their faces horribly contorted by the effort, do indeed lose consciousness, and it’s very tough to watch. You’ll find yourself clenching your own butt cheeks in sympathy.  

The feature-length film features no small amount of padding, including looks at the family lives of several of the pilots, that demonstrates that it might have been more effective as the sort of 45-minute documentary short that regularly plays IMAX theaters in museums, etc. The Blue Angels has a more ambitious rollout, showing in IMAX theaters for one week before streaming on Amazon Prime, and this is one film that’s definitely worth catching on the big screen.

“Meet the Press” moderator Kristen Welker and her husband, John Hughes, are expecting their second child together.

“John and I are thrilled to announce we are welcoming a second baby to our family with the help of another amazing surrogate!” Welker said Tuesday on NBC’s “Today” show. “We hope that our news offers hope to others who are trying to build their own families.”

The baby boy is due on June 12 and will join big sister Margot, who turns 3 in June.

“Margot has told all of her schoolmates that her parents are getting her a baby brother for her birthday!” Welker, 47, said, adding that her firstborn plans to name her brother Lolo. (The couple said they haven’t yet chosen a name but have their “top contenders.”)

Welker, NBC’s former chief White House correspondent, made history last September when she became the first Black woman to moderate the Sunday public affairs program long anchored by Chuck Todd. The journalist has been open about her infertility struggle and her support for others who face similar circumstances. She welcomed Margot through surrogacy in 2021 and is working with a surrogate named Angelica this time around, describing her as a “literal angel on earth.”

Welker and Hughes first shared their surrogacy story in 2021, which included in vitro fertilization treatments for two years and learning that her uterus was not thick enough for childbirth. She has spoken to her daughter about her “incredibly special journey to this earth,” explaining “that most mommies get to carry their babies in their tummy, but Mama has a boo-boo, so she has a special friend who carried you, and is now carrying your baby brother.”

The “NBC Nightly News” fill-in anchor and her husband said they were determined to give their daughter a sibling and started “working on a second baby” in 2022. The process — which she described as a “long journey” — was full of setbacks and heartbreak and included losing embryos. But Welker said she’s proud that she and Hughes didn’t give up: “He has always been my rock and I credit our love with getting us through those tough times.”

Does not live up to its ambitious title, but it can be fun at times

Two buddies, Ivan Leung (an actor with several bit roles mostly on TV under his belt) and Harrison Xu (a prolific voice actor specialised in English-language dubbing of Asian series) and their actress-filmmaker friend Katherine Dudas decided to make a movie. About two aspiring actors friends making a movie. About two friends making a movie. How meta is that? Double or triple? Anyhow, that is how a little no-budget indie comedy “Extremely Unique Dynamic” was born, and we got the chance to see it at Caam Fest…

The plot is actually a simple one. Daniel (Leung) and Ryan (Xu) are life-long besties that have been trying to become famous for all their lives. As kids, they used to play filming their shenanigans with a camcorder, and as adults they are aspiring actors and roommates in Los Angeles that spend most of their time auditioning endlessly and posting the stuff they make together online. However, Ryan is about to move out to Canada with his girlfriend Harper and the two buddies have only one last weekend to say goodbye to each other and to their dynamics.

Choosing between the usual stuff like getting stoned and visiting the places of their shared past for one last time, they decide to make their own movie. One of the troubles is that their tastes and their knowledge of the different “lores” differ greatly, which is the reason why the more proactive of the duo, Ryan, insists on a meta-approach, which Daniel accepts in order to raise some of the issues in their own relationship while hiding behind the character and using it as a mask of sorts. What started as a (potentially stoner) buddy-buddy comedy quickly turns into an indie drama where two people talk about feelings…

As filmmakers, Leung and Xu try to hit a number of topics and issues regarding the film industry nowadays, the Asian-American experience and its representation in show business and the gay-straight buddy dynamics in very brief format of just above 70 minutes. As a person with one feature film under her belt already, Katherine Dudas presumably serves as a coordinator in order for the story not to get derailed. The trouble is that all topics the trio aims for are touched only superficially and with a lot of redundancy, while there is also (at least) one meta-level too many in the very structure of the film, and it serves pretty much as an additional burden. Also, their directing style is very plain, usually relying on a series of reverse shots for dialogue scenes, which might signal either the lack of imagination or the lack of funds. Luckily, some of the jokes written in the script hit the mark spot on, while the fact that they also take jabs at the pillars of the Asian-American experience is also quite commendable.

Acting-wise, the actors in the duo might not be strong enough to pull the weight of a whole feature movie that would serve better as a short. On the other hand, they are trained enough to nuance the shades of (bad) acting on different meta-levels, which is also one of the better executed jokes. Also, the appearance of Hudson Yang (of “Fresh of the Boat” fame) in an extended cameo that eventually takes turn to the territory of Kevin Smith’s Silent Bob character works both as an elaborate film industry joke and as something that elevates the acting dynamic in some scenes.

The technical aspect of the film remains on a pretty basic level, with some questionable production values, but it is somewhat expected for a non-budget movie. It might also be a deliberate choice, given that the cinematographer Steven Shulgach and the editor Michael Scotti Jr show that they are capable of doing their jobs properly at moments they are allowed to. The whole thing could actually serve as a study how (not) to stretch something that could be a podcast episode laced with some videos to a feature film, especially when the highlights such as two music video for a couple of dumb catchy tunes and one animated sequence happen during or after the closing credits sequence.

In the end, “Extremely Unique Dynamic” does not live up to its ambitious title, but it can be fun. Sporadically and in a “slacker-ish” kind of way.