The Lost Bus

Yesterday my nephew and I went to a matinee of The Lost Bus.  I didn't know anything about this movie until I saw a trailer last week (it seems like it is not being promoted at all) and I could only find one theater showing it (which was a bit out of the way) but I am glad I made the effort because both my nephew and I really liked it.  Kevin McKay (Matthew McConaughey) is a down on his luck school bus driver who has recently moved back to the city of Paradise in northern California to care for his disabled mother Sherry (Kay McCabe McConaughey) and to reconnect with his estranged son Shaun (Levi McConaughey).  When a devastating fire erupts after a downed power line ignites dry brush, the Cal Fire battalion chief Ray Martinez (Yul Vazquez) eventually orders a full evacuation of Paradise and the bus dispatcher Ruby (Ashlie Atkinson) requests a volunteer to collect 22 children who have not yet been picked up by their parents from a nearby school.  McKay volunteers because, even though he is worried about his mother and son, he has a contentious working relationship with Ruby and is hoping to redeem himself.  He gets the children and their teacher Mary Ludwig (America Ferrera) on board but, because the fire has spread rapidly and so many people are trying to evacuate at once, they become trapped and he must go to extraordinary lengths to get them to safety.  Director Paul Greengrass is known for frenetic hand-held camerawork that puts the audience in the middle of the action and I was practically holding my breath the whole time (my nephew said his heart was racing) because it is so intense!  The sound design is incredibly immersive because you can hear the fire crackling all around you and the visuals are fantastic (they are eerily realistic).  McConaughey does a great job portraying McKay's quiet heroism and his interactions with Ferrera and the children add emotional weight to the spectacle.  This will begin streaming on Apple TV+ October 3 but I think it is definitely a movie that should be seen on the big screen!