Sully
Flix!
Everybody has something that to them is comfort food. Chips, or nachos, or in my case spaghetti. We just saw the film Sully, and this was not a cinematic masterpiece, but is was a good film and great comfort cinema.
As in Captain Phillips, Tom Hanks once again takes on the portrayal of an American hero. And he does a great job helping to tell a great story. Directorial choices did not do the story in chronological order, but this was better because we got to see the incident three times. Not great film making but who cares? This was good.
We get to see the aftermath of the the forced water landing. Not a crash. A forced water landing. Sully is crucified by the powers that be. Because a zillionaire airline and a zillionaire insurance company might have to cough up a few bucks. It's sickening and ridiculous. But it happened. He saved the lives of 155 people.
What a fascinating story. A story that demonstrates humans are still smarter than computers, and that 42 years experience is better than a computer simulation. Especially a simulation that was rehearsed 17 times first.
But that's what holds this movie together; the great and fascinating actual event. The movie here however tries too hard to put together a movie storyline that it ends up showing us the event three times and therefore loses much of the tension of the actual event.
We are subjected to some convoluted problem with the wife, and the exploration of his relationship with his first officer.
This film did a wonderful job of documenting this actual event and Sully for sure should be admired by us all. But as for the film maker, he's done better. And I mean Clint Eastwood's Unforgiven, Mystic River, and Million Dollar Baby. He mis-stepped here. He was close but no cigar.
Grade: B
Monday, January 30, 2017
Patriot Day
Flix!
This film is based on the real life Boston Marathon bombings. The film stars John Goodman, Mark Wallberg, Kevin Bacon, and JK Simmons and a host of many great people who played a host of actual real life people. This is pretty much just a factual recount of exactly what happened and how it happened, and that was simply dramatic enough.
My son had seen it before and he said it would tear my heart out. It did. But on the upside were the depiction of all the wonderful people and technology and staff that were able to find and apprehend the perpetrators so quickly.
And even in all of the horror there were scenes of citizens stepping up, people assisting each other and generally being inspiring. We meet some people who were runners and each lost legs in the blast. and yet remain optimistic. One even eventually runs the marathon on an artificial limb.
In the end we get to meet the actual people portrayed. I am not a rah-rah flag waver by nature. Never have been, never will be. I don't want my patriotism to be judged by anyone, let alone anything obnoxious. But a flag flies in front of my house statement-less all summer, and all I can say about these folks are God bless them.
And all us will be remorseful about our fellow great citizens we lost. So sad.
This is a film everyone should strive to see. It doesn't just recall what happened that day, it recalls what being an American means. We are all one family. Christian, Jew, Fat, Short, Muslim, Ethnic, Buddhist, Gay, Democrat, Immigrant, Black, White, Republican, Brown, Trans, Yellow, and Native. We might have our problems, but we are all one family. And don't mess with our family.
Grade: A
This film is based on the real life Boston Marathon bombings. The film stars John Goodman, Mark Wallberg, Kevin Bacon, and JK Simmons and a host of many great people who played a host of actual real life people. This is pretty much just a factual recount of exactly what happened and how it happened, and that was simply dramatic enough.
My son had seen it before and he said it would tear my heart out. It did. But on the upside were the depiction of all the wonderful people and technology and staff that were able to find and apprehend the perpetrators so quickly.
And even in all of the horror there were scenes of citizens stepping up, people assisting each other and generally being inspiring. We meet some people who were runners and each lost legs in the blast. and yet remain optimistic. One even eventually runs the marathon on an artificial limb.
In the end we get to meet the actual people portrayed. I am not a rah-rah flag waver by nature. Never have been, never will be. I don't want my patriotism to be judged by anyone, let alone anything obnoxious. But a flag flies in front of my house statement-less all summer, and all I can say about these folks are God bless them.
And all us will be remorseful about our fellow great citizens we lost. So sad.
This is a film everyone should strive to see. It doesn't just recall what happened that day, it recalls what being an American means. We are all one family. Christian, Jew, Fat, Short, Muslim, Ethnic, Buddhist, Gay, Democrat, Immigrant, Black, White, Republican, Brown, Trans, Yellow, and Native. We might have our problems, but we are all one family. And don't mess with our family.
Grade: A
Monday, January 23, 2017
The Newsroom
The Newsroom
Tube! HBO
The Newsroom is the latest brainchild of Aaron Sorkin who brought us A Few Good Men, An American President, and the giant The West Wing. He uses real life news stories and the backdrop of an network news show to create fascinating situations and interesting characters all with their own baggage and situations.
The cast is headed up by Jeff Daniels as Will MacAvoy, a news anchor who can sometimes be a maverick. But he is somewhat encouraged to be by the head of the News Division. That person, Charlie, is played perfectly by Sam Waterson. But ultimately they all answer to the owner of the network, Leona Lansing, played ironically by Jane Fonda, ironic since she was once married to CNN owner Ted Turner. But she brings real life to Leona. And her son is the President of ACN, her network. The pain in the butt Reese Lansing is played deftly by Chris Messina.
The pilot kicks off with a doozy. Most of these characters are introduced behind the backdrop of the Gulf Oil explosion and spill. That's just the pilot. Later we get to touch on the Gabby Gifford shooting, the Boston marathon bombing and more. Including Osama Bin Laden.
These all become real people and we grow to love them all even with their own personal quirks and issues and unrequited loves.
Will is a bit of a jerk, calling out to "Punjab" when wanting the Indian guy. This is by the way the one who runs his blog, played amusingly by Dev Patel who is now becoming a big Hollywood deal. He also calls his assistant Maggie, Ellen, because he has not kept up with the fact Ellen left and Maggie replaced. But soon Maggie is promoted to associate producer by the major thorn in Will's side, Executive Producer McKenzie, played by Emily Mortimer. She and Will once had a relationship and it ended bitterly. And on and on it goes.
I have always touted Breaking Bad as the greatest thing I've ever seen on TV. Sticking with that, this is a very, very, very thinly sliced number two. This is fantastic stuff.
We also get a brief look at reporters following candidates on the campaign trail, and reporters in harm's way in remote places.
I streamed this all the way through. A few weeks later I missed these characters and watched it all again. And now I am actually thinking about doing it again. On top of all that, I own it all on DVD. I'm gonna watch this as long as I like. It's only two and a half seasons after all.
Grade: A
Tube! HBO
The Newsroom is the latest brainchild of Aaron Sorkin who brought us A Few Good Men, An American President, and the giant The West Wing. He uses real life news stories and the backdrop of an network news show to create fascinating situations and interesting characters all with their own baggage and situations.
The cast is headed up by Jeff Daniels as Will MacAvoy, a news anchor who can sometimes be a maverick. But he is somewhat encouraged to be by the head of the News Division. That person, Charlie, is played perfectly by Sam Waterson. But ultimately they all answer to the owner of the network, Leona Lansing, played ironically by Jane Fonda, ironic since she was once married to CNN owner Ted Turner. But she brings real life to Leona. And her son is the President of ACN, her network. The pain in the butt Reese Lansing is played deftly by Chris Messina.
The pilot kicks off with a doozy. Most of these characters are introduced behind the backdrop of the Gulf Oil explosion and spill. That's just the pilot. Later we get to touch on the Gabby Gifford shooting, the Boston marathon bombing and more. Including Osama Bin Laden.
These all become real people and we grow to love them all even with their own personal quirks and issues and unrequited loves.
Will is a bit of a jerk, calling out to "Punjab" when wanting the Indian guy. This is by the way the one who runs his blog, played amusingly by Dev Patel who is now becoming a big Hollywood deal. He also calls his assistant Maggie, Ellen, because he has not kept up with the fact Ellen left and Maggie replaced. But soon Maggie is promoted to associate producer by the major thorn in Will's side, Executive Producer McKenzie, played by Emily Mortimer. She and Will once had a relationship and it ended bitterly. And on and on it goes.
I have always touted Breaking Bad as the greatest thing I've ever seen on TV. Sticking with that, this is a very, very, very thinly sliced number two. This is fantastic stuff.
We also get a brief look at reporters following candidates on the campaign trail, and reporters in harm's way in remote places.
I streamed this all the way through. A few weeks later I missed these characters and watched it all again. And now I am actually thinking about doing it again. On top of all that, I own it all on DVD. I'm gonna watch this as long as I like. It's only two and a half seasons after all.
Grade: A
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)