Sully

This is almost a great movie, and only hampered down a bit by the unconvincing plot device of questioning the decision that Sully made. The filming of the crash (or forced water landing, as Sully referred to it as), is expertly done, with great tension, even though we know the result. The rest of the movie was kind of a throwaway. I could've honestly watched them do that crash about a dozen more times (they did it at least four times that I can count).

Tom Hanks is the best everyday man ever. He plays Sully with such ease, and yet we are with him every step of the way through this not so everyday experience. Eastwood's direction was spot on as well.

The story could've used a bit of polishing. There were some minor characters that seemed very cartoonish to me. The father/sons on the plane going to a golfing outing, and the old woman in the wheelchair could've been cut out completely. The scene at the bar with Michael Rapaport as the bartender was unnecessary, as was his interaction with the hotel manager.

Then there were the side elements that worked. Aaron Ekhart as the copilot was great, and so was Laura Linney who plays the cliched character of worried woman sitting by the phone at home perfectly.

The main problem, and what kept this movie from being truly great IMO, was the NTSB investigation. We didn't need any extra drama tied down to this incident. The miracle on the Hudson was enough. I don't remember reading all the details surrounding the crash, but I never remembered hearing about any controversy as to whether he made the correct decision to land the plane in the water. I'll let that slide though, because the actual crash was done so superbly. Also, the last line in the movie is great. I wonder if that part is real.

I took my 5 yr old to this she liked it I suppose but she didn't really get it. The colorful scenes, music and intense appearances of the ghost rein sisters kept her attention for the most part. I thought the film was fantastic and one I'll buy when it comes out on DVD. It reminded me a little of Spirited Away....another excellent culture film that's probably made for slightly older kids and adults.

Once Upon a Time in the West + Arcade Fire "My Body is a Cage" (spoilers)

That's sacrilege. You don't **** with Morricone.

Brooklyn was a lovely film. Understated, yet still quite emotional...Saoirse Ronan was luminous...Emory Cohen and Domhnall Gleeson were both wonderful in different ways playing Ronan's two suitors. It's nice seeing a film like this without villains or manufactured drama....beautiful film.

That's because there wasn't one. In fact, the lead NTSB investigator has been complaining that his reputation has now been sullied (my pun) because of the movie, but there's nothing he can do about it because the movie uses fake names for the investigators. In fact, that's another indication that that whole NTSB scenario in the movie was BS; they even had to create fake "villains" in order to give the movie some drama after the crash sequence.

One real life event that they didn't include but really really should have was the fact that like six or so passengers just caught cabs from manhattan to LaGuardia and got on the next flight to Charlotte. Just showing a passenger shrug off his Red Cross blanket, jump in a cab and say "LaGuardia" would have been hilarious.

Yeah, this is total horse****. The NTSB is a great agency with a well deserved stellar reputation. Eastwood making them look like dicks when they have a reputation for impartial and scrupulously fair investigations is terrible. Most people don't know anything about the NTSB, after they see Sully Sullenberger: Airport Pilot they will know one thing about it, and it will be extremely wrong.

We loved this. Beautiful film indeed.

ya this is the **** that drives me crazy.
ever since the 1st preview I've been thinking it seemed like bs and we def would've heard if the hero pilot was being second guessed.

no way the media isn't all over that story.

and it totally destroys any chance I have of liking this film.
it really bugged me that Argo felt the need to add a totally unnecessary shootout on the runway to a film that didn't need it but at least in that film I didn't know while watching that it was totally bogus (tho I suspected as much).

when will Hollywood realize they don't need to add stupid drama to real life events that are already interesting enough?

sully did in fact deal with crippiling PTSD after the incident and the film could've been really interesting had it explored the psychological impact while he's dealing with the sudden fame etc rather than some stupid non-beliveable investigation.

/rant.

Nosferatu has been "officially" released many times with alternate an soundtrack/score... the original is good, but one of the later mkst recent versions use a modern electronic theme and its outstanding.

They did deal with that a little. The opening sequence is the immediate aftermath, and Sully imagining what would've happened had he turned back towards the airport to land. It was pretty intense to watch, as we all have the images from 9-11 firmly imprinted in our brains. It's not the focus of the movie, and I agree that it would've made a more interesting story had they spent a bit more time on that. Kind of like how Flight dealt with the aftermath of Denzel's crash landing.

I just finished watching this film and I totally agree with your review.

What rbk said. (My bold for emphasis).

I watched Swiss Army Man the other night cause my oot friend lbr recommended it. High concept to say the least! I liked it, wild wacky stuff. But with a heart o' gold, like all the best hookers and weird movies. I mean, the guy uses a corpse's erect penis as a compass!

Sausage Party was dope

Ineherent Vice was entertaining as hell, but I could not for the life of me figure out was going on.

I watched 2 Olivia de Havilland movies. I really didn't know much about her other than GWTW but she's phenomenal.

The Snake Pit A woman suffering from mental illness is committed to an institution. One doctor believes, against the prevailing sentiment, that psychotherapy will help her.

Without knowing the context, this seems sort of stereotypical (of mental institutions) and one dimensional. The entire movie was just about the woman receiving treatment in a mental hospital. Not much else.

However, upon reading about it, it seems that the treatment of such patients at the time was simply to put them away (in addition to shock therapy). Psychotherapy wasn't really a thing back then. So, this was a pretty groundbreaking movie.

As a movie it was just ok, but as a statement, pretty strong.

The Heiress A shy, plain woman who comes from a wealthy family, is courted by a dashing, but poor, man.

I liked this movie much much more than the Snake Pit. It was never entirely clear what the motives of her father or the suitor were throughout much of the movie. Great characters. Great script. Would recommend.

It awesome on a rewatch too. I've seen it 4 or 5 times. Still don't know what was going on

soderbergh pasted The Social Network s/t over Raiders of the Lost Ark while removing all other sound and color as a means of singling out the film's staging and editing. I haven't watched it all but it's pretty cool.

you can watch it here

I agree with every word you wrote here. I posted a while ago in this thread it might actually be my favorite movie of all time.

Yes. The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford is a very well made movie in all aspects. I just watched it for the first time recently. The 30-45 minutes or so leading up to the assassination event was as scary as any serial killer horror film. Great acting performances especially by Casey Affleck and Brad Pitt. I liked that it tried to be true to the actual historical facts as possible. For the average viewer it is long and slow and that is probably the reason it wasn't a big box office hit. Apparently the original director's version was even much longer and would be interesting for afficiandoes to see. One knock is that when your done you realize you spend a long time getting into the heads of five or six dangerous criminals. There are no likable or heroic characters in this film. It reminded me of The Unforgiven but without the final audience-pleasing "anti-heroic" gunfight scene. Still gets Grade A.

+ 1. Just watched The Revenant for first time and loved it

Just watched Deepwater Horizon, it was pretty good. I really like the Berg/Marky Mark pairing that started in Lone Survivor. Berg has a way putting together great action sequences and showing people under extraordinary circumstances while keeping his moralizing to a minimum, although there was a bit more finger pointing at the company men in Deepwater Horizon than there was at the military brass in Lone Survivor. But the BP company men could have been portrayed as cartoonish villains, but they weren't. They were just complacent dudes who were acting in good faith while trying to push for the completion of the job.

I think Berg has a pretty good eye for action and explosions but it's honestly kind of criminal that a movie with this many explosions didn't involve Michael Bay. Say what you will, dude knows how to blow **** up.