Movie Review: Sully (2016)

Plot:The story of Chesley Sullenberger, an American pilot who became a hero after landing his damaged plane on the Hudson River in order to save the flight’s passengers and crew.

Situations where airplanes malfunction rarely have a happy ending. It’s either disappearances or crashes and morbidity is synonymous with these events. So when Captain Chelsea “Sully” Sullenberger sent out a mayday signal on the 15^th of January 2009 after birds took out both of the engines on the Airbus 320 on Flight 1549 which Captain Sullenberger was the pilot of, no one believed it possible that Sullenberger could put down the plane on the Hudson River successfully. In doing so, he saved the lives of his 154 co-passengers. The successful landing was a combined result of a lifetime of experience and a man that not only excelled at his job but was born to do it. I followed this story obsessively when it came out, and recently checked again the technical difficulty this landing required. I love stories about human courage and defeating unimaginable odds (who doesn’t?), and the event kept me glued to the screen for weeks.

That said, I’ve burned my fingers the last few months with real life events turned into movie adaptions. It’s a seemingly difficult task for directors to tell these stories accurately and keep the inspirational levels as well as the truth intact. However, with Sully, director Clint Eastwood made a film that wasn’t only true and inspirational, it is Oscar worthy.

Tom Hanks plays veteran pilot Chelsey Sullenberger. He does so by portraying a pilot who had the correct level of confidence in his abilities, which he combined with good sense and humility. Hanks shows you all the sides – the PTSD, the stress he and his family is shouldering, the fatigue and overpowering sense of media frenzy. Aaron Eckhart is the lighter of heart Co-pilot Jeff Skiles. His importance to the success of the landing is paramount, as he did not, as I would have, started yelling “what the fuck” at the top of his lungs.

The passengers get their moments too – a woman with her elderly mother, a mother with her infant daughter, business men and women, a father and his sons rushing to make the gates for the flight – real people with real lives all just planning a quick trip. It adds a human element, and the chanting of the passengers as they braced for landing is heartbreaking to listen to.

I was engrossed by Sully. It is chilling and inspiring and I will definitely watch it again. Eastwood and Hanks are a power combination that should be explored further. If you need to feel inspired, watch this. It is a story about thinking on your feet, being insanely courageous and calm, and using the experience life has given you to fulfill your life’s work.

Have you seen Sully? What did you think?

Rating: 8/10

September 15, 2017September 12, 2017 by Natasha Categories: 2016, Movies, movies, Review, Reviews, UncategorizedTags: 2016, Aaron Eckhart, Airbus 320, Anna Gunn, Chelsey Sullenberger, Flight 1549, Holl McCullany, Jamey Sheridan, Jeff Skiles, Laura Linney, Mike O'Malley, Miracle on the Hudson, movie, Review, Tom Hanks 7 Comments

Movie Review: Nocturnal Animals (2016)

Plot: A wealthy art gallery owner is haunted by her ex-husband’s novel, a violent thriller she interprets as a symbolic revenge tale.

Nocturnal Animals is self-indulgent, narcissistic bullshit. It is also incredibly dull. I’m surprised it got such a good feedback – I watched it specifically because of said good feedback. Instead I watched some weird shit for two hours without a proper ending. For a film written and directed by a fashion designer the main character spent the majority of the film with lipstick that didn’t suit her features. It is a small thing, but it made me hate this film even more.

The acting is the best part of Nocturnal Animals but it isn’t enough to save the film. Jake Gyllenhaal is persistent in his mission for me to like him, and so far he is winning. I’ve inexplicably never liked him much. Maybe because until recently I only saw him in Donny Darko, which is the strangest film I’ve ever watched and that is saying something. Southpaw impressed me despite such deliberate emotional punches, and I’ve since been getting more exposure to this man. I liked him here too – he had a character that underwent great development and he handled the phasing well.

The story makes a valiant attempt at being mysterious and fails admirably. It tries to be artistic and visually stimulating. Its opening sequence is a desperate visualization of the attempts to make this film more than it is – a self-indulgent expedition of Tom Ford. Ford can be glad his fashion designs aren’t this desperate to be liked or he’d have failed as a designer a long time ago.

Nocturnal Animals has a litany of celebrities taking part and they have no idea what to do about it. Amy Adams, Michael Shannon, Jake Gyllenhaal and Aaron Taylor-Johnson have the most screen time, and they do their best to make their characters work. Taylor-Johnson proves that he is more than just a pretty face. He’s a creepy mcCreeps in here, and I was so freaked out by his strange and awful character and felt dirty every time he was on screen. Amy Adams had the hardest work set out for her – to make the selfish Susan worthy of our empathy. It is hard to sympathize with a woman whose unhappiness stems from every decision she ever made. She had a good, kind man who she left because he wasn’t successful. She’s led a life she swore she wouldn’t, choosing a rich man who sleeps around over a poor man who loved her. Her treasonous acts reach unparalleled heights for which we judge her harshly (well, I did anyway), so sympathizing with her was really hard.

Michael Shannon is such a serious looking bloke, and thus all these serious bloke roles suit him well. He’s this strange cop in the story, with his own little built in mission, and I enjoyed him immensely.

I don’t want to give too much away, but I marginally liked the story more when I realized what was going on. I’ll say this – it is stories within a story. The within story was better than the actual story. It was a meaty revenge piece. It disappointed, but it remained better than the obvious story. I’ll stop using the word “story” now, because it is starting to irritate me.

The cast that gets a few seconds on screen – Isla Fisher, Michael Sheen, Pam from True Blood, Jenna Malone – so much to work with and yet so little attention paid to them. I love Michael Sheen now, my Underworld exposure made me team-Sheen, and I was happy to see him only to be disappointed a few scenes later.

Nocturnal Animals is way too long. I just wanted to get to the end, and then the end sucked so much I felt even more aggressive. It’s an open ending, and we all know how I much love that. Sure, I’ll think a bit about what I watched but dammit, give me a proper ending or watch me rage.

I consider this movie a terrible waste of time and am still upset that I will never get these hours back. The only good thing I got from this was writing this review, it was my catharsis to this terrible piece of shit.

Rating: 4.5/10

May 31, 2017May 28, 2017 by Natasha Categories: 2016, Movies, movies, UncategorizedTags: Aaron-Taylor Johnson, Amy Adams, Isla Fisher, Jake Gyllenhaal, Laura Linney, Michael Shannon, Michael Sheen, Nocturnal Animals, Tom Ford 4 Comments

Blindspot 2016: Love Actually (2003)

Plot:Follows the lives of eight very different couples in dealing with their love lives in various loosely interrelated tales all set during a frantic month before Christmas in London, England.

Rating: 6.5/10

What I liked:

Alan Rickman. I feel that he should do the voiceovers on my life. My sarcasm levels are spectacular and he sounds like the inside of my head feels like (but female. Erm.). He also played a character I’m not used to seeing him portray – just a normal man in a marriage that has become monotonous and a habit (he was also a bit of a douche though)

Colin Firth. Sheesh. My love for this man. He’s so sweet and British and perfect. His character had such bad luck – i.e. his girlfriend banging someone, and then his story went so lovely and romantic and all bilingual. Goodness. (I do wish he had more time on screen though!)

The kid who found true love and his father. Liam Neeson? Yes. He is such an enjoyable actor and seeing him paired up with this lovesick baby was just too adorable.

Hugh Grant as the Prime Minister and his lady friend. They could have made a movie exclusively about these two and it would have work much better. Hugh Grant has buckets of cool and class and style. He is quite quiet lately (Except for the spectacular The Man From U.N.C.L.E) and I wish he would appear in more things. The dry British wit, charm, amazing hair and improbably Prime Minister antics were hilarious and sweet.

Martin Freeman – it is so weird to see him playing a normal character. It was fun though.

These two – however, they were really just thrown into the story and pulled so frequently that it felt that they were time fillers, and it is sad since Laura Linney gave one of the best performances in the movie.

What I didn’t like:

Keira Knightley. So. Annoying. This was before she went on her serious roles binge and she used to be this preppy, overly larged mouthed quirky person (the Bend it Like Beckham years). I’ve said it before, and I will say it again, she’s WAY too good in playing an evil character. It must be, inherent. That was mean, I am sorry, BUT, her character in here  – it was one thing for that guy to be a stalker infatuated with her, but eventually he got over it and THEN SHE KISSED HIM. You were married like what, three weeks ago, TO HIS BEST FRIEND?

Did the writer get bored with finalizing the script? That is what happens when there are too many characters in one movie. Kris Marshall’s escapades to the States? He was such a funny little oddball character and got about three scenes and had no real screen time.

Bill Nighy’s character. What happened here? Was he declaring that he’s in love with his manager OR that he loves his manager, which, both are totally fine, but I would love to know which one it was.

I can say that Love Actually isn’t a bad film. It has some good moments, but too many characters made what could have been a good movie vaguely confusing.

Have you seen it? What did you think?

#stalker

March 15, 2016March 14, 2016 by Natasha Categories: Blindspot, Movies, Reviews, UncategorizedTags: Alan Rickman, Andrew Lincoln, Bill Nighy, Blindspot, Blindspot 2016, Chiwetel Ejiofior, Colin Firth, Emma Thompson, Hugh Grant, Keira Knightley, Laura Linney, Liam Neeson, Love Actually, Martie McCutcheon, Martin Freeman, Rodrigo Santiro, Romantic Comedies, romcom, Thomas Brodie-Sangster 20 Comments