Sully (2016)

I think Clint Eastwood is very talented director and Tom Hanks is easily my favorite actor. He's just good in everything. That being said, I was going to wait to rent this movie because the subject didn't appeal to me very much. Ended up at the theater with a group of friends who wanted to see it, so that's what we saw.

Put simply, it was just OK.

Tom Hanks is always good (in my opinion) and that was still the case. He did really well and might get awards consideration. I don't think he reached the heights of his performances in Philadelphia, Cast Away, Forrest Gump, or Saving Private Ryan or even another bio-pic, Captain Phillips. He was very good and made the movie watchable. Aaron Eckhart was also pretty good. My problem with the acting is that I don't feel those characters would be very difficult to portray, so although they did a good job, it isn't impressive per se.

I am all for creative license, but I think the choice for the antagonists in this film is borderline slander given how actual events panned out. That's all I will say about that.

The plot honestly doesn't have much going for it. We already know how the flight ends and thus lose a great deal of dramatic suspense. Eastwood tries to work around this with how he structured the story, but it just felt forced. Three separate times, I believe, we end up in a flashback of the flight in question and it does not add anything to the story. It quickly grows old.

I mean, technically, this film is impeccable. The editing, the cinematography, etc. Clint Eastwood knows how to shoot a movie. So I don't want to knock it too hard. I just feel like it is pretty forgettable.

6 stars is my standard rating for a movie that is well made, but I just didn't really care about.

• I do have to say that Aaron Eckhart's mustache is the star of the movie.

Fmovies: First, the film itself:

* technically perfect. What Clint Eastwood shares with Ron Howard is that they are both actors-turned-directors who consistently make technically perfect films. (Howard, on the other hand, was never voted "sexiest man alive" in his acting career. Just a trivia point...)

* what they also share is a penchant for taking larger-than-life people and literally making them much-larger-than-life on the big screen. After this, you will feel like you have known Sully as long as his family.

* in the presence of such directorial talent, it is easy to overlook the casting choices. In this case, I suggest that Hanks may not get the credit he is due. This may be the best performance of his career. He sets a deer-in-the-headlights tone early; and by mid-movie, the viewer starts to feel as paranoid as his character. Amazing performance.

* recommended for multiple reasons, not the least of which is that it is one of the best films of the year.

And now the esoteric part of the review:

* have a friend, a university professor, who once explained to me, at some length, that the #1 most "unnatural" event in life is an MRI scan. You are placed immobile in a life-size cassette and then inserted into an appliance that bombards you with EM waves while deafening you with noise unlike you have ever heard before. Like a baby, you are completely dependent on outside help, and, if the machine failed, it is far from certain you could escape on your own. Yet this is a part of our culture, and the common wisdom is we should be grateful the tech exists in the first place.

* the second most un-natural event in our culture? Air travel, he said. (You can do the comparisons on your own.)

* the kicker is that my friend ended his dissertation by mentioning there are "standing" MRIs which do the same job and are more comfortable but expensive, so many hospitals and clinics avoid them. We are, after all, a society that is all about money.

* watching the people leave the plane in the film I remembered my friend's strong views. A century ago, air travel was a very different experience. If you think about it, as is the case with the MRI, it is really all about the money.

Here is a movie that got very good reviews, did very well at the box office & after a half hour into it isn't really flying. It is a "Clint Eastwood movie" starring Tom Hanks so you give it the benefit of doubt.

Then this movie finds its thrust. It gets better & better as it goes along before it really sticks its landing (to borrow a term from gymnastics).

The ever reliable Tom Hanks --my generation's "Jimmy Stewart"-- turns in another fine performance as the unflappable Capt. Chesley Sullenberger who, of course, landed a United Airways flight on the Hudson River with all 155 souls surviving while 9/11 was still fresh on our collective minds. Yeah, it winds up being a "feel good movie" that unexpectedly begins as a "feel bad movie".

This movie brings back some some very good memories while exploring some under-reported angles. The script becomes very crisp & witty while spreading credit to to "Sully's" co-pilot Jeff Skiles (nicely played by Aaron Eckhardt), crew & first responders. There is also a cool role played by the air traffic controller who thought he lost the flight.

There is a surprising lot of stuff going on in this under 2 hour movie. The ever efficient Eastwood directs it with his usual assured economy & rarely overplays his hand emotionally & cinematically. Laura Linney must also be applauded for her touching "phone scenes" (those could not have been easy for an actor).

This is one of the best films of the year.

Sully fmovies. Running at a lean and spry 96min, Clint Eastwood's Sully isn't so much a clinical bio-pic in the traditional sense, but an absorbing showcase of a man's extraordinary professionalism in the face of danger.

On Thursday, January 15th, 2009, the world witnessed the "Miracle on the Hudson" when Captain Chesley Sullenburger (Tom Hanks) glided his disabled plane onto the frigid waters of the Hudson River, saving the lives of all 155 aboard. However, even as Sully was being heralded by the public and the media for his unprecedented feat of aviation skill, an investigation was unfolding that threatened to destroy his reputation and his career.

Tom Hanks underplays Sullenburger but in so doing he brings out the multi-layered human qualities in the man. This is about a man who has 42 years of flying experience and he knows the aircraft like it is the back of his hand. Here is a man who does his job to the best of his abilities and he does it well. He will tell you he is not a hero but simply a man who is just doing his job. From a man with no time he becomes the man of all time. However, he is shaken to his very core when the doubts start to set in as the NTSB rips apart his heroic maneuver. Is Sullenburger a hero or a fraud?

The story rests on Tom Hank's abled shoulders who has built a reputation playing understated and reluctant heroes in Bridge of Spies and Captain Phillips. On first look Hank didn't seem to put on his acting hat, but after a night of rumination his character continues to stay with me. His sullenly insular and taciturn manner displays a fully functioning problem-solver's mind, calculating the probability of survival in that instance when the birds hit the plane engines. Thank goodness he trusts his instincts rather than the computer.

Hank isn't the only star in the story. At 86, Eastwood has meticulously crafted an honest story we thought we already knew into a tense drama with little bell and whistle. His unfazed skill in storytelling is assured and Sully definitely belongs to the top tier of his pantheon of good movies that include Unforgiven and Million Dollar Baby. In Eastwood's hands, the film flies above the usual biopic tropes and it feels like a homage to a modest man who rose to an extraordinary occasion and a salute to professionalism. It is a wonder the story doesn't carry an ounce of jingoism and it is a superb amalgam of the loud and the silence and the human elements of a near air disaster.

The final star is definitely the plane crash. For a home-theatre enthusiast, the visuals and sonics are a feast for the senses. We get to see the crash and its aftermath from every physical and emotional angle. I can't remember the last time I see a reenactment of a plane crash so visceral and real. This is the closest you will get to experience one without actually being in one.

I didn't care much for Eastwood's last directorial effort American Sniper because it carried too many skull-numbing and blatant embellishments, but with Sully he has redeemed himself. This may feel like a straight-forward story but the use of Rashomon-resque plot manipulation transcends the film above the usual biopics that you would forget after a night's sleep. I didn't forget this one today.

I am one of the lucky few who had the opportunity to get an advance premier screening for Sully at AMC IMAX Somerville, Boston ten days prior to the release.

This is easily the best movie of 2016. I have been following the Jan 15 controlled ditching incident of US Airways Flight 1549 case for a while. Everything about this case was covered on TV and the hearings are uploaded on YouTube. I have watched nearly 5 hours of the footage on YouTube and I was skeptical before the film whether if it offers us anything new.

I was mind-blown; the movie is truly an untold story. The drama, action and intensity is all along. It left me and many audience in tears. It feels realistic in the IMAX edition with great sound effects surrounding you. The screenplay of this film is unique, Client Eastwood is an outstanding director has outdone himself with this gripping tale.

Tom hanks has been the heart of the film. The acting was top notch. I am sure his meetings with Chesley SUllenberger must have contributed something in the acting department. Aaron Eckhart as Jeff Skiles also did a great job with his subtle humor and great screen presence. He makes you wanting more of the character.

Coming back to the facts, Client Eastwood has left what we all know because of the footages shown in YouTube and the hearings.

Overall, great performances, superb screenplay, neat editing and fabulous visual and audio effects make this film easily the best in 2016.

Above all, this one has a heart!

9/10

On January 15th 2009, after a bird strike with the loss of two turbines, Captain Chesley "Sully" Sullenberger (Tom Hanks) and First Officer Jeff Skiles (Aaron Eckhart) land an Airbus A320 with 155 passengers on the Hudson River saving their lives. Sully is claimed a hero by the press and public; however the official investigation reports that one of the left engines was running at idle and not damaged. And the flight simulator indicates that it would be possible to land at LaGuardia or Teterboro. Sully has to defend himself to the commission; otherwise Sully has to defend his reputation and career showing new evidences of the incident. Will he succeed?

"Sully" is another great film directed by Clint Eastwood with Tom Hanks in the lead role. These two names would be enough to show the quality of this movie. But the story is excellent, based on the biography of Sully and the screenplay keeps the attention of the viewer until the credits. In addition, there are Aaron Eckhart and Laura Linney in a support role. In the end, "Sully" is a great tribute to the hero of the Hudson River. Mt vote is eight.

Title (Brazil): "Sully: O Herói do Rio Hudson" ("Sully: the Hero of the Hudson River")