There are certain moments that make you feel like you need to share them. Christians are, whether they like it or not, made evangelists by the idea that there is a bit of good news not everyone is privy to that they have to share. Beyond that, I am an evangelist for Netflix and Google. Any chance I get, I extol the praises of these brands, because I believe that they will make our collective lives better. Almost as often, I find myself bashing every Apple product I've ever owned for almost the same reason. I have had a negative experience and I want to keep others, those I care about from that pain and loss. Rarely do movies do that to me. But Flight has done just that. This film is so poorly put together that I feel the need to share.
Flight's biggest problem is its plot. This thing is full of absurd coincidence, but more importantly weak characters paired with extraordinary ability and luck. The story follows Denzel Washington, playing a very non-descript alcoholic pilot who wakes up one morning to pilot a passenger plane drunk, evened with cocaine, and then proceeds to drink himself into a stupor after takeoff too. Did I mention that he flies the plane better than most humans can, despite his condition. No spoiler that the plane goes down and he saves almost everyone's life and then has to face the consequences.
I wasn't excited, but I was willing to let the movie roll on, despite the gross overuse of music and the absurd volume of it.
But the last half of the film could've been pulled from an Alcoholics Anonymous pamphlet. The powerless alcoholic that makes good in the end. It was utterly predictable and loathsomely simplifying. There is no nuance, not in the writing, and not in Denzel's eyes. And whoever wrote the scene with the Christian co-pilot in the hospital should know that it was almost a good scene, except for the creepy, emotionless, Jesus-screaming wife behind him. Just in case the Oscar nod or any other parts of this movie made you want to see it, don't. If you value your time, avoid it.
Now let me tell you about some of the other things I've been watching recently. Another movie that was frighteningly bad is Gravity. I heard a lot of things, positive and negative, but I'll break it down for you. The problem was writing again. There are no characters and no story. That's not literally accurate. There are three characters that appear on screen. The first is killed off early. He is a cheap throwaway for effect. Then we have George Clooney and Sandra Bullock. It would be inaccurate to say that they play characters. George is an uninteresting cliche whose fate, which I'll not divulge here, was obvious from the first minute of the film. Sandra's character was so uninteresting and hopeless that I did not even want her to survive.
The most potent messages were all falsehoods, in my humble opinion. Lesson #1: All religions are more or less the same. Lesson #2: Human survival is meaningful in itself. One note, this is the best use of 3D I've ever seen in a movie. Caveat: I've only seen three movies in 3D and one of them was Avatar, but this was much better. Just don't expect a movie. Imagine you're going to the IMAX in 1998 and you don't care what you see.
Two other movies that didn't get 5 stars, but I feel like telling you a bit about. First, Thor: The Dark World was in most ways a good movie. If it hadn't been for the annoying and blindingly unnecessary part played by Kat Dennings, who reprises her role from that crappy sitcom on CBS, this would have been 5 stars, like its predecessor. It was not as good as Iron Man 3, but I was happy for it. Caveat: I am a comic book nerd and I'm just happy to see these great characters on the screen without wanting to gouge my eyes out.
I just got around to seeing Brave last week and it's not five stars, because I found the main thread of the plot unconvincing, but it was another good outing for Pixar overall.
I've been watching a good deal of TV on DVD recently and I would like to recommend the FX show
Justified, which I finished the first season of. It is witty and the characters are well thought out and complex. Overall, I'm excited for more. For another high compliment, it reminds me of Longmire.
I also watched the first seasons of Dollhouse by Joss Whedon and Human Target. I can't say I recommend either, which is a big disappointment for on the former, because I've been such a big fan of Joss Whedon recently.
Lastly, I watched a couple of comedy specials recently and I cannot recommend Aziz Ansari's second special, Buried Alive, which was boring and unoriginal compared to his first. But I can recommend Rob Delaney: Live at the Bowery Ballroom with the proviso that it is pretty filthy. His delivery is funnier than most people's best jokes.
I will finally bid you ado, my good friends. Hopefully soon I will finally finish my review of 12 Years a Slave.
