Tag: Flight

Here at Gorgon Reviews, we like to break the mold. We like to consider ourselves on the cutting edge of reviews. The only thing we are really lacking is those press credentials. But that is not what we are talking about.

No! Instead, we are just going to look into genre-defying films. Yes, on Documentary Thursday of all days.

Charlie Victor Romeo is about plane crashes. Straight up. Not a fun topic for anyone. Everyone should know what a black box is. It records whatever goes on in the cockpit, creating an audio record in case shit hits the fan.

Charlie Victor Romeo, in a nutshell, is six different blackbox recordings before six different airplane accidents/incidents.

Black boxes. White pilots. Who’d have thought there’d be no grey area in a cockpit.

Obviously, you have to be in the right mood to want to watch a movie like this. Now, it isn’t just the actual blackbox recordings. This is a documentary, not some audiobook. But when it comes to the genre defying characteristics, this is a theatrical documentary.

This is why we have some actors. A few people at a time recreate what the cockpit might have felt like during these moments, with the exact same conversation as it went down/almost went down and that is the entirety of it. It makes sense that this started out as a play, a pretty intense one at that. And then it became used for pilots in training! And then this movie.

It might help them discuss decision making, or whatever.

But assuming you are in the right mood for a movie like this, I would say overall it is still just okay. Some of the situations were good and tense. Some felt too long, maybe too boring, or just too confusing terminology wise. Some were a good length, intense, and great. It varies. But some might love its overall simplicity.

But hey, because it is acted, here are our actors! Sam Zuckerman, Debbie Troche, Nora Woolley, Patrick Daniels, Robert Berger, Noel Dinneen, and Irving Gregory!

Either way, this guy is on Netflix, and probably not leaving any time soon.

At this point, if you mention Robert Zemeckis around movie people you will probably see a strong positive reaction. After all, he brought directed Back To The Future, Forrest Gump, and Cast Away.

So when news came out of his new movie, Flight, one of his first R rated picture which he claims will be his darkest movie ever, it obviously had a lot of hype.

“Uhh, we seem to be turning. Yep. Gravity is a bitch.”

The hype doesn’t die with the trailer, which makes it seem pretty amazing and dramatic. A pilot, Whip Whitaker (Denzel Washington) is able to use his instincts to crash land a plane with very few casualties. Not only that, but the same conditions were run with different pilots in simulators, and each and every one of them crashed and burned. Whip Whitaker is a hero! However, he had some alcohol in his system, so he might be facing legal trouble. The trailer makes it seem like this is a story about a hero who is being used as a scapegoat by a big corporation, despite saving almost a hundred lives!

Turns out the trailer is very misleading. The movie earns its R rating right away by giving not only full frontal female nudity, but also cocaine use. Whip Whitaker is not only an alcoholic, but an illegal drug user and cigarette smoker to boot. He was very unfit to fly, but it was still not the cause of the eventual accident.

Instead of a false manhunt, this movie is more about doing whatever possible to protect the pilot from getting reprimanded, despite the serious problems in his life. After the crash he decides to quit drinking, bu that only lasts about a day. He feels sorry for himself and pushes away the ones he loves. This movie also features John Goodman as his dealer/best friend, Don Cheadle as his criminal attorney, Bruce Greenwood as his union representative, Nadine Velazquez as a flight attendant, and Kelly Reilly as a heroin addict he meets in the hospital.

Band aids are the classiest facial accessory you can bring to a hearing.

Outside of the misleading trailer, the rest of the movie was a big “meh” fest. There was a lot of religious talk in the film, because that is usually what happens after a large disaster. However, the entire focus of the movie is on Whip and his drinking problem. That is literally the only thing people care about (and only because of the legal trouble he faces). Once again, drinking becomes the worst thing to ever a person can do, while completely ignoring his smoking and cocaine use. A similar point was driven home with Seven Psychopaths, but at least then it was in a hilarious way.

Personally, I don’t drink at all, never have, never really plan to. Just never had an interest. I get annoyed when it seems the majority of my friends prefer to drink in every possible social setting, but hey, it’s their choice and I will fight for their right to. The movie is actually a giant walking ad for AA, which I also feel is one of the worst transgressors of Separation of Church and State in America. The 12 step programs all feature acknowledging one’s own weaknesses and putting your life in a higher power.

The film also had a problem in that the ending was entirely predictable as soon as they first went to an AA meeting halfway through the movie. I knew how the hearing would play out, and no longer cared about the him as he continued to dig himself into a hole. Denzel Washington did however act amazingly in this movie, it just wasn’t enough to justify the over two hour propaganda fest that I had to sit through.