Citizen Rules...Cinemaesque Chat-n-Review

I loved this. I'm a Gilliam fanboy though. One of my favorite movies of the 2000s so far.

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I've just seen Swiss Army Man and it's like you said, weird but likeable. It made me laugh and feel bad for the man but it teaches you a valuable lesson, all it takes to a happy life are a couple of happy thoughts.
Oh and a man who doesn't fart in front of you is not a man who can be trusted

Who wouldn't you take out of the noms for best leading and supporting actor?

Overall a positively strange and good movie!

Director: Clint Eastwood
Writers: Todd Komarnicki(screenplay), Chesley Sullenberger(novel)
Cast: Tom Hanks, Aaron Eckhart, Laura Linney
Genre: Biography, Drama

The true life story of Chesley 'Sully' Sullenberger, an airline pilot who heroically saved the lives of 155 passengers by making an emergency crash landing in the Hudson River, after both of the plane's engines failed.

What a wasted story. Director Clint Eastwood who usually knocks them out of the ballpark, delivers up a huge, incoherent mess of a movie. Sure the story of a plane crash with a heroic effort featuring Tom Hanks should be a winner.... I mean the actual real life story itself is riveting, but not in the way the film is edited and structured. Eastwood goes out of his way to make the most unemotional, un-intriguing telling of this amazing event possible. It's hard to believe Eastwood's name is attached to the film.

Right of the bat we're treated to an over the top CG plane crash into New York City...but surprise! it's a dream sequence! Really? a dream sequence with a super explosion CG crash....not needed! and it cheapened the story.

The entire movie jumps around from the investigation of Sully's decision to make an emergency landing in the Hudson, to moments before the crash, and to the crash and rescue itself. This nonlinear timeline does not suit the film and does nothing to develop interest in the story. The characters seem disembodied and we hardly know or care about them. This makes for a movie that lacks any interest...that's right one of the most amazing tales is turned into a lack luster movie.


Even the plane crash and rescue was pretty much milquetoast.
It was mediocre, I have nothing else to say.






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I didn't think it was great but I thought it was a good watch. I'm very surprised you didn't like it.

Didn't you find the way the scenes were edited into the movie, disjointed? I did. I wish they had either went with a three act movie

Act 1, Sully before the flight, we get to know him, his relation with his wife and with his co pilot. The first act literally puts us into what it's like for a pilot to board a plane and do the preflight stuff. They did show some preflight shots but more would have been better.

Act 2, the crash and rescue in real time. They said it took 24 minutes. That would be perfect for act 2.

Act 3, the investigation, done more or less like it was in the movie.

That's what I would have done if I was the director.

I've heard a number of lukewarm receptions to this one

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I'll probably watch Sully because I was so interested in the real story. (Kind of like how I watched The 33 - which could have been a much better movie what with the miraculous, real-life subject matter of the Chilean mine workers).

I remember watching a documentary on the "miracle in the Hudson" - which told more of the less pleasant aspects of the story. Sure, the miracle was that Sully landed the plane and saved everyone on board = everyone survived, and that basic fact can't be overlooked or taken for granted. But a lot of the drama and trauma occurred between the time the plane touched down and getting everyone back to land. There were injuries, fear and some traumatic events for passengers and crew during the rescue operations.

I was so expecting to love this movie. I mean this is the type of film I love, a drama bio bic with a top notch actor. I was disappointed.

The 33 is a good comparison.

One of the things I liked about Sully was the unusually short runtime for a movie like that. Instead of digging deeper, it was more of a straight to the point viewing. I thought that helped to hide any flaws and made it a more enjoyable experience.

Another comparison might be Tom Hanks (again) in Captain Phillips (2013).
In that case I watched a documentary on the story and was enthralled, so I was really looking forward to the movie.

I had some personal connection to it as my cousin is a first officer in the Merchant Marine - and he was on the ship that took possession of the sole surviving Somali pirate from the group that had hijacked the Maersk Alabama in 2009. My cousin met him and described him as a "scared young kid."

Anyway, the movie could have been better. I noticed differences from the documentary I had watched and then was dismayed to learn that the movie had altered many of the facts for "dramatic effect." Geez! Some stories are dramatic enough - they don't need to be altered. It was a case where the real story as portrayed in the documentary was more exiting than the movie where they altered events to make it more exciting!

That's interesting, had his ship ever come under attack by Somalian pirates?

That movie convinced me, not to go to the west coast waters of Africa anytime soon.

It's funny you mentioned Captain Phillips (2013), I was talking about that in comparison to Sully to my wife today. I said I wish they had either made Sully more like Captain Phillips a straight linear story. Or like Spotlight (2015) and focus the entire movie on the investigation of the crashed plane.

Hey, i don't rep the same thing twice so i repped your post in RTLMYS that brought me here.

I've not seen it so may be way off but what else could Eastwood bring to the story; i mean it's already really flimsy. Sully was a normal Pilot not anything special, his real life background wasn't that interesting. Don't you think the problem was that there wasn't really a story there to begin with?

No (as far as I know). My cousin's been lucky in that respect. But he has undergone regular training (firearms & such) that relate to dealing with pirates, terrorists or hijackers. From what I understand there are certain areas merchant ships avoid and are ordered not to go near.

But after the surviving pirate was taken into American custody, it was my cousin's ship that was recruited to transport him back to the states. I believe the prisoner was kept in a cabin that was fitted into a makeshift brig.

I think my cousin is currently aboard a ship as Ex-O, but the ship is in port in VA.

I wonder how many real-life parts Tom Hanks has under his belt now?

Just the opposite. There was a great chance for a stirring story as the real Sully made a hard decision that should have ended in disaster, but he pulled it off.

Then...the media calls him a hero and he even ends up on David Letterman (Letterman has a cameo in the movie). But Sully is uncomfortable with the attention and doesn't feel like a hero, he's just a man who's doing his job.

Then aviation authorities begin to question his decision to land in the Hudson river and discover information that shows he could have safely landed the disabled plane at the airport.

Which then leads to the bulk of the film which shows his frustration over knowing instinctively he made the right decision, despite the computer saying he was wrong.

Finally in the ending when he and his co pilot are ordered in front of an investigation committed and they watch live simulations of the flight proving he made an error, there's a troubled look in his eyes, then with new hope he realizes how he can prove he was right.

Wow, I should put that into my review, maybe I will.
So the story itself was exciting but the way Eastwood edited the movie it was hard to connect to.

Very interesting Capt, and scary work for your cousin. He's the EX-O, doing pretty good for himself. In movies the Ex-O and the captain of the ship often are at odds. But by the end of the movie they end up respecting each other, despite their different styles of command.

I actually agree with Camo. I thought Sully was limited in what it could be and I thought they made the most out of it.

Director: Clint Eastwood
Writers: John Berendt(novel), John Lee Hancock(screenplay)
Cast: John Cusack, Kevin Spacey, Jack Thompson, Irma P. Hall, Jude Law, Lady Chablis

About: A writer from the north (John Cusack) who travels to the deep south to Savannah Georgia to cover a well-to-do social event for his magazine. During his visit, he befriends a local millionaire, who's days latter accused of murder. The writer begins his investigation into the crime where he discovers a bizarre underbelly to the quaint southern town.

Review: Clint Eastwood stretches his directorial talent by taking on a 1994, New York Times Best-Seller novel by John Berendt. This 1997 movie is based loosely on Berendt's novel. So fans of the book beware, this review is about the movie, I haven't read the book.

I had no idea of what to expect when I watched this. I had not read the book and had not seen the trailer or read a synopsis. So it was a complete mystery to me. At first the movie seems like a slower paced drama, about the lifestyles of the rich in Georgia, as seen through the eyes of a young, not so successful writer from the north, John Cusack. Cusack plays a regular guy and this juxtaposes well with the eccentric Savanna millionaire, Kevin Spacey. It's through the young writers eyes that we see what is really going on in this gentile yet strange place.

As the movie progress I figured out it had a light comic touch, which I liked. A couple of the characters were over the top, mainly the guy who has flys attached to his coat by strings. But overall a good movie, that I enjoyed.

I saw that but barely remember it.

Great film. It was tragic that part that happened in the second paragraph then the third paragraph gave me hope.

The fly guy? the voodoo lady? the drag queen? the 1967 Chevy Camaro?...any of those ring a bell?