Movie #684 ........................."flight"

Movie #684 "Flight" --- right off the bat this is not a movie for everyone --- it is a movie about an alcoholic, "warts and all" -- so in that way, I would compare it to the thousands of other films that have tried to show you just how miserable an alcoholic's life is (not to mention the ill effect on loved ones) This movie, in my opinion, rates right up there with the best --- not in the scariness of what can happen to your mind by drinking so much like in the equally good "Lost Weekend" or how you can bring people down with you like "days of wine and roses." It is the reality of how negatively pervasive alcohol can be in the life of a once likable person, a person with dignity and skill. I guess I would liken it to Meg Ryan's tackle with the subject in "When a Man Loves a Woman" --- both are able to show how such a likable person can change soooo much when he/she wallows in the problem. So getting back to why this film isn't for everyone, it is slow because it follows very closely an alcoholic's plunge into deeper waters, it is uncomfortable, it is not a fun time (very little humor), and this film has a 20 minute plane scene that anyone (like me) who doesn't like flying anyway might not want to see --- aside from this scene, this movie didn't need to be directed by the great Zameckis because it's all Denzel after that --- and I can see a nomination for him round about mid January next year. Very intense performance, and alcoholics are popular winners of oscars (sometimes, wrongly, as in the very ugly "Leaving las Vegas") but this year can that character beat an Abe Lincoln? we'll see! I give it 4 out of 5 stars Flight2012R After his amazing safe landing of a damaged passenger plane, an airline pilot is praised for the feat, but has private questions about what happened. Further, the government's inquiry into the causes soon puts the new hero's reputation at risk. Cast:Denzel Washington, John Goodman, Don Cheadle, Melissa Leo, Brian Geraghty, Bruce Greenwood, Kelly Reilly, Tamara Tunie, Garcelle Beauvais, James Badge Dale, Rhoda Griffis, Kwesi Boakye, Michael Beasley, Adam Tomei Genre:Drama