Flight (2012)

Flying High

Flight is a movie that peaks during its opening scenes, but what a peak it is.  Its first act plane-crash sequence is the movie’s clear peak, an edge-of-your-seat ten minutes that are both breathlessly thrilling and terrifyingly believable.  In the cockpit is Whip Whittaker (Denzel Washington), a seasoned airline pilot with a serious alcohol and drug addiction.  Coming off a night of heavy drinking and a morning of cocaine use, Whip’s seemingly routine morning flight from Orlando to Atlanta suffers a severe mechanical error.  Through a combination of Zen-like calm and sheer skill, Whip manages to land the plane in a field with only six lives lost.  Though hailed as a hero by the media, he’s too busy mourning the death of his flight attendant paramour to bask in the spotlight.

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Atomic Blonde: Not Quite a Dud, But Hardly Explosive

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Atomic Blonde is not an action movie.  I feel obligated to get this out of the way, as the movie has been the victim of a misleading-at-best marketing campaign.  Trailers featured Charlize Theron kicking ass front and center, suggesting a John Wick-like exercise in minimal story and maximum thrills.  But if anything, the movie’s plot-to-action ratio is story heavy. Continue reading

Kevin and Vil’s Movie Show: Episode One

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Hey all, as of last Wednesday I’m officially part of a WNUR weekly radio show focusing on – you guessed it – movies.  This week Vil Zsolnay and I reviewed True Stories, Drop Dead Gorgeous, and Me and Earl and the Dying Girl.  Enjoy!

Next week we’ll be reviewing Soylent Green, Cruising, and Hannah and Her Sisters.

P.S.  You can listen live (and call in) Thursdays from 4-5 A.M. through WNUR at wnur.org.