Robert Zemeckis and Denzel Washington bring you FLIGHT

First live-action Zemeckis film since Cast Away--I'm pretty fucking psyched.

Here's the trailer:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MlFMZ5D8FNc

Comes out later today.

Discuss.

manogla dargis is pretty ecstatic, though she's fairly condescending about the last few films he's made and doesn't seem to recognize that back to the future is the great American film of the past 30 years.. http://movies.nytimes.com/2012/11/02/movies/flight-stars-denzel-washington-as-an-alcoholic-pilot.html

First 15 minutes are absolutely riveting. Like, the best opening stretch of any movie I've seen this year and it's probably not even a close call.

I guess the rest couldn't help but be sort of a comedown, especially since I'm more interested in the concept of the pressures heroism foists upon those who get tagged with the honor than I am in actorly depictions of addiction.

c'mon

back to the future is the great American film of the past 30 years

totally agree with this!

Then who's vice president? Jerry Lewis?

Robert Zemeckis grew into one of those set-piece directors whose films seems written around deeply storyboarded sequences. He's a great technician these days, but ...

Anyway, from the Gawker review:

A junky argues with her landlord while the Red Hot Chili Peppers’ heroin ballad “Under the Bridge” plays in the background. Then, when she shoots up, we hear a cover of the Velvet Underground’s “Sweet Jane.” An alcoholic druggie purges his stash and looks longingly at wedding pictures for a marriage that eventually failed to the strains of Bill Withers’ “Ain’t No Sunshine.” A drug dealer is brought in to deliver some hangover-busting cocaine and the refreshed drunk rides the elevator down from his hotel room to a muzak version of “With a Little Help from My Friends.”

I'm not sure I can take two hours of this degree of on-the-nosiness.

It subsides, until Denzel (spoiler alert?) comes face to face with a hotel fridge minibar and the whole movie reaches its climax as a "will-he-or-won't-he?"

oh man, it's like forrest gump all over again with those song selections.

zemeckis has a real weakness for pop-culture shorthand. it doesn't help that he doesn't seem to have idiosyncratic tastes at all. he's straight down the middle. which doesn't mean he's not some kind of filmmaking genius.

i think i need to tamp down my expectations on this one.

so Eric is telling me to watch Flight and at 15 minutes walk out to the next screening room and watch Cafe de Flore.

ive been super pumped for this

Not a big fan of Zeck or Denz in recent times, but I spose I'll try to see this for free

Zemeckis should just make a movie that is nothing but plane crashes.

Yes, Alfred, that's the exact order you should do that.

this is good! eric otm about the first 20 minutes, but i liked the rest of it too. i mean, i'm not allergic to actorly depictions of addiction, especially with an actor like this. and the filmmaking is so good & confident...

that gawker review is sorta asinine, though it's not wrong about the music. dargis' review is good and otm (i see no reason why she shouldn't be dismissive of those ugly, dumb cartoons he's been wasting his talent on for more than a decade), and when she mentions that Mainstream habits die hard, and there are other instances when Mr. Zemeckis dilutes his movie’s power, notably with broad comedy and predictable sermonizing it kinda keys in on what can be vexing about zemeckis - he has a pandering problem. mind you it can be a very accomplished pandering (goodman's last scene is really funny) but stuff like the speech at the end really hits a false note. some people lament that the old Used Cars zemeckis has disappeared, but in a way i think you can see that through line of unsentimental humor in all his work, but in stuff like Gump he uses it as sugar to make stupid floating feathers go down easier.

i didnt know going in that it was an Atlanta movie. i spotted a goof! denzel's told that he's in a hospital on the southside, but at one point when he looks out the window we see the king & queen towers north of the perimeter.

you know who almost steals the show? james badge dale. that stairwell scene is great.

James Badge Dale steals everything he's in these days.

Didn't like the music, really liked Cheadle's completely credible reticence, really liked the surreal feeling of those scenes where everyone seems inexplicably pissed at Denzel (because they're not his dealer). Preferred The Master as a movie about alcoholism, but enjoyed this.

so fucking lousy

I knew we were in trouble from the initial crosscuts to the heroin OD, but not quite how much.

Back to motion capture with thee.

morbs otm this was mostly appalling.

h4a otm tho on every point except "this is good"

My mom hated this because she only likes Denzel in movies where he is unambiguously heroic

hand grabbing the mini vodka bottle: I didn't know whether to laugh or hurl.

when James Badge Dale was done in the stairwell, I was listening for "and, scene."

I was still trying to figure out who he was and why I thought he was so incongruously attractive.

Who is james badge dale

this turned v sermony and reilly's character is so lazy but it wasnt bad for all that it turned into an AA sermon

Oh nm cancer guy yeah he was v good

For a two and a quarter hour public service information broadcast on behalf of Alcoholics Anonymous this wasn't all bad. I liked the lead NTSB investigator's charade with the remote at the hearing so she could get out from behind the desk for her A Few Good Men moment, and then she almost seems regretful when she realises what she's done.

Thought this was fine. Except for the music, yes--"Feelin' Alright" worked, the rest was parachuted in from some other movie. And I guess you could say the same of John Goodman; they should have had Steve Buscemi tag along for his scenes. Anyway, I liked the procedural aspects more than the addiction spiral, but Denzel made that work too. Don Cheadle's such a great actor. Does Daniel-Day Lewis disappear into his roles more completely than anyone else? Maybe--I'm still aware I'm watching deified actor DDL in Lincoln. What Cheadle does here is more my idea of what that means.

cheadle was good at inhabiting a distinct character in this but the company man vs. charismatic, uncontrollable alcoholic interaction sort of puts you in the same space as iron man.

Cheadle's character is nothin special tho

Can someone please stop John Goodman before somebody gets hurt? Could've cut his character completely from this movie and not missed a beat (and maybe improved it).

terrific in llewyn davis

i still love this movie

ha ha

i just saw training day, denzel's perf has this kinda zappy, ott vibe, like a young danny devito

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T7jHdScWW6k