Flight - 機密真相

Flight (機密真相) is an 2012 film. The movie stars Denzel Washington. The supporting cast include Don Cheadle, Kelly Reilly, Bruce Greenwood, Melissa Leo, and John Goodman. This film was in no way based on the US Airways Flight 1549 crash on the Hudson, as I had incorrectly assumed.

Denzel plays Whip, a Captain of an commercial airline. On an routine flight from Orlando to Atlanta, the plane malfunctions and Whip is forced to take evasive action. This action leads to an simi safe landing of his plane. 4 passengers and 2 crew members did not survive. Throughout the film, you'll witness Whip drink his way through ordeal after ordeal. Finally faced with an hearing, what will he do. Lie himself out of it again?

The film was extremely hard to watch. Whip is not a good character. Whip is not a good guy. Whip is someone that seeks to abuse his position and leverage those around him. However, this is "America", the land of second chances. Time after time, people let him go protecting their own butts. Whip doesn't change. I take no pleasure thinking about the movie as I write this. I would not recommend this. I may force my kids to watch this when they get older. Bad decisions, self destructive behavior, abuser, and user. Not much to say.

The Fighter - 燃燒鬥魂

The Fighter (燃燒鬥魂) is a 2010 film. The movie stars Mark Wahlberg and Christian Bale. The supporting cast includes Melissa Leo and Amy Adams. The movie is a based on the life story of "Irish" Micky Ward, a professional boxer.

The movie focuses on the boxing career of Micky Ward, played by Mark Wahlberg. Micky is a welterweight boxer and is training for an upcoming fight. You notice that there's a HBO crew following them around. The crew is there to shoot a documentary about Dicky Eklund, played by Christian Bale, Micky's brother. Micky's head trainer is Dicky and the manager is his mom, Alice played by Melissa Leo. They get to the fight to, but have to change plans and still fight to get the purse money. As the movie moves on, its the balance of family and professional career as a story that's presented. The story of Micky's relationship with Charlene is explored in regards to Micky and against his family.

The movie was an enjoyable watch. Embellished true stories seem to have that kind of effect on people. In the back of your mind, you're always thinking, this is true, it could have happened. I can see why a lot of people had this film in their top ten list from 2010. However, the movie was just ok for me. As the movie progress, I did not not feel an emotional attachment to Micky. Yes, he's trying to love his family and make ends meat. Yes, he trying to make good with his daughter and start fresh with Charlene. Yet, through it all, it was just a presentation of a story. The character development for Micky was very little and I was trying hard to connect. But the story started to get in the way. Dicky's descent into darkness was heart wrenching, but I was having a hard time caring. In all, a enjoyable movie that presented a nice embellished true story, but just didn't get me all that interested.