Ha.. didn't think this would make it out of the hopper.. I submitted it because of the Southwest Airlines guy where I kinda defended his actions as a douchebag because he could get me from point A to point B and didn't think he should get fired in the same way Uncle Don once famously (allegedly) said "That'll hold the little bastards" live on the air and became nothing more than a running gag. Pilots and cooks and things shouldn't be punished for things that don't affect their performance, as long as it doesn't upset the people they work around.

Anyway, spoilers here. but everybody probably knows what the movie's about. It seemed really relevant a few days ago.. :/

As for the movie, yeah John Goodman was the best part, even though Robert Zimmeckis really likes to use musical cues that are too obvious, like Sympathy for the Devil, etc. This movie surprised me and was much better than I thought it'd be, even if it is a little preachy, which pretty much describes every Zimmeckis film besides Back to the Future, Roger Rabbit, basically everything before Gump.

I liked this movie so much that until now, I had forgotten that it was a Zemeckis film.

On the subject of pilots. Like the entire industry, airlines and airline pilots have lost the glow of pride they used to have and are basically arriving at the gate of what the service always really was: mass transit. So yeah, I agree, in essence, with the crappy schedule treatment and low level of pride, let them alone to just do their jobs like the rest of us hole-diggers.

God, I can never remember how to spell his name. For lack of a better analogy, it's like Quagmire from Family Guy: he's a boozing womanizing and mildly homophobic douche on the ground (although in later episodes his tone has changed to more cynical.. not quite sure why that happened and I probably see that show more than most of you guys), but he's always just a pilot in the air. It's inexcusable to talk that way, unless you're totally joking, like some pilots do, especially on Southwest: they're kind of known for their sense of humor. I was transferring at Las Vegas a little while ago and the pilot on the intercom said to check out the birds when you're there, and if you're staying there's an aviary right outside of town. Groan, but that's kind of their thing: I was sitting next to an older lady who was reading 50 Shades of Grey and she whispered to me "he means strip clubs." Yeah, got it..

And it's kind of depressing. I lost a job a few years ago to automation, and spent my last couple of weeks there pretty much explaining to my clients that they can now use the service-charge-free online method, but it was sad to know that I wouldn't be talking to Mrs. X again, who had an ASL daughter and needed the one little sign language seat that wasn't covered by her subscription plan just so they could sit together, little things like that. I'm willing to bet that in 5 years there will be no need for pilots in the cockpit, and who cares about the pilot's banter every once in a while when everyone on board is listening to their music on their devices anyway? Eventually what used to be a comforting voice in a turbulent event won't matter like it did when I was a kid, and was convinced every flight I was on was going down.

In five months, 90% of this site will be infinite zest talking to himself.

It's a slow movie, that's for sure. I went and saw it at the budget theatre and I think a lot of people there thought it was going to be like Airport or something, or that other movie about the plane that's going to crash, or the other one, or the other one.. instead there's the crash and then 2 hours of Denzel doing drugs and meetings with attorneys, which was probably the opposite of what could fit into a short 30 second TV spot. Anyway people were leaving all around me and I don't blame them: it'd be like if the new Star Wars starts out with the storm trooper who crash-landed in the desert and the rest of the movie is just the empire conducting a lengthy investigation into the matter. "FROM THE DIRECTOR OF BACK TO THE FUTURE MY ASS!!" :)

But I would recommend it if you like good drama, a good cast and, pardon me, a sobering movie about man's Sisyphean struggle with himself.. something like that. But yeah for a movie called "Flight" 95% of it is on the ground. IZ's review: 7 bottles of vodka out of 10. Just remember to walk home and don't fly any airplanes. :)

The crash sequence was an absolute nail-biter. I literally forgot to keep breathing for parts of it. As pandering and low-brow as Zemeckis's stuff can be, the guy knows spectacle and he knows when to let actors do their thing (though it usually ends up being as schmaltzy as possible). I thought the emotional impact of this scene after everything leading up to it was nearly on par with the suspense of the crash.