This is topic Sully in forum Film Handlers' Movie Reviews at Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE.
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Posted by Frank Cox (Member # 6258) on 09-22-2016, 02:17 PM:
Boy, did they have to work hard to stretch a 208 second incident out into a 96 minute movie.
I was expecting something along the line of Captain Phillips (which I liked quite a bit) but I guess there just wasn't enough action in the incident to fill in a whole movie.
This movie is just ok, but even though it isn't really that long it sure feels dragged out and I had a hard time maintaining my interest in the story.
I've had a fair number of old people (old people being defined as people older than me, of course) asking about this show so hopefully it will draw a crowd.
Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 09-23-2016, 01:19 PM:
Being old myself, I enjoyed the movie a lot. I was worried that since the event was so short, the movie would be draggy; OR, the whole thing would be like a courtroom drama, but it was neither, despite having that courtroom element framing the story.
Tom Hanks gives his usual fine performance, although this particular character is a pretty low-key guy in real life so Hanks probably had to tone down his "acting" a little for this role.
I really liked that they showed the incident twice....once from the pilot's point of view and once from the passengers'. Nothing was over-dramatized, like so many of this type of movie often are. This is a tribute to Clint Eastwood's economical directing.
The best part for me was the fact that there really is an unknown in the story -- whether Sully is going to get blamed for making wrong choices or not. As the movie points out, everyone SHOULD be thanking him for saving all those lives, but there is still a ton of money involved because a multi-million-dollar plane got ruined, so.. could it have been avoided? That's the real suspense point of the story and it's handled very nicely and without undue amounts of drama.
Laura Linney has to spend most of the movie talking to Sully on the phone, which is too bad - she is the most "cookie cutter" of the movie's roles, that of the caring wife stuck at home. Aaron Eckhart does a good job as Sully's copilot.
There has been criticism that the movie portrays the government authorities as more asshole-ish than they were in the actual incident, but this year in particular, it's kind of fun to see a movie dump on the government a little.
Bottom line, another win for Clint Eastwood and for Tom Hanks. 3.5 stars from me.
Posted by Jim Cassedy (Member # 4115) on 09-24-2016, 12:39 AM:
.
Several weeks ago, I was projection-guy for one of the premiere screenings.

Aaron Eckhart, Laura Linney, Clint Eastwood, Tom Hanks, and a film critic
from the Los Angeles times were there to intro the flick and do Q&A after.
Posted by Justin Hamaker (Member # 2165) on 09-24-2016, 01:08 AM:
I really liked Sully, and the way the narrative of the story was put together. Using the hearings and investigation as a mechanism to show the actual event in flashback was really effective. I also liked that the movie didn't make much of an attempt to develop the survivors as characters.
I give Sully an A.
Posted by Frank Cox (Member # 6258) on 09-24-2016, 02:26 AM:
I played this tonight for a reasonable/average crowd for a September movie and I don't think anyone here was under the age of about 40.
The only comments that anyone made to me on the way out were two different people who asked, "When are you playing the Magnificent Seven?"
Posted by Terry Monohan (Member # 8285) on 09-24-2016, 10:41 AM:
Went to see this movie at the soon to be torn down Century/Cinemark Cinema in Corte Madera CA. The screen has a great curve to It and was shown in scope. The image on this screen has been cut way down with masking since they put in DCP projectors. To bad as at one time they had a much larger 70mm curved screen with curtains that work. The Century people could care less about showmanship and curtains. I liked the movie but would have added a little warm thing like a little dog some old lady had on the flight that got out of her carry bag and jumped into the water during the water landing and someone jumps in to save the little dog. Stay for the end credits to see the true Sully pilot with all 155 of the passengers that survived. Good crisp image and the surround sound was at a good level. Stop by this cinema before they knock the whole theatre down soon.
Posted by Andy Bundy (Member # 9567) on 09-26-2016, 03:42 PM:
I watched the film, but I don't understand what all of the hype was about. Yes, it happened. Yes, it was exciting when it happened in 2009. However, the film felt more like a courtroom drama than anything else.
However, most of the people in my area are over the moon about this film, and the numbers are doing incredibly well comparative to the last few films we played.
Posted by Jim Cassedy (Member # 4115) on 09-28-2016, 12:56 PM:
quote: Andy Bundy
the film felt more like a courtroom drama than anything else.
I think this is one of the reasons I enjoyed it. I've always
sorta liked the legal 'tug-o-war' of courtroom dramas, so much,
in fact, that I still enjoy watching the old "Perry Mason" re-runs.
(At one point, I owned 16mm prints of quite a few of them, but
I've 'downsized' my collection now to just couple of my favorites.)
Posted by Jonathan Goeldner (Member # 4854) on 10-15-2016, 11:25 PM:
I was very impressed by this movie; not only being a Hank's fan, but the story I found riveting. On a technical note, I saw this in IMAX (laser) and again with another friend in Atmos, the 12-channel mix was by far the superior mix.
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