Posts tagged John Goodman
“Flight” Features a “Junior Birdman”
Nov 10th
“Junior Birdman”
“Hotshots” looks at a movie!
Flight stars Denzel Washington as a commercial airline pilot with more problems than just flying and landing the airliner on time.
Right away at the beginning of the movie we know that Captain Whip Whitaker is not who he pretends to be. But, Man, does Denzel Washington look mighty fine in his captain’s uniform as he walks through the airport to take command of his airplane.
The flight is from Orlando, Florida, to Atlanta, Georgia, and right after he sits down in the pilot’s chair in the cockpit, Whip starts acting a bit unusual and different from how we would want our pilot to act.
He takes a couple of hits of oxygen before taking off and asks the copilot if he would like a hit.
Then when they encounter some turbulence, Whip personally goes back into the cabin to reassure the passengers, and he tells them that there won’t be any service of beverages for safety reasons, but as he is telling the passengers and crew this, he is fixing himself a glass of orange juice and vodka out of sight from everyone.
Back in his pilot’s seat, Whip suddenly experiences what appears to be a mechanical failure, and the airliner goes into an uncontrollable nose dive in what is one of the most harrowing scenes about an airplane you will ever see.
Miraculously, Whip manages to roll the airliner upside down in order to get control back, and he then glides the airplane to a soft landing in an open field, and only six people of the 102 aboard die.
Captain Whitaker is called a hero, but a required investigation into the accident turns up some evidence that could damage his reputation and career and even send him to prison.
The rest of the movie is about that investigation, and John Goodman and Don Cheadle show up in important roles in the story.
Also, Whip gets involved with a woman who distracts him from his problem at hand: staying sober and getting through the investigation with his reputation and career intact.
This is a very serious movie, but I couldn’t help being reminded of the lyrics to an old song called “Junior Birdman” and flying “upside down!”
Flight is an excellent film about difficult subjects, and we should hope we never experience any of them firsthand.
I’m Dan Culberson and this is “Hotshots.”
“Argo” Is Funny and Serious
Oct 20th
Hotshots, October 17, 2012
“Funny and Serious”
“Hotshots” looks at a movie!
Argo is an excellent film based on a true story you might never have heard about concerning the 1979 takeover of the U.S. Embassy for 444 days by Iranian militants.
It is also a very funny film that pokes fun at the filmmaking business in Hollywood, which together makes it a sure-fire candidate to be recognized at the 2013 Academy Awards.
As a matter of fact, the film was a surprise hit at the 2012 Telluride Film Festival, where director Ben Affleck told a screening audience that he tried to make a film that was one part action thriller, one part comedy, and one part inspired by a 1970s film like the 1976 All the President’s Men.
He succeeded, and he should be very proud of the results.
What the world didn’t know at the time was that when the American Embassy was taken over in November 1979, six men and women managed to escape and hide out in the Canadian Embassy.
Affleck also stars as Tony Mendez, a CIA “exfiltration” specialist, and he comes up with a risky and dangerous plan to get the six Americans out of Iran without the militants knowing about it.
Once Tony’s plan is approved, his boss, played by Bryan Cranston, tells him, “The whole world is watching you; they just don’t know it.”
What Tony proposed was that he pretend to be a Canadian filmmaker, get into Iran with all the necessary documents for himself and the six Americans, and then convince the Iranian authorities that all seven of them were a Canadian film crew who were in Iran scouting for locations for a science-fiction movie they were making, using a script for an actual movie in turnaround called Argo.
However, in order to do that, Hollywood has to be convinced that the story is real, as well, and Tony gets the help of a producer played by Alan Arkin and a makeup artist played by John Goodman.
The title of the ARGO movie is used in a very funny and profane way, and you won’t be able to hear the word again without smiling or laughing.
When Tony tells the six Americans what he wants them to do, they aren’t completely cooperative, and the tension keeps building and building until the very end.
Argo is very funny and serious.
I’m Dan Culberson and this is “Hotshots.”
END
The Artist – Movie Trailer
Jan 15th
Hollywood 1927. George Valentin (Jean Dujardin) is a silent movie superstar. The advent of the talkies will sound the death knell for his career and see him fall into oblivion. For young extra Peppy Miller (Berenice Bejo), it seems the sky’s the limit – major movie stardom awaits. The Artist tells the story of their interlinked destinies.