Flight (2012)

So good. Denzel Washington rules in this powerful story of an alcoholic pilot about to "hit bottom" just as he saves his crowded plane from doing the same. The near-crash is harrowing and goes down in the first 10 minutes after some sexy time with Washington (profiled in Unstoppable) and Nadine Velazquez (best known, to me anyway, as the comely Catalina in 96 episodes of My Name is Earl) as Whip and Katerina, respectively. Another addict, Nicole, played by the fragile Kelly Reilly (last in these pages in Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows) comes into Whip's life and their stories intertwine. Don Cheadle lends support as a serious lawyer (not too far off from his most recent appearance in The Guard, though he can do insane, e.g. the Showtime series House of Lies). John Goodman (most recently in Argo) plays Whip's dealer Harling, and every time he appeared on screen, usually to Rolling Stones music, we laughed.

Speaking of music, director Robert Zemeckis (I've loved most of his work, e.g. Romancing the Stone (1984), the Back to the Future series (1985, 89, 90) especially the first and third, Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988), Contact (1997), Cast Away (2000), and Forrest Gump (1994) which won him his Oscar) decorates this movie with excellent vintage tracks a la Gump (Feelin' Alright by Joe Cocker, Under the Bridge by Red Hot Chili Peppers, Sweet Jane by Cowboy Junkies, Sympathy for the Devil and Gimme Shelter by the Rolling Stones, Ain't No Sunshine by Bill Withers, What's Going On by Marvin Gaye, Goin' Down by the Jeff Beck Group, and With a Little Help From My Friends, by the Beatles). Plus there's a score by the prolific Alan Silvestri, Zemeckis' usual composer, whose music for The Avengers comes right before this in his vast resume. The soundtrack is available online here, but I don't expect it to stay up very long.

Writer John Gatins is new to me but this is his sixth produced screenplay and he has two more in pre-production or development. I walked into the theatre three weeks ago wanting to see the plane flying upside down. Turns out that part had my heart pounding and my eyes filling. Jack and I liked it a lot and expect it to garner an Oscar nomination for Denzel at the very least.