Ed's Review Dot Com

Emmett/Furla/Oasis Films (EFO Films), Hat and Cat Productions, Ingenious Media,

Arnold Schwarzenegger, Scoot McNairy, Maggie Grace, Martin Donovan, Hannah Ware, Mariana Klaveno, Kevin Zegers, Larry Sullivan, Glenn Morshower, Christopher Darga

Jake (Scoot McNairy) is an air traffic controller. There is a perfect storm. They work at a small tower in Europe and direct planes from one tower to another. There are only two men on duty, and one man decides to take a nap to catch up on some needed sleep leaving Jake alone in the tower. That night a repairman is working on one of their systems which makes Alex’s job a bit harder. Due to circumstances beyond his control, a terrible air crash happens. Jake is devastated at the crash and blames himself, but a hard worker, Roman (Arnold Schwarzenegger) is at the airport waiting for his wife and daughter to arrive on one of the planes taht went down. Roman, too, is devastated and tries to work through his grief, but instead decides that it’s his duty to exact revenge on the person that took his wife and daughter away from him. This is a dramatic story based on the real event, that looks closely into the grief and suffering of two men who were affected by the same event, but in vastly different ways.

This is a very interesting story, based on true events of an awful crash that was caused by a perfect storm of events. One small change could have avoided the whole thing. The movie is very gripping and pulls you into the story, but it’s not a lot of action and events, but develops slowly and carefully as we really get into the heads of the people involved and the feelings and emotions they face. This is not an air crash movie, it’s more of a character study, although the crash is a major part of the story. There are a lot of people who feel this film is too slow, so be prepared for what you’re going to see. You are really, as I said before, going to get into the heads of both men, and so it does take a lot of effort to let us see into their psyche so clearly, and as a result, it does have to unwrap slowly, and it does fully take us through the tragedy and we are able to understand that the crash was over quickly for those who were on the plane, but the agony and grief lasts long for those who are left behind. I’ve seen many stories in the movies and on TV about plane crashes, but none that tackled the suffering of the survivors better than this one did. I enjoyed this film, and would recommend it to you if you think you would be interested in the “Aftermath” of a true story like this is.

EdG – EdsReview Dot Com – A Movie Review Blog

Film4, See-Saw Films, UK Film Council,

Michael Fassbender, Carey Mulligan, James Badge Dale, Nicole Beharie, Hannah Ware, Amy Hargreaves, Alex Manette

Brandon Sullivan (Michael Fassbender) is a 30’s young executive who lives in New York City. He has a very serious porn addiction. His younger sister
Sissy (Carey Mulligan) comes in to visit, and it appears she has no plans of leaving anytime soon. The relationship between these two is really creepy, although there is nothing blatantly going on, but it totally messes up Brandon’s life. Between catching his sister in bed with his boss, and her catching him in a compromising situation, they have their struggles, but it appears both are kind of broken and need help just to get by. Whether or not they’ll be there for each other remains to be seen.

This is a very intense film. I know some people are really caught up by the close inspection of how seemingly random events affect their lives, but I’m not so sure they are really random. I have a feeling there is a lot more in the story that we are never told. This film on one hand feels like voyeurism at it’s worst on our part, and at the same time, a superficial slice of two lives without a point, nor a beginning or end to the story. Perhaps that’s what the director was going for. I simply was not that impressed with the whole thing. Michael Fassbinder’s acting was pretty good. He did a nice job with what he was given, but it wasn’t enough to carry the whole film. One guy can only do so much. I simply didn’t get too excited by this film and found it all rather pointless.

EdG – EdsReview Dot Com – A Movie Review Blog