Popular reviews

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  Review by David Sims ★★★★★ 15

  155 souls

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  Review by SilentDawn ★★★★★ 8

  Previously an 88, now a 94

  If you ever need to be convinced of the class-act bravura of Tom Hanks, look no further than in the difference between two relatively similar scenes in two recent films: Paul Greengrass' Captain Phillips and Clint Eastwood's Sully. Both have a moment where Hanks' character is being surveyed at a medical office after a traumatic event, but whereas Captain Phillips is seen in a state of shock, tearing up at every move and sound as if it's all going to collapse into chaos once again, Hanks' portrayal of Chesley Sullenberger in a synonymous moment is one of an internal breakdown clawing against his pragmatic exterior. Two different films, two similar moments, both are grand gestures and the testament to a singular performer.

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  Review by Patrick Willems ★★★★ 10

  Came to the brink of tears when everyone started talking about how great Sully is (he's really great)

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  Review by Ava ☭ ★★★½ 5

  "Is there anything you would've done differently?"
  "I would've done it in July!"
  The committee erupts into complete laughter manically, they will not yield. This is the funniest fucking shit they've ever heard in their life. First Officer Jeffrey Skiles (played by Aaron Eckhart) should do stand-up. The movie abruptly ends on this high note of comedic genius.

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  Review by matt lynch ★★★½ 3

  "We did our job."

  Surely not the most exciting thing but frequently downright Hawks-y in its portrayal of pragmatic, unassuming, collective heroism and cool thinking in a crisis, not to mention the second-guessing from those without the proper disposition and experience. hanx.

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  Review by Josh Lewis ★★★★ 12

  Could have used a little less thematic literalizing but this hits hard on a very moving, powerful idea: the extraordinary is really just a collective of ordinary people doing their goddamn jobs--with, of course, a little help from passion, experience, intuition and luck. Eastwood's most genius touch: contrasting the mundane activities on the ground (including some hilarious establishing shots of various Marriott hotels, and a mundane hearing framing device) with the moment where Sully, even after four decades of flying, can't help but admire the view of New York from the cockpit... Whether we fully comprehend it or not we all crave the extraordinary, it's why we came together and decided to conquer the sky in the first place. Fuck you, birds.

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  Review by Filipe Furtado ★★★★

  TThere is both lots and no drama for Eastwood to dramatize, some five or so minutes of material that must hold together a feature. No surprise it is Eastwood shortest film (while keeping his usual leisured pace) and it still needs to contrive some to generate its running time (and the scenes in which Hanks and Eckhart have to deal with the second guessing are usually the film’s weakest). For all the usual talk about Eastwood classicism and professionalism (and in the case of Sully, the Hawksian job well done ethos that is certain an aspect of it), his films are at best when dealing at the physical and emotional toll of action, at presenting man at exhaustion. I mention…

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  Review by Mike D'Angelo ★★★ 7

  54/100

  Dumb question: Wouldn't it make more sense for Sully's stress nightmares to be about crashing the plane into the Hudson? That's his great fear: that he may have mistakenly endangered the lives of his 155 souls by not following protocol, and merely gotten very lucky. Instead, Sullenberger repeatedly freaks out in response to a hypothetical scenario that entirely vindicates his real-world actions, which is emblematic of this film's disappointingly shallow portrait of self-doubt. Hanks works overtime to create the impression of a character study rather than a hagiography—Sully's discomfort at being recognized and lionized, while nobly salt-of-the-earth, suggests genuine inner turmoil—but the rah-rah conclusion (complete with evidence introduced at the last minute, inspiring formerly hard-ass authority figures to acknowledge…

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  Review by Josh Larsen ★★½ 13

  80 minutes shorter and this would have made for a great video exhibit at an aviation museum. (Full review here.)

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  Review by Eli Hayes ★★★★½ 31

  Now that I've seen it I can safely say that it's fully deserving of being in my 'finest portrayals of PTSD' list, and possibly even one of the chief explorations of the disorder in contemporary cinema.

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  Review by Neil Bahadur ★★★★ 2

  "Well, everything is unprecedented until it happens for the first time."
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  "When's the last time you heard of somebody landing a jet plane on the water, and everybody lived?"

  
  Near the end of the film there's a remarkably unusual moment of speechifying for Eastwood, so odd that it comes off initially as clumsy - almost comically inept. And perhaps this is true of the film taken as a singular work. Yet this segment seems the most concise description of Eastwood as an artist: "How much time did the pilot spend planning or this event? You've allowed no time for analysis and decision making. In these simulations you've taken all of the humanity out of the cockpit..." Hanks's Sullenberger states:…

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  Review by KYK ★★★★ 1

  surreal reality vs. recurring dreams that feel real. celebrity and myth-making vs. the non-heroism of his act. and what that means for the existence of sully, the movie.