Flying High

Nadine Velazquez

John Goodman

The frugal man that I am absolutely refused to pay full price to see Denzel Washington's latest film, Flight; so, I jumped up early this morning and caught the 10:45 AM showing for the much more reasonable matinee price of $6.00.  Whew!  The first part of the film had me on pins and needles.  I mean, I felt like I was actually aboard the plane!  My heart raced.  And I almost climbed into the chair next to me!  Haaa!

The first part of the film really kept me alert and anxious.  After Denzel's booze & drugged up character goes to live at his father's old farm to get away from the media spotlight, I found my eyelids becoming cinder block heavy.  A lot of talking and not a lot of action.  However, the gods of cinema must have heard my near-dozing plea, 'cause the latter part of the film slapped me back into complete consciousness and returned me back to wondering what the heck was gonna happen next.

This film is part action flick.  And part morality play.  Could one do the action and maintain his moral integrity afterward?  Hmm.  That's the million dollar question.  All in all, I had a good time.  It was great seeing a 58-yr-old man look like a 58-yr-old man.  I'm glad Denzel didn't hit the gym like a fiend to look like a man his character probably wouldn't look like in order to maintain Denzel's movie star status.  Heck, he's undoubtedly cemented it more by daring to make his character appear as flawed as he actually was.  Bravo, Mr. Washington!  And bravo to the young actress, Nadine Velazquez, who portrayed his on-the-job fling.  She was flippin' sexy as f#*k!  And as for John Goodman, fuggedabout it!  He was simply SENSATIONAL!  After he exited his first scene, the audience celebrated his tour de force performance with a hearty round of applause!  Who knew my beloved "Dan Conner" had it in him????  I knew!!!!  :)