Flight

In Flight, Denzel Washington plays Whip, a pilot leading a life of addiction.  His routine seems to be booze and loose women at night, followed by cocaine like a rejuvenating chaser before he begins flying all day.  Somehow this works for him, and probably has for years, until a mechanical failure mid-flight forces him to make a daring crash landing.  He is regarded as a hero for his quick thinking, but as the investigation of the crash digs deeper, his sobriety comes into question.

A majority of the film focuses on Whip’s denial and the way he and the airline’s team of lawyers plan to save his public reputation.  There is a lot of damage control by many people.  Right away, Whip retreats to his remote family home and dumps all the drugs and alcohol.  The lawyers get Whip’s blood sample, with a damning blood alcohol content of .2 and traces of cocaine, stricken from the record due to trivial technicalities.  And when things really go south at the crucial moment, Harling Mays (John Goodman) is called in to give Whip his dose of cocaine to fly above his hangover.  It’s a lot of work to keep Whip looking like a hero.

The crash scene is an early pivotal point in the film that comes with nail biting intensity.  In a sudden moment, what was a normal flight becomes a nightmare when the plane inexplicably goes into a nosedive.  This wakes Whip out of his drunken nap (he made himself a screwdriver earlier in the flight), to find that his copilot, Ken Evans (Brian Geraghty) has no control.  With quick thinking, he orders everyone to strap in and he turns the plane upside down, to glide towards an open field and lose speed.  As the ground grows nearer, and one heroic stewardess is helplessly hurled around the cabin, he flips the plane back upright just before taking out the steeple of a church and crashing into the field behind it.  This scene, especially just after the crash, is not for the faint of heart.

One thing I really enjoyed about Flight was the soundtrack.  It boasts classic hits like Gimmie Shelter by The Rolling Stones and Feelin’ Alright by Traffic.  Many of the songs seem to help set a tone for Whip’s intoxicated state.  Perhaps it is how Whip has come to imagine himself after all the liquor and cocaine and he is heading into the air.  He does a good job of pulling off this persona under his authoritative uniform and dark sunglasses.

At last year’s Oscars, Flight was nominated for two awards, best original screenplay and Denzel Washington was nominated for lead actor.  When it came to the best picture race, I believe Flight came up just short in a thick field.  It’s a very smart and compelling film that focuses on a man and his journey through and away from his denial of addiction.  It could be a slight disappointment for those who are more concerned with the technical reasons for the plane crash than the character who in all the wrong ways, became a hero.

“Nobody could’ve landed that plane like I did.”

Ray

The first image I remember of Ray Charles is probably that scene in The Blues Brothers where he plays Shake a Tail Feather.  As a kid, I don’t think my first thought was concerning Ray’s blindness, bur rather how he played with such enthusiasm and could really move to the music just sitting behind a keyboard.  I don’t remember, but my dad might have had to tell me he was blind before I realized it.  Maybe kids just don’t notice those sort of things when someone doesn’t seem handicapped.

This movie biopic about Ray Charles takes place way before the days of The Blues Brothers.  We first meet him as a young man on his way to Seattle to play in a little jazz joint called The Rocking Chair.  He has a nice start there as part of a trio, but quickly realizes that he’s treated like a dog on a leash.  Everyone feels like because of his blindness he needs to be looked after, taken care of, babysat.  He leaves to play somewhere else, but this keeps happening until he establishes himself.  Unfortunately, along the way he starts using heroin and cheats on his wife while he’s on the road.

Sex and drugs aren’t his first problem though.  As the film progresses, we get looks back at Ray’s early childhood in the rural south.  We see his first encounter with a piano and some memories that haunt him throughout his life and only intensify with his heroin addiction.  These flashbacks also show us how Ray slowly lost his sight at just seven years old.

Jamie Foxx hands down deserved the Oscar he won for portraying Ray Charles.  Everything is there, the walk that rocks back and forth, the kinda fidgety way he moves and the slight stutter.  And it’s not done in a caricature way you see all the time, but fleshes out to feel authentic.  Foxx was even blind during filming due to the eye prosthetics he had to wear and really had to figure out how to move around the sets on his own while being Ray.

And let’s not forget the music.  Jamie Fox really did play piano for all the scenes, but you could swear it’s Charles.  He looks that passionate and natural.

Now, I think people are likely to compare this film to Walk the Line from 2005, the biopic about Johnny Cash’s career and overcoming his drug addiction.  They’re both good movies with similar subjects but vastly different.  First of all, country and jazz and rock and roll are two different worlds.  Another, Walk the Line mostly becomes a love story and Reese Witherspoon schools Joaquin Phoenix in acting, whereas Ray is strictly about Ray and Jamie Fox carries this film all on his own with out even seeing.  And their childhood traumas, Ray’s has Johnny’s guilt issues plus blindness.  Like I said, I enjoy both films, but Ray has more merit.

Obviously any fans of Ray Charles or Jamie Foxx have to put this on their must-see list.  If you’re interested in rock and roll history or the Civil Rights movement, this should also be up your alley.  Everyone else, just see it cause it’s a good movie, I guarantee you’ll be tapping your toes along with the music.

“Always remember your promise to me. Never let nobody or nothing turn you into no cripple.”