Review of the Reviews

   Flight starring Denzel Washington was a film that my family members loved and raved about for weeks. This movie was simply about an experienced pilot that has a mechanical failure with his plane but also happens to be drunk and high on the same day while he's flying. Even though he lands the plane and saves all but 6 people, there is a trial and obstacles that he faces throughout the film. We later on find out that he has is an alcoholic and has lost his family and is about to obviously lose his job. For this blog post I read two top critic reviews to get the outlook of others.
http://www.reelviews.net/php_review_template.php?identifier=2545
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/02/movies/flight-stars-denzel-washington-as-an-alcoholic-pilot.html?ref=movies&_r=1
   The first article I read was rated at a mediocre 75% by the author, James Berardinelli. James included many points in his article including the director's, Robert Zemeckis', latest films and achievements like Back to the Future, Forest Gump, and The Polar Express. He compared Zemeckis' earlier films to this one because of the simple fact of that Flight is as Berardinelli says," uncompromisingly dark." This film is something different that no one expected from Zemeckis which intrigued some but not many viewers.
   Berardinelli also speaks on the downfall or negative qualities about the film. He states it has: "an underdeveloped subplot about the blame game" and a too obvious ruse to let Denzel Washington back down his alcoholic path the same day of his trial, which felt a bit forced. Everyone who has seen the film could agree, but those things are minor things out of the whole movie. Viewers attention span was also spoken about in the article. Berardinelli thinks that viewers would get bored and wouldn't be able to endure the full movie of Denzel Washington destroying himself. The movie is not entertaining but very well put together.
   The last review I read was in the New York Times written by Manohla Dargis and it gave Flight an outstanding 90 on its website. This review basically praised the whole film from its actors, camerqa shots, and director. Dargis felt like the film was something that everyone could connect to because it was so real and raw. She gives Denzel Washington and Robert Zemeckis a great deal of kudos for Washington's outstanding performance and Zemeckis' great use of racing cameras and his return to live-action cinema.
   After I seen Flight I didn't know what to think about it. I was sort of in the middle and I am actually glad that I am doing this research just to get different point of views. From Berardinelli's article, one thing he says really caught my eye. He states, "The acting is top-notch, the writing is on-target, and the material packs a dramatic punch. It may not be frivolously engaging but it is compelling." I totally agreed with this statement just because while watching the film I felt just a bit bored of Washington's character's same actions and words. He would constantly just abuse and misuse not only himself but everyone around him which was frustrating to watch. But, I also agreed with the New York Times article written by Dargis. She states, "...the accident in “Flight” is freakishly real; it’s one of those big-screen nightmares that will inspire fear-of-flying moviegoers to run home and Google car rental deals and Greyhound schedules. It’s a showstopper, with thrashing inverted bodies amid sickening screams and engine noises." I totally agreed with her opinion because as a person who is fearful of riding planes, this movie convinced me that what I was watching was actually real. Zemeckis' did a outstanding job with camera shots and editing throughout the movie.
If I never saw Flight and looked up reviews about the  movie, I would honestly be more convinced by the New York Times article. The author did a wonderful job with vocabulary selection and keeping the reader enticed about her view of the film. I not only picked this article for the author's entertaining writing skills, but also for its more well known website and newspaper. I simply just felt like it was more of a dependable source.
   Coming to the end of the review, topics that I would reveal on Flight if I wrote a review would certainly contain the great list of actors in this movie like Denzel Washington, Don Cheadle, and John Goodman. Seeing these well-known actors in the film just made the movie more interesting and compelling. I would also contain sporadic bits of humor the director would put in the movie. Zemeckis would use actors like John Goodman for comic relief to lighten the mood just a slight bit which I really enjoyed. All in all, I think that Flight was overall a very dark but interesting movie on a topic that many people could easily relate to.