Director Clint Eastwood’s (American Sniper, Mystic River, Million Dollar Baby) latest movie Sully is, ironically, not centered around a random guy with the last name Sullivan or some obscure neighborhood bar located in the outskirts of Boston.
It centers around the real-life event surrounding USA Airways Flight 1549 piloted by Chelsey Sullenberger (Tom Hanks) and Jeff Skiles (Aaron Eckhart), which left New York’s LaGuardia Airport en route to Charlotte, NC on the morning of January 15, 2009 and 208 seconds later performed an emergency and unprecedented landing (more like an aviation”bellyflop”) into the Hudson River.
(Not really) a Spoiler Alert: all 155 passengers on board miraculously survived.
Very well known for his thrifty movie-making approaches I was half-expecting Eastwood to show a dramatization of the entire crash sequence – which he did, twice, in very much a sphincter clenching way – and after all was said and done, pan the camera towards Hanks (Sully), have him say something like “yeah, that’s right, I landed that shit,” and then fad to black, roll credits.
Basically the ultimate mic drop.
And this is why I have never won an Academy Award or have never been paid money to make a movie.1
There are no real surprises to the events themselves, and I can understand why some may think to themselves “why did this movie need to be made in the first place? We all know what happens.” I can respect that.
Could the argument be made that it’s a predictable plot? Sure. This is standard procedure with any movie made about an historical event. I think it’s a stupid argument to make. We all know the Titanic sinks and yet that didn’t stop James Cameron from 1) making a metric shit-ton of money and 2) making me ball my eyes out.
So, yeah, the plot is predictable, but it doesn’t make what happened any less fascinating. However, the meat and potatoes of the plot isn’t so much about the event itself…but rather how it affects “Sully” and the rest of the people involved.
Not surprisingly, after an event like that, there’s going to be a degree of “WTF just happened?” and wonderment about whether or not the right call was made?
Could he have made it back to LaGuardia?
Did he have to land the plane in the river?
Could the higher-ups involved with reviewing the whole scenario be any more dickish than they were?
The movie, while depicting a miraculous event, had more to do with the aftermath and how Sully dealt with the inquisition on his actions, and also, too, his transition from a guy “doing his job” to instant celebrity and hero and guy I want to pilot every flight I’m on from here on out.
In a time where we’re surrounded by a social and political environment fueled by hate, bigotry, ignorance, and a lot of dark and sinister adjectives…it was refreshing to head to the theater for 90 minutes and be reminded that human beings can be pretty darn calm, cool, and collected. It was nice to see and be reminded that something good can happen.
Screw the conventional, formulaic approach to writing movie reviews.
You know those snazzy, buzzword filled headlines a lot of studios use from various magazine or newspaper reviewers to help promote their movie?
Examples include:
“4 Stars”
“Damon shines!”
“Best space drama since Apollo 13.”
Those are all fine and dandy, if not woefully lame. Here’s what mine would say:
“The Martian is one hour and 44 minutes of Celias for your penis. I had a nerd boner the entire time. And, Damon shines.
Okay, okay…a bit crass. But I defy you to tell me you’re not 100% interested in going to see this movie now. And you should go see it. Because it very much is the best space drama (don’t worry, there still a bunch of action) since Apollo 13.
Based off the book written by author Andy Weir, it’s a miracle this book was ever published much less made into the latest Hollywood blockbuster starring Matt Damon and directed by Ridley mothereffing Scott.
The Martian was first published on Andy Weir’s blog…for free. Egged on by friends and fans of the story he then made the book available on Amazon which could then be downloaded for $1.
And it BLEW up from there.
The story follows astronaut, botanist, engineer, and seminal jokester, Mark Watney (Damon)1, as he attempts to “science the shit out of this planet” after a freak accident results in the rest of his crew leaving him behind thinking he was dead.
Oops.
And so the story unfolds as we follow Mark as he tries to solve a congested number of life threatening issues including but not limited to lack of food, water, any semblance of communication with NASA, and an infinite amount of disco music at his disposal.
Much of the fun is watching him solve each thing with a fervorous “huh, so that’s how you’d grow potatoes on planet with no soil, water, and an average temperature of -81 degrees Fahrenheit” enthusiasm; cool!
Equally as thrilling is watching the higher ups at NASA – Jeff Daniels, Sean Bean (SPOILER ALERT: who’s character doesn’t die for once), Chiwetel Ejiofor, Mackenzie Davis, Kristen Wiig, et. al – debate on how to get him home.
Can they get him home?
And least we forget the crew back on the Hermes – Chastain, Kate Mara, Michael Pena, Aksel Hennie, and the Winter Soldier himself, Sebastian Stan – who, to no fault of their own, left Watney behind. What the hell is going on through their heads?
It’s smart. It’s set in space. It’s directed, masterfully, by Ridley Scott.
And I don’t mean sick as in bad. I mean sick as in “holy shit balls this movie is fucking amazing.”
For those who need a minor brush up on their Spanish, the word ‘sicario’ can be translated to mean “hit man,” which I knew because 1) I remember all of like four words from taking Spanish in high school (biblioteca, dos, pollo, sicario. Oh, and Feliz Navidad), and 2) my wife and I just finished binge watching the first season of Narcos on Netflix.
Highly recommend it by the way.
Sicario begins by introducing us to Emily Blunt’s character, Kate, an FBI agent who’s tough as nails and as by the book as they come (as we learn later, and proves to be to her detriment).
I have slight issue with Emily Blunt being characterized as “tough as nails” because she’s all of 110 lbs (and has a cute British access in real life). But she pretty much is in this movie, plus she kicked some ass in Edge of Tomorrow so whatever, I’ll roll with it. It’s Hollywood.
She’s involved in a pretty intense raid/drug bust in the opening sequence which results in a rather disturbing and grotesque revelation that I won’t divulge here. Needless to say: it speaks to a higher, more nefarious plot point.
A plot point that results in her be “recruited” by what can only be described as an equally nefarious secret government task force – hello Josh Brolin and the almost always excellent Benicio del Toro – hell bent on not really telling what she’s being recruited for.
“Just shut up and learn,” she’s repeatedly told.
And so the plot unfolds.
In one of the most intense, dark, and beautifully shot (huge props to cinematographer, Roger Deakins) films I’ve seen in recent memory
I love dark movies.
While I understand that many people use the movies as a way to escape the doom and gloom that surrounds us – Ebola, war, terrorism, Justin Bieber – and look forward to the same story line where the guy gets the girl in the end, Lassie makes it home, or to be immersed in a cornucopia of CGI eye candy where The Rock arm wrestles a T-Rex1, I for one appreciate when a movie is less butterfly kisses and rainbows (and CGI) and more of a punch in the throat that reminds us “yeah, this is real life, some shit out there is fucked up sometimes.”
I have to give a tip of the hat to director Denis Villeneuve (Prisoners, Enemy) who’s quickly climbing the ladder as one of “new” great directors, and someone who doesn’t flinch when it comes to telling a dark story…much in the same vein as David Fincher.
Everything from the storyline itself to the ominous score to the really, really cool scenes involving a gun battle at the U.S./Mexican border and night vision goggles in a tunnel (WARNING: if you’re claustrophobic you may want to skip this part) is brilliantly handled.
And least we forget the acting performances themselves. Blunt and Brolin are fine in their roles, but it’s del Toro who shines.
Every scene he’s in makes you crave for more. There’s one scene involving him and a family eating together at dinner that more or less serves as the crescendo of the film. Sooooooo good.
Look for a Best Supporting Actor nod, and don’t be surprised if he wins for the second time (his first being Traffic).
Sicario, so far, is my favorite movie this year. Go see it.
Ex Machina is considered a futuristic Sci-Fi movie, but I’d argue it’s about as non-futuristic a Sci-Fi movie as you’re ever going to see.
I forget where I read it originally, but I believe the director and writer of the movie, Alex Garland, stated in an interview recently that the movie takes place “10 minutes into the future.”
Because, really, would we be all that surprised if the likes of Google or Apple came out today and stated they’ve solved the A.I (Artificial Intelligence) riddle?
I think not.
The movies follows talented wiz-kid programmer Caleb (played by Domhnall Gleeson, Anna Karenina, About Time, and the upcoming Star Wars Episode VII1) as he’s seemingly the random winner of an inter-company (feel free to insert Google here) lottery to go and hang out and chill with the founder and CEO, a recluse genius named Nathan, played by Oscar Isaac (who’s quickly climbing the ladder as one of my new favorite actors).
So off Caleb goes via helicopter to the middle of nowhere. Alone. To hang out and hobnob with some guy he doesn’t know who happens to live in a half underground bunker/half technological fortress with “enough fiberoptic cabling within its walls to make the trek to the moon and back” for a week.
There better be Netflix available! Just sayin.
It doesn’t take long for Caleb to find out why he’s there. To test Ava (played by the talented Alicia Vikander), Nathan’s latest (and top secret) A.I creation, to see if she can pass the Turing Test and subsequently, pass as human.
I obviously don’t want to give away any particulars and ruin the fun, but needless to say some shenanigans starts going down. Caleb soon realizes that him being invited wasn’t all that random after all, and well, Nathan may or may have some ulterior motives up his sleeve.
And there’s no Netflix. WTF!
Also, Ava is hot. She’s a hot robot. She’s a hot robot with a killer body. [Thankfully the producers didn’t hire me to come up with the tagline for the movie.]
She may have some ulterior motives of her own. Particularly when she confides in Caleb to not trust anything Nathan says.
What could go wrong?
Compound that with Caleb, who isn’t what we’d call a traditional ladies man, and you can do the predictable movie math.
The “will they or won’t they” vibe was predictable2, I called it half way in!, however the writing is crisp (and well paced), and the last 15-20 minutes will keep you on the edge of your seat.
Definitely worth the viewing if your local theater is playing it. At the very least it will help curb your robot/A.I. fetish (you freak!) until The Avengers: Age of Ultron comes out this weekend.
There’s a scene in Whiplash where the camera pans over Andrew’s shoulder (played by Miles Teller) as he’s lying on his bed tapping his fingers to an imagined tempo reverberating inside his head to a quote on his wall that says, “if you can’t do it right, you’ll end up joining a rock band.”
Or something to that effect. I don’t remember the quote verbatim.
It was a quick shot, and subtle, but the message (and joke) was clear: real drummers don’t join rock bands. And they certainly don’t go out of their way to listen to Bon Jovi. My apologies to New Jersey.
Real drummers do jazz.
And that’s the where the opening scene of Whiplash takes us. The screen is black and all you hear is the gradual beat of a drum as it slowly speeds up. We then see Andrew sitting alone in a room behind a drum set as the camera crawls in closer and closer to the inevitable speedy crescendo.
And all I could think to myself was, “holy shit, he’s actually doing that. Miles’ got skills!”
More on that point in a bit.
Andrew is day one into attending the prestigious and cutthroat music school he’s been accepted into (think: Juilliard in everything but name), when he looks up and sees one of the teachers, Terrance Fletcher, played by J.K. Simmons (otherwise known as “that guy in that movie,” or “Juno’s dad”) standing there listening and watching.
There’s an exchange of words, an awkward interaction, and you can tell Andrew is going to shit a drumstick he’s so terrified of his teacher. You just know that, eventually, bad things are going to happen.
And they do.
I’m not giving any of the plot away when I say Fletcher is a douche to the douchiest degree. He’s an old-school teacher who demands a lot from his students and isn’t scared to lash into them – both verbally and physically – in the blink of an eye. In one of the more memorable scenes, Fletcher lays into Andrew making him cry.
“Are you one of those single tear people? You are a worthless pancy-ass who is now weeping and slobbering all over my drumset like a nine year old girl!”
It was both funny and “fidget in my seat uncomfortable” at the same time.
To his credit, Simmons knocked this role out of the ballpark. I couldn’t help but compare his performance to that of Sgt. Hartman in Full Metal Jacket. I was half expecting a “Private Pyle” reference at some point.
Simmons has always been regarded as a renowned character actor, oftentimes playing idiosyncratic roles, and it was amazing to see him in more of a dramatic setting outside of the scope we’re used to seeing him in, sans HBO’s Oz.
And I have to say, my man looked YOKED up in this movie. Easily one of the most diesel looking music teachers in cinematic history. He could totally kick Mr. Holland’s ass. And take his lunch money for good measure.
If Simmons doesn’t receive a Best Supporting Actor nod at this year’s Oscars it will be a travesty.
A travesty I tell you.
And equally as impressive is Miles Teller. I remember first seeing Teller a few years ago in the Nicole Kidman/Aaron Eckart vehicle, Rabbit Hole, and holding his own against the two Hollywood heavyweights.
Up until now he’s been best known for his role in The Spectacular Now – the campy (albeit well reviewed) teenage love/coming of age story also starring Shailene Woodley. I don’t doubt that it’s a decent movie. I didn’t see it. Mainly because I have a penis.
Giving credit where it’s due, though, Teller does demonstrate impressive ability. Having “studied” drums since he was 15 in real life, it wasn’t a stretch for him to play the part of a percussionist protege.
He pulls it off flawlessly.
Unlike, say, Freddie Prinze Jr. back in the day in the movie Summer Catch. Remember that one? Didn’t think so. To refresh your memory, Prinze plays a college baseball player who throws 95 MPH, despite having the throwing mechanics of a one-armed shark.
Exactly. Sharks don’t even have arms!
It was that bad.
Anyways, apparently Teller went through some sort of drumming bootcamp, practicing four hours per day for 3-4 months to prepare for the role. It pays off.
I listened to an interview that writer/director, Damien Chazelle, did on EW radio and he revealed that there was little “movie magic” involved in masking Teller’s performance. 80-85% of what you see in the movie with regards to drumming is him. Cool!
And speaking of Chazelle, he was able to make this movie because he first made a short film a while back – also titled Whiplash – which won a bunch of praise and awards. Because of it’s success, he was then able to get enough funding to make the main feature.
I suspect that this will also earn a lot of praise and awards.
Before I get into today’s meat and potatoes I wanted to take the opportunity to suggest some new movies I think some of you will like.
As most of you who read this blog consistently understand, I’m a huge movie nerd. I’d venture a guess that if I wasn’t a strength coach I’d probably try to figure out some way to become Kate Beckinsale’s cabana boy watch movies for a living.
Sort of like a more jacked version of Robert Ebert – except instead of something mundane like a star system or something trademarked like a thumbs-up/thumbs-down review (ALA Siskel & Ebert), I’d rank movies using a ” loaded” barbell system.
A barbell with no plates = god awful (Pain and Gain,The Hangover II, anything with the word Twilight in it).
From there, the more plates added onto the barbell dictates its level of badassery.
Ahhh, a guy can dream right?
Anyways, two movies I’ve watched recently that I felt were fairly decent and worthy of 3-4 plates were:
The former stars Brad Pitt as a hitman for hire and has some of the best cinematography I’ve seen in any film this year. Coincidentally, there was a movie that Pitt did a few years back with the same director called The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford which I felt was another highly UNDERrated film that didn’t get much fanfare despite being nominated for two Oscars (Best Supporting Actor – Casey Affleck, and Achievement in Cinematography).
A fair warning: It’s more of a dialogue based movie and doesn’t really have a lot of shoot em-up scenes despite the title. All I’ll add to that point is that I LOVE good dialogue and Pitt’s closing monologue is epic!
The latter movie – A Place Beyond the Pines – is one that Lisa and I have been meaning to see for a few weeks now. I mean, it’s Ryan Gosling – the man can do no wrong after Drive.
We finally had the chance to go see it yesterday. This film teams Gosling with director Derek Cianfrance, who also directed Gosling (and Michelle Williams) in a Blue Valentine (arguably one of the most depressing yet unflinchingly real films on the heartache of relationships), and while I wanted to really, really like this film, I had to give it a solid B- because it’s so freaking long.
The acting was superb – kudos to Bradley Cooper by the way – but there were a few plot points I felt didn’t jive, and while I appreciated the storyline (the first act focuses on Gosling’s character, the second on Cooper’s, and the third on their two sons, I don’t want to give away the “twist”), I felt it was a teeny tiny bit far reaching.
Nonetheless, if you’re looking for two non-Iron Man 3 movies to watch relatively soon, maybe these will be up your alley?
Talking Shop: Video Interview with Tony Gentilcore – Harold Gibbons
I had the pleasure of sitting down for a Skype video interview with my pal Harold Gibbons last week where we discussed everything from why Yoda would make such an amazing strength coach to the fitness writing process. And lots of other stuff in between.
If you’re looking for an hour to kill while you’re sitting there at your desk hating life and think listening to my sultry voice would help pass the time, then I’d highly recommend slapping on a pair of headphones and give it a listen.
This was easily of the funnest interviews I’ve ever done.
And look! There’s a dragon in the background. Sweet!……;o)
I’m about as adept at olympic lifting as I am at playing poker. Which is to say, I’m god awful. Speaking truthfully I don’t have a lot of experience with the OLY lifts which is why I generally steer clear of them and point people in the direction of guys like Wil whenever someone is interested in dabbling a little bit.
Even if OLY lifting isn’t your bag this was a fantastic post which digs into some common mobility restrictions. Check out the t-spine drill!
On an aside, for those who are interesting in OLY lifting, I’d highly recommend Wil’s Complete Olympic Lifting DVD.
It’s been a few weeks since I’ve written one of my miscellaneous posts, so I figured this would be the perfect way to start what I hope will be a full week of blogging.
1. It’s no secret that I heart movies. I’ve always joked that if I were ever independently wealthy, all I would do is train, finance my own gourmet omelet restaurant/bowling center, and hang out with Matt Damon and give each other high-fives while we watch movies – like, all the time.
There are only a few shows on television that I like to watch: The Daily Show, the Red Sox (when it’s baseball season), Top Chef, and House Hunters. Namely, with regards to the latter, Lisa and I just like to have fake arguments with the couple’s that are on the show.
I mean, how asinine is it that someone walks into a room, and can’t look past the color of paint on the walls?
Anyways, I don’t watch a lot of tv, and would much rather walk down to the theater and catch a movie.
In the past few weeks alone, we’ve seen Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol (awesome), The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo (I read the books AND watched the original foreign films, too, but the American version was like whoa); Sherlock Holmes (first one was better); A Dangerous Method (Keira Knightely shows her boobies); Melancholia (Kirsten Dunst also shows her boobies, but it was the worst movie I’ve ever seen); The Descendants (good, but overrated); and lastly, Haywire, which Lisa and I saw yesterday.
I’ve been anxiously waiting for this movie to come out since I first saw the trailer back in November. Directed by one of my favs, Steven Soderbergh – of Erin Brockovich and Ocean’s 11,12,&13 fame – and starring Gina Carano – of MMA, she can totally kick your ass fame – Haywire, in simplest terms, is basically the female equivalent of the Jason Bourne films.
While Carano won’t be winning any Best Actress awards anytime soon, she more than held her own, and it was clear, from the start, that the film was all about showcasing her fighting skills.
What I liked best was that the movie wasn’t enhanced with silly sound effects or over-the-top music during the fight scenes. Instead, it was raw, unadulterated, awesomeness.
What was interesting, and this was something that Lisa brought up on our walk back home, was that Carano’s physique was covered up. There was no doubt that the film makers showcased Carano’s, um, assets. But you couldn’t help but think that they were purposely holding back and blatantly covering up her pecs, shoulders, and upper back throughout. Possibly to make her seem more feminine?
Either way, like I said, it was great to see a (believable) female character kick some ass. I get so tired of watching female characters who weigh like 87 lbs toss around dudes three times their size like a paperweights. Conversely, Carano looks the part. And she ain’t too shabby on the eyes either.
All in all, when you combine the action, writing, directing, as well as the supporting cast (Michael Fassbender, Michael Douglass, Antonio Banderas, Obi Wan Kenobi Ewan McGregor), it was definitely worth seeing.
I gave the movie a solid B.
2. Speaking of strong female characters, HERE is an awesome interview done with MariAnne Kane from the Girls Gone Strong crew.
I LOVE what these women are doing for the industry. Guys have always had the likes of Arnold, Ronnie Coleman, Dave Tate, and numerous others to look up to. Now, thanks to Girls Gone Strong, women have someone to look up to for inspiration. And it’s a beautiful thing.
3. Here’s a question that I received in the mail the other day:
Q: Tony is it ok to switch from doing regular deadlifts and do deficit deadlifts as a different variation for training deadlifts? What are the benefits of doing deficit deadlifts… do they still work the same muscle groups ?
A: It’s definitely okay to switch from “regular” deadlifts to deficit deadlifts. While there are a few benefits, the main one to consider is that deficit deadlifts help to increase the ROM, which for those who are slow off the ground, can bode in their favor.
In short, when you return back to standard height, the weight should feel lighter.
The key thing to remember, though, is that you DO NOT need a huge deficit to perform these. Anything from 1-4 inches is plenty. Placing a plate underneath each foot should suffice for most.
Additionally, and maybe even more important, is that deficit deadlifts aren’t something you’ll want to include in your programming for a prolonged period of time – ESPECIALLY if your technique isn’t up to par.
As noted previously, you’re going to increase the ROM of the movement which by default, will make it more challenging. And hence, maybe more deleterious to the spine (if done incorrectly).
Having said that, even if you’re technique is flawless, I’d still be reluctant to do this for more than 3-4 weeks at a time. Honestly, four weeks is pushing it in my eyes.
To that end, deficit deadlifts are a worthwhile variation to include in your programming – I just wouldn’t use them exclusively for a long period of time.
4. On January 2nd my girlfriend, Lisa, started a little experiment on herself. She’s always been interested in nutrition and the effects that certain foods can have on the body. After doing a little research and talking to a few people, she picked up The Paleo Diet.
It really resonated with her (she read the entire book in a day), and so, she decided she’d give it a try for 60 days.
Now, I understand that there are a lot of detractors out there who will chime in and say something along the lines of “Tony, Tony, Tony…..you do realize that we have no idea what our Paleolithic ancestors ate, and it’s all based on speculation and not fact, right?”
Indeed, I do. Who cares!?! I also realize they didn’t eat Dunkin Donuts for breakfast. To each his own.
Nonetheless, it’s not like Lisa cowers into the fetal position every time she encounters a carb. She has her allotted “off” meals on the weekends. But all told, she’s been following the diet verbatim, focusing her efforts on lean meats (beef, buffalo, chicken, ground turkey,etc), tons of greens and various fruits, and limiting her salt and sugar intake.
After three weeks, she feels amazing! She’s more energetic and it takes her waaaaaaay longer to get pissed off whenever I leave dirty clothes on the couch. It’s a win-win if you ask me.
Being the supportive boyfriend that I am, I’m doing a Paleo’ish type diet, too. Albeit, I’m still allowing myself more wiggle room like oatmeal, sweet potatoes, yogurt, Ezekiel bread, and grass fed dragon.
So far, I really like it, and it definitely supports my lifestyle. I can’t say for sure whether or not I’ll follow it long-term, but for now, it seems to be working.
I’ll keep everyone posted.
5. And lastly, sitting sucks. Read THIS article if you don’t believe me.
