Sully
Clint Eastwood directs this true story based on the 2009 events which saw pilot Chelsey “Sully” Sullenberger (Hanks) and co-pilot Jeff Skiles (Eckhart) emergency land US Airways Flight 1549 on the Hudson River in New York following total engine failure. But while Sully is heralded as a national hero, an inquiry soon follows to determine whether the plane could have been returned safely back to one of the nearby airports, and therefore the lives of its 155 passengers not endangered. Sully is a touching drama that intelligently opts for not jumping straight into the incident, often using disruptive narrative to bring full effect and demonstrate the emotional and psychological impact of the pilots, as well as using some haunting images that echo 9/11. And as usual, Tom Hanks delivers a genuine and typically-likeable performance – as does Eckhart – effortlessly selling the heart of both the film and story. In yet another year of absurdly-outlandish and painfully-and-perfectly-polished, computerised superheroes, Sully is a refreshingly-uplifting true tale about a real American hero.
Office Christmas Party
Jason Bateman and T.J Miller play Josh Parker and Clay Vanstone, Chief Technical Officer and CEO at Zenotek’s New York branch, which, in the run-up to Christmas, they learn faces mass redundancy at the hands of Clay’s ruthless sister, Jenifer Aniston’s Carol Vanstone. But when Clay, perhaps the most relaxed and anti-corporate (and therefore perfect) CEO ever, hatches a plan that might save his beloved workforce by inviting potential investor Walter Davis to their office-based office party, festive antics from cocaine-pumping snow machines to gun-wielding pimps ensue. As the obligatory Christmas comedy film, Office Christmas Party just shouldn’t work, but this fun flick, at least for the most part, doesn’t do too badly. Of course, it can’t survive without some comedy-mandated innuendo, but deep at its core, there’s a (luke)warm message about the work family. Unfortunately, any real hope for redemption is quickly pushed aside by a high-speed car chase and some unwelcome nonsense about the internet surviving off street lamps, or something.
Moana
From the team that brought you Frozen, comes “Moana”; a girl who is “chosen” by the ocean to return a sacred heart to the island of Te Fiti to save her home island, Motunui, from darkness. Going against her father’s will, Moana sets sail on a treacherous journey to find Maui (Duane Johnson), the demigod who stole the ancient stone some thousand years ago. Moana might be the most gorgeous CGI film to have emerged from Pixar, but the efforts to craft such a rich and beautiful world are quickly spoiled by some dumb-shaped characters that look better-suited in a computer game. The real trouble here though is the film’s transparency: not only are its attempts to do nothing more than sell toys and become the next craze painfully obvious, it also tries to steer away from the expected formula (handsome princes and romance are noticeably absent), but ends up becoming just as formulaic in its own right (cute and stupid animal friends not so absent). Then there are the jokes about Twitter and equal rights, near-curse words, a barrage of songs (all dreadful bar Moana’s signature sing-along), which simply aren’t enough to save this doomed voyage.
