Movie Review – Sully (2016)

Leslie’s Notes

I saw this movie last night at a special preview showing at 7 pm in Little Rock. The theater was about half full but the audience was very enthusiastic! This is my first movie review I’ve written since I completed the summer program at the School of Cinematic Arts at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles. I always watch movies with an eye for all aspects of production – costumes, lighting, sound, and camera angles – along with the acting and dialogue. But for this movie, I was especially tuned in to how much a great production it is along with being a wonderful movie. Director Clint Eastwood had the daunting task of recreating an actual event with actual people and to make it look realistic without looking fake or deceptive. The result is a very suspenseful, astonishing and factual movie that kept my interest from the very first scene to the credits, which resulted in clapping from the small but enthusiastic audience I was a member of.

While I was in California this summer I met a man who “recreates” airplane scenes for movies and television shows. He was involved in aircraft production for many years and was asked to help with a project because real airplanes can not be used, so he has a new career designing aircraft for film and television productions. I wonder if he worked on this movie. I thought the entire movie was great, from the acting to the scenes shot in New York City. I can remember when this actual event occurred, and I can remember my late husband, Stewart Doan, talking to me about it because he was able to watch the rescue process live on television at the time. I think he would have loved this movie too.