We'll have to wait until September 9th to watch Clint Eastwood's Sully, I presume it stands a good shot at being chosen for the Telluride film festival. The date is too close to TIFF's opener on the 8th to really get into that fest. Eastwood has been very streaky of late. He had a phenomenal phase between 2003-2008 where he just killed it with classic after classic ("Mystic River", "Million Dollar Baby", "Letters From Iwo Jima", "Changeling", "Gran Torino") then he went on a bit of a rut after that, I mean what else do you call "Invictus", "Hereafter", "J. Edgar" and "Jersey Boys". It sucks, because we all love him, but he lost his touch. His Oscar-nominated "American Sniper" was a good indicator that he still had it in him though. Forget all about the Left vs Right debate that surrounded the movie, that was just a damn fine movie about war and its PTSD effect on the soldiers.
The story of American pilot "Sully" Sullenberger, who landed the troubled US Airways Flight 1549 full of passengers on the Hudson River on January 15, 2009, is well known and was one of those feel-good stories that really just made you happy that something good actually happened in the news. Sully is a hero, he saved many lives on that day, but is it enough to make a feature-length movie out of it? Well, I think, judging by the trailer, that Eastwood's focus will very much be on the aftermath investigation and the backlash that occurred on Sullenberger. Supposedly, and I don't know if the film actually touches on this, Sullenberger's pension benefits were terminated just a month after the event and his salary cut by more than 40 percent. Supposedly airlines were hiring less experienced, but cheaper pilots and were cutting down on the Sully types. Now THAT could definitely make for an interesting movie if Eastwood can delve into this part of the aftermath.