FLIGHT (Rated R)

Film director Robert Zemeckis (“Back to the Future”) appears to be outside of his comfort zone with “Flight.” But then, anyone contemplating an airline trip shortly after watching this film may be slightly edgy and not in a comfortable place.

“Flight” opens with a terrifying scene. No, I am not referring to Denzel Washington’s Captain Whip Whitaker enjoying an all-night party of sex, booze and cocaine with a hot flight attendant (Nadine Velazquez).

This hotel room party scene occurs prior to Whitaker’s morning flight to Atlanta. The thought that he pulls himself together with lines of coke at the hotel and a few snorts of vodka on the plane may be the scary part.

Captain Whitaker, notwithstanding an addiction to drugs and alcohol, is an exceptional pilot, having earned his wings in the Navy. In the cockpit, he is a commanding, steady presence.

On the ground, Whitaker’s personal life is an entirely different story. His ex-wife only wants to talk about financial support. His teenage is resentful of his father’s emotional absence.

Two portraits of Whitaker’s character begin to emerge after the fateful plane crash, which by now must be familiar to most moviegoers who have seen the TV ads or trailers.

After initial exposure to Whitaker’s lifestyle, “Flight” delivers what is inarguably the most harrowing flight disaster ever conceived and put on film.

In a terrible storm, Whitaker artfully steers his passenger jet to smooth skies and away from severe turbulence, much to the joy of grateful passengers.

Yet, from the beginning, his younger co-pilot (Brian Geraghty) appears to be extremely nervous, but that’s more likely due to his suspicion that Whitaker may be operating at less than the optimal level.

Shortly thereafter, the calm skies fail to offer any confidence when the plane’s hydraulic system malfunctions and the airplane plunges into a steep dive, causing extreme panic for the frightened passengers.

Actually, everybody is afraid, even the flight crew. Except for Whitaker, who maintains surprising equilibrium as he tries to figure a maneuver that will avert a crash from which no one would walk away.

Whitaker inverts the plane, flying it upside-down so as to pull out of the uncontrolled descent, thereby buying some time in which to right-size the aircraft in time to land in an open field.

Of the 102 persons on board, 96 survive, thanks to Whitaker’s brilliant if unorthodox efforts. Suddenly, he’s a hero, sort of like Captain Sully Sullenberger, and eagerly pursued by news reporters.

Despite his heroics, Whitaker was also injured in the crash, and after getting out the hospital, he hides out at his grandfather’s old farmhouse to avoid the media glare.

At first, Whitaker dumps all the booze hidden in cabinets and drawers. He befriends pretty, young Nicole (Kelly Reilly) at the hospital, and invites her to stay with him when she is evicted from her shabby apartment.

Oddly enough, Nicole, a recovering drug addict, seeks to convince Whitaker to clean up his act, even taking him to an AA meeting where he can barely sit still.

Meanwhile, the feds start investigating the crash site and the remains of the plane, and a toxicology report reveals Whitaker’s excessive levels of booze and drugs in his system. The pilot faces serious criminal charges.

Whitaker’s old Navy buddy Charlie (Bruce Greenwood), a pilots’ union official, wants to help, and brings aboard a hotshot lawyer (Don Cheadle) to work some legal magic.

The pressure builds on Whitaker. He is not exactly cooperative with the legal team or the airline honchos. The inevitable relapse to more booze and drugs soon follows.

In less capable hands, Washington’s flawed Captain Whitaker would be likely viewed as a rather unappealing, selfish drunken loser with few redeeming qualities.

To the contrary, Washington brings his considerable charm and affability to a role that might not otherwise elicit sympathy from the audience. Still, it is rather uncomfortable to keep rooting in his corner.

“Flight” is not a spiritual journey, but it does take substantial measure of a fallible man’s soul, probing many of the dark corners of his self-destructive behavior.

Just like the jetliner featured so prominently, “Flight” has its share of flaws. The startlingly crash sequence is a stunner, and Denzel Washington is steadfastly on top of his game. But there are some plot holes.

It should be noted that John Goodman, channeling his character from “The Big Lebowski,” brings comic relief as Whitaker’s drug-dealing enabler.

“Flight” is definitely a worthwhile entertainment, delivering one unapologetically hellacious ride.

DVD RELEASE UPDATE

Like a broken record, this space keeps touting the release of favorite classic TV series on DVD. “Mr. Lucky” and “Peter Gunn” were truly vintage shows.

Now we are back to the more recent past, celebrating the DVD release of another season of “The Streets of San Francisco,” a gritty police drama from the 1970s.

“The Streets of San Francisco: Season Five: Volume One & Volume Two” brings back Michael Douglas as the college educated Inspector Steve Keller, teamed up with veteran detective Mike Stone (Karl Malden).

Season Five heralds the arrival of a new colleague. Richard Hatch stars as inspector Dan Robbins, who has a lot to learn about being a police detective on the streets of San Francisco.

The DVD is presented in full screen format, with a total running time for both volumes clocking in around 1,200 minutes of excitement and thrills.

Tim Riley writes film and television reviews for Lake County News.

COBB, Calif. – Come join the The Cobb Mountain Artists at the Holiday in the Pines Art and Craft Faire, Saturday, Nov. 10, and Sunday, Nov. 11, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

The show is hosted by the Mariah Meadows Resort and Spa (formally Salminas Resort). This rustic yet elegant resort is a spectacular venue to enjoy viewing a wide variety of art and craft.

On display for purchasing will be pottery, glass, fiber art, basketry, jewelry, paintings and prints, masks, woodwork, and many other types of arts and crafts.

Located at 10848 Highway 175 in Loch Lomond, the resort has a marvelous spa, so come do some early holiday shopping and have a massage, too.

The spa is wheelchair accessible.

For more information about this event, contact Joanne Sharon, 707-987-8827 or This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. .

LAKEPORT, Calif. – The Lakeport Senior Activity Center has announced “Garden Art Works!”, an exciting activity that will be available at the Lakeport Senior Center, 527 Konocti Blvd. in Lakeport, on Saturday, Nov. 17, from 9:30 a.m to 3:30 p.m.

Refreshments will be provided.

Participants are asked to bring a brown bag lunch and to wear “grubbies” or an apron so they don’t ruin any good clothes.

Gardening and landscaping enthusiasts alike will enjoy decorating stepping stones and spheres of varying sizes as a unique feature to their landscape. These enhancements also make wonderful gifts just in time for the holidays.

The cost of the workshop includes all materials and accent pieces to make your project special.

The senior rate is $25 (for ages 62-plus), the regular rate is $35, and a discount is available for those wanting to make more than one art feature at the workshop.

The workshop is open to all age groups, so make it a social event and bring friends, relatives and children (over 10 preferred) to participate with you. They have had very creative workshop participants as young as 90.

A portion of the proceeds from the workshop will go towards the Meals on Wheels program.

For more information and to register for the workshop please contact Marie Ulvila by phone at 707-263-4941 or by email at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. .

It’s a good thing to have a poem about voting in the week of the election, and here’s a fine one by Judith Harris, who lives in Washington, D.C.

My Mother Goes to Vote

We walked five blocks
to the elementary school,
my mother’s high heels
crunching through playground gravel.
We entered through a side door.

Down the long corridor,
decorated with Halloween masks,
health department safety posters—
we followed the arrows
to the third grade classroom.

My mother stepped alone
into the booth, pulling the curtain behind her.
I could see only the backs of her
calves in crinkled nylons.

A partial vanishing, then reappearing
pocketbook crooked on her elbow,
our mayor’s button pinned to her lapel.
Even then I could see—to choose
is to follow what has already
been decided.

We marched back out
finding a new way back down streets
named for flowers
and accomplished men.
I said their names out loud, as we found

our way home, to the cramped house,
the devoted porch light left on,
the customary meatloaf.
I remember, in the classroom converted
into a voting place—
there were two mothers, conversing,
squeezed into the children’s desk chairs.

American Life in Poetry is made possible by The Poetry Foundation ( www.poetryfoundation.org ), publisher of Poetry magazine. It is also supported by the Department of English at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Poem copyright ©2012 by Judith Harris, whose most recent book of poems is The Bad Secret, Louisiana State Univ. Press, 2006. Poem reprinted by permission of Judith Harris and the publisher. Introduction copyright © 2012 by The Poetry Foundation. The introduction's author, Ted Kooser, served as United States Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress from 2004-2006. They do not accept unsolicited manuscripts.

Note: This review covers adult content not appropriate for children.

THE SESSIONS (Rated R)

The big movie of the week is “Cloud Atlas,” an ambitious and dazzling epic spanning five centuries that explores questions about life and the human condition.
 
Six separate stories unfold in multiple timelines, where characters meet and reunite from one life to the next.  

The Wachowski siblings, who had teamed as the writers and directors of the “Matrix” trilogy, are part of the creative team for “Cloud Atlas.” That may tell you enough about what to expect.

Now, I lost nearly three hours of my life watching “Cloud Atlas,” which has its undeniable moments of cinematic brilliance, but I could not bring myself to spend time writing about it.

I can see why the film appeals to many critics. They often love films heavy with artistic pretension, mystical qualities and unfathomable storylines.

At this point, I am merely going to pivot to a film that is more worthy of critical acclaim, even if its audience appeal may be relatively limited.

“The Sessions” also has scored well with film critics, but for reasons that are easier to digest and comprehend. The acting alone is superb and transformative, but the story is very moving.

Based on the autobiographical writings of California poet and journalist Mark O’Brien, “The Sessions” tells the story of a man who lived most of his life in an iron lung and was determined, at age 38, to lose his virginity.

To that end, the film is based on O’Brien’s article, “On Seeing a Sex Surrogate,” which recounts his resolve to experience the emotional and physical pleasures that had eluded him.

In a role that is challenging, similar to what Daniel Day-Lewis experienced in “My Left Foot,” actor John Hawkes delivers an impressively transformative performance of Mark O’Brien, who is unable to move any part of his body below his neck.

That Mark can only move his head from side to side, using his mouth to hold a stylus for typing and dialing the telephone, has not curbed his ambition to live life to the fullest.

Stricken with polio at the age of 6, Mark can only stay outside of his iron lung for a few hours a day. He managed to graduate from UC Berkeley. A practicing Catholic, he also attends mass regularly.

His religious conviction is important. He confesses to his priest (William H. Macy) that he has had no luck in the conventional approach to love, but he wants to consult a sex surrogate who helps the disabled.

The role of parish priest Father Brendan is apparently a composite figure of several priests that Mark O’Brien consulted as he grappled in his angst over the moral predicament of his virginity.

Enter Cheryl Cohen-Greene (Helen Hunt), a sex therapist who approaches the assignment with Mark from a professional clinical perspective.  

Right up front, Cheryl sets boundaries by telling Mark there will only be six sessions and that the objective is for her client to be able to sustain sexual activity in a normal relationship.  

It may seem a bit awkward, but Mark relies on his attendant Vera (Moon Bloodgood) to escort him to his “sessions” with Cheryl.  

What seems even more discomfiting is that Helen Hunt bares her entire body to fulfill her task. We’re talking full frontal nudity that you just don’t see in mainstream movies.

But Hunt handles her nudity with dignity and grace. There’s no real element of tawdry prurience in play. Hunt’s Cheryl is believable as the dedicated sex therapist.

When sex enters into any relationship, it is not easy to keep feelings at bay. A bond of comfort and compassion forms between Mark and Cheryl. A glimpse into Cheryl’s private life informs that the whole therapy business is, at best, tricky.

The movie belongs to John Hawkes, as much is asked of him to play a disabled character in a physically difficult and challenging role, even though he is an actor of remarkable versatility.

Filled with humor, drama and emotion, “The Sessions” is a brilliant film that is not only entertaining, but demands our attention to the inspiration of the indomitable spirit of Mark O’Brien.

“The Sessions” is a likely contender for Oscar consideration in several categories, and deservedly so.

DVD RELEASE UPDATE

Just recently, this space was celebrating the trend of releasing on DVD classic TV series that are either long forgotten or unfamiliar to younger audiences.

Vintage detective series are usually a lot of fun. This is no less true for the iconic character of Peter Gunn (Craig Stevens), a handsome, suave detective tough enough to take on the hardest of hard cases.

Though some episodes of “Peter Gunn” have appeared on DVD in the past, now the complete collection of all 114 original episodes are being released as “Peter Gunn: The Complete Series.”

From his unofficial office at the smoke-filled jazz club “Mother’s,” private eye Gunn keeps an eye on the colorful cast of patrons, including his gorgeous girlfriend Edie Hart (Lola Albright).

Gunn’s girl is a singer at the jazz club, which draws musicians, pool hustlers, con artists and other characters, some unsavory.

Despite his stiff standard fee, Gunn’s reputation keeps the customers lined up for his services, some of them even referred by his police buddy Lt. Jacoby (Herschel Bernardi).

“Peter Gunn,” just like the classic TV series “Mr. Lucky,” was created by Blake Edwards, with the music scored by Henry Mancini.

The Emmy-nominated series ran on NBC from 1958 to 1961. Any fan of detective series and classic TV will want to own “Peter Gunn: The Complete Series.” 

Tim Riley writes film and television reviews for Lake County News.

LOWER LAKE, Calif. – Director John Tomlinson and New Vintage Productions will present the play “The Importance of Being Earnest” in November.

The Lower Lake Schoolhouse Museum’s Weaver Auditorium will host the production, with shows planned for 7 p.m. Friday, Nov. 2; Saturday, Nov. 3; Friday, Nov. 9; and Saturday, Nov. 10.

Matinée shows are planned for 2 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 4, and Sunday, Nov. 11.

Since its first production in London in 1895, “The Importance of Being Earnest,” written by Oscar Wilde, has been widely popular with audiences.

Perhaps the greatest satirist of the Victorian era, Wilde regarded Earnest as a “trivial play for serious people.”

“The Importance of Being Earnest” follows the blossoming romances of two proper gentlemen, Algernon Moncreiff and Jack Worthing.

Growing tired of their mundane lifestyles, the two create a series of elaborate lies that lead audiences down a twisted road of conflict and hilarity.

As the story develops you will discover tales of mislaid babies, mistaken identities, secret engagements, baffled suitors and some of the wittiest wordplay ever volleyed over cucumber sandwiches.

Watch as these two young men bend the rules and demands of Victorian Society … until they inevitably succumb to the demands of their true loves, eventually realizing the vital importance of being earnest.

Tickets are $15 per person and can be purchased at Solo Comics in Lower Lake, 707-701-6023, and at The Salon at High Street Village in Lakeport, 707-413-7250.

A portion of the proceeds will go to Community Care, providing health services in Lake and Mendocino counties.

The Nov. 4 matinée will be a special actor’s benefit performance; all ticket proceeds will be divided among the cast and crew.

The Lower Lake Schoolhouse Museum’s Weaver Auditorium is located at 16435 Morgan Valley Road.