Captain Phillips: Thoughts

I went to the movies for the first time in, I think, over a year when I saw that Captain Phillips was playing locally.

Some thoughts...

1. Among prominent actors, only Tom Hanks or Brian Cranston could have pulled this role off. In a vacuum, Cranston could have been equally good. In the Hollywood star system, Hanks was the best choice.

2. Unless portraying a specific historical character or role (eg, Southerner), an actor is better off just speaking "normal American" or whatever the actor speaks normally. Hanks's contrived New England accent is the worst part of the movie.

3. Captain Phillips is what the Big Screen is for. I'm mildly visually impaired (they say red-green color-blind but for me it's spotting the deer in the grass and trees that's impossible whatever the colors) and 3D gives me headaches. The director is up close and personal.

4. This is not the "feel-good" movie of the year. It's a dramatization of a brutal reality. It's a bleak world where people will volunteer for piracy in order to avoid hunger. I'd say, "put yourself in their shoes," but they don't have any.

5. SEE IT. No, it's not a "date night" kind of movie, but if these kinds of issues are important to you both, it's a good time for dialog.