Tom Hanks Does It Again

Usually I have an objection to paying the prices they want nowadays to see a movie in the theater.  Real objection.  For just a bit more than the price of two or three movie tickets, you can just wait and rent or buy the movie when it comes out on DVD.

However, that being said, I paid twice in the last four days to see movies in the theater, and I don't regret the money spent because the experiences were both awesome.

First I saw the space movie, "Gravity," in an Imax theater in 3-D.  You can read my brief review of that movie in this post.

I had also been reading some favorable reviews of the movie "Captain Phillips," so somehow we headed out again for the theater last night.  (Because of our extravagant expenditure, I'll be eating grass for the next week.)

It's not rocket science to understand that if Tom Hanks stars in a movie, it is most likely a winner.  And once again, he did a spectacular job.  It is highly likely that he could receive an Academy Award for his performance in just the last five minutes of the film.

The MV Maersk Alabama is a cargo ship on east African routes.  It has been subjected to several attempted pirate attacks and hijackings, most notably in April 2009, when Captain Richard Phillips was taken hostage.

The movie "Captain Phillips" is the gripping account of that event.  It gives a glimpse into the lacking income-making opportunities available to ordinary Somolian people in a war torn, poor land.

Some movie reviewers claim that the point of "Captain Phillips" is to highlight the awesome performance of the US Navy in the resolution of this conflict.  

Confident sharpshooting marksmen aim at the pirates through the windows of their lifeboat.  Hi-tech intelligence agents shock the hijackers by addressing them by their full names.  Frogmen leap out of their planes, drifting with their parachutes under the stealth of night towards the lifeboat.

Simply put, the US Navy takes care of business.  Swiftly, intelligently, and completely.

If you like flicks that keep you on the edge of your seat, and if you don't mind snacking on fingernails, this is the movie for you.  

What were those pirates thinking, anyway?