Whip Whitaker is an American hero: the airline pilot has just managed the nearly impossible landing of a defective plane, saving all but six of the 102 people onboard. He’s also a pretty serious alcoholic and cokehead. Do Whip’s strengths outweigh his weaknesses? They should when his pilot’s fallibilities, no less than his power and charm, put the moviegoer in his corner — and when he is incarnated by one of the most impressive contemporary star-actors. Denzel Washington has played bad guys (he won an Oscar for playing the corrupt narc in Training Day), but more typically he is the strong, haunted man audiences love to love. His nuanced work in Robert Zemeckis’ action film cum morality play is a tightrope walk between the Denzel whom people expect and the flawed, stubborn character he so boldly inhabits.
Arts & Entertainment
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7. Denzel Washington as Whip Whitaker in Flight
Full List
Top 10 Nonfiction Books
- 10. The Black Count, Tom Reiss
- 9. The First Four Notes: Beethoven’s Fifth and the Human Imagination, Matthew Guerrieri
- 8. People Who Eat Darkness: The True Story of a Young Woman Who Vanished from the Streets of Tokyo — and the Evil That Swallowed Her Up, Richard Lloyd Parry
- 7. Dearie: The Remarkable Life of Julia Child, Bob Spitz
- 6. Wild, Cheryl Strayed
- 5. Are You My Mother?, Alison Bechdel
- 4. My Friend Dahmer, Derf Backderf
- 3. Far from the Tree, Andrew Solomon
- 2. The Passage of Power: The Years of Lyndon Johnson, Vol. Four, Robert A. Caro
- 1. Iron Curtain: The Crushing of Eastern Europe 1944–1956, Anne Applebaum
Top 10 Fiction Books
- 10. This Is How You Lose Her, Junot Diaz
- 9. Where’d You Go, Bernadette?, Maria Semple
- 8. NW, Zadie Smith
- 7. Building Stories, Chris Ware
- 6. The Casual Vacancy, J.K. Rowling
- 5. The Girl Who Fell Beneath Fairyland and Led the Revels There, Catherynne Valente
- 4. At Last, Edward St. Aubyn
- 3. Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk, Ben Fountain
- 2. Bring Up the Bodies, Hilary Mantel
- 1. The Fault in Our Stars, John Green
Top 10 Movie Performances
- 10. Jennifer Lawrence as Tiffany in Silver Linings Playbook
- 9. Tommy Lee Jones as Thaddeus Stevens in Lincoln
- 8. Vanessa Paradis, Café de Flore
- 7. Denzel Washington as Whip Whitaker in Flight
- 6. Denis Lavant as the Actor in Holy Motors
- 5. Matthew McConaughey as Joe Cooper in Killer Joe
- 4. Rachel Weisz as Hester Collyer in The Deep Blue Sea
- 3. Clarke Peters as Da Good Bishop Enoch Rouse in Red Hook Summer
- 2. Quvenzhané Wallis as Hushpuppy in Beasts of the Southern Wild
- 1. Jean-Louis Trintignant and Emmanuelle Riva as Georges and Anne in Amour
Top 10 Best Movies
Top 10 Worst Movies
Top 10 Plays and Musicals
Top 10 Songs
- 10. Can, “Graublau”
- 9. The Belle Brigade, “No Time to Think”
- 8. Pussy Riot, “Putin Lights Up the Fires”
- 7. Nicki Minaj, “Roman in Moscow”
- 6. Skrillex, “Bangarang”
- 5. Parquet Courts, “Master of My Craft”
- 4. Taylor Swift, “We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together”
- 3. Carly Rae Jepsen, “Call Me Maybe”
- 2. PSY, “Gangnam Style”
- 1. Usher, “Climax”
Top 10 TV Episodes
- 10. Breaking Bad, “Fifty-One”
- 9. Awake, Pilot
- 8. The Good Wife, “Another Ham Sandwich”
- 7. Mad Men, “At the Codfish Ball”
- 6. Parks and Recreation, “The Comeback Kid”
- 5. Girls, “The Return”
- 4. Homeland, “Q&A”
- 3. Game of Thrones, “Blackwater”
- 2. Community, “Digital Estate Planning”
- 1. Louie, “Daddy’s Girlfriend, Parts 1 and 2”
Top 10 TV Series
Top 10 Viral Videos