Sully

Right now you can watch Sully in Australia on Amazon Prime Video, and in the US on YouTube TV — and it holds up to as much attention as you give it. It knows exactly what kind of film it is from the opening scene, and never loses that thread. With 7,771 viewer ratings on TMDB, this is not a title flying under the radar. Tom Hanks's performance alone is worth the time investment. There is no real reason to keep putting it off — it is right there on Amazon Prime Video.

There is a reason Sully keeps coming up in conversation. Sully trusts its audience to sit with discomfort instead of resolving it too quickly. On 15 January 2009, the world witnessed the 'Miracle on the Hudson' when Captain 'Sully' Sullenberger glided his disabled plane onto the Hudson River, saving the lives of all 155 souls aboard. However, even as Sully was being heralded by the public and the media for his unprecedented feat of aviation skill, an investigation was unfolding that threatened to destroy his reputation and career. Tom Hanks and Aaron Eckhart lead a cast doing genuinely serious work here. It hit screens in 2016. The writing trusts the audience to sit with ambiguity rather than wrapping everything up in a tidy conclusion — it is the approach that separates good drama from great. It knows exactly what it is, and does not try to be anything else.

Sully is what you recommend to people who say they do not really watch much. It has built its own audience without needing a direct comparison. It is a manageable watch, easy to fit into a single evening. Tom Hanks carries the material with a performance that rewards close attention. Worth starting sooner rather than later.