What’s even lonelier than being stranded on a desert island? Being alone in space, maybe. Sam (Sam Rockwell) is coming to the end of a three-year contract in which he is the sole human element in a mining operation that supplies most of the energy used on earth. (It’s a sci-fi plot that actually emphasizes the science as much as the fiction; the helium isotope he mines actually exists on the moon and may someday be used for energy.) Unlike Tom Hanks in Cast Away, though, Sam doesn’t need to rely on a volleyball for conversation; he has a computer assistant called Gerty, who is voiced by Kevin Spacey doing his best imitation of HAL in 2001: A Space Odyssey. And he has TV and radio. (But would he really be listening to music and watching programs that even now are decades old?)
I don’t want to give away the plot, because it’s quite clever, but let it suffice to say that the movie doesn’t dwell upon how Sam whiles away his free time, but on how he has changed in his time away, on the nature of the company and the computer that manage his communications to Earth, and on the unexpected discovery he makes about himself and his mission. In other words on both the literal and figurative dark side of the moon. Unlike the vast majority of science fiction on film, this isn’t an action movie set in space, a special-effects movie, or a movie about aliens. There are barely any humans in the movie except for Rockwell, who has quite a showcase, since he’s in every scene. This is a very smart, small film that I wouldn’t have minded going on longer.
IMDB link
viewed and reviewed 8/6/09
Showing posts with label astronaut. Show all posts
Showing posts with label astronaut. Show all posts
Friday, July 3, 2009
Friday, September 21, 2007
In the Shadow of the Moon (***)
Amazing visuals anchor this portrait of the astronauts of the Apollo program. Initiated by President Kennedy and encompassing eleven manned space missions in about four years (1968–1972), Apollo represents the only voyages in which men stood on a body other than Earth. About a third of this documentary is devoted to the period leading up to the first lunar landing, a third to Apollo 11 (the first landing, in July 1969), and a third to later voyages and reflections, including the story of the nearly doomed Apollo 13, the subject of the 1995 feature. (A special feature on the DVD explains this in more detail.)
Providing a basic chronology and the astronauts general reflections about their experiences are what the movie provides. Neil Armstrong, the first man to walk on the moon, is seen only in historic footage, but the other two Apollo 11 astronauts, Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins, are interviewed extensively, along with other astronauts such as Apollo 13’s Jim Lovell (played by Tom Hanks in the movie). The personalities, especially of the avuncular Collins and Apollo 12’s modest Alan Bean, emerge. Period footage—Walter Cronkite’s TV coverage, crowds watching the Apollo 11 launch at Cape Kennedy, even Armstrong’s parents appearing on the game show I’ve Got a Secret—is a reminder of the cultural impact of the moon landings.
Little scientific information is included. Clearly, the technological and strategic challenges were enormous, but they are outlined in only the broadest terms. Given the artificial deadline—the end of the 1960s—imposed by Kennedy’s directive, there must have been enormous pressure to speed things up at the potential expense of safety. Another astronaut quotes Gus Grissom as being afraid to point out wiring flaws in the first Apollo module for fear of being fired. Grissom would die with his crew in 1967 when the module burst into flames on the ground. This is the film’s only hint of serious controversy or tension. The movie doesn’t even go into the end of the Apollo program, which involved the last three planned voyages being scrapped to save money and pave the way for the subsequent Space Shuttle program. Still, it’s a sound recounting of an important cultural moment in our planet’s history and how it felt to those most closely involved.
IMDB link
viewed 1/31/09 and 2/2/09 on DVD; reviewed 2/2/09
Providing a basic chronology and the astronauts general reflections about their experiences are what the movie provides. Neil Armstrong, the first man to walk on the moon, is seen only in historic footage, but the other two Apollo 11 astronauts, Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins, are interviewed extensively, along with other astronauts such as Apollo 13’s Jim Lovell (played by Tom Hanks in the movie). The personalities, especially of the avuncular Collins and Apollo 12’s modest Alan Bean, emerge. Period footage—Walter Cronkite’s TV coverage, crowds watching the Apollo 11 launch at Cape Kennedy, even Armstrong’s parents appearing on the game show I’ve Got a Secret—is a reminder of the cultural impact of the moon landings.
Little scientific information is included. Clearly, the technological and strategic challenges were enormous, but they are outlined in only the broadest terms. Given the artificial deadline—the end of the 1960s—imposed by Kennedy’s directive, there must have been enormous pressure to speed things up at the potential expense of safety. Another astronaut quotes Gus Grissom as being afraid to point out wiring flaws in the first Apollo module for fear of being fired. Grissom would die with his crew in 1967 when the module burst into flames on the ground. This is the film’s only hint of serious controversy or tension. The movie doesn’t even go into the end of the Apollo program, which involved the last three planned voyages being scrapped to save money and pave the way for the subsequent Space Shuttle program. Still, it’s a sound recounting of an important cultural moment in our planet’s history and how it felt to those most closely involved.
IMDB link
viewed 1/31/09 and 2/2/09 on DVD; reviewed 2/2/09
Friday, February 23, 2007
The Astronaut Farmer (**3/4)
? Billy Bob Thornton plays one of his least eccentric eccentrics, a family man and former NASA employee who happens to have obsessively pursued his dream of building his own rocket. This is the fourth film from Mark and Michael Polish (Twin Falls Idaho, Jackpot, Northfork), but, perhaps due to its larger budget, jettisons the austere approach of their earlier work while maintaining the American heartland setting.
+ This is the very definition of the feel-good movie, crossing the inspirational sports movie genre with a family story and makes it about getting into space rather than getting to the major leagues or winning a race. (It’s not a true story, though.) Virginia Madsen and Bruce Dern play the wife and father characters. The would-be astronaut can be seen as a selfish character, but he also cares about his family, even as he threatens to bankrupt them. They’re all sort of nice to be around, and their indulgence of Dad’s weird hobby rings true. There’s a little bit of humor (including the ubiquitous Jay Leno cameo), a few FAA and NASA nogoodniks, and a some life-in-a-small-town stuff, but none of the story elements overwhelms the others. Some nice location shooting finds New Mexico substituting for Texas.
- Notwithstanding the indie credibility of the Polish Brothers, the rocket plot’s trajectory is only a little different than you’ll expect it to be. I suppose October Sky would be the other movie about rural folks headed for space, but the better comparison would be last year’s underappreciated The World’s Fastest Indian, which was also about an eccentric who liked to tinker. I’d give an edge to October Sky because it was grittier and to Indian because the Anthony Hopkins character was so endearingly odd and the story a little more elliptical.
= *** If you’ve enjoyed inspirational sports movies but have gotten tired of the sports part, this’ll be a very easy movie to like.
IMDB link
reviewed 2/23/07
+ This is the very definition of the feel-good movie, crossing the inspirational sports movie genre with a family story and makes it about getting into space rather than getting to the major leagues or winning a race. (It’s not a true story, though.) Virginia Madsen and Bruce Dern play the wife and father characters. The would-be astronaut can be seen as a selfish character, but he also cares about his family, even as he threatens to bankrupt them. They’re all sort of nice to be around, and their indulgence of Dad’s weird hobby rings true. There’s a little bit of humor (including the ubiquitous Jay Leno cameo), a few FAA and NASA nogoodniks, and a some life-in-a-small-town stuff, but none of the story elements overwhelms the others. Some nice location shooting finds New Mexico substituting for Texas.
- Notwithstanding the indie credibility of the Polish Brothers, the rocket plot’s trajectory is only a little different than you’ll expect it to be. I suppose October Sky would be the other movie about rural folks headed for space, but the better comparison would be last year’s underappreciated The World’s Fastest Indian, which was also about an eccentric who liked to tinker. I’d give an edge to October Sky because it was grittier and to Indian because the Anthony Hopkins character was so endearingly odd and the story a little more elliptical.
= *** If you’ve enjoyed inspirational sports movies but have gotten tired of the sports part, this’ll be a very easy movie to like.
IMDB link
reviewed 2/23/07
Friday, November 11, 2005
Zathura: A Space Adventure (***)
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In this adaptation of a book by children’s author Chris Van Allsburg, two brothers play a board game that takes
them on a real-life journey into space. The side story is that the brothers
don’t get along, and the game brings them together even as it threatens to kill
them. This could be corny, but I liked that they seemed like real kids. The
younger one has to ask the older one for help reading the instructions, for
example.
The game is mostly an excuse to present the boys with all manner of
happenings and/or special effects. If it were a real board game, it wouldn’t be
a very good one, and the space world presented in the movie doesn’t represent a
coherent vision. But that’s a quibble. Overall, it’s an appealing fantasy,
reminding me of 1980s movies like Flight of the Navigator and The
Last Starfighter.
circulated via email 11/17/05 and posted 9/25/13
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