Kwp Reviews

In the Shadow of the Moon (2007)

The human side of the Moon

[10/10 · 20 July 2007]

There have been many documentaries about the technical issues of getting to the Moon, but this one focuses more on how the astronauts felt about it all. At turns funny (Buzz Aldrin admits he relieved himself right before stepping on the Moon because it was about the only spare time he was going to have for the next two hours), inspiring (Jim Lovell talking about reading from Genesis while orbiting the Moon), and poignant (several of the astronauts talk about the Apollo 1 fire), it's a riveting piece of film-making.

The footage itself switches between the "talking heads" of the astronauts and imagery depicting what they're talking about, loosely following the chronology of the space age, from Kennedy's declaration of the ambition to go to the Moon to the later Apollo missions with the lunar rover. There aren't any revelations in the mission footage, but then all that's been combed over many times. However, it's well put together and everything is tied in.

I got to see this film at a special showing at the Goddard Space Flight Center. When the film was over, the auditorium full of space geeks gave the director a standing ovation. I think it was well-deserved. While he humbly noted "It's you rocket scientists who really did this - I just put a film together," perhaps - as he also noted - this film will help inspire another generation as we take the next great leap into space, this time to Mars.

Apollo 11: The Untold Story (2006 TV Movie)

Wildly exaggerated quasi-documentary

[3/10 · 28 December 2006]

You'd think the first landing on the Moon would be dramatic enough without needing to make up stuff about it. However, this documentary seems to need to cast everything in the scariest possible light. It talks about the risks associated with the lunar module and mentions Armstrong's nearly fatal accident with the training vehicle, as if the trainer and the spacecraft had anything to do with each other. It makes the computer overload problem (the 1202 and 1201 alarms) encountered during the final landing sequence sound like a near-catastrophe when it was just an annoyance and not a risk to the crew at all. And it takes the "thirty seconds" call to mean thirty seconds of fuel left before running out, when it's actually thirty seconds before an abort is mandatory.

If you want to see a documentary or dramatization of Apollo 11, go for "From the Earth to the Moon" or one of the PBS documentaries, but skip this one.

From the Earth to the Moon (1958)

Utterly tedious

[3/10 · 30 June 2005]

As a longtime science fiction fan, I thought watching a movie version of "From the Earth to the Moon" would be entertaining. My mistake, at least in this instance. This is a long-drawn-out, story-weak exercise in patience. The director seemed to be stuck on establishing shots and irrelevant scenes, to the point where I began fast-forwarding past any scene that didn't appear to be advancing the story. This got me through the second half-hour in about five minutes. What story there is has only a vague resemblance to Verne's original, and one waits forever for the rocket to finally take off.

Even minor matters like the background music become annoying: instead of an original score, for the most part what plays in the background are snippets of patriotic American music, and often one wonders what this has to do with the scene.

All in all, if you want to see a screen adaption of Jules Verne, watch the classic Disney "20,000 Leagues Under the Sea" or "Around the World in 80 Days", and avoid this outing.

American Beauty (1999)

Dog poo, photographed beautifully

[3/10 · 13 March 2000]

The moral of the story: suburban life in America is horrible, but if you can get enough sex and drugs, you might just be able to get by.

That seems to be the logical conclusion to this depiction of a bunch of total losers where the most positive (or I should say "least negative") character is a drug dealer.

Dad hates his job and ignores his family. Mom is obsessed by her job and ignores her family. Sis is a miserable teenager who thinks a boob job will solve all her problems. Next-door neighbor is an ex-Marine psycho with an autistic wife and a weird son (that's the drug dealer). And Sis's best friend is a nympho.

Are we really supposed to be able to learn anything from these people other than "Try your darndest not to be like them?" It seemed like a total waste of time and money to me. After it was over, I snuck down the hall to another theater to watch the latter part of GALAXY QUEST, just to get the bad taste out of my mouth.

That being said, this is an extraordinarily well-done movie from a technical viewpoint: the directing and acting are superb. But as far as I'm concerned it's not enough to redeem this movie: no matter how well you photograph doggie poo or how beautifully it glistens in the sun, it's still doggie poo.

A Midsummer Night's Dream (1999)

A fun movie with good acting

[8/10 · 20 June 1999]

I enjoyed the movie and am surprised that others do not. The critics seem to come in two camps, the Shakespearian experts who have decided the one right way to do this play (which this movie does not meet), and those entirely unfamiliar with the play who complain about the confusing plot (even though it's straight from the play).

I was nervous about the casting going in, thinking that many of the "names" were just there to draw the crowds. But Calista Flockhart is wonderfully ditzy and put-upon as Helena, Kevin Kline is a remarkably three-dimensional and tragicomic Bottom, and Stan Tucci is positively brilliant as Puck. If nothing else, I just found the facial expressions and reactions to be a delight. Certainly not a great film, but an enjoyable one.

Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999)

Sound and fury, signifying nothing

[4/10 · 20 June 1999]

What a disappointment! Yes, the special effects were sensational and the production quality was awesome, resulting in a visual and auditory feast (which summarizes every compliment anyone here has given the movie), but so what? People seem to think that's all a STAR WARS movie should be, but it's not. If the first movie hadn't had memorable characters, mythic overtones, and a bunch of great lines, it would have been just another mediocre sci-fi special-effects movie, rather than the classic that it is.

So what does this movie have? Memorable characters? There are only two non-cardboard characters in this entire movie: Anakin and his mother. Everyone else is just a chess-piece being moved around as needed. Mythic overtones? This movie felt like a video game with speaking parts. And forget about the memorable lines.

Even the special effects seemed lacking at times (blasphemy!). Isn't it amazing that the ships can land in a forest without disturbing a single tree? Then you have all the CGI characters, who end up looking exactly the same--not exactly a way to achieve suspension of disbelief.

I thought George Lucas was special because he had figured out that fights, battle scenes, and pretty scenery are meaningless if you don't care about the characters and what's happening to them. I'm sorry to find out that I was wrong.

Shakespeare in Love (1998)

A marvelous movie

[10/10 · 28 February 1999]

Shakespeare in Love is a marvelous movie. This is what going to movies should be like all the time: lifting you out of your everyday life and worries into a magical world. Silly, funny, charming, harrowing, and truthful all at the same time, it works on many levels. It's an homage to Shakespeare; it's a love story so beautiful and true that it hurts; it's a satire on modern Hollywood. And somehow it manages to blend all these together with never a false note, always both true to its own spirit and to truth itself. The ending is bittersweet but honest, with no contrived happy ending. (And while it does take liberties with history, the liberties are self-consistent and never distracting.)

As for the cast, Gwyneth Paltrow seems to glow throughout, even when disguised as a man, and the other players, many familiar from various British productions, are superb and frequently hilarious.

The movie has the cleverness of Pulp Fiction without the ugly violence; the characterizations and perceptiveness of Sense and Sensibility while being much more fun; the magic and sense of fun of Star Wars with better acting and a better script. It's one of the best movies I've ever seen.