Thirty something who likes to dabble.
.... and way to ugly to post a pic!
Check out my serie...
Thirty something who likes to dabble.
.... and way to ugly to post a pic!
Check out my series of opinions entitled "The Concise Opinion"
Member since:11.03.2001
Reviews:42
Members who trust:6
A few years ago while I was still single and had what amounted to a small disposable income I used to attend the cinema at Brighton Marina on a weekly basis. My friend Mark would drive us the fifteen or so miles, we’d check out what was on, pick out the mutual favourite, stock up on giant diet coke and popcorn then take our seats for the feature presentation. After soaking up the 90 minutes or so of Hollywood fare we’d drive the fifteen miles back and discuss watch we had seen.
Now it wasn’t long before we came up with a basic rating system. Being controversial blokes we inclined towards what we called our “points out of ten” ratings. This is how it worked.
A perfect film (if such a thing existed) would score a ten. Nine was awarded for true excellence, while great films would score an eight. Seven represented a very good movie, six for good and five for fair. A poor film would score four; very poor would get a three and appalling films a two. This being a family site I cannot use the term for a one pointer, other than it would be a “one pointer”. (We never saw anything quite this bad!)
Now we had a tendency to see sci-fi movies, because we like sci-fi movies. Around this time I recall Star Trek: Generations scoring an eight and a seven (7.5 average) and Judge Dredd a four (from each of us. JD’s only redeeming feature is that opening sequence which is outstanding on the big screen). We managed to grade just one film a nine during this time, although I really can’t recall who received this accolade. Then along came Apollo 13.
Now being space fans we knew our history, so we KNEW how the film would finish. What we didn’t know was just how good this film would be. It seemed that they really did film this presentation in space (which is not too far from the truth in actual fact, but I’ll come to that later).
It turns out that with one exception the entire film is based on fact. Everything and I mean everything is authentic. The one exception is the opening sequence at the party. Ron Howard (director) decided he would like to use a party to introduce the characters. The party never actually happened, but it doesn’t intrude on the film, and is over before you even realise.
The basic story is this. Three men get into a tin can and get thrown into space to visit the moon. On the way up a bit falls off of the tin can and the men realise that the warp drive is off-line (Star Trek Voyager gag). Lots of men in white coats back on earth then have to get trapped men home safely using only egg cartons and sticky back plastic (Blue Peter gag).
If this sounds dull to you (no lasers, no nudity, no Arnie) then take a chance on Apollo 13. The film is incredibly tense, even if you do know the ending. The acting first rate (Hanks, Bacon, Paxton), the effects truly convincing, and the sound track spot on. (The floating in space was just brilliant – achieved by flying the set in a giant air carrier up to the edge of the atmosphere then diving at high speed, making everything which was falling at the same speed appear to be floating, including the actors. Clever!) The adaptation from the book “Lost Moon” (Lovell and Kluger) is simply perfect. But was it a perfect film?
So there we were, in the car on the way home, trying to justify why this film shouldn’t get a ten. You see, there is no such thing as a perfect film. What happens if they remake a perfect film, and the remake is better? What then?
In the end we gave Apollo 13 a healthy nine (each). So where did the film slip up? Simple, where was the twist, the catch, the surprise ending. There wasn’t one. But that’s okay, it was a true story after all. We were just looking for an excuse, any excuse, and that just happened to be all we could think of at the
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Great review. Ocassionally Hollywood shows it does have some brains, and comes up with movies like this. All performances were outstanding Hanks,Paxton, Bacon, Harris and Sinise.
jitterbug 10.03.2004 21:00
great review although the film doesn't sound like my cup of tea
NASA's worst nightmare turned into one of the space agency's most heroic moments in 1970, ... more
when theApollo 13crew was forced to hobble home in a disabled capsule after an explosion seriously damaged the moon-bound spacecraft. Tom Hanks, Kevin Bacon and B...
Postage & Packaging: £1.21 Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days...
It had been less than a year since man first walked on the moon, but as far as the ... more
American public were concerned, Apollo 13 was just another 'routine' space flight - until these word pierced the immense voice of space: 'Houston, we have a problem'. St...
![Apollo 13 [DVD] [1995]](http://picnicb.ciao.com/uk/116868785.jpg "Apollo 13 [DVD] [1995]")
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![Apollo 13 - Houston, We've Had A Problem [1995] [DVD]](http://picnica.ciao.com/uk/78098626.jpg "Apollo 13 - Houston, We've Had A Problem [1995] [DVD]")
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