Movies I haven't seen in a while: Apollo 13

 

                                        Typical weekend nothing better to do with my time because let’s face it I'm a boring f**k. And so, I think it was my mom that decided to stream Apollo 13 for which I was like absolutely for obvious reasons it' another film I haven't seen in a long, long time hence Movies I haven't seen in a while. Apollo 13 was another one of those films from my childhood that I would watch constantly either watching it at my late grandpa's house or renting the film at the library moreover it was one of those films where I was fascinated with the space stuff more than the story itself though more importantly this movie introduced me to a ton of great and exceptional actors from the ever talented Tom Hanks, the late Bill Paxton and Ed Harris to Kevin Bacon and Gary Sinise whose acting career's where I would say okay at times but at least decent.

                                        This Hollywood drama is based on the events of the Apollo 13 lunar mission, astronauts Jim Lowell (Tom Hanks), Fred Haise (Bill Paxton) and Jack Swigert (Kevin Bacon) find everything going according to plan after leaving Earth's orbit. However, when an oxygen tank explodes, the scheduled moon landing is called off. Subsequent tensions within the crew and numerous technical problems threaten both the astronauts' survival and their safe return to Earth. 

                                         The movie itself based on the book by real life Jim Lowell titled Lost Moon for which the movie rights were shopped around to potential buyers long before the book was written. Jim Lowell himself stated his first reaction was that Kevin Costner would be a good choice to play him, you heard that right when I say this long before any of these great actors that you see on the movie poster the casting was shopped around with actors like John Travolta, John Cusack and even Brad Pitt which take no disrespect because they're great actors but I would never in a million years see Travolta, Cusack and Pitt be the three main astronaut characters. Director Ron Howard through the course of production went to great lengths to create a technically accurate movie, employing NASA's assistance in astronaut and flight-controller training for his cast and obtaining permission to film scenes aboard a reduced-gravity aircraft for realistic depiction of the weightlessness experienced by the astronauts in space. Comparing this movie from childhood years to now I'll still say that this is the most exciting and suspenseful movie of all time, though granted I wasn't paying all much attention to the story it was more of going to space and what they we're doing up in space, either way when you’re a kid you're biggest concern was the space stuff since the film is all about NASA going to the moon. Now watching the film from start to finish you'd become more intrigued with the fact that this is the late sixties to early seventies of NASA, meaning this was the golden age of going to the moon where everything can go wrong and there's a good chance that if something does happen you can die in space and no one will be able to rescue you or find your body and really that's the more fascinating thing about the movie. And really the two actors who make the film great and believable is both Tom Hanks who plays Jim Lowell and Kathleen Quinlan, though yes Tom Hanks is an exceptional actor anyone on the planet knows that though I got to say that one of my favorite scenes with him in the movie is when he's talking to his son about the space mission and is son asks him about the fire in the first Apollo mission and his character knows those people and instead of not responding to his question he just give him a simple calm and simple answer as to all the things that went wrong and assures him they've fixed the problem and it's that great acting from Hanks knowing his kid is a smart one giving him a good answer it’s just those types of little details you see and say that's great acting. Kathleen Quinlan deserves a ton of recognition because she plays the wife of an astronaut well in a sense that she's a stay-at-home mom and must care for three kids and then fearing that once his husband goes to the moon, she's never sure if he will ever come back and her to show those emotions on screen is most certainly great to see. Surprisingly while looking up the film, Ron Howard even cast his own parents in the movie Jean Speegle Howard plays Tom Hanks is mom while Ron's father Rance Howard plays the Minister in the movie for which is cool and personally if I begin my film-making career I'm most certainly going to repay my parents in casting them in small roles. Even Ron's mom has the best scene of the movie to where she's calming her grandchild and assuring her that his son will make it back to Earth. I would hate myself if I didn't give an special salute of approval or recognition to music composer James Horner who compose the music for Apollo 13 as well as compose a lot of Ron Howard's films as well as James Cameron's films too, and really he's the best part of Apollo 13 for many reasons his music of the launch sequence and going to back to Earth is so memorable and iconic that you just can't help but want to listen to that theme over and over again, especially when you have the launch and the two astronauts wife watching it furthermore seeing on the look on their faces it's like seeing the impossible and what Horner does great is creating a movie set in the seventies with the hope and possibilities of exploration that you couldn't capture in a space movie. Looking back on the NASA program to now yes, they've developed and accomplished a lot of things but I actually do wish that they will one day return to the moon because there's always that possibility of exploring accomplishing new things that I wish even the Earths governments can back up on the idea though I strongly doubt I'll be alive to witness NASA returning to moon. I'd say both Apollo 13 and the Martian ranks as one of the greatest NASA movies of all time, moreover I would rank this as Ron Howard's greatest movie of all time, in fact I believe Apollo 13 story is hands down the best story you’re ever going to tell when it comes to the Apollo missions granted sure you can tell the story of Apollo 11 but the only spoiler that everyone knows about it is that they land on the moon while Apollo 13 is a movie about against all odds bringing three astronauts back to Earth with a little bit of not being able to reach your dreams for which I believe anyone can relate too. So, if you’re ever wanting to watch a classic Tom Hanks film or Ron Howard's greatest film, Apollo 13 is on Hulu so I would highly recommend watching this great space movie.