I cannot get enough of this stuff! Reviewer thinks this film will only appeal to those who were around and remember the moon landing. I was not here in 1969 but I already predict I will like this rarely seen vault footage of Apollo 11 mission.
Sundance Film Review: ‘Apollo 11’ In a heady documentary comprised of raw footage from the NASA vaults, the moon landing looks more than ever like science made into a dream.
“Apollo 11” is a cool, meticulous, at times enthralling documentary that captures the Apollo 11 flight in its entirety through raw footage drawn from the NASA vaults. Some of the footage is 70mm and quite spectacular; just about all the footage has never been seen before. We witness the hours before the launch, the surging cataclysm of the liftoff, the flight into space, the orbiting of the moon, the landing of the lunar module, Armstrong on the moon, Buzz Aldrin on the moon, the relaunch from the moon’s surface, the return flight, the re-entry into the atmosphere and the splashdown, all accompanied by the watchful natterings of mission-control analysts.
For those too young to have experienced the moon landing when it took place (i.e., anyone under 50), “Apollo 11” could prove to be an eye-opening adventure. I suspect, though, that the film’s appeal will mostly be limited to those who lived through the events. We’ve seen it before, of course, but not from these angles, now with this breadth and intimacy.
Directed and edited by Todd Douglas Miller, “Apollo 11” has no narration, no talking heads, and so for 93 flash-cut minutes we’re simply gazing at these marvelous and inexplicable images of things that happened long ago. There’s a fantastic design to it, of course; the machines are like a heavy-duty form of magic, and the voyage comes off like clockwork. But what the images channel is the wonder of the unprecedented.
Oh, this old boy will be waiting for this one. I was 13-1/2 in July of 1969. I had the Revell Saturn V 1/96 kit, the large scale (12/4?) command.service module and lunar module kit with moon surface, and I simulated every stage of the mission. Sooooo wanted to do that someday!
Then I grew up. Was flying up the East Coast of Florida coming back from a job in Panama, I think, and from 35,000 ft saw the Cape, the minuscule (from that height) Vehicle Assembly Building, a teensy Shuttle out on one of the pads, and then I look up into the very deep blue sky and I think, at this altitude they're just getting started... How small it all seemed, after watching the thunderous liftoffs from the Cape. And for the Apollo crews, good glory you're in this pressure vessel the size of a small automobile 240,000 mils from home, in the moon's gravitational field. Nobody's coming to help. On the surface, you're in this spindly little lunar module where you sit on the rocket engine that has to fly you back to lunar orbit in a very precise fashion so you can go home.
And incremental development, test flights, and what-not, I don't care- that took some unbelievable courage and steady nerves.
Box: Win7 Pro 64 bit / I72600K @4.1 GHz / EVGA GTX1080Ti/ 16GB RAM / Corsair 240 GB SSD / WD 600 GB Velociraptor / 1050W Power FS Stuff: Saitek X52 Pro Stick/Throttle & Combat Rudder Pedals, TrackIR 5 Sims: FSX Gold, REX 2.0 OD, UTX-NA, FSGenesis 10m mesh/ CFS3 ETO 1.40/Wings Over Flanders Fields BH&H2 (more gorgeous than ever!) Proud BOC inductee 4/30/12!
Thank you for sharing that. Now I am even more excited about getting it. Going to have dig through my old NASA DVD`s. Darn, just looked, I bought the Apollo 15 6 disk set...
First day purchase for me. I was 4 years old in 69. I think I remember watching it on our 20" RCA tv with all of the family there huddled around. Will this be coming out in theaters first? I would like to see it in Dolby Digital Surround with the Lazy Boy seats. Anyway, I look forward to watching, and hearing, this in my 11.1 Surround Theater room.
Last month, the film premiered to enthused acclaim at Sundance, following on from a banner year for documentaries from the recently Oscar-anointed Free Solo to fellow box office hits RBG, Three Identical Strangers and Won’t You Be My Neighbor. Apollo 11 is set to continue the trend but it is distinguished by its stark commitment to the historical record: the film is made up entirely of restored footage and audio from the historic Apollo 11 mission in July 1969.
It’s a far cry from three years ago, when much of the record from Apollo 11 remained analog or boxed away. At the time, director Todd Douglas Miller, fresh off The Last Steps, a short about Apollo 17, wasn’t looking to dive back into the heavily mythologized missions to the moon. When Stephen Slater, a Britain-based independent archivist who has peerlessly synced existing 16mm Mission Control footage with separate audio recordings, approached Miller about creating a project to honor Apollo 11’s 50th anniversary this year, Miller balked. “I was like, ‘No. Not happening. I’m all spaced out right now,’” he said to the Guardian. “But it became addictive.”
Aaaaaand ofcourse not at any local IMAX theatres And the real kick in the crotch was when I clicked on Fly Me To The Moon and got this description "Three young houseflies get stuck on Apollo 11 and fly to the moon" . Somewhere in my brain I tried to shoehorn the documentary in there but I'm afraid that is not the case.
Aaaaaand ofcourse not at any local IMAX theatres And the real kick in the crotch was when I clicked on Fly Me To The Moon and got this description "Three young houseflies get stuck on Apollo 11 and fly to the moon" . Somewhere in my brain I tried to shoehorn the documentary in there but I'm afraid that is not the case.
that is a bummer! Is there any other imax within a decent driving distance?
FWIW The Apollo 11 documentary looks to be making another round of playing in theaters. At least the film is returning to Chicago for one week at the Siskel film center (not the IMAX this time). Highly recommended film - check it out! :cowboy
"In the vast library of socialist books, there’s not a single volume on how to create wealth, only how to take and “redistribute” it.” - David Horowitz
I’m watching it right now. I’m hoping that when the next stage of the manned space program lifts off, someone will be moved enough to write another song about it.
Phil
“The biggest problem people have is they don’t think they’re supposed to have problems.” - Hayes Barnard
I don't know why I procrastinate so badly on these things...just put the Blu-ray on our Amazon wish list, should have it by the end of the month.
Some cardboard modelling fun from last December...
The rusty wire that holds the cork that keeps the anger in Gives way and suddenly it’s day again The sun is in the east Even though the day is done Two suns in the sunset, hmph Could be the human race is run
I watched it on Thursday night. I loved it. It may not be for everyone as it is a timeline documentary starting well before the launch right through the crews quarantine after splash down. It has some amazing footage though. Just the few seconds that they show the Saturn V on the launch pad at night all lit up with the huge floodlights was well worth the price for the Bluray. I give it an A+ for what it is.
My blu-ray arrived yesterday, watched last night. I couldn't possibly write as articulate a review as Patrocles' but yeah, it was well done. Other than the impressively sharp visuals, I especially enjoyed the little touches like the astronaut's family pictures (baby, adolescent, marriage, air force, children). Also the price of coffee at NASA: first cup one nickle, second cup, third cup...tenth cup and so on, one nickle. Free cup, one nickle. Take out, ask for estimate. Lol.
Enjoyed this one.
The rusty wire that holds the cork that keeps the anger in Gives way and suddenly it’s day again The sun is in the east Even though the day is done Two suns in the sunset, hmph Could be the human race is run