Author Topic: The Apollo 18 Movie thread (Read 84732 times)

robertross · « **Reply #80 on:** 09/05/2011 11:38 pm »

Quote from: pagefrac on 09/05/2011 05:36 pm

went and caught this movie yesterday afternoon. i left all my expectations at the theatre door, but invariably was still disappointed. aside from the little things that irritated me (ex: the "overly-flexible" EVA suits) i couldn't get past the whole Blair Witch Project on the Moon aspect.

at least the popcorn was good...

Pretty close to my assessment (the popcorn was good...rarely do I splurge)

I was a bit let down. Rental might be okay, but definitely not full price at the theater. I won't throw out spoilers, but if you like scary movies with NASA intermixed, you might like it!

Johnnyd · « **Reply #81 on:** 09/06/2011 07:02 am »

Horrible....

PeterAlt · « **Reply #82 on:** 09/06/2011 07:25 am »

Quote from: Johnnyd on 09/06/2011 07:02 am

Horrible....

I agree. Saw it last night and it was awful. It had its moments, though, like the scenes when they made use of the Russian lander.

If Nixon didn't cancel the remaining missions and the program were to continue thereafter, assuming no catastrophes, where do you think the program would have lead to? Lunar base? If so, by what year? Mars flights? If so, by what year?

deaville · « **Reply #83 on:** 09/06/2011 07:31 am »

This seems an awful lot of fuss about a piece of Hollywood make believe!

I'm old enough to remember a comic strip series in the UK newspaper 'Daily Express' where just after the Apollo 17 mission their hero, Jeff Hawke' found a humanoid skull on the Moon. I can't remember that it caused all this furore.

MATTBLAK · « **Reply #84 on:** 09/06/2011 10:02 am »

I'm torn between going to see it for the special effects and the - presumably - reasonably realistic portrayal of a lunar mission and not seeing it because it encourages sensationalistic, somewhat silly stereotypes about what space missions are like. On the plus side, it may spurn some interest in the real Apollo missions.

Also, from the trailer it looks like they've made the interior of the LM look way too large.

Blackstar · « **Reply #85 on:** 09/06/2011 12:08 pm »

Quote from: MATTBLAK on 09/06/2011 10:02 am

Also, from the trailer it looks like they've made the interior of the LM look way too large.

Apparently they used the LM built for the movie Apollo 13. So it's accurate.

Blackstar · « **Reply #86 on:** 09/06/2011 12:09 pm »

Quote from: deaville on 09/06/2011 07:31 am

This seems an awful lot of fuss about a piece of Hollywood make believe!

So we shouldn't discuss it then?

Blackstar · « **Reply #87 on:** 09/06/2011 12:12 pm »

Quote from: PeterAlt on 09/06/2011 07:25 am

If Nixon didn't cancel the remaining missions and the program were to continue thereafter, assuming no catastrophes, where do you think the program would have lead to? Lunar base? If so, by what year? Mars flights? If so, by what year?

This is discussed in a couple of other threads in this section. You might poke around for them a bit. But if the program had not been canceled, the most likely course would have been some longer-duration missions, perhaps lasting a couple of weeks. That said, this would have posed some major challenges because after the later Apollo missions it was clear that the spacesuits would not have lasted much longer on the surface. The dust is too abrasive. I have not seen an estimate of how close the suits were to reaching their failure limits, but I suspect that they would have failed if the time of the longest Apollo mission had been doubled.

deaville · « **Reply #88 on:** 09/06/2011 12:17 pm »

Quote from: Blackstar on 09/06/2011 12:09 pm

So we shouldn't discuss it then?

By all means - if that's what rings your bell.

MATTBLAK · « **Reply #89 on:** 09/06/2011 12:51 pm »

Quote from: Blackstar on 09/06/2011 12:08 pm

Quote from: MATTBLAK on 09/06/2011 10:02 am
Also, from the trailer it looks like they've made the interior of the LM look way too large.

Apparently they used the LM built for the movie Apollo 13. So it's accurate.

Still don't think so: I'll see the movie first before passing final judgement on the LM interior size. Its a nitpicking factoid, I know, but an interesting one.

DaveJ576 · « **Reply #90 on:** 09/06/2011 03:56 pm »

I saw it over the weekend. It wasn't awful, but it wasn't good either. I went to a matinee and saw it for $5.00. Don't pay more than that.

The technical side was actually quite impressive. It wasn't perfect, but better than I expected. The acting was okay, but the premise was weak. Does anyone with any intelligence at all really believe that we could send a manned Apollo mission to the moon in total secrecy? It would have made better sense to present the story as an open space mission with a secret element to it. The plotline has a lot of those "gotcha" moments that make you jump, which for me distracts from the story. Of course, the Department of Defense is made out to be the bad guy by sending the crew out on the mission and not telling them what they were really doing. That tired cliche is getting really old.

To sum up: if you have a spare 5 bucks lying around, go see it for the decent technical side, but lower your expectations on the story telling and you will be fine.

Blackstar · « **Reply #91 on:** 09/06/2011 05:54 pm »

http://www.thespacereview.com/article/1919/1

"The problem with Apollo 18 is not with trying to pass itself off as a depiction of actual events. No, the problem with the movie is that it’s not that good. While the film is not terribly long—barely 80 minutes until the closing credits begin to roll—at times it appears to drag on without building up much tension. It takes a long time for much of anything to happen, and, thanks to the trailers released in advance of the film, much of what might be considered plot twists or surprises have pretty much already been given away. The dialogue, when not reasonably accurate technobabble, is trite and predictable. In short, it’s just not that entertaining."

deaville · « **Reply #92 on:** 09/07/2011 07:17 am »

With all these reviews I think I'll wait for the 'book of the film'. Or perhaps 'Apollo 18 2' might be better.

CitabriaFlyer · « **Reply #93 on:** 09/08/2011 03:02 am »

Just saw it. It is NOT Apollo 13. It is a cheesy horror flick. Having said that it was a cheesy horror flick done in a unique setting. There are lot of technicalities that may be inaccurate but who cares? It's not a documentary. It is a clever little film which was well executed. Worth going to see in the theater and I left wondering what happened next? I would actually be happy to see a sequel or a prequel.

Blackstar · « **Reply #94 on:** 09/08/2011 06:57 pm »

Quote from: CitabriaFlyer on 09/08/2011 03:02 am

Just saw it. It is NOT Apollo 13. It is a cheesy horror flick. Having said that it was a cheesy horror flick done in a unique setting. There are lot of technicalities that may be inaccurate but who cares? It's not a documentary. It is a clever little film which was well executed. Worth going to see in the theater and I left wondering what happened next? I would actually be happy to see a sequel or a prequel.

Just saw it myself. It wasn't good, but I do give them an A for effort. After all, how many movies about Apollo are there... at all? So I'm glad that somebody is playing in this sandbox.

I found myself thinking that this would make a great short story, but that it struggled as a movie.

edkyle99 · « **Reply #95 on:** 09/08/2011 07:01 pm »

Sorry to be a grump, but I have to ask. Why is this thread listed in the "Historical Spaceflight" category?

- Ed Kyle

kevin-rf · « **Reply #96 on:** 09/08/2011 08:11 pm »

Quote from: edkyle99 on 09/08/2011 07:01 pm

Sorry to be a grump, but I have to ask. Why is this thread listed in the "Historical Spaceflight" category?

- Ed Kyle

Forums Historical Spaceflight definition?

Quote

Historical Spaceflight
Missions that were, or will never be.

Besides, as far as I can tell, it is the only thread that has not yet turned into a spaceX thread

Blackstar · « **Reply #97 on:** 09/08/2011 08:17 pm »

Quote from: edkyle99 on 09/08/2011 07:01 pm

Sorry to be a grump, but I have to ask. Why is this thread listed in the "Historical Spaceflight" category?

There's no movie thread.

Also, the film is billed as "found footage" from a mission flown in the 1970s. Put two and two together and it fits here better than anyplace else.

And look how long it took to get a separate section devoted to the tiny subject of the stuff that is actually launched on the rockets.

Blackstar · « **Reply #98 on:** 09/08/2011 08:17 pm »

Quote from: kevin-rf on 09/08/2011 08:11 pm

Besides, as far as I can tell, it is the only thread that has not yet turned into a spaceX thread

I don't surf much around the rest of the site. Have the Direct amazing peoples left?

savuporo · « **Reply #99 on:** 09/08/2011 10:40 pm »

So, whats the verdict, better or worse than The Moon ? Sounds like a definite netflix material so far.