First Man movie...

I was 12 years old at Summer camp. Our councilor called us into his room to watch it on a small B&W TV, and I also remember it very well. At that age, there were a lot of distractions, not to mention that space exploration was something that grown-ups did. But that was a very special moment that captured all of us.

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You could take them to see «Early Man»:wink:

Incidentally, this movie was translated to «Første mann» in Norway, which is actually a verbatim translation from «First Man».

I wonder what they will call «First Man» over here?
Probably something cheesy.

But on a more serious note…
I think the boys can handle it. I mean, it’s not about aliens or monsters. It’s about real life events, some of which ended tragically. But you should be prepared to do some explaining.

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I remember the Apollo 1 scene as represented in both From the Earth to the Moon, and Apollo 13. I was same age when those came out, I’d rate them about a 2 on an emotional trauma scale of 1 to “Scar pushing Mufasa off a Cliff”. I think you’ll be fine.

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That should be the official scale for emotional impact.

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Flaming Cliffs.

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Spoiler alert…!

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Long Live The King

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I was just a few months after my sixth birthday when I was shown “Water ship down”.

The mental scars…

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Saw it last night- I liked it a lot. Definitely a movie about Neil Armstrong instead of the broader space program and the trials and strains he and his family went through during that endeavor.

I thought the director did a fantastic job trying to show the flights from the perspective of the pilots and astronauts (Neil, specifically). It’s so easy to get lost in a sense of wonder at how technologically advanced the vehicles were for the time… at the end of the day you’re just a nervous human bolted or welded into a cramped bunker in front of a massive fuel tank, and while you have a plan, frequently you’re just along for the ride.

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Cool. The whole family are going to see it in an hour! :rocket: :crescent_moon:

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Oh I don’t know…true, definitely not one of Kevin Costner’s best…never really explained how he got the gills. Overall I thought his work in “The Postman” was better and it had a more believable post-apocalypse story …oh wait…I thought you said “Water World”…never mind. :grimacing:

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So we went to see it and I really liked it. It isn’t really a flashy, space and aviation movie so much as a look at the emotional toll that being in that line of work had on the men and their families. The movie definitely made Armstrong out to be a very analytical, driven man who hid his inner feelings well (if the movie is to be believed). As someone who has a deep and nutty love with the X-15 program, the opening sequence was neat if not technically accurate. It depicts the interesting “atmospheric skip” flight that Armstrong had in the X-15 where he almost didn’t make it back to Edwards. There was quite a bit of jargon and dialog throughout the movie that aviation and space buffs would get that might be lost on a more general audience.

The pacing and content of the movie wasn’t really the greatest for an 8 and 10 year old. They were interested in the space and flight portions, but not so much on the interpersonal and bureaucratic stuff (which I found interesting), so I would not recommend this movie for kids. The language wasn’t bad, and the scenes of inevitable losses during the program were handled tastefully.

I enjoyed it. That said, I’ll probably break out The Right Stuff for the kids tomorrow and see if they might like that. I never need an excuse to watch that movie.

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Thanks for the review Chris. I’m looking forward to seeing it. The book was excellent.

Having not seen the film, I read Paul Bertorelli’s review with interest. I very much enjoy his YouTube aircraft reviews, which are often blunt, yet insightful. An invite to Lady Chipwich was proffered, but after reading @BeachAV8R’s take, I might better execute a wave-off and sub a flying buddy or go solo.

Bertorelli recommends both the James Hansen book of the same name as the film and this documentary.

Hey, no spoilers! :wink:

I’ve got a date to go see it at the local IMAX this week. Love me some moon stuff.

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The movie was darn near perfect. Clair Foy new deserves a place among the great actors of today. The movie was as much about Janet as it was about him. The role that family plays in the life of a great human gets a generous treatment in the film. There is a scene where he is studying at the kitchen table and has this little “a-ha” moment which she notices. He explains how “neat” it is that orbital flight relates speed and altitude in a counterintuitive way that is opposite of atmospheric flight. Its a cute moment found in every loving relationship. He’s a great man doing great and dangerous things but in that kitchen he’s just a husband amusing his wife. It felt totally real. After a movie like that I feel that good actors, writers and directors deserve the world.

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Just saw this with my wife. Very well done and I loved how they showed Neil struggling with his personal relationships through the film. Also amazing the engineering that went on to make the lunar landing a possibility.

Saw it last Friday. Very enjoyable. The IMAX was a bit hit or miss, in that the shakycam was a bit much on a large screen :eyes: but once he was on the moon and it opened up to this massive landscape shot then it felt good.

More of a relationship drama than about the adventure to the moon. After Bladerunner, Drive and now First Man, Ryan Gosling seems to have the lock on any role that involves not moving his face much. :slight_smile:

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It was very good. My take from the film was that the more people he lost, the more he distanced himself from those closest to him. Seemed reasonable to me because I kind of went through something like that after I lost my brother unexpectedly back in 2002.

The shaking seemed a little over the top, but then I am sure it wasn’t exactly a smooth ride.