Matialth
Good concept, poorly executed.
Brenda
The plot isn't so bad, but the pace of storytelling is too slow which makes people bored. Certain moments are so obvious and unnecessary for the main plot. I would've fast-forwarded those moments if it was an online streaming. The ending looks like implying a sequel, not sure if this movie will get one
Logan
By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.
bruce-barrett-662-807730
Director Richard Dale managed to shoot only Whites. One Black astronaut slipped through in passing. 0ne woman technician, a blond knockout, made the cut. No Black technicians were shown, male or female. Ironically, the narrator spouts a line when the Apollo missions were beginning, that the time for calculations is over, ironic in the light of the recent Margot Lee Shetterly book and 20th Century Fox film, "Hidden Figures," which tells the story of the essential calculations accomplished for years by NASA's "Colored Girls," as they were known at the time. Dale even managed to exclude Blacks from the decades of fascinated onlookers at launches, landings, tragedies, and successes.
antimatter33
I guess the title says it all. Why do space documentaries have to be so bad? Of all the ones ever made, I can only think of a few that are anything but irritating. I was there, I remember. And the music! God who writes this stuff? This particular attempt fails on every level. It fails as history, it fails as nostalgia, it fails as entertainment. The filmmaking technique is amateurish - poor film to video transfer, poor editing, poor choice of material. But the main thing is that it is somehow viscerally irritating. Of the list of things that do not need any window dressing, the Space Race must be on top. So one wonders how, again and again and again, documentary filmmakers manage to get it so wrong. Don't waste time on this turkey - see "In the Shadow of the Moon" and its companion pieces about the engineering effort, "Moon Machines".-drl
yujin-ito
I'm not seeing any reviews blasting this film for conveniently forgetting the Apollo 13 mishap. I was watching the film and I had to rewind because I thought I blacked out and missed it. Nope, they just chose to not even mention it. They left out one of the biggest events in the exploration of space. I'm still trying to understand why any editor would think that the Apollo 13 mission would be something deserving of the cutting room floor. The only thing I can think is that the geniuses at the BBC think that Apollo 13 was some sort of embarrassment. I watched the first 2 parts of this film but then turned it off when I realized the filmmakers weren't too concerned with telling an accurate story.
jlmooman3
Very seldom do I want to buy and own a movie.This is one of them. My girlfriend and I stumbled upon this film when my internet (and thereby Netflix) went down last night. KCET just so happened to be airing this "documentary" about the first 50 years of American manned spaceflight. And I hesitate to call it a documentary because it's not what you'd consider a traditional one. There was no agenda, no call to action, no extended interviews.It was a "film" in the grandest sense, as art. The combination of the cinematography, much of it from NASA's own cameras, some of it previously unseen, the music with original scores made just for this film, and the pacing of these snapshots in time - all culminated in a surreal experience. I literally sat at the edge of my seat, holding my breath. I have never been so enthralled.The only real negative about the film is the distribution. I couldn't find it easily. I had to go all the way to Amazon.de (Germany) to find it and get it shipped internationally. But that's not necessarily a fault of the film, just its limited distribution.This is not the film to learn about the American space program. There are plenty of documentaries and books that cover the details. This is a film to experience with your total attention. Turn down the lights, turn up the sound - because you're in for a ride.
