Movie - "First Man" - story of Neil Armstrong - 11 Oct 2018

[gary]

2019 marks the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing.

Own Gleiberman provides a review in Variety of a forthcoming
movie entitled "First Man" by director Damien Chazelle (La La Land)
where Ryan Gosling plays Neil Armstrong :-

https://variety.com/2018/film/reviews/first-man-review-ryan-gosling-damien-chazelle-1202920157/

Trailers :-
https://youtu.be/PSoRx87OO6k
https://youtu.be/w4GtJB5WAlQ

The film will be released in Australia on 11 October 2018.

[brian nordstrom]

:thumbsup: Thanks , it will be a good movie and I for one are looking forward to it .

Brian.

[Startrek]

I read the book 9 years ago and enjoyed it immensely, a story of an incredible life’s journey of a remarkable human being
Armstrong was one of a kind, a farm kid from Wapakoneta Ohio who became the first human being to walk on another celestial body almost 50 years ago

I recently visited the Kennedy Space Centre in Florida which was an incredible experience. All the Apollo Saturn 5 Moon hardware on show was awinspiring and the Apollo Project still remains the greatest engineering feat the world has ever seen
To put men on top of the Saturn 5 rocket (a precisely controlled 7.5 million pound atomic explosion) and send them out of earth orbit on a precise trajectory to an orbiting moon calculated with slide rules and primitive computers at a speed of 40,000 km/hr in the late 1960s is nothing more than astonishing.
Armstrong was the “first man” and he was simply meant to be !!

[Saturnine]

To put men on top of the Saturn 5 rocket (a precisely controlled 7.5 million pound atomic explosion)

The Saturn 5 Rocket was / is an awesome piece of human engineering but a point of order, the fuel for the rocket was not nuclear. The 1st stage fuel was Kerosene and Liquid Oxygen. Stages 2 and 3 were powered by Liquid Hydrogen and Liquid Oxygen.
Being pedantic I know but we have to have some historical accuracy for what was one of Mans' crowning achievements. The bravery of all the astronauts and cosmonauts involved in the space race is not to be taken lightly.

[Startrek]

The term “atomic” was merely a figure of speech to dramatise the event for those not familiar with the Apollo program (GenY etc )
I grew up in the 60s and followed all the Apollo missions as a tv astronaut, news paper clippings, books, models etc etc
As you know the 5 x F1 engines on stage 1 ( inboard engine fixed and four outer engines gimballed ) were fuelled with RP1 ( kerosene ) and LOX (liquid oxygen) and only burned for 3.5 minutes producing 160 million horsepower at sea level but didn’t want to describe the event with to much technical data
Yes totally agree these men were extremely brave and we should all admire their bravery.Their bravery was instilled in them when they joined the Airforce, Navy and Marines flying combat missions over Korea, training as test pilots , ejecting out of their seats , trying to land on no engines etc... they were chosen for their previous flying experience for the Mercury program and later in the Gemini program, they trained so well for failures that is removed most of the fear factor out of their consciousness otherwise nobody would volunteer for such a dangerous job
Anyway the book “First Man” is a enthralling read and hopefully the producers of the movie do it justice !!

[doug mc]

Think of all the people who won't be watching this movie, because they believe there was no landing.

[iceman]

I can't wait to see this!

Have watched some great documentaries on Netflix lately - shadow of the moon, last man on the moon etc.

Also really enjoyed "Mars", the part-documentary part-sci-fi series about colonizing Mars.

[Hans Tucker]

Purchased my ticket for next Tuesday...in IMAX. 6 sleeps to go. Loved the Tom Hanks " From The Earth To The Moon" series so I trust this will take the experience to the next level. Neil Armstrong's sons gave this movie the thumbs up.

[Madanie7]

The earth is also flat....right? :question:

[multiweb]

+1 Looking forward to this one. Trailer looks good.

[astronobob]

Sounds & looks quite good. I don't get to movies much tho will make an exception for this one, , and think these space'y shows are more the 'Reality' of life than the other tv capers - Crypeeze, I hate tv, don't watch it much if at all, maybe 10hrs a year, true words, like, we got this flat tv about 7-8yrs agos, took me 2yrs to hook up the antenna to it :cool3:
Yup, looking forward to this one :thumbsup:

[FlashDrive]

I'm not sure this is ' gospel ' or not ( as I haven't seen the movie myself yet ) ... told by a person who has seem it .... he reviewed the Movie and watched it from beginning to end.

He never saw an American Flag anywhere in the Movie..

I guess we'll find out when we watch it ourselves.

See if you can remember to look while you watch.

Col...

[Stonius]

I saw it the other day. It's all fake. They shot it on a soundstage in Hollywood. :-D :-D :-D

Okay all kidding aside. I enjoyed it, though I don't know if Gosling's performance is true to the kind of man Armstrong was. I found him so reserved as to be almost numb. The film deals a lot with the stress the program placed on his family, so it's not necessarily a flag-waving patriotism movie - it's more about the man than the endeavour. But the sequences that take place on board the various craft (not giving anything away) are very realistic. If you've seen Damien Chazelle's other movies, you'll know the kind of director he is (Whiplash, La La Land). Even when there is spectacle, it's about the people.

There *is an American flag planted on the moon. You do see it, you just don't see the moment when he actually plants it, for the reasons stated above. It's more about one man's journey, than *mankind's journey, if that makes sense. The stuff that happened on the moon was more about what's going on in his head. When others have seen it I'd like to know whether any of that stuff actually happened or whether it's just good old poetic license to round out the character arcs.

Markus

[Hans Tucker]

Viewed in IMAX

6/10


Well I waited months for this movie...was I disappointed...somewhat. Can a movie that goes for just under 2 1/2 Hrs do justice to a man like Armstrong..IMHO no it can't.

I feel if you don't already know a bit about the Gemini and Apollo events you could get lost in the story.

The flight scenes, rocket launches and space/moon scenes are excellent. The character development and portrayals are the let down.

Was Damien Chazelle and Josh Singer the right choice to turn James R Hansen's book into a movie...I'll leave that for you to decide.

I wonder if Buzz Aldrin has seen this movie...be interesting if he has.

[Stonius]

Do the yanks really pronounce it 'Gemminny'?

[Hans Tucker]

One positive thing I did take from the movie is the theme by Justin Hurwitz title The Landing. Ties in beautifully with the scene.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zcev7yEPeF8

[Suzy]

Thanks for your great review Hans :).


I've been wandering if this was worth a Gold Class experience- with food, drinks and parking it ends up costing nearly $200 for two people. As we don't go to the movies that often, we spoil ourselves a bit when we do :D.

I'll eagerly await more reviews.

Shame we don't have an IMAX here in Brisbane.

The upcoming In Saturns Rings (years in the making) will be spectacular on one. It's currently showing in the U.S. but todate is only being shown on IMAX. Sorry to divert from original movie, but this will definitely be worth seeing, the trailer is mind blowing.

[Hans Tucker]

Suzy..go and see it, I think you and others will like it.


I have to agree with Markus assessment of Gosling performance. I think there was more to Neil Armstrong.


I like this documentary on Armstrong.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CD-OcW3Qhjg

[mynameiscd]

Bought "First Man" book the other day and I cant put down.
Its a really good read and its been thoroughly gone through by Neil before it was released by James R Hansen.
Its a real insight into the man and the industry that made the first step possible.

Ive read many books about the apollo craft from technical manuals to first hand accounts, its actually a real passion of mine.
Ive also spent many hours with a realistic flight sim ( orbiter ) doing full moon and back flights with check lists, csm panels that actually work, TLI burns that you have to caculate, docking, undocking, and you can do full manual PDI and decent burns to landing all with realisic obital mechanics.
It takes a bit of setting up but its all open source so you can make your own modules and get a real good working saturn5 with a full working 3 panel CSM with about 60 % of switches that have real input, if you dont hook up the fuel cells to the right bus then the RCS jets dont work etc.
Havent been using orbiter for a few years now because my time is taken up with astronomy but with this book and film i might have to do another mission.

http://orbit.medphys.ucl.ac.uk/index.html

If this film is half as good as the book then im in.
Cheers
Andy

[GrahamL]

I liked it a lot and havn't read the book but a a fair amount of history , The portrayal of Neils personality is well differant to what you carry in your mind in regard , though reading of his later life is probably closer to truth than many of us could know .I think overall theres a fair balance in the story line in that it wasn't just one persons journey but many the movie does that justice in spades .


Theres Docus out there that will fill you up with the action ,bells and whistles without doubt , this movie dosn't compete at all and didn't try to .


Worth a night out with food and parking Suzi ? I think so .

[Startrek]

Andy,
I was at the Kennedy Space Centre in July and tried the space shuttle simulator a few times,crashed every time on landing. Some 12 or 13 year old kid followed after me and landed the damn thing perfectly.The cockpit has about 200 switches and this kid was flicking switched everywhere and landed right in the middle of the runway. He should sign up with Space X or Blue Origin
I’m a Space kid from the 60’s followed the Gemini and Apollo missions on my parents black and white TV set.
I too read the book about 9 years ago and enjoyed it immensely
Another good read is Neil Armstrong A Life of Flight by Jay Barbree.

[Hans Tucker]

I went searching for the book and subsequently read reviews where some readers state that Hansen goes into too much detail, some of it in their opinion is irrelevant detail. I guess you can't please everyone. I still want to read the book to try and bring some perspective to the movie.

[mynameiscd]

I can see what some people mean by that but sometimes you do need "irrelevant detail" to get the full picture about the man and what makes the man.
There a plenty of myths about the Apollo missions and their pilots esp the one about Neil being a recluse after walking on the moon.
He did all the public stuff early on but then just wanted to get on with life so he refused a lot of interviews so disgruntled journalists filled in their own words.
Better get back to my book as Neil and Buzz are fumbling around squeezing into their 140kg suits after putting on catheter like condoms and taping plastic bag type contraptions to their bums in an area not much bigger than the back seat of a station wagon with rows of buttons all around that are really important not to hit or brake off!
Cheers
Andy

[Tropo-Bob]

I get that impression when I view the trailer and I wonder how true it is, or whether it is a Hollywood creation. In reality, I believe the wife and family would have been more stoic. Armstrong was a test pilot and if his wife fretted to him about her concerns as shown in the trailer, he would either had to change jobs or change wives.

No, I think they voiced the wife's concern well beyond what she did in life. Of course she would have been worried, but Neil A could not have gone to the Moon without her being stoic and strongly supporting her man.

Still, I have not seen the movie, so I may be wrong. I am interested in the opinions of those that did and if the family dimension was really was a major part of the narrative. If so, I won't go to the movie coz I would find that manufactured drama to be aggravating.

[mynameiscd]

Hi Bob,
Just read about Janet Armstrong chain smoking during the decent listening to the 'squark box' (a direct feed from Nasa of the audio loop), she refused to watch tv and lisen to repeporters speculate whether her husband might not make it home.
She also studied the whole mission and knew when vital steps and ticked them off her check list.
She was seen banging on a coffee table when Columbia was a little late from signal acquisition from behind the moon the previous day.
I recon she would be pretty stressed out but still holding it together for the kids and the press in the front yard or the reporters for Time magazine in her lounge.
Cheers
Andy

[Tropo-Bob]

Thanks Andy,

I think I will read the book first.

[Suzy]

Thanks Hans and Graham, sounds a nice night out to be had then :).

[astronobob]

Saw it last night, I was not overly impressed actually, , then again, I dont do movies much so I dont know what the standard is these days, but Id only give it 5/10, ,
So much vision of 'In their Faces' so close you only seen 50% of their faces, and soo much off it,,,, also thought the dialog was lacking, not much being said, low on suspense, and I just got sick of seeing soo much Vibrating Shaking instrument console, windows and helmets ...

In saying that, the movie did put a somewhat interesting perspective on the live of an astronaut/s, tho, reckon the Tom Hanks version did as well if not better on that side of things ?
I also thought the sound tracks were used over extensively, put it this way - A pitcher can paint a thousand words - but can music paint a thousand pitchers ? A pitcher is a pitcher, a movie is movie, not a sound room.

Sorry if not the write-up one is used to, but there ya go, maybe my expectation was too high ?

[mynameiscd]

I havent seen it yet but i know what you mean by overdoing it whith the instrument console shaking violently.
During apollo missions this only happended for about 2 minutes with the first stage of the saturn 5. The rest of the flight was pretty smooth even though they were pulling up to 4 gs. There was a bit uf a rough ride (up to 6 gs ) in reentry and maybe a jolt of 12gs as they hit the waves at spashdown but no real shaking more of a gentle rocking and swaying as the rcs and main engines were fighting against each other to keep the craft balanced.
During accent from the moon, because the LM was built with the centre of gravity offset the pilots decribed the motion like a gentle rocking horse as each automatic system corrected the other.
But it makes good drama having everything shake.
The only real time there would have been abit of shaking (more rolling and swaying) was when Neil Armstrong and David Scott were in an uncontrolled spin docked onto agena during tye Gemini 8 mission and had to undock and stabilize the Gemini which was spinning at about 1 rev a second and getting faster.
Armstrong closed one eye and tilted his head so he could see the now blurry pannel and started an automatic sequence which blew the mission and get ready to deorbit but saved their lives.
Cheers
Andy

[multiweb]

Imagine if it had been directed by J.J. Abrams. He's the kind of guy who plays bongo with the cameras in star trek action scenes.

[mynameiscd]

Anyone wants to waste a lot of time, i mean a real lot of time! Here's a glimpse of what orbiter is all about with the virtual AGC
Installing the right version, getting the right modules, loading the right textures, downloading and installing (all manual install of course) the mfds, going through all the checklists, learning the CSM and LM panels, and getting it stable so it doesnt crash windows.
Then you are ready to try a mission.

https://youtu.be/sHaS6sYJsMg

http://nassp.sourceforge.net/wiki/Main_Page

http://orbit.medphys.ucl.ac.uk

[Startrek]

I too agree that Armstrong’s character was way too numb
All the archival footage and photographs of Neil both in mufty and in his space suit showed the viewer that he did have a sense of humour and did smile a lot even though he probably was aware he was being filmed or photographed
He was a no nonsense kinda guy but I’m sure he let his hair down too.
The movie started when he was flying the X15 as a test pilot around 30 years of age and finished when he was in quarantine at 38 years of age ( only 8 years of his life ) They could have included 10 or 15 minutes of his early life to show his grass roots and where he came from. The book was the real deal from birth to 2002.
Another annoying thing they do with movies , particularly American movies is they way over dramatise scenes.All the flight scenes showed Armstrong and during Gemini and Apollo he and the crew having the living daylights shaken out of them for an eternity. From all the autobiographies I have read on the Apollo missions they did shake during lift off and staging but not to that extent where you would probably have broken your neck in 3 places, had a cerebral hemorage and become a redundant passenger

My 2 cents worth .......

[mynameiscd]

Going to Kennedy is on the top of my bucket list. It must be awesome standing underneath a Saturn 5 or next to Comand Module. I heard its pretty expensive and some think its a bit lame but what I've seen looks pretty good.
Not too sure what areas are public but close up to a real AGC pad whould be enough for me.
Would also love to go to Star City or Baikonour Cosmodrone but not to sure about tourist access.
Cheers
Andy

[Startrek]

Andy
The tickets for the KSC were reasonably priced for what you get, we booked 3 tickets
General daily admission ( access to everything in the park plus non priority admission to the Apollo Saturn 5 Centre
KSC explore tour ( priority to Apollo Saturn 5 Centre , VAB and more )
Cape Canaveral early space tour ( access to US airforce base where NASA launched the mercury missions from monkeys in 1959/60 to Alan Shepard 1961 and John Glenn 1962 and the others till 1963 )
We spent 3 days there which was spot on,saw almost everything. The whole facility is vast goes on and on but NASA do a great job running the centre, very well organised
The most expensive item was our cab rides,$130 to get from Orlando airport to Coco beach where we stayed and $35 each way to the KSC over 3 days ( theres no public transport and your a game person to drive over there , you don’t want to have an accident in a rental car it would send you broke
Definitely worth while and awe inspiring even for people who are not keen on space and technology etc. Met all kinds of people from all over the world
It’s one ticked off my bucket list now
Cheers
Martin

[mynameiscd]

Sounds like my type of holiday Martin.
I bet you couldn't leave the place, I'd even try to get a job there maybe apprentice pencil sharpener.

Im saving from now on.....
No more frivolous spending on astro gear...........
Maybe one more eyepiece and thats it.........
Ok just 1 more newt and maybe a better camera...
I think its going to take a while
Cheers
Andy

[multiweb]

Going to see it tonight. :)

[Kunama]

Apollo 10 had pogo during the first and second stages but violent shaking the whole time during the TLI while S3 burn was occurring...

But we digress, I enjoyed First Man a lot but agree that it was far better to know the ‘Who’s Who?’ .

[multiweb]

Enjoyed it. Wish they had picked up a bit earlier in the timeline but a great movie nonetheless.

[DarkArts]

Shudder. That would have been a catastrophe. :(

---------------------

I liked First Man but it left me feeling that something was missing, like I'd walked in half-way through.

I thought it captured the drama and shear scale of achievement - and the majesty of the moon - but left out much of the 'back room' effort that was evident in Apollo 13 and The Right Stuff.

And whether it was the actor or the direction, Ryan Gosling made Armstrong look a bit two-dimensional.

Well worth seeing, but it's not a feel good movie. And no Oscars for acting, one would think.

[acropolite]

Enjoyed the movie but with reservations, I agree the movie didn't do Neil Armstrongs character justice, it did show the incredible pressure that he had to contend with.

HRH Liz attended as well but without having prior knowledge of the various programs, procedures and outcomes she found the story difficult to follow, IMO as would any viewer with minimal knowledge of the Gemini/Apollo programs.

[GrahamL]

His character does seem a dour soul his kids seem to agree thats him ?


Buzz as far as i can read hasn't said much on the realism the Film

(aside the flag ) tried to capture even on his personality .


In the words of another

[Hans Tucker]

Still reckon that the best part of this movie is the end dealing with the moon landing.. great CGI and great music. I also didn't mind the way Chazelle ended the movie.

Apparently the scene where Janet Armstrong confronts Deke Slayton didn't actually happen. When NASA turns off the intercom (squawk box) during Armstrong's Gemini emergency Janet did go to NASA but she was denied entry to the base. Poetic license in practice.

[JimsShed]

It is a great movie. Sceptical about the sounds effects. Would a spinning capsule really sound like an accelerating jet engine? :)

[Lognic04]

The RCS thrusters would sound like that :)

[DarkArts]

I saw this again today, mainly for the moon walk scene, which is quite spectacular.


On second thoughts, Claire Foy is quite good. In few words, she manages to give her character (Janet Armstrong) great depth. I have no idea whether it's an accurate portrayal or not, but it comes across well. Possibly nomination-worthy in the 'Best Supporting' category.

[Andy01]

Saw this last weekend at Imax.
A wonderful, very immersive medium for a space movie :thumbsup:
Shakycam scenes were kinda annoying, and the ultra closeups too, but I guess that’s just the directors method of focusing on the human story.
Goslings depiction of Armstrong was a bit Spock like, made me wonder if he was meant to be a tad Aspergers?
Longish movie but the time passed quickly - overall very enjoyable and all the space/rocket/moon scenes were very well done! :)

PS: the moon walk seemed a tad anticlimactic- soooo barren, as in - is this it?