Moon
Mikey 13 comments
I'd been waiting months for this to come out on Bluray, and 2 days ago it did. It's a movie that when I first saw the trailer, my jaw literally dropped. I hadn't been this excited about a movie in a long time.
So last night we viewed Moon, directed by one Duncan Jones (who is incidentally the son of someone else I admire - David Bowie), lights off, sound cranked, and it didn't disappoint.
It's hardly surprising I loved this flick. There are many artistic similarities that can be drawn between Moon and my other all time favourite 2001: A Space Odyssey as some of the sets are eerily similar.
Astronaut Sam Bell (Sam Rockwell) is on the Moon nearing the end of a solo 3 year mission mining a new source of energy for use on Earth, and his only 'accomplice' during this time is a computer called GERTY (voiced by Kevin Spacey, who obviously took inspiration from HAL9000). During his last 2 weeks the prolonged isolation has caused him to slowly drift into the darkest recesses of his own mind, and that's where the hallucinations start.
During a routine mining run there is an accident, and Sam is shocked to find someone else actually on the Moon with him - an unconscious survivor - another Sam.
This naturally raises a lot of questions - is he going crazy, or is this a clone? Or is he the clone? What does GERTY know about this - if anything? And what does all this mean? And all the other feelings that come when confronted with the physical manifestation of ones self.
It's hard to make a movie where there is only ever one actor on screen for the duration (I haven't seen that done since Silent Running), and thankfully Rockwell's performance is top notch.
I don't want to give anything away, so I'll leave you with the trailer. But rest assured movies like this only come along once in a blue moon (sorry) and you'll be talking about it for ages afterwards. It's definitely worth checking out if you haven't already.
...in response to this comment by Gina. It's just been released on Bluray and DVD. Grab a copy. After renting it I've now decided to also buy a copy for my expanding Bluray collection. It takes a special kind of movie to make it into my collection :-)
TVBIZ(BOB)
Saturday 27th February 2010 | 06:27 PMI could not relate this movie to 2001 at all. Yes they used real models instead of CGI but I was a little dissapointed overall.
I found it similar to "Solaris" in ways and in saying that I felt it was a little bit slow.
It was well done in how they shot it all - the timing was very good but I think they could have expanded on it.
Still not bad for and independent film so I give it 3 out of 5 stars.......
Jake Farr-Wharton
Monday 1st March 2010 | 10:12 AMThis movie was so incredible, on just so many levels.
Mining He3, an isotope whose potential for clean burning energy is amazing, which was recently discovered (albeit in extremely small quantities) by a probe deployed to the moon by India.
Cloning, clones made specifically for mining and maintenence, with an established memory and inherant disease to keep their lifespan short and manageable for their personality.
Psychologically, it was amazing to see the personality change depending on how long the protagonist had been in isolation and their reactions when the clones met each other.
Autonomous and interactive robotics/artificial intelligence/ turing personality obviously without Asimov's 3 laws.
It was totally incredible. Needs to be seen more than once to appreciate.
Gina Squitieri
Monday 1st March 2010 | 10:50 AM...in response to this comment by Mikey. Hey Mikey,
Yeah, that's next on my NetFlix movie list. I can keep Netflix movies for as long as I want (which means I can watch that movie over and over and over if I want to) w/ no late fees (for $10 a month). Plus I have the added advantage of being able to watch a lot of movies right on my computer. I'm really looking forward to watching this.
I'm not totally sure what Blue Ray is, though. I'm going to have to google that.
Gina
Wednesday 10th March 2010 | 11:04 AMMkay, I saw it. Loved it. Sam Roswell -- superb acting ability and the story line was cool. I'm watching it again. Like..... RIGHT NOW!
...in response to this comment by Gina. Glad you liked it! Great flick.
Gina
Friday 12th March 2010 | 12:17 PMAlmost forgot to mention my favorite thing about the movie -- the theme song! I love it!
...in response to this comment by Gina . Totally. It's an awesome haunting tune that one - sets the mood perfectly. It's called "Welcome To Lunar Industries" and is composed by Clint Mansell.
We don't get to hear the full version in the movie, so here it is in its entirety just for you :-)
And check this fan performance of the same tune:
Some trivia you may be interested to know. Clint Mansell has been doing movie soundtracks for a long time now, but his former claim to fame was as the front man for 'Pop will Eat Itself'. Talk about a career paradigm shift!
Trent Greguhn
Saturday 13th March 2010 | 03:37 AMMikey, I've been meaning to comment on this review forever but am now just barely getting around to it. I apologize.
Isn't Moon on Blu-Ray epic? When I got this in Netflix and after watching it I thought, "I needed this movie," and they really don't make them like this anymore.
Although I did predict the story a little bit it didn't take away from it at all. This sort of originality needs to be seen more often in the film industry.
My girlfriend didn't like it so much. Or rather, she thought it was alright. I dont' get it-- she liked Inglorious Basterds but didn't like District 9 and thought Moon was alright? Sometimes I think I know her niche for movies but then something like this happens.
It was just my kind of movie. Reminded me a lot of something Stanley Kubrick might do. Love it.
...in response to this comment by Trent Greguhn. It's amazing - and a quality transfer as well. Not surprising though as many movies are shot digital these days.
I loved District 9. Again it looks stunning on Blu-ray.
Gina
Saturday 13th March 2010 | 12:42 PM...in response to this comment by Mikey. Thank you!
Gina
Saturday 13th March 2010 | 12:56 PM(Yeah, talk about a paradigm shift for sure!)
Now the first little diddie in this tract here was perfect for the scene (I thought):
Gina
Saturday 27th February 2010 | 12:39 PMI'd like to see that for sure. Thanks for the tip.