Damien Chazelle's First Man (Neil Armstrong Biopic Starring Ryan Gosling)

[Persona]

The training sequences, shuttle test, shuttle launch are absolutely thrilling to read on the page. I can't imagine how great they are on Imax. Damien pimp slaps Nolan with his sequences and camera movement on the page alone. The only character that comes off as unlikable is Buzz Aldrin. lol

Are we gonna act like the space set-pieces in Interstellar aren't exceptional? Because they're frickin' amazing. Especially the docking scene. I mean, Interstellar has some problems, but you can't really fault the technical craft in those sections of the movie. And shot on glorious IMAX film.

 

[David H.]

So apparently conservatives are upset because the film doesn’t actually show Armstrong planting the flag. Maybe they can get Clint Eastwood to direct the conservative version.

Lol. Eastwood was actually suppose to direct this once.

Are we gonna act like the space set-pieces in Interstellar aren't exceptional? Because they're frickin' amazing. Especially the docking scene. I mean, Interstellar has some problems, but you can't really fault the technical craft in those sections of the movie. And shot on glorious IMAX film.

"It's not possible."

"No. It's necessary."

 

[Manasrepublic]

Cant wait to see this film! I wish the banter about it recently would remain apolitical as it just potentially hurts the film’s chances at the box office

 

[Black Narcissus]

Are we gonna act like the space set-pieces in Interstellar aren't exceptional? Because they're frickin' amazing. Especially the docking scene. I mean, Interstellar has some problems, but you can't really fault the technical craft in those sections of the movie. And shot on glorious IMAX film.

And the set pieces here are better even on the page, I can't imagine what how they playout on the screen. Chazelle's technical craft I can tell will be on another level, perhaps only a guy like Cuaron can match him on that.

 

[Kahran Ramsus]

Neil Armstrong isn't really an expressive character.

In this case, I think it is one of the reasons he is so intriguing. He was the total opposite of a goofball like Pete Conrad.

 

[Black Narcissus]

I expect the Buzz Aldrin family to be angry with this movie. lol

 

[redhawk23]

And the set pieces here are better even on the page, I can't imagine what how they playout on the screen. Chazelle's technical craft I can tell will be on another level, perhaps only a guy like Cuaron can match him on that.

Again, the docking scenes in Interstellar are outstanding and overall the way that movie was lit seems to have been a strong influence on First Man as well. Both are probably just applying similarodern tools to an influence from the Right Stidf.

 

[Kaleb]

 

[aliakrep]

 

[TheVileOne]

The training sequences, shuttle test, shuttle launch are absolutely thrilling to read on the page. I can't imagine how great they are on Imax. Damien pimp slaps Nolan with his sequences and camera movement on the page alone. The only character that comes off as unlikable is Buzz Aldrin. lol

Sorry, but I have to disagree.

 

[Black Narcissus]

Sorry, but I have to disagree.

Tis' fine, bald sir.

 

[Aximili86]

The whole we-refuse-to-show-the-flag-planting schtick is so goddamn hilariously ridiculous. Not out of some patrioic sense, but like...contextually. You can't tell the whole Armstrong story without getting into the actual circumstances it happened in. Space race, guys.

Of course it was an achievement for humanity, but that's only a part of this, the Cold War aspect is a huge part of this story. You just stay away from that and you're picking & choosing the history. It's not about whether or not Armstrong was some jingoist flag-waver (Gosling's right on that - he wasn't, at least not to the same degree as some of the other astronauts), it's more just about putting the story within the parameters it was actually in. These weren't altruistic programs trying to get there in the name of hugs & kisses & world peace, the whole thing was "prove we can do it and the other guy can't".

 

[StarLord]

 

[Elayis]

Started out slow, and seeing this in IMAX the near-constant close-ups was a little off-putting at first, but overall it was quite a powerful film. Very deliberate and methodical, much more naturalistic than either of Chazelle's previous films. All of the plane/space sequences were incredible, it very much puts you in their shoes and how terrifying/claustrophobic it was. The score was great, too.

 

[David H.]

So this turned out to be a much more introspective experience than what was being sold and I’m glad to say it worked for the better.

For me, at least.

I’m gonna be listening to Hurwitz’ landing track for all of the foresseable future.

 

[Aximili86]

Thought it was more or less fine. Some nice emotional resonance, and really liked the visceral immediacy of the way the actual space stuff was filmed, really felt like you were there.

Just a shame about their total wilful omission of all historical context which is pretty pivotal to the actual story. But whatever, that's all been covered ad nauseum by now. Just sort of holds it back from being truly pretty great. Really loved the performances and visual look to this though.

 

[Vapor]

I can’t comment as to how accurate it is or how much of the overall story is told (looking at the recent posts, it seems perhaps some integral parts of the “build up” were left out) because I don’t particularly know a whole lot about the moon landing but I have to say that I found it both interesting and enjoyable.

Perhaps a little more introspective/build up focused that I thought it might be but I thought the performances and direction were both really good. And that Moon Landing score is pretty amazing (I’m listening to it at work at the moment too)!

 

[samsnee]

I was disappointed he left out the part where they found the Transformers.

 

[Schlosser85]

I expect the Buzz Aldrin family to be angry with this movie. lol

Buzz himself is still alive and apparently visited the set.

 

[Aximili86]

Yeah. I doubt Aldrin's too pissed, he's the type of guy that would speak up. Doubt he's exactly in favor of the one specific decision, but has probably had time to process it and doesn't figure it's worth fighting.

 

[samsnee]

Considering he starred in a Transformers movie that played the whole mission as government conspiracy, I don’t take much stock in any outrage over this movie.

 

[redhawk23]

Thought it was more or less fine. Some nice emotional resonance, and really liked the visceral immediacy of the way the actual space stuff was filmed, really felt like you were there.

Just a shame about their total wilful omission of all historical context which is pretty pivotal to the actual story. But whatever, that's all been covered ad nauseum by now. Just sort of holds it back from being truly pretty great. Really loved the performances and visual look to this though.

Gus Grissom Calli g to get Cronkite on the phone to tell Russia and Congress to suck it wasn't enough context?
The film very clearly shows the frustration of the astronauts and engineers as Russia seemed to kick their asses every step of the way.

The film actually goes further than most NASA related projects in presenting how critical many were of the space race, how wasteful many felt it was.

In real life, the planting of the flag was a tedious and awkward affair. It wasn't some fantasy of sticking it on the ground like a conqueror on a beach.

 

[redhawk23]

A great look at some of the suits built for the film and some really interesting discussion of replica making and historical research in general.

 

[Mandon Knight]

Really surprised this isn't doing better at the box office, would have thought people would have gone crazy for this story to be told.

 

[Schlosser85]

Considering there's at least two shots of the lunar module where the flag is visibly displayed onscreen, and the Space Race absolutely is repeatedly mentioned, the whole flag "controversy" is really artificial and manufactured.