Daily Discussion Thread: Friday 14 Jul 2023
Daily Discussion Thread: Friday 14 Jul 2023
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Seagoon's Friday night movie review. The First Man. Biography of Neil Armstrong.
I love this movie for the way it has rewritten the narrative of the first man to walk on the moon. For the first time in a movie it shows an astronaut as being an experienced intelligent, active pilot of a space vehicle, not just some person who relies on the engineers and mission control to get him there and back. Not just a warm body that could be replaced by a monkey.
And brave, so brave, even under terrifying and deadly situations he keeps his cool, uses his experience and intelligence and keeps trying.
4.5 hobbits
The First Man is one of my fav films, have it on bluray. I just love the characterisation, and the effects! That first sequence had my heart pumping and it just never really stopped. Im glad you enjoyed it!!
That first scene where he figures out that to re-enter the Earth's atmosphere he had to use a wing as a blade , to present as small a surface area as possible, that showed Armstrong's deep understanding of his task and his brilliance. I loved that so much. And him using those small jets to orient the plane was echoed in the Gemini spin, and the way he never gave up trying to stop the spin, incredible fortitude. I haven't looked it up yet, was he flying an X2 in the first scene? It was an X-15 :) https://airandspace.si.edu/stories/editorial/neil-armstrong-and-x-15. It's a rocket with wings, not a jet.
( I'm a bit a space fan, not a huge one but a deep enough interest to have flown to Florida from Europe just to visit Cape Canaveral. :) )
Twas an X-15 iirc, my dad is a space nerd, and he's why I am too haha. I'm pretty sure it was an X-15. And yes, that gave me chills, like it was just so visceral, and realistic. The camera angles, up close. That scene of the fire in the Apollo 1 😱 so well done. Such an amazing film, I don't care if it took a few liberties, it was amazing and reignited my interest in space
I have read so many tech books and so many biographies and seen so many movies and been to nasa and eaten up all the documentaries, watch launches
but this one movie changed how I thought about the role of the astronauts. I already knew they were all highly experienced test pilots and university educated but really, the pivotal role they played was never shown before, like I said, previously it was as if they were a passenger, not a pilot. :)
Yes, amazing. :)