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LowComDom Performances Presents
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LowComDom Performances Presents
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Film Review - Apollo 13
Houston, we have a problem! (beep)
Say again, 13. (beep)
Houston, there was a big explosion, and we're not going to win any Oscars! (beep)
Who's voting, Forrest Gump? (beep)
THAT'S NOT FUNNY, HOUSTON! (beep)
How the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences could have possibly overlooked this film is a mystery of the universe.
Yes, it was nominated for numerous awards, including Best Picture, but Apollo 13 missed out every time. Could this have been because Tom Hanks has won back-to-back Oscars? Is Batman a transvestite? Who knows, but it feels unjust that a film so excellently crafted as this would not win one award.
Apollo 13 is the true story, as told by Jim Lovell, the mission's commander, of an ill-fated moon mission in the early 1970s. America had won the space race and had been to the moon twice. People were beginning to get bored with space. And then ... Boom! Apollo 13 brought them back to the TV set with the real drama of three men living on a thread of hope. It was sheer courage and brain power that brought them home.
To bring this film to the screen, Ron Howard's team did painstaking research to get the settings to look just so. Since much of the film must take place in a zero-gravity environment, they built sets in an airplane that can simulate zero-g for 80 seconds at a time. What gets you about this movie is the feel of reality it has. This is almost like watching a really well-edited documentary.
The most overlooked actor in this film is Kathleen Quinlan, who plays Lovell's wife. We see all sides of an astronaut's wife: the confident public face shown to the press, and the terrified reality. Quinlan should have won an Oscar for her performance.
Perhaps Forrest Gump was voting.
Film Facts
Directed by Ron Howard
Released in 1995
MPAA Rating: PG
Reviewed by Mongo
