First Man

[Glom]

Some interesting choices on which parts to include, and which to omit :


'First Man': Neil Armstrong film fails to fly flag for US patriotism

 The planting of the flag was controversial in 1969. There was disagreement over whether a US or United Nations flag should be used. Armstrong said later: "In the end it was decided by Congress that this was a United States project. We were not going to make any territorial claim, but we were to let people know that we were here and put up a US flag.

 "My job was to get the flag there. I was less concerned about whether that was the right artefact to place. I let other, wiser minds than mine make those kinds of decisions."

The fact he deferred to worry about such a thing shows he was wiser than all those other minds.

Or is it because of this incident??   

Hilarious. Where is that from?

I wonder what Rubio would have to say if the film showed the flag blown down by the ascent module?

Or a montage showing the solar radiation causing it to decay over time. How would that be for symbolism?

[benparry]

My tickets are booked for this  mind you £33 for 1 Adult and 1 Child was a bit steep lol

[LunarOrbit 🇨🇦]

A sneak peak of the movie's depiction of the Gemini 8 incident. Looks riveting!

[Ranb]

Exciting scene, but based on what I read about the stuck thruster problem, it seems the movie takes a few liberties with how quickly the spacecraft started to spin and how fast it did spin prior to the crew getting it under control.  I think the emergency as it was shown on the mini-series From the Earth to the Moon was more realistic.  Or perhaps I am mistaken. 

[onebigmonkey]

This is very interesting

particularly for those HBs who insist it was all done in a studio.

One thing that puzzles me is the depiction of the surface at eg 8:22 - what exactly are those mountains supposed to be??

[darren r]

This is very interesting....
One thing that puzzles me is the depiction of the surface at eg 8:22 - what exactly are those mountains supposed to be??

Cool to see that they made extensive use of miniatures, actual sets and physical effects instead of doing it all with CGI.

As for the mountains - if this scene was shot outside on a real location (as the film crews visible breath seems to suggest it was) maybe they are real hills/mountains that were removed in post-production?

[bknight]

This is very interesting

particularly for those HBs who insist it was all done in a studio.

One thing that puzzles me is the depiction of the surface at eg 8:22 - what exactly are those mountains supposed to be??

Artistic license?

[grmcdorman]

This is very interesting

particularly for those HBs who insist it was all done in a studio.

One thing that puzzles me is the depiction of the surface at eg 8:22 - what exactly are those mountains supposed to be??

Interesting. One thing that struck me, especially in the jump from the LM ladder sequence, is that some of the movements looked wrong compared to what I recall of the actual excursion footage (the way he lands, in particular).

[onebigmonkey]

Interesting. One thing that struck me, especially in the jump from the LM ladder sequence, is that some of the movements looked wrong compared to what I recall of the actual excursion footage (the way he lands, in particular).

In the trailer his intonation of the famous "One small step..." speech is all wrong - I just know I'm going to be grinding my teeth a lot through this

[Peter B]

Interesting. One thing that struck me, especially in the jump from the LM ladder sequence, is that some of the movements looked wrong compared to what I recall of the actual excursion footage (the way he lands, in particular).

In the trailer his intonation of the famous "One small step..." speech is all wrong - I just know I'm going to be grinding my teeth a lot through this

Can I offer consolation in the form of this review:

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-10-11/ryan-gosling-is-stoic-neil-armstrong-in-first-man-film/10359222

In a way, watching people cope is what First Man is all about.

Chazelle's reliance on close-ups and mid shots — images of faces that take up vast swathes of the wide screen — depicts people alone with their thoughts and fears.

The way I see it, the movie is about people - one in particular - and perhaps that justifies a little license in re-creating scenes most of us know so well. In that regard it's different from "From the Earth to the Moon", which was a lot more about What Happened. So while I agree that FTETTM portrayed the Gemini 8 incident more accurately than "First Man" does, that's because they're showing different things: FTETTM wanted to show how a potential disaster crept up on the astronauts, while FM shows how Armstrong remained calm and in control in a situation that would have petrified most of us.

ETA: It's not as though FTETTM was perfect in its portrayals either. In the episode about Apollo 11 the scenes featuring Armstrong's aborted LLRV flight are all askew, with calls of altitude that clearly don't match the view from the vehicle.

[onebigmonkey]

I'm seeing it on Saturday and am very much encouraged by the reviews

[benparry]

Me too OBM your not in Manchester by any chance are you

[Zakalwe]

I'm hoping to see it on Sat too in Manchester. IMAX all the way, though the price is blooming salty!

[molesworth]

I'm seeing it on Saturday and am very much encouraged by the reviews

One of our engineers saw it at a preview a few days ago and he said it was very good, apart from some quite jarring switches between shots with "aged" effects and those without them.  That may be down to different teams / units producing different parts to be merged into the final footage, or something.  Hopefully it won't be too annoying.

He also thought the lunar surface CGI for the descent sequence was a bit poor (although he does work on a planet / asteroid surface simulation tool that's used to develop approach and landing systems, so he may be a bit over-critical on that point )

[Ranb]

Amy Shira Teitel reviewed the movie on her Vintage Space Youtube channel.   

There are spoilers in her review.