Moon rises to become a must watch
April 10, 2009 by sgt-pembry
Filed under Movies, Previews & Trailers, Science Fiction
I absolutely love a good sci-fi film, more realistic and intelligent the better. Think Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977), Contact (1996) and of course 2001: A Space Odyssey (1969), my favorite film of all-time, from any genre, and where I got the name for this blog.
But they certainly don’t have to involve an alien intelligence like the aforementioned - anything to do with space is good. Take The Right Stuff (1982), Sunshine (2006). Both fantastic.
Anyway, I’ve just discovered a new film that looks highly promising for a number of reasons – for starters, it’s called Moon and is actually set there.
It’s not like The Man on the Moon starring Jim Carrey, which actually had nothing to with any man on the moon but a dead comic, Andy Kaufman.
Also, Moon stars Sam Rockwell, a brilliant actor who just hasn’t gotten the credit he deserves over the years. He’s Sam Bell, a one-man mining operation who works for a company called Lunar.
Alone on the desolate surface, his job is to collect a precious gas called Helium 3 and send it back to Earth, in order to help the planet’s ailing atmosphere. His only companion is a computer called GERTY, reminiscent of 2001′s HAL, but I’m sure with out the homicidal tendencies, and voiced by Kevin Spacey.
Anxious to get back home to his wife and young daughter, Sam is coming to the end of his three-year contract when things start to go a little strange at his moon base. Check out the trailer below.
Directed by relative unknown Duncan Jones, the movie looks to capture the eeriness I could only imagine would be all-consuming when you’re alone on the moon - as the poster says, 950,000 miles from home.
The film has already been screened at various film festivals, including Sundance – and there are some glowing reviews on imdb.com - but doesn’t get a more general release in the United States until June.
Though it won’t hit screens down here in Australia until September. Sometimes I feel like we’re so far away we may as well be on the moon.
G’day
Tried to get no.1 daughter to sit down with me and watch 2001 the other week – but alas . . .
The trailer looks suspiciously like someone has reworked the whole HAL thing and based a new storyline around it – I’m sure all will be revealed come the release date.
Thanks for the heads up – it’s the first I heard of it – and no doubt I’ll be off to check it out.
Cheers
No probs Doc.
Tie her down if you have to hehe.
Took me a couple of viewings to ‘get’ 2001.
Cheers