Total Pageviews

Showing posts sorted by relevance for query claire foy. Sort by date Show all posts
Showing posts sorted by relevance for query claire foy. Sort by date Show all posts

Monday, October 15, 2018

APOLLO 11 and APOLLO 13

Day 165 of the Lower Puna Eruption, and nothing new.

********
FIRST MAN is the story of the first person on the moon, Neil Armstrong.  Rotten Tomatoes reviewers gave it an 88% rating, but audiences only scored it at 61%.  Both were about right.  This film was memorable for me because of a variety of personal reasons, but the movie itself had abundant rather boring sequences, perhaps to balance the stress, noise and space travel highlights.

This posting is linked to my article of last week on Hurricanes Michael and Camille, for after driving through this region of Florida Panhandle in July of 1979, we went on to Merritt Island to visit the Kennedy Space Center.  On the pad was Apollo 11.

Image result for logo, florida solar energy center
In those days the Florida Solar Energy Center was located on this island, and I twice was there in the eighties when shuttle shots launched, and you could see the takeoff a few miles away, with the ground seriously rumbling.  FSEC later moved to Cocoa, Florida on the main peninsula. 

Man to the Moon was advanced by President John F. Kennedy in 1962, who set  a goal of reaching that goal before 1970.  The film had as executive producer, Steven Spielberg, director Damien Chazelle, with Ryan Gosling, who starred in La La Land under Chazelle, as Armstrong, and Claire Foy as his wife.  

Image result for photo of gosling and foy in first manI might add that there was an unexpected connection here.  Two days ago I reported on the Ironman Triathlon, founded by Judy and John Collins.  This is a film waiting to be made, and Claire Foy would make the ideal Judy.  I might add that Judy's brother (he commanded the U.S.S. Kamehameha), husband John and two children all went to Annapolis.  Armstrong became a Navy aviator.

You all know about the moon landing, so to continue on with his life, he resigned from NASA and joined the engineering college at the University of Cincinnati (he is from Ohio) in 1971.  Not having a PhD, he did not exactly receive the respect he was due, and did not accomplish much during his eight years there.  My major professor, David Greenberg, had moved on to this university during the seventies and he arranged for me to meet with Armstrong during my visit.  Unfortunately, this never happened due to schedule conflicts.

There and thereafter Armstrong kept a low profile and was almost a recluse.  But he was basically a humble person and maintained his own lifestyle.  He avoided interacting with the public but agreed to work with James R. Hansen on First Man:  The Life of Neil A. Armstrong, published in 2005 and from which came the film.


A second movie I saw yesterday was a recently recorded Apollo 13, a 1995 production of the aborted 1970 lunar mission, which begins with Jim Lovell (played by Tom Hanks), at a house party to watch Armstrong walk on the Moon. This movie, directed by Ron Howard, received nine Academy Award nominations.  The sound track was incredible.  Rotten Tomatoes bestowed 95%/87% ratings.  Towards the end of this film, Lovell's wife and children were visiting with is mother in a rest home.  Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin stop by to stay with them during the harrowing TV reportage.  Lovell's mom remarks, "Are you two with the space program?" 
Needless to say, Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins succeed in their Apollo 11 mission with much skill.  However, Jim Lovell, Jack Swigert and Fred Haise never make it to the Moon in Apollo 13, and miraculously return to Earth with great skill, awesome support and incredible luck.  Armstrong passed away six years ago, but Lovell, now at the age of 90, is still alive, and well. The photo to the left is Hanks with Lovell.

Three 100% Rotten Tomatoes openings are scheduled for October 19:
-

Tuesday, November 20, 2018

WIDOWS and THE GIRL

The top three films this weekend with Rotten Tomatoes reviews:
I don't go to J.K. Rowling and animated features anymore.  I saw Bohemian Rhapsody last week.

So this weekend I went to:

                                                                      Rotten Tomatoes
                                                                 Reviewers  Audiences
  • #4 Widows                                             91             63
Widows is a heist film directed by Steve McQueen, who also was co-writer with Gillian Flynn (Gone Girl).  This is not the Steve McQueen who you saw in the 1968 movie, Bullitt.  Can you believe that was half a century ago?  That McQueen passed away in 1980.

The Steve McQueen, to the right with Flynn, is a British director, producer and screenwriter.  He won two academy awards for his 2013 12 Years a Slave.

Widows was a well-crafted production with several twists.  Worth your while.

Stieg Larsson was a Swedish author who wrote three books in his Millennium series, all published posthumously from 2005.  A decade later, 80 copies of the threesome had been sold.  He died at the age 50 in 2004, and the cause was said to be eating processed foods and copious amounts of coffee.  The Girl (...with the Dragon Tattoo, Who Played with Fire and Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest) in all his books is Lisbeth Salander, somewhat based on an awful experience when at the age of 15 he witnessed the gang-rape of an acquaintance named Lisbeth.

Rooney Mara was Lisbeth with the Dragon Tatoo, while Noomi Rapace played her in #'s 2 and 3.  This fourth version was written by David Lagercrantz, with Claire Foy (in the middle, below) as The Girl in the Spider's Web.  I just mentioned Claire last month, and she has risen to now be among my favorite actresses.  Will there be a 5th?  Sure, for Lagercrantz has already published The Girl Who Takes an Eye for an Eye.

The Girl films are all Swedish noir, stylish, sexually provocative, daring and a challenge for reviewers.  You'll either like it or not.  They possibly will reflect your innermost thoughts.

Three films open this weekend, here with Rotten Tomatoes reviews:
Go if you can, but chances are that none will be shown in your local theaters.  TWBYF is a documentary about the five boroughs of New York City.  I was just there.  Would have loved to compare my experience, for, while tour buses served as my feet, I wonder what I missed.

-
I might add that, suddenly, there are now four ocean storms on the other side of this world: