Reel Facts & Opinions: The Top 10 Moon Movies

 

This weekend will mark the 45^th anniversary of history’s first manned Moon landing; a monumental event which was the culmination of a nation-wide American effort. But even before Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin made their historic landing and eventual moonwalk, our nearest celestial neighbor had been capturing the imaginations of filmmakers and storytellers for thousands of years. To help mark this occasion, here are Reel Speak’s Top 10 films to feature our Moon.

10. IN THE SHADOW OF THE MOON (2007) – Leave it to the British to put together what may be the definitive documentary feature about the United States’ manned Moon missions. This doc utilizes footage available at the time of the missions, along with NASA films and materials which had been unseen for 30 years prior to the film’s release. The old material was remastered in HD for a stunning presentation.

9. MOONWALK ONE (1970) – Another documentary feature, this NASA-produced film was rejected for a wide-release at the time as no studio would pick it up; fearing the American public and world had been over-saturated with Moon stuff (the Space Race began in 1955). The doc was lost for decades before being remastered and re-released in 2007. The film places the first Moon landing into historical context, and it is the very first documentary film to have been made on the subject.

8. TRANSFORMERS: THE DARK OF THE MOON (2011) – The story of the first manned Moon landing has never been told in a non-documentary film (somebody fix that, please), and although Michael Bay’s third film of alien robots doesn’t either, it’s opening prologue consists of a magnificent re-telling of the landing. It is beautifully shot, gracefully composed, and backed by a moving score. If the story of Apollo 11 is ever to be told in a blockbuster film, this prologue is an excellent starting point.

7. LA LUNA (2011) – Pixar’s animated short-film is a multi-generational father-son story in which the family is charged with sweeping fallen stars off the surface of the Moon. Charming and touching, it carries its influence from The Little Prince heavy on its sleeves, and that’s alright. LA LUNA is this Blogger’s personal favorite of Pixar’s long list of shorts.

6. A TRIP TO THE MOON (1902) – The granddaddy of all Moon movies deserves credit not only for starting it all, but for capturing the imagination of all moonwatchers and aspiring voyagers. It is believed to be the first science-fiction film ever made, and is often regarded as one of the Top 100 films in the 20th century thanks to its subject matter and innovative visual effects.

5. MAGNIFICENT DESOLATION (2005) – This documentary film borrows its title from Buzz Aldrin’s initial description of the surface of the Moon. The film includes historical footage as well as re-enactments, and was originaly released in a stunning IMAX 3D format.

4. MOON (2009) – Sam Rockwell’s one-man show involves a single man caretaking a mining-station on the Moon when things go awry and then get weird. What makes MOON so great is that the technology and situation feels like it’s only a few years away; making it the most palatable science fiction film made in the past decade.

3. 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY (1968) – Famed director Stanley Kubrick’s spacebound opus is widely regarded as one of the finest films ever made; transcendent in its story, execution, and technical wizardry. The Moon plays a small, yet vital part in the film…and its re-created surfaces are considered to be very realistic; a massive feat considering it was released a full year before Armstrong and Aldrin made their landing.

2. THE RIGHT STUFF (1984) – To be certain, man would have never set foot on the moon if not for the unprecedented bravery and commitment from America’s first group of astronauts…and THE RIGHT STUFF tells their stories. Epic in nature, the film combines several genres of film into one long effective narrative…and sums up what it takes to boldly go where no one has gone before.

1. APOLLO 13 (1995) – In 1970, NASA’s second manned mission to the Moon nearly ended in disaster when their spacecraft, Apollo 13, suffered an explosion which crippled the craft and nearly ended the lives of the three astronauts aboard. Ron Howard’s thriller-in-space captures the human drama and tension suffered by the three voyagers, their families, and the thousands of people on Earth who worked to get them back home alive. Travelling into outer space is a hazardous venture, and APOLLO 13 manages to tell us about the hazard inside the hazard…and doesn’t waste a second of our attentions. The Moon in APOLLO 13 acts as divine inspiration for the players, and perhaps it all can be summed up by Tom Hanks’ closing monologue; when will we be going back, and who will that person be.

REEL SPEAK’S TOP 10 MOON MOVIES

1. APOLLO 13

2. THE RIGHT STUFF

3. 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY

4. MOON

5. MAGNIFICENT DESOLATION

6. A TRIP TO THE MOON

7. LA LUNA

8. TRANSFORMERS: DARK OF THE MOON

9. MOONWALK ONE

10. IN THE SHADOW OF THE MOON