HOT: Apollo 13

Space has always been very interesting to me. I would have loved to be an astronaut and fly through outer space. But, it has also been pretty scary as well - and this film really didn't help that fear.

In Apollo 13 Jim Lovell (Tom Hanks) is astronaut with the American space program, or NASA. He, his family and friends are about to watch the Apollo 11 moon landing with Neil Armstrong on television at his house.

Lovell is scheduled, along with Fred Haise (Bill Paxton) and Ken Mattingly (Gary Sinise), to fly in the Apollo 14 moon mission and land on the moon himself.

Around a month before the Apollo 13 launch, Lovell is called into his bosses office and is informed that he and his crew would be bumped up to Apollo 13 due to illnesses throughout the original crew. With just a little time to train, Lovell, Haise and Mattingly throw themselves into the simulators and train for their mission.

During the final week before the mission, Lovell is informed that one of the NASA crew members has developed measles and could have infected all those around him. Lovell and Haise had both had measles so are in the clear, but Mattingly is forced to stay behind having never had them - he is replaced at the last minute by Jack Swigert (Kevin Bacon).

On the day the astronauts broadcast from space, Marilyn Lovell (Kathleen Quinlan) and the rest of the astronaut's loved ones head to NASA to watch. She notices that none of the television stations are covering the show and is told that none of the networks thought it was interesting enough to broadcast.

After the show, those in Houston helping the astronauts on their mission ask Swigert to stir the oxygen tanks. During the process, something horrible goes wrong and the shuttle explodes and begins leaking oxygen into space.

Forced to use their lunar module as a life boat, the astronauts soon realize that going to the moon is now out of the question and even returning home could be difficult. Flight Director Gene Kranz (Ed Harris) and the rest of the guys in Houston must now figure out a way to keep the three astronauts alive and get them home safely - including bringing Mattingly into the simulator to find the best possible way to save electricity and still use everything that they need.

Though it may have scarred me for life from wanting to head into outer space - I think I will wait until we have the U.S.S. Enterprise or the Millennium Falcon to make that trip - the movie itself was amazing and told the story of Apollo 13 very well.

Most of the acting in the film was top-notch. I still am up-and-down on Paxton. Compared to the other actors like Hanks, Sinise and Harris, he really stood out as below par. But, that didn't affect my thoughts on the film. One of my favorites.

Grade:

8/50x2: A History of Violence

So, Tom Stall (Viggo Mortensen) is a family man that runs a local diner. He is married to Edie (Maria Bello) and has a son Jack (Ashton Holmes) and daughter Sarah (Heidi Hayes).

This is the premise of A History of Violence.

His life appears to be great. He has a great relationship with his wife and the members of the town love him.
One night at the diner two robbers attempt to rob the place and also kill one of Tom's employees. Out of nowhere Tom appears to go ninja and takes down both robbers, saving his employee and the diner.

News spreads fast and Tom's face is plastered all over the news and newspapers.

One day at the diner a man Carl Fogarty (Ed Harris) shows up claiming that he knows Tom, but not as Tom, instead as Joey Cusack - an Irish mobster from Philadelphia.

Tom of course refuses this accusation - but for some reason Fogarty and his gang just will not let it go.

One night Tom and Jack get into an argument and Jack runs off - only to get kidnapped by Fogarty. Fogarty uses this to get some face time with Tom.

The rest of the film is basically Tom, who has been living a new life, trying to fix his previous life to get back to the one he is living. But, now that his family knows the truth has the damage already been done?

This was a pretty decent film. The action scenes may have been few and far between, but they were good when they were there. Mortensen and Bello really stood out in the film for me. I haven't seen too many Mortensen films outside of Lord of the Rings, but I respect him as an actor.

Grade:

National Treasure: Book of Secrets

This was a very laid back weekend at the Kane household. There was absolutely nothing on the schedule for the weekend, which might be the last time for a good month.

It was nice to spend some time with my wife and my son without anything having to force us out of the house. It was very peaceful.

And, we were able to catch up on some movies.

We watched a trio of movies this weekend (well more than that, but these were three we put into the DVD player). The first of which was National Treasure: Book of Secrets.

I had started watching the first National Treasure film a year or so ago, but the DVD which I was watching it on had a glitch - and I had not finished the film until just a few weeks ago. So, it was pretty fresh in my mind when watching this sequel.

For most people out there, Nicolas Cage is a terrible actor. But, I am not one of those people - while I will admit he is not anywhere close to a great actor, he gets no ill-will from me. I can actually deal with him.

That being said, I really enjoyed National Treasure: Book of Secrets. I thought it flowed very well, and of course a lot of the things that happen are very unbelievable (it is a movie), but it is highly original, which I like. And, it kept me interested throughout.

The whole idea about clues hidden on or in historical documents leading to treasures or more historical documents is amazing. I love treasure hunt movies, and this one was very good.

Things start out as Ben Gates (Cage) and his father Patrick (Jon Voight) are giving a lecture about how Patrick's great-grandfather (or perhaps grandfather) Thomas Gates hid the location of the City of Gold from the Knights of the Golden Circle and John Wilkes Booth.

After the lecture, a man named Mitch Wilkinson (Ed Harris), whose relative was a member for the KGC, shows them a part of Booth's diary with names of the members of the KGC - including the name of Thomas Gates.

So, in order to preserve their family name, Ben and Patrick, along with Riley Poole (Justin Bartha) and Abigail Chase (Diane Kruger) set out on a second journey, this time to find the City of Gold.

There were a few things I did not like - for instance the oil lamp near the end of the film that just happens to be there, it reminded me a lot of the first movie, which could have been avoided - but, I guess I am just nitpicking.

Grade:

P.S. - In the future, I am hoping to have a certain tie-in to the movies I watch during the weekend - that is, when I am able to watch movies on the weekend. Something like a 'Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon'-type thing.