First Man (review)

[JasonEvans]

So, this week, me and my co-host really did get in a bit of a fight about a film. He adored First Man... I thought that even though it was a technical marvel and a well-made film, it just wasn't that enjoyable. Ryan Gossling plays Neil Armstrong as a nearly emotionless character and the movie is really, really personal so we spend the whole time right up in the face of an emotionless dude. Ummm, yawn!

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[luburch]

I've been looking forward to this movie (and this weekend - Bad Times at the El Royale and Beautiful Boy) for some time now. Chazelle has a good track record and I'm a big Gosling fan. Hopefully will see it sometime this weekend.

[BD80]

Neanderthal-estinzione.jpg

[Wander]

That was a great movie about the best thing humanity has ever done, and pretty accurate as far as I could tell. Armstrong's family has said they liked the portrayal, so I assume Gosling's sort of emotionless-ness that JE references is intentional.

[BandAlum83]

That was a great movie about the best thing humanity has ever done, and pretty accurate as far as I could tell. Armstrong's family has said they liked the portrayal, so I assume Gosling's sort of emotionless-ness that JE references is intentional.

Hmmm...there's an idea for a new off-topic thread.

It could get some really great conversation going, I'm sure.

I'll defer to you, Wander, if you'd like to get it started.

[luburch]

Saw First Man on Saturday. Good film, but I can't help but feel a little disappointed. Was difficult to connect with the characters outside of Neil. The portrayal of Aldrin was...odd. From a technical perspective the film was gorgeous.


Personally enjoyed Bad Times at the El Royale a bit better.

[Tom B.]

Armstrong's family has said they liked the portrayal, so I assume Gosling's sort of emotionless-ness that JE references is intentional.

That's just the way Armstrong was. If you can find it online somewhere (I did a quick search and couldn't locate it), listen to a recording of the chatter between Armstrong, co-pilot David Scott, and Mission Control during the emergency and abort during their Gemini 8 mission. Armstrong's voice is so cool and measured, you'd think he was doing something mundane like ordering a burger at a McDonald's drive-through, not fighting to get control of a spacecraft that was tumbling wildly and putting him and Scott at a very real risk of, you know, dying.

[gus]

That's just the way Armstrong was. If you can find it online somewhere (I did a quick search and couldn't locate it), listen to a recording of the chatter between Armstrong, co-pilot David Scott, and Mission Control during the emergency and abort during their Gemini 8 mission. Armstrong's voice is so cool and measured, you'd think he was doing something mundane like ordering a burger at a McDonald's drive-through, not fighting to get control of a spacecraft that was tumbling wildly and putting him and Scott at a very real risk of, you know, dying.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WniA1hsqsPs

if you only listen, it sounds pretty boring. If you look at the video with the simulated imagery, it seems pretty harrowing.

[RPS]

Saw First Man on Saturday. Good film, but I can't help but feel a little disappointed. Was difficult to connect with the characters outside of Neil. The portrayal of Aldrin was...odd. From a technical perspective the film was gorgeous.

I liked it a lot (IMAX was worth it) and thought Claire Foy was amazing.

[Wander]

The portrayal of Aldrin was...odd.

But was it inaccurate? I think it's fair to both consider Aldrin an American hero and also think some of his personal behaviors and statements are a little... odd.

[luburch]

But was it inaccurate? I think it's fair to both consider Aldrin an American hero and also think some of his personal behaviors and statements are a little... odd.

Perhaps it was accurate. I can't speak to to Aldrin's life. Just seemed like the film almost positioned him to be the bad guy at moments.

[Ggallagher]

But was it inaccurate? I think it's fair to both consider Aldrin an American hero and also think some of his personal behaviors and statements are a little... odd.

I might be stretching my memory a little bit past its limit, but if I recall correctly from the wonderful biography of Armstrong that was published five or six years ago, part of the reasoning for crewing Aldrin with Armstrong, was that only Armstrong was believed to have the temperament that could tolerate the somewhat "odd" Aldrin.

[Tom B.]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WniA1hsqsPs

if you only listen, it sounds pretty boring. If you look at the video with the simulated imagery, it seems pretty harrowing.

Gemini 8 was the first mission in which the astronauts docked the capsule with another vehicle in orbit. Armstrong and Scott successfully docked with the Agena target vehicle, but not long after docking, the spacecraft began to roll. At first, Armstrong and Scott thought it was a problem with the Agena, so they undocked. What they didn't know was that the problem was actually on their Gemini capsule -- an electrical malfunction was causing one of the maneuvering thrusters on the capsule to fire on its own, and it put the capsule into a roll.

While they were docked, the Agena vehicle was acting as a counterweight that slowed the roll -- but when they undocked, they lost that counterweight and the capsule actually began to tumble faster. That's when they realized the problem was with their capsule, not the Agena. Armstrong couldn't stop the roll with the orbital maneuvering thrusters, so he had to turn on the re-entry control system and use those thrusters to gain control of the spacecraft. Having engaged the re-entry control system, they had no choice but to abort the mission and return to Earth. It was supposed to have been a three-day mission, but ended up lasting less than 11 hours.

[duketaylor]

Gemini 8 was the first mission in which the astronauts docked the capsule with another vehicle in orbit. Armstrong and Scott successfully docked with the Agena target vehicle, but not long after docking, the spacecraft began to roll. At first, Armstrong and Scott thought it was a problem with the Agena, so they undocked. What they didn't know was that the problem was actually on their Gemini capsule -- an electrical malfunction was causing one of the maneuvering thrusters on the capsule to fire on its own, and it put the capsule into a roll.

While they were docked, the Agena vehicle was acting as a counterweight that slowed the roll -- but when they undocked, they lost that counterweight and the capsule actually began to tumble faster. That's when they realized the problem was with their capsule, not the Agena. Armstrong couldn't stop the roll with the orbital maneuvering thrusters, so he had to turn on the re-entry control system and use those thrusters to gain control of the spacecraft. Having engaged the re-entry control system, they had no choice but to abort the mission and return to Earth. It was supposed to have been a three-day mission, but ended up lasting less than 11 hours.

knows this info? Friend, you're as into such things as I, although I did not know this tidbit. Haven't seen you in a couple years, hope fam is well, let's catch up soon!! Go Duke!!!
I'm looking for/need tix for Syracuse at Duke next year, so I'll visit ticket exchange, but just saying!!
I need to see this movie. Jason's review or not

[JasonEvans]

Gemini 8 was the first mission in which the astronauts docked the capsule with another vehicle in orbit. Armstrong and Scott successfully docked with the Agena target vehicle, but not long after docking, the spacecraft began to roll. At first, Armstrong and Scott thought it was a problem with the Agena, so they undocked. What they didn't know was that the problem was actually on their Gemini capsule -- an electrical malfunction was causing one of the maneuvering thrusters on the capsule to fire on its own, and it put the capsule into a roll.

While they were docked, the Agena vehicle was acting as a counterweight that slowed the roll -- but when they undocked, they lost that counterweight and the capsule actually began to tumble faster. That's when they realized the problem was with their capsule, not the Agena. Armstrong couldn't stop the roll with the orbital maneuvering thrusters, so he had to turn on the re-entry control system and use those thrusters to gain control of the spacecraft. Having engaged the re-entry control system, they had no choice but to abort the mission and return to Earth. It was supposed to have been a three-day mission, but ended up lasting less than 11 hours.

The film does a really nice job of showing this mishap. When the movie is in the stars or really focused on the mission to get to the moon, it soars, but the stuff with Armstrong's personal life is a drag and emotionless.

-Jason "there's a reason a technical marvel like this film is sitting at 61% audience approval according to Flixter... it just isn't that entertaining" Evans

[rsvman]

Armstrong was a seriously boring, staid individual.

Entertaining, he was not.

[budwom]

We all owe Buzz Aldrin a debt of gratitude for pointing out to Ali G that we weren't going to be landing on the sun (even in Winter when the weather is cooler, as Ali G pointed out)...

[Tom B.]

Incidentally, some of the Gemini missions were (by design) quite the test of human livability and psychological endurance in space. The longest flight of the Mercury program (by far) was 34 hours -- the second longest was only nine hours. But all of the manned Gemini flights were multi-day missions, with the exception of the first one (Gemini III), Wally Schirra's Gemini VI-A flight (which lasted just over one day), and the aborted Armstrong/Scott mission (Gemini VIII).

The capsule was basically a slightly larger version of the Mercury capsule, expanded to accommodate two people (barely) instead of one. It was not exactly roomy.


1280px-Gemini_spacecraft.jpg


The Gemini V mission was almost eight days long, and Gemini VII with Frank Borman and Jim Lovell lasted for over 13 days. Imagine being locked in that capsule for nearly two weeks.

Borman and Lovell would later reunite on Apollo VIII, the first manned mission to orbit the moon. And of course Lovell would go on to command the ill-fated Apollo XIII mission, later memorialized in the 1995 Ron Howard/Tom Hanks movie.

[gus]

The Gemini V mission was almost eight days long, and Gemini VII with Frank Borman and Jim Lovell lasted for over 13 days. Imagine being locked in that capsule for nearly two weeks.

the first natural question, answered

[jimsumner]

We all owe Buzz Aldrin a debt of gratitude for pointing out to Ali G that we weren't going to be landing on the sun (even in Winter when the weather is cooler, as Ali G pointed out)...

That's just silly. Everyone knows that the sun is in the tropics and the only seasons they have in the tropics are the wet season and the dry season.