Netflix #69 – Moon
People compare this movie to 2001: A Space Odyssey, which I find wrong because stuff actually happens in this movie and it doesn’t make you want to scoop your eyes out with rusty spoons. That’s right, this science fiction dork thinks “the greatest science fiction masterpiece of all time” is a piece of crap along the same bloated vein as Blade Runner. Sorry. Anyway, I digress. Moon stars the always reliable Sam Rockwell (“I’m not even supposed to be here. I’m just “Crewman Number Six.” I’m expendable. I’m the guy in the episode who dies just to prove how serious the situation is!”) and is about a lone guy on a moon mining colony where crazy shit starts to go down and he has to figure it all out. Sam Rockwell had absolutely no problem holding this movie down all by himself. I thought he was riveting and the story was completely solid. Every time I would guess what was going to happen, it sorta would, but then something different would happen and throw you for a loop. So it was a good combination of being able to figure out what was going on, but still being surprised. And Kevin Spacey’s voice was just made for being a computer, he was perfect. And I have to say, not to give anything away, but the ending isn’t the super depressing one I was expecting, which was a nice change of pace for a science fiction movie of this nature, when filmmakers usually give things a downer ending to “teach us a lesson”. I’d say this is definitely worth checking out!
Netflix #70 – Excalibur
I absolutely love Arthurian legends and the Middle Ages in general, but I have to say this movie was a bit disappointing. Don’t get me wrong, Excalibur was really well made for its time, and it is completely faithful to the legend, but it was almost too faithful. If you think about it, the Arthurian legend is kinda super depressing, and everyone who can fuck up, will fuck up. And in order to tell the whole story, you need a very looooong movie, and that’s what this was. I generally have a fantastic attention span, but this took me a few tries to get through the whole thing. It was just really long, and didn’t have any flashy fantastical moments to keep me focused. But there’s hardly any fantasy in the Arthurian legend, you say! To which I agree, but I think I’m just so attached to the versions I know, that the more truer ones (no, not the Clive Owen movie) just seem to pale in comparison. To me, nothing beats the NBC miniseries Merlin, starring Sam Neill, and that will always be the pinnacle of the Arthurian legend in my mind, and as unsophisticated as it may sound, I need a bit more flash to keep me interested. But again, it was really well made, the action was good, the score was great, and it was cool to see Helen Mirren, Patrick Stewart, and Liam Neeson all in relatively minor roles all the way back in 1981, also known as ancient times. Now I’d love to see someone give the Arthurian legend the Lord of the Rings treatment and make a balls to the wall, fantasy-oriented trilogy of movies with modern technology. I think it has the potential to be amazing. Get on that, Hollywood!
I loved Moon too. Saw it a few months ago.
“Now I’d love to see someone give the Arthurian legend the Lord of the Rings treatment and make a balls to the wall, fantasy-oriented trilogy of movies with modern technology. I think it has the potential to be amazing. Get on that, Hollywood!”
Funny – I thought exactly the same when I finished watching Excaliber. The story is there and I am surprised there has been no big budget version of this film a la Lord of the Rings.
P.s. I loved Moon – thought it was going to be quite generic at first, but was very pleasantly surprised.
I’ve never heard of Moon but that sounds really interesting. I’ll have to seek it out. Arthurian legend not so much but if they gave it the full Hollywood treatement I’d likely see it.
Pfft! The movie Excalibur is all about Merlin (Nigel Terry), he steals every scene he’s in. Well, Merlin and the odd nude knight. Or was that just me?
All that aside, for me the movie is like the Standard Edition of the Arthurian legends, the one you satirize or compare other interpretations to. And I think I agree with Craig, the Merlin series was REALLY good.
I was kicking myself that I didn’t get to Moon when it was in the theaters. i doubt I will watch it unless the Trashy one brings it over. I don’t do Netflix.
I actually mostly enjoyed Excaliber (saw it in college) and aside from the eye candy of the actors who played Arthur and Lancelot, I loved Nicol Williamson as Merlin and the dry humor that ran through the film. The Percival plot line kind of bored me but I liked a lot of the other stuff. I don’t mind my sagas dark.
Moon was amazing, but now I want to see Galaxy Quest again!
Is it available in Blu-Ray…… IT IS!
Bought.
Moon is on my list of must see movies! I’ve been scared to death/obsessed with Sunshine ever since I saw it, and I’m hoping that Moon will be just as good.
::sigh:: another movie to add to the Netflix queue. Let me see… #386, I will let you know what I think of Moon in approx three years
BTW, I watched the first season of Legend of the Seeker and all-in-all I enjoyed it, although I must say they really toned down the episodes with Richard and Denna from the books; she didn’t come off nearly as sadistic on TV, but I guess they had to nerf her for the censors.
Totally off topic: this video is funny, disturbing, and totally NOT SAFE FOR WORK. I now return you to your regularly scheduled afternoon.
2001: ASO is slow, yes, but it’s still the mother of all space movies, EVAR and for that we must respect it even if we don’t like it.
Blade Runner is my favorite movie of all time even though now it’s all old and irrelevant. But when it came out? It was all new and totally relevant and nothing had ever looked like that before or vibed like that before and it was brilliant.
Even thought you’re a smarty pants who is dissin’ the very foundations of the genre, I’m gonna watch Moon ’cause you made it sound interesting.
Awww… my earlier comment must have been eaten by the junk filter
Oh well… to paraphrase: I am going to add Moon to my Netflix queue, but it will be a long time before it makes it to the top of the list.
Oh, and I am sending you some good job hunting vibes!
Really sorry, but you cannot honestly call yourself a Science Fiction dork if you do not like Blade Runner or Space Odyssey. Maybe a SyFy dork, but not a Science Fiction dork.
Nico: I just added it as well, which means that I will watch it around July.
goblinbox: Many groundbreaking fail to have lasting appeal because what was groundbreaking is a genre cliche a decade later. When judged by current standards, they get no credit for what was novel and have to live or die entirely on their fundamentals.
Craig: Netflix now has the first two series of Skins on Watch Instantly. You could make Polt very happy by watching and reviewing them.
Craiggers, I’m afraid I must agree with Kari: It seem to be a true Science Fiction dork, one must like either Blade Runner Or 2001, or even both. But not liking either? Well, they’re gonna take your card away.
HUGS…
Cupcake: Skins ROCKS! I mean, it’s so funny, and there’s such cute guys, and lipsinking to Cat Stevens on the final episode and random drug use, and catty comments, and horribly thick accents! What’s not to love!
Just make sure you watch them with the subtitles on. Seriously, it helps.
HUGS…
Polt: I never had a problem, but I believe I watched the first series of Skins immediately after watching all of Coupling, and I had watch a few series of Shameless by the time I watched the second series. In any case, Watch Instantly doesn’t have closed captioning yet, so it can only hard code subtitles.
M Nico: Glad you enjoyed Legend of the Seeker! I didn’t realize you read the books. Most people who’ve read the books hate the series, so I’m glad you were able to enjoy it!
Kari: Blade Runner and 2001 = zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
Ryan/Polt: Sigh, another show I need to watch? But there are so many!
I heard about “Moon”! I love the title!
In other news, that cover of “Drift Away” that Uncle (butt)Kracker released a few years ago just came on the radio and my ears are literally drowning in headachez!
I have not seen either of those movies.
I can appreciate your view of 2001: A Space Odyssey. From the perspective of a modern viewer, it fixates _way_ too much on artsy space special effects, which slow the movie way down.
I loved Blade Runner for its, “tear drops in the rain”, sequence, with you so mercilessly mock on YouTube.
I think Craig is really a (well endowed) replicant and he slags Blade Runner to throw us off the trail.
However, that being said, whenever you bash Blade Runner (as you so often do), it makes me feel nostalgic. I think our very first interaction was related to Blade Runner, on MySpace, years(!) ago. Without your dislike of Blade Runner I am not sure that our interactions would have moved down the path they did. Perhaps I should be glad for the flaws in your SciFi movie taste.
Slacker = me.
I have Moon sitting on my computer desk, it’s been sitting here for 3 months. Also still sitting here, Star Trek, Nine, The Lovely Bones, Brothers and It’s Complicated … I’ll watch them … someday. My PS3 is just ruining my life right now with too many good games.
Craig: I have some major issues with the books and stopped reading them halfway through the series. I enjoy the TV show I think because they have changed many of the things I didn’t like about the books and made the story, and characters, more believable and realistic; well, as realistic as a fantasy story can be
Ugh I can’t believe I’m so far behind in my PuntabuluJoshRico blog comment posting.
First off, thank you, Nicole, for drawing the clever connection between Moon and Sunshine. I, to, have been “scared to death/obsessed” (or as I put it, “haunted”) by it ever since I saw it. (Even though I consider it a sin for Chris Evans to appear in a movie without at least one shirtless scene …)
I’ve wanted to see “Moon” ever since I heard the film-maker, who is David Bowie’s son, btw, interviewed on NPR. It’s up near the top of my Netflix queue (which has been moving glacially slowly lately, what with all my tweeting and facebooking blog-reading and — more recently — trying to NOT GET FIRED by doing less of the above).
Craig, I am really kind of shocked, though, that you don’t like Blade Runner or 2001. I’m with Kári on this. Very clever put-down, by the way, Kári. Heh. “Syfy dork”
Yes, 2001 is … flawed. Its ending is an absolute disaster (and nothing like the book, which makes total sense). But it’s beautiful. I *love* the slow pace, and I love the soundtrack, and I love the atmosphere and the fact that the exterior space scenes ARE ACTUALLY SILENT like they would REALLY be. It’s a work of art.
And as for Blade Runner, I’ve always loved that movie. I still think it’s one of the best scifi films ever made. I have to admit, though, that I still prefer the original theatrical release with the voice-overs, which you just can’t even GET anymore. I wish there was a DVD set that came with the “director’s cut” and the “cut I actually want to watch”. Maybe you never saw that version and maybe that’s why you don’t like it?
I wasn’t impressed by the Sam Neill Merlin. Bleagghhh. Merlin should *never* be portrayed as young.
Personally, I have always, and always will, love Excalibur, which came out in 1981, otherwise known as my Senior Year of College. (Refer to it as “ancient times” again and I will cut you.)
As for being Faithful, it is and it isn’t. For one thing, Excalibur and the Sword in the Stone are only sometimes, but more often not, considered the same sword. In Mallory and other sources, Excalibur was a sword that Merlin arranged for Arthur to obtain from the Lady of the Lake, who sometimes is, and sometimes is not, the same person as Nimue/Vivian, who sometimes is, and sometimes isn’t, anacolyte of Morgan le Fay and who was sent by Morgan to trap Merlin in the cave; in Howard Pyle’s version, the Lady of the Lake is good and separate from Vivian, who along with Morgan, is evil; but there are so many versions of the Arthurian stories that you can kind of take your pick, though many treat Mallory as canonical.
John, you’re right about it being about Merlin. (And David is right about the actor — Nicol Williamson, not Nigel Terry.) His bizarre, idiosyncratic portrayal of Merlin is by *FAR* the best portrayal on screen to date, in my opinion. He’s just so … damn … weird. Helen Mirren’s Morgana is the next best thing. A lot of other parts are just awful. The horrible blond boy and young man who play Mordred are just icky. Yeah, the guy who plays Lancelot has a good body but frankly I didn’t find him attractive personally (though that’s kind of appropriate: he is an insufferable character). The guy who plays Arthur I have never considered remotely attractive.
The whole “Charm of Making” thing was kind of cool but also kind of goofy. There was only ONE spell that Merlin knew? And it did EVERYTHING? And nobody ever just … overheard him saying it? It was some sort of secret? Meh. Some things are beautifully faithful: the way Uther makes Merlin get him the other man’s wife where he begets Arthur; the way Sir Bedivere lies about throwing the sword back into the lake when Arthur is dying, etc. On the whole, I think the film works more than not. It’s also very “atmospheric”, and has some interesting tropes, like the whole “Dragon’s Breath” idea, and the fact that Merlin’s powers, and the Charm of Making, are somehow part and parcel of the Dragon (though they don’t really explain who or what that Dragon is).
Chris — *love* your comments about being thankful for the flaws in Craig’s scifi tastes.
My netflix queue is 434 movies long …. *sigh*
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