"First Man" movie, who's going to see it the opening weekend?

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"First Man" movie, who's going to see it the opening weekend?

Post by p51 »

Oddly, they're playing "First Man" at a local IMAX theater on Thursday night near my office so I'm going there after work.
Ordered my ticket through fandango several days ago and saw ALL the seats available at the time. Some are gone now on the site, but no sell out for me! I got seat in the very center of the theater, so as best to get the effect.
And yes, I confirmed elsewhere that they're really playing it that night.
I fully intend on wearing my "Still the Right Stuff" light blue Apollo jacket replica to the showing...
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Re: "First Man" movie, who's going to see it the opening weekend?

Post by SpaceCanada »

I am excited to see it, but will wait for Blu-ray. The previews make it look pretty intense and I am prone to sensory overload, so watching it in cinema might be too much.
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Re: "First Man" movie, who's going to see it the opening weekend?

Post by p51 »

firstman_regaltheaters_patch01.jpg
firstman_regaltheaters_patch01.jpg (28.03 KiB) Viewed 12692 times
I'll be seeing it in a few hours, sure hope I get one of these!
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Re: "First Man" movie, who's going to see it the opening weekend?

Post by p51 »

I really liked “First Man” (I’m glad I asked the theater manager about the patch giveaway as they had them but the manager had no clue about it)
Image
I can't tell if my wife will like it or hate it. It's a coin flip, I think, for what her reaction will be when I take her to see it later.
Some might question the long scenes with nothing going on yet skipping through history, but I loved the scene where they were taking the elevator to Apollo 11, it was the best representation of that which I've ever seen other than the original film. The entire Apollo 11 portion is worth seeing the movie even if the rest had been no good (which it isn't).
A few observations (none of which are spoilers):
-It skips through history. I think the public will like they got to the 'important parts', but space fans might not like that
- It was filmed with very grainy film for a 60s look, but the closer they get to the Moon, the better the image gets. It’s a crystal clear picture when they’re on the Moon. I assume this was intentional
-I wasn't too keen on how they showed the crews as bystanders and scared of everything that was happening when in the capsules. I just don't see that happening in real life
-Why was everything so dirty and used looking? The Gemini scenes especially, it looked like they'd re-used that capsule a dozen times before that mission for how the interior looked
-The rotation rate on the Gemini 8 incident seemed way higher than in real life
-The landing speed on Apollo 11 was way faster (though I LOVED the visuals and the music for that portion) as well
-I refuse to accept that Janet Armstrong chewed out Deke like in the movie
-That 1990s helmet/O2 mask when Armstrong crashes the LLRV... Ugh!
-As for that crash, where the heck is the field at Ellington? The movie shows nothing but a grass, and the crash was right next to concrete
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Re: "First Man" movie, who's going to see it the opening weekend?

Post by SpaceCanada »

Quoting the USSRC Facebook feed:
Seeing First Man in the theater this weekend? Listen closely. The sounds of switches and clicks in the Apollo Command Module were recorded on-location at the U.S. Space & Rocket Center in Huntsville, Alabama. Below is a photo of Neil Armstorng, Buzz Aldrin, and Micahel Collins when they visited the U.S. Space & Rocket Center in 1989.
Original post (with photo) can be found here:
https://www.facebook.com/RocketCenterUS ... =3&theater
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Re: "First Man" movie, who's going to see it the opening weekend?

Post by majtom7 »

p51 wrote:I really liked “First Man” (I’m glad I asked the theater manager about the patch giveaway as they had them but the manager had no clue about it)
Image
I can't tell if my wife will like it or hate it. It's a coin flip, I think, for what her reaction will be when I take her to see it later.
Some might question the long scenes with nothing going on yet skipping through history, but I loved the scene where they were taking the elevator to Apollo 11, it was the best representation of that which I've ever seen other than the original film. The entire Apollo 11 portion is worth seeing the movie even if the rest had been no good (which it isn't).
A few observations (none of which are spoilers):
-It skips through history. I think the public will like they got to the 'important parts', but space fans might not like that
- It was filmed with very grainy film for a 60s look, but the closer they get to the Moon, the better the image gets. It’s a crystal clear picture when they’re on the Moon. I assume this was intentional
-I wasn't too keen on how they showed the crews as bystanders and scared of everything that was happening when in the capsules. I just don't see that happening in real life
-Why was everything so dirty and used looking? The Gemini scenes especially, it looked like they'd re-used that capsule a dozen times before that mission for how the interior looked
-The rotation rate on the Gemini 8 incident seemed way higher than in real life
-The landing speed on Apollo 11 was way faster (though I LOVED the visuals and the music for that portion) as well
-I refuse to accept that Janet Armstrong chewed out Deke like in the movie
-That 1990s helmet/O2 mask when Armstrong crashes the LLRV... Ugh!
-As for that crash, where the heck is the field at Ellington? The movie shows nothing but a grass, and the crash was right next to concrete
Maybe the answers are in the annotated screenplay.

https://www.space.com/42069-first-man-a ... 181010-sdc
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Re: "First Man" movie, who's going to see it the opening weekend?

Post by p51 »

majtom7 wrote:Maybe the answers are in the annotated screenplay.

https://www.space.com/42069-first-man-a ... 181010-sdc
Yeah, I saw that on Collect Space as well, but if you have to put out a book explaining all the departures you made form history in a historical film, maybe you didn't do that great a job...
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Re: "First Man" movie, who's going to see it the opening weekend?

Post by SpaceCanada »

We watched 'First Man' tonight and I admit I am underwhelmed. The handheld videography was extremely distracting and irritating for me, as was the imbalance of the audio, and I think it really took away from the film. Also, the trailers added far more action and intensity than there was in actuality. I found the 'making of' bonus features more interesting than the feature in some ways.

I guess I was expecting something more along the lines of 'Apollo 13' or 'From the Earth to the Moon', with some more drama and personal life story. This film seemed too vague at times and I didn't know who the characters were in many scenes because they were never referred to by name, though I could pick out a few based on my historical knowledge.

Overall rating: a good story, poor videography, and just medium overall. Would I see it again: probably, but not for a while.
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Re: "First Man" movie, who's going to see it the opening weekend?

Post by p51 »

Jennifer,
I can't disagree with your take on the film.
I saw it in IMAX and the grainy hand held shots were almost impossible to watch in that format, but it made the Crystal clarity of the Moon scenes that much more impressive by comparison.
It's a good movie on DVD or BluRay, as you can skip to the good parts.
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