posted 10-02-2018 05:31 AM               

The majority of the audience won't understand the rates, apart from the fact the numbers are high.

posted 10-02-2018 08:27 AM               

quote:

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Originally posted by lspooz:
...for an IMAX screening in Raleigh NC, but it'll be worth it.

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posted 10-02-2018 09:49 AM               

I already knew about a few changes they had made to the control panel. But they took VERY creative license with the addition of gooseneck lamps to the cockpit! And if you're going to have a crisis on orbit, you might as well go ahead and have the reentry sequence lights flashing along with all the other lights. (There wouldn't have been any lights flashing - everything else was working fine. But where's the thrill in that?) But I'm the only person who knows about that and the wrong switches and gauges being used, right?

posted 10-02-2018 04:25 PM               

quote:

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Originally posted by space1:
There's no way they had strong rotational g forces adding to the stress.

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We take some license here. The speed at which everything moves to the cabin walls is heightened. The speed at which Earth moves through the windows is heightened too. The lights shorting out is a fiction. But this is all to put the viewer in the cockpit, to convey how intense and dangerous this situation was.

posted 10-03-2018 07:38 AM               

Anyway, I am impressed with the technical callouts in this sequence. And I can forgive the use of the computer keypad to send a command to the Agena, since they could not fit a proper Agena panel into the prop.

posted 10-03-2018 11:14 AM            

quote:

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Originally posted by space1:
With his right hand Gosling dramatically throws the attitude controller forward. But he needed to dramatically pull the translation controller backward with his left hand.

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posted 10-05-2018 04:25 PM               

The stars of "First Man" stopped by Air and Space yesterday for the premiere of the film. Neil Armstrong's sons, Mark and Rick, were here, and got a chance to catch-up with their on-screen family!

See more photos from the premiere.

posted 10-06-2018 02:53 AM            

quote:

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Originally posted by ejectr:
You've got to remember, this movie was made for the general public, not just cS people that have the knowledge when something was right or exaggerated.

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I think we all remember that. The point is that some exaggerations make sense in the context of trying to demonstrate the nature of a situation to the uninformed. Whereas the purpose of other deliberate inaccuracies seems unclear (at least to me).

posted 10-06-2018 01:03 PM               

Afterwards we got a nice group shot with both of Neil's sons and with Ryan Gosling, who seemed to have Neil's demeanor down quite well (I heard Mark tell Ryan that very same thing during the after party).

posted 10-08-2018 04:37 PM               

Join us for the 4:25 p.m. showing of "First Man" on Friday, October 12 at the Epic Theater XL in Titusville, Florida. Eight to 10 Grumman employees who actually worked on the Apollo 11 Lunar Module will be on hand for a Meet & Greet starting at 4 p.m. before the movie, then continuing after the movie until 7:30 p.m. Normal theater admission applies.

posted 10-08-2018 05:20 PM               

First Exhibit of First Man Movie Properties Opens Oct. 12

Museum hosts exclusive display of costumes and props from the new feature film

The Museum of Flight presents a special collection of costumes and properties used in the making of Universal Studio's blockbuster movie "First Man." Both the movie and the exhibit, Behind the Scenes of First Man, open Oct. 12.

The Museum of Flight has been associated with "First Man" filmmakers and distributor Universal Studios since production started in 2017. The partnership resulted in this premiere exhibition that includes costumes worn by actors Ryan Gosling (as Neil Armstrong), Claire Foy (as Janet Armstrong) and Corey Stoll (as Buzz Aldrin). The collection also includes models, ID badges and filmed commentaries with the actors.

Behind the Scenes of First Man runs through Thursday, December 20, 2018.

posted 10-08-2018 05:24 PM               

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!

And yes, I confirmed elsewhere that they're really playing it that night.

posted 10-10-2018 06:49 AM               

On the way out, I heard a lot of people complain about how long and drawn out the movie was. To me, it was just the opposite. I can think of a billion things that weren't in the movie that probably should have been. Hopefully we can dig into that more at a later date. On a side note, the woman I was with said she hated to see the movie end.

posted 10-11-2018 04:58 PM               

quote:

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Originally posted by Robert Pearlman:
Regal Cinemas is running a free "First Man" mission patch promotion for its Thursday, Oct. 11 screenings.

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posted 10-12-2018 10:16 AM               

[img]https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1924/44359399765_b31ff709ee.jpg[/img]

I really liked the movie but 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.

I really liked the movie. 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:

It skips through history. I think the public will like they got to the "important parts," but space fans might not like that.

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!

posted 10-12-2018 10:47 AM               

For example, Janet did indeed go to MCC and though it is not known who she talked to during the emergency, she "did talk to Deke later about the situation and told him (in no uncertain terms) not to keep her in the dark again." Per Jim Hansen, based on his interviews with Janet:

She said something to the effect of, "If there is a problem, I want to be in Mission Control and if you don't let me in, I will blast it to the world!"

Frank Hughes got to know Janet around this time. After seeing the movie, he said that Claire was terrific — but that she maybe wasn't angry enough in this scene!

posted 10-13-2018 11:24 AM               

I liked what Damien Chazelle did in emphasizing the loss of Karen Armstrong, though this did get me to thinking what Jim Hansen wrote about this in the book. On page 528 he wrot:

Another loved one that Neil apparently did not remember by taking anything of hers to the Moon was his daughter Karen. What could have made the first Moon landing more meaningful "for all mankind" than a father honoring the cherished memory of his beloved little girl, by taking a picture of the child, dead now over seven years (she would have been a ten-year-old), one of her toys, an article of her clothing, a lock of hair?

... What if Neil had done something like that but had never told anyone about it, not even Janet, because it was of such an intensely personal nature?

... Among those who feel so are Neil's sister June, who knows her brother as well as anyone. "Did he take something of Karen with him to the Moon?" ran June's rhetorical question. "Oh, I dearly hope so."

posted 10-13-2018 02:24 PM            

Yes it's worth seeing, and undoubtedly I'll watch it several more times over the years. I'm not going to nit pick it yet (though there were a lot more discrepancies than I expected). It will be interesting to read the annotated screenplay when my pre-order eventually arrives.

It was made by people that, going in initially knew little of the subject (by their own admissions). I think the target audience is at similar level. I don't know if it succeeded for them. I sure hope it hooks people into finding out more about what really happened.

I thought Gosling did a great job. Foy was good too. However it did seem a bit "passive aggressive" between them at times. Perhaps that was tainted by later events, but I don't know, I wasn't there.

Portions of the flying scenes were too noisy (and the wrong noises, and at times the back-ground music wasn't), too much vibration, and excessive rotation rates. I think audiences may have struggled to follow what was meant to be happening through the blurred cacophony, but maybe they weren't meant to. Maybe they were just meant to be scared and impressed.

Apollo 11 was taken at the gallop. The climb down the ladder was well handled, but the rest of the mission could have done with another ten or so minutes of screen time. I think the final surface scene was a big mistake, but maybe the academy will love it.

A visually striking movie, but less close ups of a vibrating Gosling and a better look at what he was meant to be seeing would have been good. I didn't agree with some of the "historical interpretation." There were many errors of fact, mostly inconsequential to the main thrust of the story. It was way too short for me!

posted 10-14-2018 05:55 AM            

That shaky handheld quick zoom-in style of filming really started to grate after a while. Why did it have to be so jerky? That was my biggest problem with the film. Trendy cinematography?

Also, as some others have mentioned, the film is too noisy during the "action" sequences, and I couldn't really hear what was being said. The soundtrack itself wasn't great — the music during the lunar descent for example was inappropriate and failed to build up any tension at all.

Gosling and Foy were superb. The chap who plays Buzz Aldrin physically looked to me more like Bernard Bresslaw from the carry on films than Buzz. I was very pleased to see the Ed White character getting lots of screen time.

Some of the visuals were absolutely brilliant — the suiting up room, the moon's surface itself — although Neil's spacesuit did look a little under inflated as he stood out there!

posted 10-14-2018 11:58 AM               

First off, the acting was great and I especially loved the character of Neil's wife, Janet, and her performance by Claire Foy was fabulous, in my opinion, as with Armstrong himself played by Ryan Gosling.

I loved how the film started out with the audience being with Neil inside one of his
X-15 rocketplane flight experiences and with some of the difficulties of Gemini
8's emergency in space while docked to the Agena.

There were, though, several scenes that were devoted to the anti-space movement in the country, such as the political fallout concerns, all the public protesting, too much money being spent by NASA and not feeding the poor, and even the lost of astronaut lives...which in fact were all true issues during that period.

But in retrospect, there was nothing that I saw in the production that shed a more positive influence nor support of our nation's manned spaceflight program and benefits, unless I am missing something and/or making too much of a film from a critical or negative standpoint, which I do understand was not the movie's purpose.

From a technical or space geek angle, it seemed to be (and perhaps I am making too much of it), that crew assignments were of no basic formula and with no indication whatsoever of whom would be assigned to what flight, etc, though I did see a mention of a backup Gemini crew being assigned to another future Gemini flight.

As the movie seems to indicate with Neil Armstrong; one day you come to work and out of the blue you find out from Deke that you will be commanding the first lunar landing mission!

Even before NASA made that official announcement, Armstrong and Aldrin pretty much knew that Apollo 11 would be the first landing mission if 10 had achieved all of its major flight goals, and with them possibly becoming the first moon men.

In watching the IMAX version film on Oct. 11th, a friend next to me asked, "Was Armstrong surprised to hear of the first moon landing command, I didn't know that he wasn't or didn't seem to know," as the film version of it seemed to imply, was how I took it as well.

As backup for Apollo 8, in most cases, you skip two flights ahead and that same crew would fly the third mission. There really was no magical formula in deciding overall flight crew assignments, even though there were some changes along the way with Apollos 13, 14, and 17 and if a prior flown Apollo astronaut didn't want to fly in the program again or wasn't reassigned for another reason.

As in most space movies that I see, and it's just me and nothing more, I wish the public could see how busy it gets inside a real white room with all the necessary ground support equipment involved when a crew enters their spacecraft, and there are so many space workers there, not just one or two people with an empty room around the vehicle.

But as to the spacecrafts themselves represented in the movie, I did see, however, a very good replica of Gemini's interior along with 11's command and lunar modules, though.

Just a few thoughts, but overall, I did enjoy the movie experience. But I know a lot of cS readers will tell me that I am too serious in my review of First Man, but I did in fact enjoy it.

And a big thanks to our own Robert Pearlman for his support contribution in helping to make the film possible along with a few others of the cS community.

Oh, and one more thing, it was great seeing Chris Calle represent his Dad portrayed in the motion picture on Apollo 11's launch day morning inside the MSOB!

posted 10-14-2018 09:12 PM               

As noted above, it is a wonderful character study, not another documentary of the early space program. "First Man" was intensely moving and intimate, leading the viewer through periods of goosebumps, elation, and a few tears while providing a riveting portrait of a very reserved man, and portraying true grace under pressure.

The discussion panel featured four dedicated space experts:

• Rick Houston - writer whose nine books include "Wheels Stop!" and "Go, Flight" (which became the movie "Mission Control: The Unsung Heroes of Apollo"), who assisted with the film. Rick noted the 35 hours spent on the set were well worth it for his (one-second?) cameo as a Gemini mission controller, and he really enjoyed watching a talented director at work. Chazelle's dedication to detail and obvious labor of love paid off, particularly in Rick's comment that Neil Armstrong's sons had given the movie their overall approval.

• Mike Neese - Morehead Planetarium (working to complete his book on the history of the Morehead Planetarium). Mike noted that even during Apollo, the Morehead was a world-class facility, which won out over facilities in Houston, California and the northeast for the rights to train our astronauts. Of course, the astronaut who spent the most time training there (Neil, natch) was one of several whose celestial navigation skills eventually exceeded those of the teachers, who were used to knowing the constellations with a fixed coordinate like the North Star.
  
  
• Martha Lemasters, writer of "The Step: One Woman's Journey to Finding Her Own Happiness and Success During the Apollo Space Program," her memoir detailing her many NASA years. Several times during reminiscing of anecdotes and incredible bonds between by dedicated Apollo workers. Her book is being made into feature film as well, although one comment during the panel likened sending your book to Hollywood as being like sending your child to Hitler Kindergarten.

• Richard McColman, another Morehead Planetarium expert (whose current office was the setting of an old photo with Neil Armstrong and Elliot See meeting with an instructor). Truly an incredible planetarium (which I first got to see at North Carolina Science Days in April 2016 when it hosted the return of Jim Lovell to an old training ground) - incredible architecture, in a nationally-known university setting. Wow!

posted 10-14-2018 09:37 PM               

Before I share my thoughts on the film, let me backtrack a bit and explain how it was my name ended up in the credits.

In April 2015, I met Josh Singer for dinner while he was in Houston doing some early research for his first script treatment of Jim Hansen's book. Jim had referred Josh to me and we had a great time chatting about space history. Over fajitas, I answered some of Josh's questions and offered to be of help any way I could as the movie came together.

Flash forward to 2017 and Jim began reaching out to me with questions about Gemini and Apollo history. What became an occasional query grew to be an almost daily occurrence and the questions began coming from Josh and some of the others working on the film, too. It was a fun challenge and as I later told them, it was almost like taking a master's class on Gemini and Apollo hardware. Some of the questions they were asking I can't imagine have ever been asked before (e.g. What model torque wrench was used to close the Gemini hatch and where can we get one?)

Above: On the "First Man" set in February 2018 with Al Worden and Jim Hansen.

In February 2018, I had the chance to visit the set in Atlanta. What began as a one-day press visit stretched into two days assisting alongside Jim and Al Worden answering technical questions on what were the final two days of principal photography. I'm going to hold back some details about these days for now for something special that might still happen, so please stay tuned, but one thing I will share is that Ryan Gosling had prepared a special gift for the cast and crew.

As those who have seen the film know, there's a scene where Ryan (as Neil) wears a replica of the splashdown cap that Neil received aboard the USS Hornet (in quarantine). Ryan made up caps for Corey Stoll and Lukas Haas, too, with their respective crew names (Aldrin, Collins) on them and then for everyone else had Armstrong caps made with "First Man" on the back.

After that, I continued to hear from Damien, Josh and Jim as questions came up, and then in July, I was invited out to Los Angeles to attend a test screening of the film and then spend a day at Universal Studios sitting with Josh, going through the film scene by scene and offering my notes. There are a few scenes in the completed film that I can point to (with some pride) where changes were made based on my feedback.

To be clear, even with all of that, my contributions were minor compared to others. I don't want to give the wrong impression, my role was small, but I am very grateful for the opportunity!

Above: At the Apollo/Saturn V Center with Ryan Gosling and Damien Chazelle.

As for the film, when I met with Josh at Universal this past summer, I told him that I thought it was just behind "Apollo 13" in terms of accuracy and overall enjoyment. After the edits, after the visual effects were complete and the film was in its final form, I am now of the opinion that it has surpassed "Apollo 13" by both measures. My own participation aside, I think "First Man" is the most accurate portrayal of spaceflight history put to film to date.