Review: Moon

Yep, pre-ordered that myself. Loved it.
And have gone back and watched the trailers for Inception and they do an excellent job of making you go "Whoa, that's cool" without giving you anything other than vague brushstrokes.
"There's uh...a spinny top and a folding city and...uh...a Call of Duty ice-base bit and Titanic and uh...some fight in mid-air"

A bad trailer would have voiceover man
"One last chance...DA-DANG DA-DANG...to escape his past...DA-DANG DA-DANG...and see his family...DA-DANG DA-DANG...if he can survive one last DA-DANG DA-DANG...Inception" and montage of "I plant the idea" "She's your wife?" "Ex...wife" "You're doing this yourself Cobb" "I just want to see my children" bullshit.

Trailers are an art. Most are Athena prints.

Actually Inception is a great example. It's weird now, looking back, that everyone walked into that cinema for the first time just knowing that there were awesome looking special effects because Leo entered people's dreams,,,and that was pretty much it. Nothing about Mal, nothing about the totems aside from a shot of the spinning top, nothing about any of the 'rules'.

Christ, I can't wait for it to come out on blu-ray in a couple weeks.

Yeah, a decent trailer should just give you an idea with a few little details to peak your interest.
I remember the Matrix Reloaded trailer, the final one - they showed every single big-money shot from the film without exception and nothing left to surprise.

The True Grit trailer, that shows more than I'd like to know about the film going in. Bet you The Coens didn't cut that or approve.
A good trailer shouldn't give you everything, leaves no reason to go see it.
Source Code - probably a very good film, loved Moon. But the trailer reduces it to cliches I've seen a hundred times before.

Strangely, one of the better trailers of late was the one for "Predators" with Machete & Morpheus.
I knew they were prey on a game reserve and there were predators. Didn't show you the predators beyond glimpses, didn't show you the final throwdown or the JUMP!!!!! moments.
Told you the story outline and left it there.

**edit**
Haven't seen any of the Tron bits. Odd as the original was slap-bang in my childhood cinema memory and had the toys, yet not really interested in the new one.
Inception did it well, the trailers didn't tell you everything and only showed a fraction of the stuff that mattered.
I knew Titanic was a dream-something and there was a bit with the city folding up & in and something in a hallway with zero gravity.
But that was it. Enough to make me think "Ok...alright then" and want to watch.


Edited at 13:50 on 21/11/10

Sounds to me like you should stick to watching teasers. The other trailers are for Johnny Public who need the whole plot to justify spending £8 on a cinema ticket.

I tend to find that the good films have good trailers - ones that give away the whole plot tend to be for films I'm not interested in anyway. What really pisses me off is when a great looking film gets watered down by too many trailers.

Prime example for me is Tron: Sequel. They've released at least 5 trailers and about 6 other 'clips'. Every new one that comes out chips away at my ebbing enthusiasm for the film - they seem intent on unveiling the mystery months before the release date.

It was fantastic, but the last episode lost me completely.

Watched more trailer at apple.com and 9/10 of them tell me the film in 2mins.
Liv Schrieber one?
Hero in dull marriage, Father In Law arrives and annoys family. Heroine learns to love her Father as he dies (hospital + nose tubes + Mora = Death). Hero nearly cheats with Sexy Colleague but learns to appreciate what he already has.
Complete with uplifting Goo-Goo Dolls type song.

Paul Rudd/Jack Nicholson one?
Hero falls for Heroine. Heroine has Unresolved Current Boyfriend. Heroine leaves, Hero & Current Boyfriend learn to get along. Hero overcomes obstacles and runs across traffic to her arms for finale.
Complete with uplifting Goo Goo Dolls type song.

Paul Giamatti/Dustin Hoffman one?
Hero marries, regrets immediately. Falls for & chases Unobtainable True Love to Rome. They bicker, obstacles ensue, they love each other and finale at lakeshore. Credit for "Can we just skip the Annoying & Unsuitable part and skip to Pleasant & Perfect please?" line, but still know complete film.

Show me a trailer that gives me a bit of an idea, the tone & feel of the film. Then leave me wanting to watch.

Insane Burmese General?

Couldn't resist sending a sarcastic quantum leap message to Duncan Jones via twitter, arrived there to find everyone else already had, bloody comedians. It's the bit when he looks in the mirror - identical to how QL used to do the big reveal.

What a series that was.

Seen the trailer for "Source Code".
Now I don't need to see the film as I know exactly what it's about, what happens and how it ends (punch up on platform having fallen from moving train).
They managed to stress the "I must save the girl" angle too.

Trailers ruin films by showing too much. In 2mins, I get that Donnie Darko works for government scientists (possibly acting against Insane General's orders) and keeps reliving the last 8mins of Hero's life until he catches the bomber, gets the girl and shoehorns in surprise twist.
I know "Source Code" refers to the computer programme/system used by Well Meaning Science Character.
Comes off like Tony Scott's "Deja Vu" and Quantum Leap.

Please stop showing the entire film in 2mins.
Or stop crying the internet is stealing your monies.

Yeah, like I really look like Renee Zellweger.
I google imaged, i suppose they kind of do look similar if you're not really looking directly at them.

Also, I think he thinks he really can dance whereas in reality, he can just do that slidey foot thing that he does so well.
He'd be rubbish on So You Think You Can Dance Hollywood.

Edited at 16:28 on 07/09/10

Look, I've been ill, and Rick Gomez really looks like him alright?

They all look the same.

The first Transformers, he's in near the beginning as a cool street cop type of guy.

"You eye-balling my piece, you wanna go some?"

TheBeouf asks him if he's on drugs.

I think he's thinking of Jon Voight.

Are you thinking of John Turturro? Or...or...Jazz?

Transformers? Er... is he?

I forgot Rockwell was briefly in Transformers, and therefore the best thing in it by default.

Still don't get the dancing fixation. He's not very good, is that the joke? He's no Nude Tayne.

Yeah, the final shot would have been perfect without that nonsense over it. Yet to watch this again but I'm looking forward to it. Again.

Finally saw this last night.

Loved it.

Sam Rockwell is amazing.

A couple of minor points get in the way of it being a 5 star for me - GERTY's involvement is all a little too convinient, moving the plot along and removing obstacles that could have really added to Bell's frustration. And I could have done without the little newscaster update at the end, that was unnecessary.

Still haven't seen this - was going to buy the DVD now it's £6.98 at Amazon, but then I read this review:
This was slow.The story line was disapointing.For the first luner film out in ages it do'nt get my upmost ratting. Sorry film maker you could done better.It was'nt what we was waiting for.

I got this for birthday. In the queue behind Star Trek and Fight Club Blu-ray though. Still one of my favourite films of this year. Top 3 are all sci-fi. I'll let you guess what the others are.

Haha, they stole my idea!

The new podcast "Guide To..." series is fantastic. I don't like his stand-up but together with Merchant and Pilkington it just gels so well.

Slight spoiler, no?

That's a good film idea, though - cloned rapists with no memories except for the guilt. I call it "Mindjail".

They should have just *cloned loads of immigrants or rapists or something and instead of blasting them into the sun, make them do menial labour on the moon.* Our Boys Deserve Better. (*salutes*)

Edited at 22:53 on 13/12/09

Just seen it. Liked it very much. Old-school type of film. Calm, yet disturbing.

And I don't know if it's only me, but the film made me fucking sad. And not because of Sam. It was because of human condition inevitably leading to fucking agony and death.
The first thought that came to me after watching the film was: "I won't live forever and I'm gonna die in fucking pain".

But maybe it's because I'm a born optimist.

"We are going to the moon, that is not very far. Man has so much farther to go within himself."
Anais Nin

Perfectly summing up to me why this was such a disappointment. What could have been a really interesting film about isolation turns into a load of hoary old sci-fi nonsense. Without Rockwell putting in a brilliant performance this would have been widely ridiculed.
*I draw the line at clones and the complete lack of tension when that was discovered, which was far too early. I actually laughed at the ending as Sam heads home to triumphantly bring down the big bad corporation. I'm guessing that was not the desired effect.*

Edited at 17:26 on 21/11/10

My Blu-ray copy arrived yesterday, so I'll be watching this tonight with the dog curled up on my lap.

Now, where did I put my pipe and slippers ...

When is the closing date for submissions? I know LTROI missed out last year because it came out in November a few weeks after the closing date.
Nine? That animated thing from Tim Burton? No way. (I see now you mean another film. Well it's got DDL in it so it's bound to get attention.
Page loading is fine for me, I like the site being themed.

Ah I did just scroll down the page got stuck.

Edited at 18:49 on 15/11/09

All Oscar worthy films are released in November/December in the US, usually a month or so later over here. They're coming.

Nine will win Best Picture. Any money.

Oh, and please let us know if you're having trouble loading the pages with the new ads on. Page is a little jerky for me.

And the ads are a bit of an experiment. I've updated the code so it fixes it - was worse when it moved with the page.

Not that we're trying to hypnotise you or anything...

If Bowie performs at the Oscars, then you know Duncan has won something.

Stop showing off about speaking to people.

I've still not seen it, had the chance to watch online but I'd rather a high quality version.
I was speaking to someone the other day and we were talking about possible Oscar winners and neither of us could think of anything really worth the prize, so this might be in with a shot. Aren't there going to be 10 nominees this time around? They picked a bad year to introduce that.
Oh and

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I might be the only one but the concentric circles are screwing with my eyes.

I'm torn between liking this film, or dismissing it as stretched out artwank.

Might have another go before making up my mind, but I'm more glad the film was made than not, if that makes sense?

Never got the Chesney thing until you just mentioned it. Obvious really, but very clever.

Agree, great film, one of the best of the year.

And right after, saw a trailer with 300 in it that had explosions & snarly faces and vows of revenge. *sigh* It'll make millions of dollars and be on every screen. So many movies are retarded whilst things like Moon never play anywhere near anybody who wants more than bangbang

Finally seen this and loved it.
Hard to discuss without spoiling, but the Chesney Hawkes alarm call makes sense once you've seen it, and comes across like a vicious little prank done on purpose.

Very very well directed & written, was expecting Gerty to get mental as in so many other sci-fi movies.
All round entertaining,intelligent, thoughtful & exciting.

And above all, a film for grown-ups that doesn't need explosions or nazis or CGI end-of-level-boss-battles etc etc.
1 bloke, good script and treat your audience like an adult.

Buying this on Monday.

Well so for I haven't saw this but I really love to see it. Thanks for the mention, This shoes that you put a great deal of care to your work.
sometime a better <a href="http://www.debtshopper.co.uk">debt management</a> can fix many of our problems.

Check here for cinemas showing this film:
http://www.sonypictures.co.uk/movies/moon/

why why why isnt this out in any cineworld on the southcoast??? where can i find a cinema showing it?? has it been postponed!!!!

Wannaseeitwannaseeitwannaseeitwannaseeit!

I've been itching to see this since I first heard about it. I love these types of SF movies. Nice to see it's getting pretty much positive reviews across the board.

I read a review of this last week, then forgot about it. Wasn't expecting it to turn up here and remind me, so ta. It's right at the top of my watch list.

The director, Duncan Jones, just read this review. The son of David Bowie just called me "Very cool". Thanks, Twitter.

Charlie's Angels normally gets a right kicking, but I think it's great. Sam Rockwell's villain turn is amazing, where, once we know he's bad, he starts to wear black and smoke. Fantastic.

I've loved Sam Rockwell since this moment: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_oyP0QHjty8

Really want to see this - loved Sam Rockwell ever since he played Wild Bill in The Green Mile.