APOLLO 13

(June 1995, U.S.)

Every once in a while, there is a film I'm interesting in seeing in the theater - I go, I pay, I sit, I watch and I end up disappointed. Sometime later, for whatever reason, I decide to give it another shot and watch it again and I end up liking the film, after all. This is actually the case with my favorite film of all time (we'll get into that much, much later). This was the case with APOLLO 13 also.

When I saw it back in 1995, I think I may have been expecting a lot more exterior space adventure footage along the lines of 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY (did you know that's Tom Hanks' favorite movie?). When I didn't get it, I felt very let down. Months later, on cable, I decided to try again and accept and appreciate the film for the drama and solid performance of its stars that it offers. There's also a certain emotion that you feel when watching a film where you know beforehand that there's going to be a serious problem ("Houston, we have a problem.") with the mission that will put our heroes in danger. There's no element of surprise, but rather a sense of dread when you know that the crisis is coming. On the flipside, you also know that things will end well and our heroes will be saved. You can't help but smile when you see the space pod appear in the sky with its parachutes and land safely in the water. It's these kinds of movie victories that can still make you feel like a joyful child!

Favorite line or dialogue:

Gene Kranz: "Let's work the problem, people. Let's not make things worse by guessing."