Daily Archives: February 19, 2013

Moon (2009)

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One of the most eerily stunning science fiction dramas of all time. Moon is a superb cosmic journey with unique circumstance and family drama at its core. Directed by Duncan Jones, who is emerging as an unstoppable force in the sci-fi genre with this directorial debut and his follow up, Source Code. Moon is bolstered by Sam Rockwell’s towering performance of a homesick mining astronaut on the dark side of the moon. Moon also features Kevin Spacey as the voice of GERTY, a friendly computer who assists in the running of the lunar base, as well as serving as company to Rockwell’s character.

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Sam Bell (Rockwell) is counting down the final weeks until the three year contract he agreed to with Lunar Industries expires. Bell, who is silently lonely, longs to return to Earth and be with his wife and daughter. Bell is the only employee aboard the base aside from an intelligent, speaking computer named GERTY (Spacey). With direct communication to Earth disabled, Bell may only send and receive messages, no live contact. Bell is used to transport helium-3 harvested from the moon back to Earth. Helium-3 is the most abundant, clean, sustainable resource used to provide the Earth with energy. On a casual venture to perform maintenance to one of the harvesters, Bell accidentally crashes into the machine. When Bell wakes, he is faced with painful symptoms and slowly comes to the realization that he may not be alone.

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As angelic as it is depressing, Moon soars over its low budget to bring a thought provoking, universal epic to the big screen. Sublime directing from Duncan Jones turns this one man show (performed perfectly by Rockwell) into a multidimensional, emotional roller coaster. Capturing the grand scale of space and the significant details in our insignificant lives (in comparison). Jones achieves incredible feats with limited resources. Without playing the role of spoiler, Rockwell gives a must see performance, in my opinion, one of the best ever. Rockwell distinguishes his character from content, optimistic to severely blurred and in authentic anguish. Unfathomable range and literal pain is the best way I can describe Rockwell’s acting in Moon.

Moon: 9 out of 10.

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