MovieRob’s Birthday Bash of Favorites 2020 (#25 of 47) – From the Earth to the Moon (1998) – Encore Review 3

January is my birthday month, so I decided that I would try and do something quite unique and special for this milestone in my life. I will be turning 46, so I decided to watch 47 (46+1 for good luck) of my all time favorite movies in a random order over the course of this month. I have reviewed every one of these films already, but I will now give new perspectives on them all. Every one of these films received a 10/10 scoring from me. Some of these reviews will contain spoilers so if you have never seen them before, I recommend that you read some of my previous reviews of the film that were spoiler free before reading on…

Hope you enjoy!

This is film #25 of the 47.

Let’s continue with… From the Earth to the Moon (1998)

Initial Viewing Memories – As a fan of the US Space Program, I was enthralled by the idea of this miniseries and after watching it weekly after it came out, I became a huge fan of it because it is so thrilling and knowledgeable at the same time.

“The conquest of space is worth the risk of life.” – Gus Grissom

Number of Times Seen – Between 5 and 10 times (April-May 1998, at least 5 times on DVD, 11 Sep – 24 Sep 2014, 17-24 Sep 2017 and 14 Jan 2020)

Link to original review – Here and Here

Brief Synopsis – Miniseries that tells the tale of the Apollo Space missions that took 18 men to the moon and back during the late 1960’s and early 1970’s.

My Take on it – Spectacular miniseries that really knows how to tell the story of how the US government and NASA were ale to finally get a man to land on the moon in 1969.

The cast is superb and they all are able to take on many of the very distinct characteristics of these heroic men who were able to achieve what was thought almost impossible.

The twelve chapters in this story are presented really well and each of them is distinct in its storytelling and perspective which gives us an even broader look at the space program and how things worked.

The music by Michael Kamen is so exhilarating and adds an adventurous feeling to the story.

The special effects are amazing and make us feel as if we are right there with these characters as they journey to the moon.

Love the way that each chapter is narrated by someone else because it helps show how much this was a joint effort.

The film is filled with some difficult truths about the tolls that these men undertook in both their personal and professional lives in order to achieve their mission, sometimes at a very great cost.

The movie also does a wonderful job of retelling some famous events in this story from different viewpoints which allows for hem to expand the scope, width and breadth of the kind of impact these events had.

This is one of the best and most comprehensive miniseries ever made and is so enjoyable to watch despite having already seen it so many times.

The 12 hour length is a but daunting at first, but once the stories begin to move along, it’s so hard to try and get away because it is so fascinating to watch unfold.

Love the way that this film doesn’t have a lead character and instead uses the story as the impetus to move things along in a very succint and engaging way.

Can’t wait to see this one again soon.

MovieRob’s Favorite Trivia – One scene, where geologist Lee Silver tutors the Apollo 15 crews, was filmed in the same rock quarry where R2-D2 encounters the Jawas in Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope (1977). (From IMDB)

Rating – Oscar Worthy (10/10) (no change from original review)