Magnificent Desolation: Walking on the Moon

NR 6.9
2005 0 hr 40 min Documentary

Twelve men who belong to one of the world's most exclusive fraternities -- people who've walked on the surface of the moon -- are paid homage in this documentary. Using newsreel footage, rare NASA photographs, and digitally animated re-creations, Magnificent Desolation: Walking on the Moon examines the Apollo missions between 1969 and 1972 which put astronauts on the moon.

  • Cast:
    Tom Hanks , Bill Paxton , Morgan Freeman , Scott Glenn , Paul Newman , John Travolta , Matthew McConaughey

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Reviews

FeistyUpper
2005/01/01

If you don't like this, we can't be friends.

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ChanBot
2005/01/02

i must have seen a different film!!

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FuzzyTagz
2005/01/03

If the ambition is to provide two hours of instantly forgettable, popcorn-munching escapism, it succeeds.

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Scarlet
2005/01/04

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

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artisticengineer
2005/01/05

This movie should be seen along with "In the Shadow of the Moon" as well as "For All Mankind". The last one I mentioned, "For All Mankind", came out around 1992 and the producers actually had a very hard time making it due to a limited budget as well as limited interest overall at that time. It should be mentioned that after the first moon landing interest by most people quickly faded. In fact, by the time of the last landing, Apollo 17, public interest was so low that NASA supposedly paid the networks to show the moonwalks of Cernan and Schmidt. I do remember that even then the moonwalks were shown in split screen along with college and pro football games so as not to alienate the average TV viewer (please remember that this was long before we had all the cable channels and home video recorders). The moon walks were really a disappointment; that is why I, for one, do not expect to see any again for a long time. Some other country may put a man or men on the moon to show the world they can do so, but it will probably be a one time deal for publicity only. The possibility of a moon base in our lifetime is rather low.Which is why this film is so great. It actually revives interest in these old missions by showing details that were not shown when they first aired. The depiction of the landing process for Apollo 15 was fantastic; and now I can see how the astronauts went through the landing procedure. This film even provides a better look on the Apollo 11 moonwalk-something that my generation could not quite as well with that black & white TV camera that the astronauts used on that very historic night. Oh, we saw a lot that night, but the overall perspective was missing. That is what is so great about this film. The dangers faced by the Apollo 15 moon walkers (falling down into the canyon) were not understood very well by NASA, let along the average TV viewer of that time (such as me). This film shows the "hidden" dangers quite well!! Much more exciting that way than when we were viewing the moon walk live!It is a great film. I was a teenager when the walks took place and quite frankly I could live the rest of my life quite happily without seeing another one occurring. The problem is that kids the age of my grandkids did not see those walks and nobody really knows when they will be able to see one. Therefore, this film is great as it shows them what we saw; in even better color and detail. It is misleading as the quotes from the astronauts were not actually read by those people; the movie implies the voices heard were those astronauts. In reality, the quotes were being read by professional actors. To see the actual astronauts and hear them speak you need to watch, "In the Shadow of the Moon". Still, this is a 40 minute movie well worth seeing; I certainly enjoyed it. Enjoyed it even better than watching some of those moon walks when they were actually happening!!!!!

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Matthew
2005/01/06

This movie is shockingly short. Granted I did not check the run time before purchasing a ticket, but I expected the movie to be longer.Also, despite excellent effects, amazing pictures (especially when viewed in a IMAX 3D), and excellent narration; the movie did not contain much information. The movie gives more of the feelings behind a journey to the moon, pointing out how something might have gone wrong, that it's a long journey, the people to take the journey were heroes, etc... No actual useful information. This disappointed me as I was expecting something educational.One thing I the movie did provide was less popular comments from less known astronauts from the other Apollo missions.Other than the short length and the lack of educational comment, it was enjoyable to watch. The visual effects are surprising and realistic (at times, because of the 3d effects you feel the sudden urge to dodge something or get out of the way of something coming at you)

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mail-2143
2005/01/07

Magnificent Desolation: Walking on the Moon 3D is another amazing IMAX film by NASA and Lockheed Martin. Not since Space Station 3D (2002) have I seen such a tribute to astronauts, their missions and the space program. While Magnificent Desolation is not quite as impressive as Space Station 3D (all footage filmed on location) it is still a "world rocker" to be sure. It really makes you feel like you are on the moon as a spectator watching the astronauts. I'd love to see them ad another 75 minutes to these films. even the skeptics should go see this one. It's as close as you're going to get unless NASA/Lockheed has another moon mission and films it in 3D.

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Josh4981
2005/01/08

I went to see DESOLATION this afternoon with the hope of it delivering on the hype: namely, a virtual walk on the moon.Well...it does deliver that...but in frustrating snippets. After all, with only 40 min of film time (for $10.50), I was really hoping for an immersion experience, start to finish. Instead...the actual scenes devoted to 3-D moonscape are rarely longer than 10 seconds each, interspersed with 10 MINUTES of inane filler material...like cute school kids trying to remember the names of the Apollo astronauts. Sheesh...very much 'spell breaking'.So...you do come away with a few shots to remember. But a virtual 'experience' of being on the surface of the moon?? Not really. More like an MTV experience of being on the moon, for the attention span challenged.Josh

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