ManiakJiggy This is How Movies Should Be Made

Acensbart Excellent but underrated film

Brainsbell The story-telling is good with flashbacks.The film is both funny and heartbreaking. You smile in a scene and get a soulcrushing revelation in the next.

Caryl It is a whirlwind of delight --- attractive actors, stunning couture, spectacular sets and outrageous parties. It's a feast for the eyes. But what really makes this dramedy work is the acting.

GUENOT PHILIPPE I am reall surprised that no user has noticed that this Mars - or Moon - fake landing conspiracy topic has many connections with Pete Hyams' masterpiece CAPRICORNE ONE, where a bunch of men were targets from the secret service because they perfectly knew that the supposed landing on planet Mars was totally a fake. Here, the story is, of course, not exactly the same but admit that the two movies have many in common. And the BLAIR WITCH, CLOVERFIELD or REC concept is also in this unusual job. Not great but very worth indeed.

Greg Phipps Matt Johnson previously directed The Dirties which was shot for less than $10,000, blew away audiences at Sundance and nabbed an exclusive distribution from Kevin Smith's company. I personally was very impressed with the gritty independent style of the film, and it left me wanting more from the filmmakers.With Operation Avalanche, Johnson is 2 for 2, delivering another solid film through his directorial style and performance. I'm not sure whether the film was shot digitally or on 16mm, but the cinematography throughout the film thoroughly immersed me in that 1960s environment. The other actors, Owen Williams and Josh Boles deliver authentic performances as CIA agents faking the moon landing. The film's dramatic tension is key here; scenes which are otherwise simple moments in an operation are brought to life by the film's unique staging and editing methods. In terms of historical accuracy, it's obvious that the film is merely faction, that is, taking archive footage of real people working at NASA in the 60s and seamlessly blending them into the narrative while still maintaining many details from the moon landing conspiracies. The script is structured in such a unique way that it's apparent how powerful editing can negate a bigger budget. Johnson has proved again that he knows the mockumentary format and how to keep a viewer on edge throughout a film. Even though the dialogue in the movie was mostly improvised, it feels completely organic. The film's real strength is in its tension, specifically the car chase at the climax of the film. Its staging and execution solidified it as one of my favorite all time chase scenes in a movie, without a doubt. I can't wait to see what Johnson and co. make next!

tonidanza101 . This film gives off the feel that this was a rush job to get a movie out to silence the hobbyists currently seriously researching this controversial topic. This topic is a serious one, since if it was truly faked, then this changes a lot, and the absolute kindergarten approach to the cinematography shows perfectly, that this was not at all a project meant to be taken seriously. If this was intended for an audience, then it was intended more to rubbish the allegations of a possibility, much like the films execution in itself was rubbish. I do not take anything away from the actors, though looking into the deeper meaning of both the organization in, and execution of the film on a whole, one is left thinking they could have fixed the garage door in that time, or maybe thrown out the garbage.Hollywood could make Transformers, a bunch of robots, look like the best thing in the world, but could not make something as serious as whether a supposed world power actually landed on the moon or not, look absolutely ridiculous...one has to ask if this 5th grade approach is intentional or not. Films like "Interstellar, Apollo 11, The Martian", have had loads of money, where we deny aliens, confirm humans being superior, yet here where there is a testament of the opposite, we use less than a million by the look and feel of things, to create something that could have been as creatively controversial and original in feel as Inception, yet fell as low in quality as the likes of "Jobs" featuring Ashton Kutcher. One is truly left feeling Hollywood is now hand picking the movies to be given high or low spend. Movies that relate to possible reality are thinkers movies. This is why the budget has always been so high. This shows a lack of respect for the notion, and sadly, the actors suffer.Some of us look beyond just the guns and swear words, and with much disappointment, this lacked the exact substance that makes such creations unique and in a class of their own.

crdnlsyn13 WOW... I have been a moon landing skeptic for most of my life, reading, watching and arguing over the details of whether or not we really DID land on the moon. I want to believe, I really do. I'd hate to think that our government would have lied to us, but what better distraction from the issues that were happening at the time, then something like a moon landing? Think about it, JFK, RFK, and MLK all murdered, a war no one wanted, civil rights clashes, riots, Kent state, Manson, you name it, it was all happening. What better way to distract people from all that?This movie is a perfect dialog on exactly that, distracting people away from the truth, and showing that faking the moon landing could've in fact been 'plausible'. When I first started watching it, I thought that maybe it deserved a bigger budget, better production, well known actors, but no. I think that would've watered down the story, and missed the mark.The people who made this movie did a fantastic job. I don't know what the budget was for this but, the look and feel puts the audience right in the time line of the late 60's. The sets, the vehicles, the locations all perfect to transport you to that time period. If there was ever a movie adaptation book worth writing it would be for this movie.Touching on the Stanley Kubrick conspiracy was also genius. For years his involvement has been mentioned, and it was tastefully included here. Well done. Showing that not only was the reason the moon landing could've been faked, possible. The creators show you HOW it might have been done, in a very believable way.This movie felt like it should have been THE X-Files movie.