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JT (287 KP) rated Moon (2009) in Movies

Mar 10, 2020

Moon (2009)

2009 | Mystery, Sci-Fi

8.7

(16 Ratings)

Movie Rating

The first few shots of Moon feel like any normal run of the mill sci-fi. There’s shots of the space station with the earth off in the distance, shots of computers and consoles and of course shots of a lone astronaut.

Shot in just 33 days Moon is one of the more eye opening sci-fi films for 2009. It has a Space Odyssey feel about it as the camera pans its way through white crisp interiors and what are seemingly chunky and dated equipment.

Even though this is set in 2024 you’d be forgiven it might have been set years earlier.

Astronaut Sam Bell has a quintessentially personal encounter toward the end of his three-year stint on the Moon, where he, working alongside his computer, GERTY, sends back to Earth parcels of a resource that has helped diminish our planet’s power problems.

What starts out as seemingly inauspicious hallucinations, after Sam is involved in a crash in his rover turn into something much more. As we don’t ask ourselves what might be wrong with Sam but who the hell he is?

The script is tight and seeing as Sam is really the only major star alongside talking computer GERTY (voiced by Kevin Spacey) director Duncan Jones does well to build dramatic, emotional and thought provoking moments.

If a 33 day shoot seems small then it has a budget too match as it only cost around $5 million to make, and when you see the shots of the space rover trundling over the Moon’s rough surface you can see exactly what that money might have been used for.

It might not have been up there with many of the biggest blockbusters in 2009 but one thing is for sure, Moon is an enjoyable trip into the unknown.

Kudos

ClareR (5950 KP) rated We Begin at the End in Books

Apr 17, 2020

We Begin at the End

Chris Whitaker | 2020 | Crime, Fiction & Poetry, Thriller

10.0

(1 Ratings)

Book Rating

We Begin at the End is described as a crime thriller, but it’s so much more than that.

At 15 years of age, Vincent King is sent to an adult prison for the murder of Sissie Radley. He doesn’t dispute this - he was driving the car, he didn’t realise he’d hit her, but he had hit her all the same. He goes to prison for 30 years, leaving his best friend Walk, and his girl friend Star Radley, Sissie’s sister, behind. Thirty years later, he’s released and returns to his hometown and his parents house.

In the meantime, Star has had two children: Duchess and Robin. Star clearly has problems with alcohol, and Duchess often has to look after her when she’s incapable of looking after herself. She also takes care of her younger brother, Robin s a mother would.

I don’t actually want to go in to too much detail, because there’s a lot of detail to go in to! Suffice it to say, that when I wasn’t reading this, I was thinking about it. It’s a beautifully written, melancholy story, and I became so attached to the main characters: not just the children, but also Walk, the Sheriff, and Vincent King himself. There are so many twists and turns. Just when you think you know what’s happening, something else comes along and changes everything. And the ending broke my heart! I spent the last Pigeonhole instalment blinking away the tears so that I could read it. If this book doesn’t win awards, then something is very wrong with the world! Wonderful, wonderful writing.

Many thanks to The Pigeonhole for serialising this book, and for Chris Whitaker for popping in now and again to answer questions. It has been one of my favourite Pigeonhole books.