FILMMAKER MOVIE REACTION!! Apollo 13 (1995) FIRST TIME REACTION!! 

Anybody want to go to outer space with me..no? Want to vote on what I should watch next? Click here! www.patreon.com/jamesvscinema KNIVES OUT FIRST TIME REACTION will be uploaded tomorrow! Enjoy the day!

The weightless scenes were done in a plane that drops into a controlled dive to match actual falling speeds. I think they got like 10-15 seconds of filming tops per fall. Really incredible achievement

According to producer Brian Grazer, when Apollo 13 lost the Best Picture Oscar, Jim Lovell (who was in the audience) turned to Grazer and said comfortingly, “I never made it to the moon either.”

RIP Bill Paxton One of the greats gone too soon.

Ed Harris as Gene Kranz is out of this world. He's fantastic.

"The Martian" is an AMAZING space movie! Book was written by Andy Weir, Drew Goddard adapted the screenplay. Such a great movie starring Matt Damon and directed by Ridley Scott.

I remember when this happened. As with the film, people lost interest after the first couple of missions and when this was suddenly on the news, pretty much the whole world were following it and holding their breath.

The Right Stuff is another classic space movie you will not be disappointed in.

“If they could get a washing machine to fly, my Jimmy could land it” gets me every time.

"Wow, a minor defect..." It was one gasket that couldn't handle cold weather that killed the Challenger crew.

"Why is math so scary?" Was my go-to panic in high school and college.

I remember that they had no angry outbursts on Apollo 13 and just stayed calm. Maybe I'm wrong but that is some levelheadedness I can only dream of...

Fun Fact: Jim Lovell did the Commencement speech at my college graduation just a few weeks before this film came out.

I was in elementary school when the Apollo missions were launched. The teachers pulled TVs into the classroom so we could watch the launchings and landings and anything else that occured and was significant, such as a mission screw up. As I was already fascinated by "Space Travel" because my Mother was an avid science fiction reader, I was also enthralled by the concept that space exploration was actually occuring during my lifetime. I still to this day think that the Apollo 13 mission is the most important mission we have engaged in because those brave men almost died out there but the actions of the NASA engineers saved them and brought them back, thanks to the copious notes they were all required to keep they figured out what went wrong and how to fix it. Bringing them back produced a belief in me that we deserved the open and exciting future that "We" were able to envision and create. The space program was just one of many exciting events during that chaotic period in our culture that induced in me an expectation of achievement and I later became (with a willfull extension of wonder) an artist, like you, James. Civilisation is complex, but the road that lays before us is not. Forward the intrepid!

The little old lady in the nursing home waiting to see her astronaut son on TV is actually Ron Howard's mother. Howard is known for his family's cameos in his movies... His brother is also one of the NASA technicians.

The costumes were basically perfect. Same for the cockpit props, etc. I believe almost all of the air-to-ground communication was almost verbatim from the actual transcripts. And the same goes for crew dialogue, although some creative liberties were taken. Especially the part where they were arguing, the real astros verified that that never happened.

One of the best examples of storytelling in a movie. You know exactly what's going to happen at the end, you know everyone will survive, and yet you are on the edge of your seat the whole time. The end when you finally hear Tom Hanks over the radio makes me cry every time.

I saw this movie in theaters when i was a kid and I remember that at the end, when they come out of radio silence and you hear tom hanks' voice, the whole packed theater started clapping and cheering. I had never seen that happen before and I have never seen it happen since. This movie is incredible!

There's a plane that's used for training astronauts and film shoots, one term for it is the 'vomit comet'. They simulate 0 gravity by going up high then going into a free fall type of thing.

October sky is another great movie that has to do with the inspiration of space travel

First Man (2018) For All Mankind (1989) Good space movies.

I was born in the early 90s, and this movie made me want to be an astronaut. I can recite every line, and it got me into physics enough that I got into college as an aerospace engineer, then i realized I wasn't engineer material. But my point being, is efforts like the Apollo program and what SpaceX is doing now will motivate people, hopefully people that have the legit skills to take space exploration to the next level, unlike me haha

There's a documentary that came out a couple years ago called Apollo 11. Turns out they filmed all of the prep in 70mm. It's AMAZING. As intense as any dramatized version of it, maybe more so. I think it's on Hulu.

How accurate was this movie? NASA actually contacted Ron Howard to find out how he got those close shots of the launch. They thought the footage was real! They've subsequently said this film should be part of education about space flight, because Howard's work was so meticulous. (Of course, he left out the calculators, but that's a part of NASA history that has only recently been exposed, mainly by "Hidden Figures".)

As an Aussie, I recommend the Australian historical comedy-drama film "The Dish" (2000) that tells the story of the Parkes Observatory's role in relaying live television of humanity's first steps on the Moon during the Apollo 11 mission in 1969.

After Apollo 13, Tom Hanks went on to produce the HBO MiniSeries "FROM THE EARTH TO THE MOON" in my opinion the best series on the history of the Space Race and Apollo program.

This film is such a beautiful testament to the brilliant ingenuity of all those involved not only in bringing these guys home but in the space program in general.

I was 14 years old and a total space geek when this happened. I was backyard camping with some friends when the mom of one of my friends came out to our tent and told us something had gone wrong with Apollo 13. I was glued to the TV for the next 4 days and greatly relieved when the guys came home. Jim Lovell had been my hero since the Gemini mission days and I was a wreck during this time. As to the movie, the costumes and props are incredibly accurate. Some of the scenes are exaggerated, of course, but still based on reality. Trivia: Jim Lovell wanted Kevin Costner to play him in the movie because of the resemblance but Costner was on another project. Tom Hanks got the role instead and did a fantastic job. Hanks studied Lovell's habits and posture, doing a very good Jim Lovell in the movie. Lovell gets a cameo at the end as a Naval officer shaking the hand of Hanks on the aircraft carrier.

Also, the film October Sky is with a watch. It has a super young Jake Gyllenhaal playing a real life guy that went on to be a NASA engineer that I believe helped out on some of the Apollo missions. The film is a good character study drama that's an interesting view.

The studio cut Ron Howard a blank check and said 'win all the Oscars'. 2001: A Space Odyssey , a Sci-Fi must.

You mention how calm they are after the explosion, and how amazing that is. Whats even more amazing is they had to dial up the stress in their voices for the movie. If you listen to the actual recordings, they're even more calm. It's crazy to hear it when you try to put yourself in their position. You're in outer space and part of your tiny spaceship blows up, and the panel of "you're going to die" warnings are lit up like a Christmas tree, and you're sitting here having a calm conversation lol

Have we seen the film "The Right Stuff?" about the beginings of the US space program ? It won four oscars.

The soundtrack in this movie is phenomenal

The music: James Horner, baby! I love the musical buildup when they do the power up procedures...and when it works...the music is calm.

From Earth to the Moon - the HBO miniseries is another great one to watch. It was the first time that Tom Hanks and HBO did their magic after a hit movie. Much like Band of Brothers. The episode dealing with Apollo 13 is a great way of telling the same story you are seeing here.

Jim Lovells mother in the movie, the one who says her son can land a flying washing machine. She is Ron Howards Mom.

That long shot of Gary Sinise, slowly zooming out, when he's reacting to the news that he won't be on the mission is just amazing. No words, just his reaction.

You mentioned the music several times. The score was composed by the late, great James Horner who was nominated for two Oscars for Best Score the same year: Apollo 13 and Braveheart and he somehow didn't win for either of them. But he finally dd get his Oscar two years alter for the score for Titanic.

I was just a kid when this happened and remember hearing it day by day as it was going down... I also remember seeing how the world came together to show their support for our astronauts...even those countries who were not our allies.

Since you like space movies, I feel Hidden Figures is well worth watching. It doesn't take place IN space, but it's still fantastic.

This is a rare example of a film where the special effects enhance the realism of the story, make it totally believable.

As others have stated...the zero G scenes look so good because its real zero G 😎

My parents said everyone was watching the news and praying. This captivated America and beyond.

When you have such a great premise for a movie and main cast including Tom Hanks,Gary Sinise,Kevin Bacon, Bill Paxton,Ed Harris and direction by Ron Howard you get an amazing movie.

As an engineer, I called this an engineer's movie. It is a life and death crisis that is being dealt with and you have to have people thinking and working as hard as they can to solve one problem after another. As James pointed out, the way this movie is filmed immerses you into that crises where you can feel the fear and the pressure everyone was under. In terms of how space travel is presented, it has never been done better than Stanly Kubrick's 2001 A Space Odyssey. When real astronauts were asked what space travel was like, they responded that is was just like 2001. It is a visual spectacle like no other, done in 1969 before any cgi.

The line from his mom is the best

An underrated gem from a couple years back, similar vein to this one: First Man. Showed the sacrifices made during Apollo missions and the moon landing itself, highly recommended.

John Aaron, who had the call sign EECOM (Electrical and Environmental Communication Systems), was widely considered the greatest flight controller in the Apollo era, perhaps the greatest flight controller in the history of US manned space flight. Aaron lived on a ranch in rural Oklahoma with his parents and went to engineering school at Southwestern Oklahoma State University intending to return afterward to work there for good. It was at that time that NASA was putting out requests for engineers to apply for positions in the space program. He applied and was accepted. On top of his actions understanding the power situation on board Apollo 13, he correctly diagnosed and repaired an issue where Apollo 12 lost all on board power 36 seconds adter launch and was left running on batteries only to power its command systems. He recognized the data he was receiving back from the spacecraft from a year earlier and recalled an obscure switch that had nothing to do with his EECOM functions that could fix it. The room was ready for John to call an abort. Instead, John called out, “Try SCE to Aux.” Seconday condition electronics to auxillary. They flipped the switch and got all their power and data back and were able to troubleshoot their problems and proceed to the moon. The rocket had been struck by lightning causing the outage. He was at home when the shit hit the fan on Apollo 13. He was phoned there and had the person calling him run to different stations and read different information off of screens. Finally, he was able to inform them that yes, they had a problem and no, it definitely wasn’t instrumentation. At the end of the work in the simulator perfecting the command module’s re-entry, the procedure was over 500 steps long.

I watched this in theatres when I was 16 - the fact that I knew all those buttons had a specific function made a life-long space nut out of me. By now I know enough about the Apollo program that I understand every acronym in the movie and am even able to spot one or two of the (few) mistakes they made. The weighless scenes were filmed in free fall on the Vomit Comet. If you want more Apollo stuff, watch "From the Earth to the Moon" - it's a series in the same vein as Apollo 13, produced and partially directed by Tom Hanks.

I actually saw this movie when it first came out at a drive in theater. Only time I've ever been to one.

History buffs channel put out a great video on the authenticity of this film. Really puts things in perspective.

I was born in 63 and the space program meant everything to me. I followed every piece of news, no matter how trivial. My mom told me that the angriest she ever saw me was when the networks cancelled much of the live coverage because rocket flight had become routine. I followed these events live as much as I could. The accomplishments of the Apollo crew and mission control were phenomenal. I think the movie makers did a great job. Just a few flights later, it had become routine again and the program was cancelled before completion. That memory no longer brings tears but the safe return of the Apollo 13 still does each time I see the movie, see old footage, read an account or just remember when.

I cant speak to Apollo 13, but i can speak about the Challenger incident. I was 9 y/o and in grade school in San Diego... us kids in 6th grade watched it live. When it exploded, our teacher quickly turned off the TV and sat down on her desk and turned her chair away from us and cried into her hands. Few minutes later the principal and counselor came to our class because our teacher was a wreck and took the rest of the week off, we had a substitute and counselor talk to us about how we felt about it.

You need to react to the miniseries "From the Earth to the Moon". It's the best way for people who didn't live through the era of the Apollo space program to appreciate the immensity of the achievement.

Thanks so much for reviewing this unforgettable film, James! Amazing and too much to say in one post but yes, I agree with you 100 percent that the music soundtrack is SO impactful and induces such emotion and grandeur. Incredible score! 👍

Composer here. It’s encouraging to see a young filmmaker like you notice the importance of a good score. I wish you much success and encourage you to incorporate that discerning ear of yours when you produce your own projects someday.

If you like space movies you really need to see Ridley Scott's production of "The Martian" with a stellar (no pun intended) performance by Matt Damon and a terrific supporting cast including Jessica Chastain, Michael Pena, Jeff Daniels, Chiwetel Ejiofor and Sean Bean...and, spolier, Sean Bean doesn't die here! A dramatic, funny, human and truly touching movie...

I remember seeing this with my family at Ford City, in Chicago. I was on the edge of my seat the second the trumpet started playing. It took me a long time, but I finally bought myself an Omega Speedmaster Professional for my 30th bday. I saw it on the astronauts wrists’ in this movie and fell in love with watches. Omega just released the 50 yr anniversary model for Apollo 13. Beautiful.

Yeah they spared no expense on costumes and set pieces, this stuff was damn near 100% accurate

No matter how many times I see this movie, the reentry ending is so tense every time!

According to to one of the astronauts, the only thing they changed was the most famous line: he actually said, "We have a problem Houston." However, he said the way the movie put it was much cooler.

If you ever get the chance James, "2001: A Space Odyssey" (1968) is definitely worth checking out. 🚀🌌🌕

I was in school when this happened. My parents kept me home for the Apollo 11 mission so that I could watch the historic moment when man first walked on the moon, but by the A-13 mission, the news considered the space program a subject of only passing interest. As they said in the movie, they made a trip to the moon sound about as exciting as a trip to Cleveland. It wasn't until the explosion that it all became universally important again. The news runs on drama; business-as-usual just isn't dramatic enough for full coverage.

Every scene is so intense because every scene is an absolute life or death situation lmao

“If they got that washing machine to fly, my Jimmy could land it.” Is one of the best lines.

I was 14 when I saw this movie, and my mom was 14 when Apollo 13 happened. I asked her if she had any doubt that NASA would be able to bring the astronauts back safely, and she said at the time she just assumed NASA was so good they could pull it off. Meanwhile like James, I was dying of the suspense just watching the movie!

I was born 1982, so I was 13yrs. old when movie came out, and honestly, I was unable to process this movie in the light, and weight that those things were to people of the WORLD as a whole, and I watched it maybe once after, and I cannot give any perpective on that movie!! In those days and up all over to 2010, there were hundreds of sy-fy, movies, so this movie, as I was getting older and new ones were getting out, I put that movie all the way on the "back burner", and alot of doomsday movies, similar to that movie, only this movie was about just one mission, while all of BLOCK BUSTERS, were more like ARMAGEDDON type of movies, the end of days and contact with other species...... Never the less, it was big times for mankind, even if I wasnt aware of the magnitude at that time, we were on the moon long before I was born!! Fun FACT I was born on the same DATE as JFK was Assassinated, only, year was 1982. and not 1963! Date was and still is, on the same day, we both have anniversaries, my birth and his Death! PEACE OUT!!

I love watching a fellow space enthusiast watch this film. You feel the stakes and the sense of wonder. Love this reaction 🖤

18:54 the aurguments were added to make the film a bit more interesting and so we, as film goers, like understood the stress they were under. The full Text and some audio transcripts are available and they never lost their shit like that, like at all.

I am a child of the Space Age. Born in 1954, My father was an aeronautical engineer at NASA Langley Research Center in Hampton Va. I was three when Sputnik was launched. All of the Mercury planning and astronaut training took place there at Langley. Dad became an unabashed space buff and it rubbed off on me completely. I was in 1st grade when Gagarin and then a few weeks later Alan Shepard became America's first men launched into space. Dad took the day off and kept me home from school to watch Shepard's launch on TV. He thought it important that I see this history take place rather than learn about it second hand. I closely followed all the Mercury and Gemini missions while in grade school. I was in high school when the Apollo missions flew. I had just finished 9th grade and turned 15 when Apollo 11 landed on the moon. and the last moon landing, Apollo 17, happened the year I graduated. Those were heady times for us school kids back then. How sad that the politicians lost interest in lunar missions so quickly after that first landing. President Nixon cancelled Apollos 18, 19, and 20 missions even though the launch vehicles and spacecraft were all bought, paid for, and delivered. Funding the actual flights would have been a small incremental expense over that of the hardware we already had. What a tragic loss to science, international prestige, and the men who had tirelessly trained to man those flights.

I consider this as one of the best action movies ever. It’s especially impressive in that there’s no fighting or explosions (except one, of course), just excellent acting, direction and score.

The C02 scrubber they improvised to save the astronaut's lives is on display at the Houston Space Center.

Im wasn't born yet for Apollo 13 but I remember the Challenger explosion. My whole school was watching because they had a teacher aboard. Better believe they sent us back to class pretty quick. First in a long list of disasters Ive seen played out on TV unfortunately.

One of my all-time favorites. Such a testament to human ingenuity and bravery.

The older naval officer Tom Hanks shakes hands with at the end is the real life Jim Lovell.

5:57 What's even more incredible is when you realize that these Apollo ships had less computing power in them than first-generation smartphones.

"I'm not going to lie to you." Let the drinking game begin. Best. Leo.

Do know if you did it or not but Dr.strangelove is a great old film. Funny has hell.

If you ever want to hear the actual voice communications between Houston and Apollo 13, it's on you tube and I believe they have things timestamped according to the different circumstances. It's amazing how cool and calm both Astronauts and Houston communicated. Next level.

To answer James's question about costume design!! These are very accurate depiction of the exact suits that the astronauts wore!! I was 12 years old in the Summer of 69 when Apollo 11 landed on the moon!! A little older for Apollo 13 but I remember very clearly how much this was in the news and how much we were all afraid that it would be another catastrophe in the Apollo program!!! Definitely one of the best true story space movies ever, an excellent example of Ron Howard's directing ability and storytelling ability!!

in 1970 I was 5 years old and I have a bit of a memory of this event. The nightly news was a must watch in my home as we had several family members fighting in Vietnam. I can remember my father saying it was not going to end well. I thought about those men in space and what would happen. Their fate was better than two of our family members in Vietnam.

It is crazy when you pause for a moment and just think about the fact that we put men on the moon.

One thing I like about your channel is you have the insight on a technical level on what makes a movie a good movie. I have always loved Apollo 13 even since the first time I saw it but I can't really put my finger on why it is so good you articulated a lot of things as to why it is.

I enjoy your reactions. From both the filmmaker and fan of movies reaction. You show the example of the Terry Pratchett quote "It is still magic even if you know how it is done"

A fictional movie called "Marooned" came out in 1969. It came scary close to predicting Apollo 13's near tragedy in 1970.

My oldest brother worked at Grumman during the Apollo years. I can recall the LEM being on display in one of hangers during a family picnic. This is one of my favorite movies and anything Apollo related I'll watch.

The Right Stuff would definitely be something special. Like a four part thing if you were to watch that movie.

Ooooo this is such a great film, I think yours is the first reaction I've seen on here!!

this happened before my time. And when the movie came out it was my first time hearing about it. I was a little over 4 years old when the Space Shuttle Challenger exploded during lift off. I always kept hearing about that from my mom for years after

If you look closely at the end of the film when Tom Hanks shakes the hand of the captain of the ship that is the real life Jim Lovell who played a small cameo in the film. My favourite film of all time.

My eighth grade class was split up in two groups and were given the square peg in a round hole problem to solve as a science experiment. The other team won, but it was an awesome assignment. It helped us understand how much pressure them were under during the Apollo 13 mission. Awesome!

You're the best when it comes about movie reactions... GREETS FROM EUROPE my friend, this movie is part of my childhood, RESPECT. You're not only intelligent observer when reacting, but you have HEART.

I always recommend this movie to my teammates because it is the absolute epitome of problem solving and overcoming challenges.

I remember this watching it unfold on TV back in 1970

From man flying for the first time in 1903 to landing on the moon in 1969, only 66 years had passed! Amazing!!!!

This movie, the director's cut of the Abyss, and Tombstone are a few movies I could literally watch over and over again. This one has just such a great cast of character actors, and it really is just really well done. Anyone who doesn't get choked up at this movie isn't human. And it's just really cool to hear the astronauts involved doing commentaries on the movie and talking about how really the only thing they didn't do right was that the astronauts got all upset and freaked out at one point, because they're obviously trained to be good under pressure and they didn't IRL, but the filmmakers basically said they had to do it because otherwise the audience wouldn't feel like it was believable that they would continue to stay calm through all this.

I can remember coming home from kindergarden and asking my mom "are the astronauts ok?"

I was about 10 when this happened, the 60's space race was a global achievement to see which country was going to be the first to land on the moon. Since there were only 3 TV channels in the US at the time, you couldn't escape anything this news worthy, even if you wanted to. When this movie came out, I was impressed with how captivating it was. They did such a great job that I found myself clutching the arms of my chair at the end, even though I knew that the guys were going to make it back alive. Kuddos to all involved for such terrific film making. James, I am begging you to check out the movie others have suggested here called The Martian, from the book by Andy Weir. Another bit of great filmmaking that again reinforces that aspect of their training about keeping a level head and using science to "work the problem." Even the astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson gave it a thumbs up for its technical accuracy, AND its got a good bit of humor too. As a space enthusiast, you will love it!

I just subscribed and great job on the reaction! Apollo 13 is a great survival movie and as soon as kevin bacon turns on the system and things start fucking up I feel the suspense everytime man!

I was working at Blockbuster when this was released on video, and one day an older woman came in to return the tape. She related an observation her young grandson had made: "No wonder they had so much trouble, Forrest Gump was driving!"