Home Media Magazine - January 13-19, 2007 - (Page 17)

www.homemediamagazine.com REVIEWS COMING SOON! From Mill Creek Entertainment Available 3-18-08 I IN THE SHADOW OF THE MOON Prebook 1/17; Street 2/12 ThinkFilm, Documentary, B.O. $1.1 million, $19.98 DVD, ‘PG’ for mild language, brief violent images and incidental smoking. Stars Buzz Aldrin, Mike Collins, Al Bean, Jim Lovell, Edgar Mitchell, Dave Scott, John Young, Charlie Duke, Gene Cernan, Harrison Schmitt. ne of the primary concerns with NASA’s manned missions to the moon was the prospect of a catastrophic failure that would leave the astronauts stranded there. The dark notion that man’s hubris had turned such a heavenly body into an actual grave would ruin the moon forever for stargazers who could never again look upon it with the sense of serenity it had always represented. At one point during In the Shadow of the Moon, astronaut Al Bean (Apollo 12) reads from a speech written for President Nixon in case the Apollo 11 mission had failed, and Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin had been trapped on the lunar surface. Such a fascinating glimpse into an alternate history certainly frames the risks involved in attempting this dangerous endeavor. From 1968 to 1972, 24 men crossed the void between the Earth and the Moon, half as many set foot upon it, and all returned safely. Anyone familiar with the movie Apollo 13 or HBO’s From the Earth to the Moon will recognize many of the details discussed here. Knowing most of the story doesn’t make this documentary any less compelling, and those who don’t know will find In the Shadow of the Moon especially enlightening. This film should be O seen by anyone who has ever looked to the heavens and wondered how far our imagination can take us. The feat of landing a man on the moon is undoubtedly the greatest achievement in the history of human adventure. In the Shadow of the Moon features the Apollo astronauts themselves, now older and wiser, recounting the voyage in their own words, accompanied by archival footage of the missions. These men are heroes, but more importantly they are symbols for mankind’s limitless capacity for ingenuity. Yet they are just people, subject to the same whims and epiphanies as anyone. How humbling must it be to soar above the skies and look back upon the cradle of life that is the Earth? Only a handful of individuals have shared that experience, each changed forever at a spiritual level by the sight of a shiny blue marble adrift in a sea of stars. – John Latchem Q U I C K TA K E Magic Carpet Ride M ore than 35 years since the last Apollo moon landing, suffice it to say that most people won’t be going there anytime soon. But Magnificent Desolation: Walking on the Moon may be the next best thing. With narration from Tom Hanks, this DVD ($19.98) from HBO Video guides viewers through all the aspects of a typical Apollo mission. The movie was originally shot for Imax theaters, so the photography is crisp, and the visual effects are clean and loaded with detail. – John Latchem I HISTORY’S HEROES: PAUL REVERE — MIDNIGHT RIDE Prebook 1/15; Street 2/12 American Animation, Animated, $19.95 DVD, NR. T his is the second in the “History’s Heroes” series of the 3D-animated short films intended for children 8 and older and designed to provide a bird’s eye view of history … literally. Each episode is hosted by a talking eagle. In Midnight Ride, Ellie the Eagle takes viewers back in time to see the American Revolution unfold. She is joined on the trip by an avatar of poet Ralph Waldo Emerson, who fills in the actual details to the over-enthusiastic Ellie. graphics from a few years ago, but It’s an abridged history and doesn’t it gets the job done. It helps that tell the whole story, but hopefully it sometimes Ellie takes a time out to show the locations on a map. The script is filled with a number of hip and humorous references. For example, Ellie confuses “The Shot Heard ’Round the World” of the Revolution with Bobby Thompson’s famous home run in 1951. Midnight Ride makes for a good educational companion with the previously released Patrick Henry: Quest for Freedom, which also chronicles the early days of the will inspire younger viewers to learn Revolution. A companion Web more when they are older. site, historysheroes.com, contains The computer animation is some supplemental material. crude, akin to some video game – John Latchem $ 14.98 MSRP Call: (866) 410-9000 Home Media Magazine January 13–19, 2008 17 http://www.homemediamagazine.com

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Home Media Magazine - January 13-19, 2007

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