Apollo 13

Rating:
Summary: Hollywood for once did justice to a real-life drama.
Review: "Apollo 13" is, quite simply, one of the most exciting and moving Hollywood films of the entire decade of the 1990s. Not only does the film seem utterly real in its recreation of NASA and space exploration; it also gives us breathless, second-by-second suspense and real characters to care about, played by some of the best actors Hollywood has to offer. Ron Howard should have won the Best Director Oscar for this film; that he wasn't even nominated will remain one of the greatest black marks against the Academy in its entire history. (At least the Directors' Guild didn't slip up, and gave Howard its award that year.)

Rating:
Summary: Solid history without the kitch
Review: I was there and it still puts needles on the back of my neck. This was one of America's finest hours and a great national success - because thousands of people pulled together to save three lives. If there was ever a "Private Ryan" of space this is it. The many caring for the few. But isn't that what the space program is all about. The film is a remarkable production and gives only a little artistic license for effect. All in all a thorough recommendation with solid presentation of a high technical standard. Five stars and then some. It was some time before I could bring myself to watch the movie because I didn't want the crystal clarity of these tense-filled days to be coloured by a director's version but I had to watch it eventually and it did nothing to take away the reality of what we all felt. This is where the DVD improves the experience. The clarity and the content are production editing at its very best. Great movie and a great DVD - which I saw on someone's TV and now have to buy the DVD to get the worthwile extras.

Rating:
Summary: Wonderful
Review: When this film first came out in the theaters, I did not go see it. I also did not rent it right away when it came out on video. I felt I had lived through those times back in 1970, had heard about the event first hand on TV, radio etc. I knew what the outcome was and felt I would be bored. Well, let me tell you--One day when looking for a movie to rent, I spotted "Apollo 13" and thought, what the heck, I'll try it out. I rented it on VHS and was totally blown away, even though I knew the story and knew the ending. What a job Ron Howard did in presenting this story. I was on pins and needles as if I had never known about this story. I don't have to tell you what Ron Howard and Tom Hanks are capable of doing, superb. Well------the best was yet to come. I had gotten a DVD player and later spotted "Apollo 13" on DVD, collectors edition, and bought it. Oh my goodness! the extras in this DVD are awesome. The best I think is when the real Apollo 13 Commander Jim Lovell and his wife Marilyn review the movie for you. It seems they are sitting next to you on the couch telling you about the scenes, how they happened, how it really was for them, which were real and which were not. Jim gives you some of the technical info, funny stuff and even some insignificant things which are very interesting. In the movie for instance, the character Jim Lovell is driving a red Corvette. The real Jim tells us that he did in fact own a Corvette but it was green. Its things like this that makes you feel they are sitting next to you on the couch. You must get this on DVD collectors edition if you have any interest in our Apollo program at all. Ron Howard's review is also awewome, you must get this for sure. The DVD even has the segment in which the three astronauts appear on the Johnny Carson Tonight Show a few weeks after the incident. We see a youthful Johnny Carson and Ed McMahon. There are film clips from the news of the day and all kinds of good stuff. This DVD serves not only as a great film, but as an historical archive to be kept for reference of the Apollo 13 flight.

Rating:
Summary: A reference standard DVD
Review: This is a very gripping film from beginning to end. It is also very dramitic and, being a true story, that helps. This movie has an all star cast also, and I must say that each cast actor gives a wonderful performance.

This is Universal's first Collectors Edition Disc and it truly is filled with a lot of stuff. A behind the scenes documentary really shows how the film was made, this is a must have for anyone who owns a DVD player!

This is a must have.

(this is my review from DVD empire)

Rating:
Summary: NASA's finest hour
Review: To truly appreciate this film it may be necessary to see the TV mini series, "The Right Stuff". However "Apollo 13" stands on its own nearly as well. It is the story of the Apollo 13 NASA mission to land on the moon. It was to be the third landing, Apollo 11 with Neil Armstrong being the first. Unfortunately Murphy was at the helm and anything that could go wrong did.

While the film was based on reality, it actually went fairly close to showing reality, (a once on a blue moon event, ha ha). The only deviations, (determined after reading Jim Lovell's account), were minor and for the sake of simplifying complex situations or dramatizing an otherwise technical problem.

The cast was terrific. Tom Hanks as Lovell was at his usual brilliant best. He was well supported by Bill Paxton, (who seems to get parts in a lot of great films), playing astronaut Fred Haise. And I want to give a special mention to Kevin Bacon, who played Jack Swigert, for a better than usual effort. He is really starting to mature as an actor. I am a fan of Gary Sinise, so it would be remiss of me not to praise his work as Ken Mattingly, the astronaut that is bumped from the mission due to a potential case of measles.

The whole film was created from scratch, that is to say no old NASA launch footage was used. The quality of the effects makes the film seem more real than actual space missions. The director, Ron Howard, was advised by actual astronauts and assisted by NASA, (for an enormous fee). Even to the point of using true free fall environments to film the appropriate space sequences and as far as I know, that is a first in movie history.

I see no point in giving a blow by blow rendition of this film, if your are interested, read a history text. Suffice to say that it is not only educational but thoroughly moving.

Rating:
Summary: It will wake up your neighbours!
Review: Apollo 13 might be not just one of the best movie I've ever seen, but the spectacular sound of the DVD is terrific. The lauch sequence is so intense with the Dolby Digital 5.1 that it woke up my neighbours one night(SORRY)! Everyone must have this movie on DVD

Rating:
Summary: DVD rocks the house
Review: I first became aware of the Apollo 13 mission when i saw a documentary on TBS called moonshot. Its an amazing account of the mercury, gemini, and apollo missions. Any1 reading this needs to go and rent it at your local video store if you can find it.As for this DVD its amazing. The audio commentary by Jim and Marilyn Lovell is among the best i have ever heard. And the making of documentary is great as well.For the DVD fanatic u cant go wrong this collection.

Rating:
Summary: Overall result is full of great fun.
Review: Ron Howrd's Apollo 13, while being one of the most historically accurate movies ever made, is full of fun for people of all ages: special effects for computer animation buffs, a space story for smaller children into that sort of thing, and an emotional drive full of suspense and drama that will satisfy almost anyone who sees this movie. The performances by Tom Hanks, Bill Paxton and Kevin Bacon are nothing short of excellent, and their changes from one mood to the next are handled with the kind of talent that should be existent in all movies. The special effects, done by the effects king Digital Domain, put the viewers in space with the astronauts, making this movie more believable. James Horner's moving score adds depth to the emotional experience, evincing sypmathy and suspense throughout. This movie is one of Hollywood's finest movies, and restores my faith in filmmaking. The DVD edition is great, including lots of special features, three different languages, and hosting brilliant colors and a vivid image.

Rating:
Summary: Don't buy anything but the Special Edition DVD
Review: Others have remarked well enough on the virtues of _Apollo 13_ as a film. What makes the Special Edition DVD worth its purchase price, however, are the tons of extras that you get. The story of the making of _Apollo 13_ is at least as interesting, if nowhere near as harrowing, as the actual moonshot itself, and this DVD gives you hours of material to walk you through that process.

Anyone who's interested in filmmaking will be riveted by both the Ron Howard running film commentary and the hour-long "Making of" documentary. Perhaps even more intriguing is the Marilyn and Jim Lovell audio track, in which you get to hear how Lovell feels about Howard and Hanks made his movie. This is made all the more interesting and informative for the filmmaking student in that _Apollo 13_ wasn't just the retelling of Lovell's real-life experience, it's also the film version of his book. Getting his perspective both as narrative object and storyteller is fascinating, as are Marilyn's observations on Kathleen Quinlan's Academy-nominated performance.

Combine all this with the superb technical brilliance of the encoding here, and you've got a DVD that's entirely worth the surprisingly modest price.

Rating:
Summary: Great Easter Egg to mention about this DVD
Review: Hi there,

I've read a few of the reviews of this movie here on Amazon.com(the review from January 27, 2000 is spot on), but I haven't seen one yet that mentions the soundtrack bonus. It's not written in as one of the features of this DVD so I consider it to be an Easter Egg. I don't know if those of you who own this DVD know this, but there are 14 musical tracks included on this DVD. I found them by accident. When I first went to the menu of this movie and heard the music start to play, I thought it was like many other DVD movies in that this great music would play for 20 seconds and then repeat. Much to my surprise, the music kept going and going and going. I dumped the music to my computer as a wav file and then I separated the music and found that there were fourteen complete tracks. I made them into mp3's and now I listen to them regularly. James Horner is a brilliant composer and this soundtrack is on par with that of his other scores including The Hunt for Red October and Titanic. You will not be disappointed with this DVD movie. So many features, WOW!