Eleanor Reviews

*** When Earth is hit by a series of electromagnetic surges from outer space, astronaut Roy McBride is tasked with reaching out to his long-lost father, who was last known to be somewhere on the periphery of Neptune, searching for new forms of life. Space has always been a source of mystery and fascination for mankind. From prehistoric cave paintings and stone circles that indicate some form of worship of the Solar System, to the latest drives to reach Mars and further into space, the realms beyond our own planet have led us to question a plethora of philosophical conundrums. In the case of Ad Astra , however, my only question was: Who on earth allowed this script to be filmed!? It's not just that James Gray and Ethan Gross' screenplay is clunky and packed with lines a la Basil Exposition (we'll come to this later) that makes it so infuriating, though - it's the unshakable feeling I got that both had read a little bit of Nietzsche and fallen into some bl...

*** On July 20th 1969, Neil Armstrong became the first man to walk on the moon. In the years preceding this most iconic of events, he, NASA and his family overcame incredible odds - this is that story. It's a strange feeling to watch a film that you really, really wanted to see, only to find it to be somewhat disappointing. I want to make it clear from the start, however - First Man is in no way a bad film, it just failed to live up to my high expectations. And what expectations they were: a star-studded cast; an award-winning director; a real life story of love, loss and tragedy; and engrossing trailers with the enigmatic voice of John F. Kennedy telling us that we do these things 'not because they are easy, but because they are hard'. It held so much promise, and yet I found myself propelled from moments of wonder and tension, to scenes that almost made me fidget with boredom. Let's start with the good bits. It can't be denied that the scen...