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The man crashes his.Rocket. A long time back, my family was sitting around the living room tuned into the good ol' directv contemplating between The Astronaut Farmer and Flyboys. Dollars that could've been used to buy some gum (my mouth regrets the choice).You see - the set-up to The Astronaut Farmer presents us with this "I'm a dreamer, even thought my dreams are far-fetched" feel. It's a whole lot of nothing stretched across a near 2 hour movie.
Like butter scraped across too much bread. Yeah well that's the story-line of The Astronaut Farmer. And then He and his son build him another rocket.within what seems to be a week's time.Do you remember the part in Lord of the Rings when Bilbo tells Gandalf that he feels stretched. AND HE LIVES.
Or at least I do. He crashes his.Rocket Ship. Absolutely unfortunately we chose The Astronaut Farmer and spent the next few days questioning the waste of three good dollars. Not his chevy, not his motorcycle.
But.C'mon. And that.we generally like. You don't expect the movie to be painstakingly realistic.
Normally would be 1-star, but decent acting from BBT and Virginia Madsen help elevate it to maybe even a 2-star movie. Entertaining enough as long as you don't think about how unlikely it all is. Disney (or Disney-esque, I'm not sure of the studio) movie with Billy Bob Thornton as a failed astronaut who is building his own rocket on a farm in the Midwest, with the intention of launching it. Wouldn't normally watch this one, but I was stuck on a plane on the tarmac with a weather delay for a couple hours and wasn't allowed to turn on my own computer.
The performances seemed to me to be just right. But the biggest challenge would have been in finding, testing and assembling the parts.Viewers less interested in arguments over private vs. 5, 1987) reported on aerospace companies willing and able to build inexpensive rocket boosters with off-the-shelf parts (which would have undercut rationale for the Shuttle). And now we have a number of wealthy investors building private rockets and space ships.
David Gump's book "Space Enterprise: Beyond NASA," published in 1990, surveyed opportunities for private-sector space operations decades ago. Great movie. The movie was rarely modern and "edgy" which was fine with me.Maybe Astronaut Farmer could be compared with "The Spirit of St. Heinlein's "The Man Who Sold the Moon" tells the story of advertising as the major revenue source for private space exploration. People in town know each other, and have from childhood. But in this story, dad has an unusual project.First of all, there is nothing outlandish about the technology claims (though we see a few improbably events in the movie).
But apart from the policy and technology debate on space launches, the movie is wonderful as a story. The movie is about family, dreams, and a small town. In Astronaut Farmer, off-the-shelf parts from rocket junk-yards are gathered for a much less expensive and lower-tech space launch.Private space launches were possible thirty years ago. I would argue that it would have been less expensive to actually launch a 1970s-era rocket than to make a movie about it (for one thing, astronauts are paid much less than well-known actors).Now we have four or five private space companies developing and launching rockets and space planes. Space rockets like the Saturn V were always far less expensive that the Space Shuttle. Mom and dad love each other land love their kids. government space travel have a wonderful family movie to enjoy (though with a handful of swear words). Louis" with Jimmy Stewart, a similar movie featuring a private individual assembling improbably technology in a barn and surprising and inspiring the world with it.
But the technology is amazingly reasonable. Lets have a sequel with the grown son, a software multimillionaire, funding a private trip to Mars. A space launch using 1970s technology in 2006 is still rocket science, that is, it is still complicated and requires significant scientific and rocketry know-how. Gregg Easterbrook, in "Big Dumb Rocket," (Newsweek, Feb. They have enough money to develop and test cutting-edge space technologies. A lot of the film is about family and small-town America. Many private firms tried the get government permission (and private funding) to launch rockets and space stations through the 1980s and 1990s. (http://www.reason.com/news/show/30912.html and http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/25/science/space/25tier.html._r=2&ref=science&oref=slogin )I enjoyed Astronaut Farmer when I first saw it a couple years ago, and enjoyed it even more seeing it again.
Inspiring feel good movie. Loved this movie, especially the little ones and how they interacted with the adults. Would love to have had this around when I was young. Great Movie for young children. Have a dream and follow it.
Bottom line, it's an okay rental when you need to zone out. I agree with the other reviewers. This might be okay for kids but for an adult, even one with a young heart, it stretches credulity.
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