Two things are at the essence of emotionally moving and thought-provoking films: sights and sounds. Damien Chazelle wholeheartedly understands this. It was apparent in “Whiplash,” his directorial debut in 2014, and only further confirmed with 2016’s “La La Land.”
His third film is no different. Based on James R. Hansen’s biography of astronaut Neil Armstrong, “First Man” is utterly dependent on sights and sounds. From the rattling of the inside of a cockpit blasting off into the depths of space, to the utter silence of Armstrong looking longingly to the moon in the middle of the night, Chazelle doesn’t waste many frames or tones in telling the story of a tortured soul turned hero.
Ryan Gosling (“La La Land,” “The Notebook”) disappears into the role of Armstrong, who famously was the first man to walk on the surface of the moon — key the name of the movie. The space race of the 1960s is such a long, complicated story to tell, but Chazelle does his best to unweave the twines essential to Armstrong’s character and leave the rest on the sideline — even though he does mix in some important bureaucratic and social justice issues that arose around NASA at the time. That’s not to say that everything fits in perfectly, but it all adds up to a satisfying enough payoff.
Gosling dominates the movie — as he should — but Claire Foy (“The Crown”) manages to steal a few scenes as Armstrong’s wife, Janet. Jason Clarke (“Mudbound,” “Zero Dark Thirty”) is also particularly good as fellow astronaut Ed White.
“First Man” is not so much a movie about space exploration — although it does those sequences pretty damn well — but a movie about a normal man trying to do his job through a world that seems to be falling down around him. It’s not rah-rah about the moon landing and the country’s victory in the space race — something it caught flak for in the weeks leading up to its release — and I’m glad it’s not. Chazelle manages to make something as awe-inspiring as the process of flying to the moon feel intimate by putting two things at the forefront: sights and sounds.
4/5
•••
BOX OFFICE REVIEW
1. “Venom”: $35,006,107 (week 2); Sony. Total gross: $142,108,258
2. “A Star is Born”: $28,445,205 (week 2); Warner Bros. Total gross: $94,605,565.
3. “First Man”: $16,006,065 (opening week); Universal.
4. “Goosebumps 2: Haunted Halloween”: $15,802,225 (opening week); Sony.
5. “Smallfoot”: $9,066,837 (week 3); Warner Bros. Total gross: $57,375,058.
•••
NOW PLAYING
“First Man” — A look at the life of the astronaut, Neil Armstrong, and the legendary space mission that led him to become the first man to walk on the Moon on July 20, 1969.
Director: Damien Chazelle
Cast: Ryan Gosling, Claire Foy, Jason Clarke, Kyle Chandler
R-P rating: 4/5
“Goosebumps 2: Haunted Halloween” — Two young friends find a magic book that brings a ventriloquist’s dummy to life.
Director: Ari Sandel
Cast: Wendi McLendon-Covey, Jack Black, Madison Iseman, Ken Jeong
R-P rating: NA
“Bad Times at the El Royale” — Seven strangers, each with a secret to bury, meet at Lake Tahoe’s El Royale, a rundown hotel with a dark past. Over the course of one fateful night, everyone will have a last shot at redemption — before everything goes to hell.
Director: Drew Goddard
Cast: Jeff Bridges, Cynthia Erivo, Dakota Johnson, Jon Hamm
R-P rating: NA
“Venom” — When Eddie Brock acquires the powers of a symbiote, he will have to release his alter-ego “Venom” to save his life.
Director: Ruben Fleischer
Cast: Tom Hardy, Michelle Williams, Riz Ahmed
R-P rating: NA
“A Star is Born” — A musician helps a young singer and actress find fame, even as age and alcoholism send his own career into a downward spiral.
Director: Bradley Cooper
Cast: Lady Gaga, Bradley Cooper, Sam Elliott
R-P rating: 4/5
“Night School” — A group of troublemakers are forced to attend night school in hope that they’ll pass the GED exam to finish high school.
Director: Malcolm D. Lee
Cast: Tiffany Haddish, Kevin Hart, Megalyn Echikunwoke
R-P rating: NA
“Smallfoot” — A Yeti is convinced that the elusive creatures known as “humans” really do exist.
Directors: Karey Kirkpatrick, Jason Reisig
Cast: Channing Tatum, James Corden, Zendaya
R-P rating: NA
“The House With A Clock In Its Walls” — A young orphan named Lewis Barnavelt aids his magical uncle in locating a clock with the power to bring about the end of the world.
Director: Eli Roth
Cast: Jack Black, Cate Blanchett, Owen Vaccaro
R-P rating: NA
•••
COMING SOON
Today
“Halloween” — Laurie Strode comes to her final confrontation with Michael Myers, the masked figure who has haunted her since she narrowly escaped his killing spree on Halloween night four decades ago.
Director: David Gordon Green
Cast: Jamie Lee Curtis, Judy Greer, Andi Matichak, James Jude Courtney
“Can You Ever Forgive Me?” — When Lee Israel falls out of step with current tastes, she turns her art form to deception. An adaptation of the memoir “Can You Ever Forgive Me?”, the true story of best-selling celebrity biographer Lee Israel.
Director: Marielle Heller
Cast: Melissa McCarthy, Richard E. Grant, Dolly Wells, Ben Falcone
“Mid90s” — Follows Stevie, a 13-year-old in ’90s-era LA who spends his summer navigating between his troubled home life and a group of new friends that he meets at a Motor Avenue skate shop.
Director: Jonah Hill
Cast: Sunny Suljic, Lucas Hedges, Na-kel Smith, Olan Prenatt
“What They Had” — Bridget (Hilary Swank) returns home at her brother’s (Michael Shannon) urging to deal with her ailing mother (Blythe Danner) and her father’s (Robert Forster) reluctance to let go of their life together.
Director: Elizabeth Chomko
Cast: Hilary Swank, Michael Shannon, Robert Forster, Blythe Danner
Oct. 26
Suspiria — A darkness swirls at the center of a world-renowned dance company, one that will engulf the artistic director, an ambitious young dancer, and a grieving psychotherapist. Some will succumb to the nightmare. Others will finally wake up.
Director: Luca Guadagnino
Cast: Dakota Johnson, Tilda Swinton, Doris Hick, Malgorzata Bela
“Johnny English Strikes Again” — After a cyber-attack reveals the identity of all of the active undercover agents in Britain, Johnny English is forced to come out of retirement to find the mastermind hacker.
Director: David Kerr
Cast: Olga Kurylenko, Rowan Atkinson, Emma Thompson, Charles Dance
“Hunter Killer” — An untested American submarine captain teams with U.S. Navy Seals to rescue the Russian president, who has been kidnapped by a rogue general.
Director: Donovan Marsh
Cast: Ethan Baird, Jacob Scipio, Dempsey Bovell, Corey Johnson
Editor’s Note: For the Love of Flicks is a weekly movie column written by Sports Editor Tony Nunez. Contact Nunez at [email protected].
