Moon (Blu-ray) (2009)

"Moon is enjoyable as much for its small scale and solid execution as for its crazy twists and creeping existential dread.  Noel Murray, The Onion A.V. Club
"Moon is a potent provocation that relies on ideas instead of computer tricks to stir up excitement.  Peter Travers, Rolling Stone Magazine
"...a fresh blast of old-school sci-fi, bursting with ideas and a stellar turn from Sam Rockwell.  Simon Crook, Empire.com

Editor's Note Science-fiction films are usually big-budget blockbusters more concerned with special effects than with character, but MOON goes the indie route, using a five-million-dollar budget to create a thought-provoking film. First-time feature director Duncan Jones wrote the part of Sam Bell, a miner living in isolation on the moon, with CHOKE?s Sam Rockwell in mind, and it?s perfect casting. MOON begins when Sam?s three-year contract with Lunar Industries is almost up, and it isn?t soon enough for the isolated man. Communication is down, and he is only able to send and receive prerecorded messages home, so he has had no real-time contact with his wife and daughter. An accident in a lunar rover leaves Sam stranded, but he wakes up back in the station, where he encounters someone who looks exactly like him, just a little younger. With the help of the base?s robot, Gerty (voiced by Kevin Spacey), Sam tries to uncover what lies beneath the gleaming surface of the base. Production designer Tony Noble has created a cold, utilitarian set for MOON, reminiscent of sci-fi classics such as 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY and ALIEN. The minimalist surroundings and small number of special effects allow Rockwell?s strong performance to shine in what is essentially a one-man film. There are very few shots without Rockwell?s presence, and he is adept at communicating the Sams? variety of emotions. Rockwell is undeniably the center of the film, but Jones has made a stylish debut that promises an impressive filmography in the future.

	Sam Rockwell
	Dominique McElligott
	Kaya Scodelario
	Benedict Wong
	Matt Berry
	Malcolm Stewart
	Clint Mansell - Composer
	Tony Noble - Production Designer
	Duncan Jones - Screenwriter
	Kevin Spacey - Voice
	Gary Shaw - Director of Photography
	Nicky Moss - Producer
	Nathan Parker - Screenwriter
	Stuart Fenegan - Producer
	Trudie Styler - Producer
	Duncan Jones - Director

Box Office
3.5 stars out of 5 -- "Anchored by a dexterous performance from indie stalwart Sam Rockwell and shot in lean, expressive and slightly surreal visual tone that recalls Tarkovsky's SOLARIS, MOON harkens back to pre-STAR WARS American science fiction films..." 01/16/2009

Hollywood Reporter
"Screenwriter Nathan Parker capably splices generic sci-fi components with a Big Brother fixture in this well-wrought, modular entertainment." 01/26/2009

USA Today
3 stars out of 4 -- "MOON, a superb first feature directed by Duncan Jones and starring an impressive Sam Rockwell, is an intelligent, evocative and deceptively low-key sci-fi adventure." 06/12/2009

Chicago Sun-Times
3.5 stars out of 4 -- "MOON is a superior example of that threatened genre, hard science-fiction, which is often about the interface between humans and alien intelligence of one kind or other....The movie is really all about ideas..." 06/17/2009

New York Times
"[A] modest, haunting feature....MOON is an exercise in minimalism, pairing down a complex futuristic scenario into what is essentially a one-person drama." 06/12/2009

Wall Street Journal
"[I]ts theme is the elusive question of human identity....Mr. Rockwell gives a brilliant performance [and] the physical production is impressive..." 06/12/2009

A.V. Club
"Rockwell's presence gives the movie a funky humanity....MOON has an honest-to-goodness personality." -- Grade: B 06/11/2009

Rolling Stone
3.5 stars out of 4 -- "This mesmerizing mind-bender sneaks up and hits you hard....MOON is a provocation that relies on ideas instead of computer tricks to stir up excitement." 06/25/2009

Total Film
5 stars out of 5 -- "MOON is tense but it also expertly wrong-foots us, dodging potential clichés in favour of emotive, intelligent revelations." 06/23/2009

Entertainment Weekly
"[A] trippy sci-fi yarn....Prepare to have your mind blown." -- Grade: B 01/08/2010

Uncut
4 stars out of 5 -- "Jones' debut is a gripping, claustrophobic film....Rockwell excels in the tall task of acting with and against himself..." 07/13/2009

ReelViews 9 of 10
Moon illustrates a truism forgotten by Hollywood: the best science fiction films are about something. This film does not feature explosions. It does not contain endless, mind-numbing chase sequences. Instead, it's a simple idea-rich storyline that explores areas science fiction fans will find familiar: the concept of artificial intelligence, whether prolonged isolation can lead to psychosis, and where bioethics is headed. The screenplay, tightly scribed by Nathan Parker from a story by director Duncan Jones, plugs every seeming gap in logic and develops a story that is both deceptively simple and devilishly clever. After the chaos of Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, it's refreshing to encounter a science fiction film that respects the intelligence and attention span of an adult...This is director Duncan Jones' feature debut and, as such, it may seem to be a surprisingly ambitious effort. After all, serious science fiction is rarely the province of neophyte filmmakers who enter projects armed without huge budgets and studio backing. However, by making the subject matter intimate and keeping the setting mostly within the confines of the moonbase, Jones is freed from some of the warped conventions that typically define the modern concept of what defines "science fiction." This is not a Star Wars-inspired space opera (although it is worth mentioning that the effects, such as shots of a rover cruising the moon's surface or a mining vehicle trundling forward, are expertly done); it is intelligent, thought-provoking material. And it takes the element of "science" in "science fiction" seriously - Duncan is determined that his view of the future be believable...I have nothing against movies like Star Trek; they're good fun and escapist entertainment. But calling them "science fiction" is misnaming them, although I'm as guilty of the infraction as anyone else. Moon is closer to what die-hards expect when they hear the term "sci-fi," and its existence reminds us that serious movies within this genre are not dead - they're just hiding. - James Berardinelli

Chicago Sun-Times 8 of 10
Is Moon evoking 2001, or does its mining outpost on the far side of the moon simply happen to date back to the 2001 era (which was of course eight years ago)? I lean toward the second theory. After the mission carrying Dave Bowman disappeared beyond Jupiter, mankind decided to focus on the moon, where we were already, you will recall, conducting operations. In Moon, the interior design of the new lunar station was influenced by the 2001 ship, and the station itself is supervised by Gerty, sort of a scaled-down HAL 9000 that scoots around...At some point in the future (we can't nail down the story's time frame), this station on the far side is manned by a single crew member, Sam Bell (Sam Rockwell). He's working out the final days of a three-year contract and is close to cracking from loneliness. Talking to loved ones via video link doesn't satisfy. The station is largely automated; it processes lunar rock to extract Helium-3, used to provide Earth with pollution-free power from nuclear fusion. My guess is, the station is on the far side because you don't want to go gazing at the Man in the Moon some night and see a big zit on his nose...The 2001 vessel dealt with the physical challenges with its centrifuge. Dave and Frank had each other -- and HAL. Sam is all on his own, except for Gerty, whose voice by Kevin Spacey suggests he was programmed by the same voice synthesizers used for HAL. Gerty seems harmless and friendly, but you never know with these digital devils. All Sam knows is that he's past his shelf date, and ready to be recycled back to Earth...Space is a cold and lonely place, pitiless and indifferent, as Bruce Dern's character grimly realized in Douglas Trumbull's classic Silent Running. At least he had the consolation that he was living with Earth's last vegetation. Sam has no consolations at all. It even appears that a new guy may have entered the orbits of his wife and daughter. What kind of a man would volunteer for this duty? What kind of a corporation would ask him to? We, and he, find out...Moon is a superior example of that threatened genre, hard science-fiction, which is often about the interface between humans and alien intelligence of one kind of or other, including digital. John W. Campbell Jr., the godfather of this genre, would have approved. The movie is really all about ideas. It only seems to be about emotions. How real are our emotions, anyway? How real are we? Someday I will die. This laptop I'm using is patient and can wait. - Roger Ebert