Moon Pizza

On Tuesday, Justin and I went to see this:



So, what were your impressions of the trailer? Looks like a great psychological thriller in a sci-fi setting, doesn't it? Sort of Event Horizon-meets-Solaris-meets-Fight Club.

Too bad it's not. It's actually a Science Fiction Parable that touches slightly on the effects of long-term isolation, but in the end really doesn't have any overarching deeper meaning. It took me 3/4 of the movie to figure that out.

Justin put it very succinctly: It's like being told you're going to get tacos for dinner, and then it's pizza. It's not that you don't like pizza, but you were really looking forward to tacos. That's exactly how I felt this whole film. I kept waiting for the twist. But the only thing that might possibly be considered a twist is revealed in the first 20 minutes of the film, and it's really not that interesting. I kept going "OK, that's interesting, and..." and then the movie ended.

I'm not saying it's a bad movie, because it's not, but my sense of disappointment is so over-powering. Sam Rockwell does a very good job of playing essentially two different characters, and as an actor it was kind of cool to watch. The special effects were really good given the tiny budget they had. The story itself isn't really bad, either, although his hallucinations in the beginning are dramatically underplayed. The biggest fault of the movie is that it's nothing like that trailer, and it pisses me off.

Upon reflection I'm not sure how I would have made a trailer for this film either. It's an interesting film, I guess, but not exactly edge-of-your-seat, or really anything too new. It's an acting showcase for Sam Rockwell set in a moon-base. That doesn't draw in the casual viewer. I think I might recommend it to others, but only with the disclaimer to never see the trailer.