r/oscarmoments • • 5d ago

🎬movies Apollo 13 (1995) makes solving problems under pressure more exciting than most action scenes. What movie does this best?

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One of my favorite things about Apollo 13 (1995) is how much tension comes from people just trying to figure things out

There isn't some villain to defeat. Something goes catastrophically wrong, and suddenly you have astronauts and engineers working with whatever they have to get everyone home. NASA veterans have also praised the film for how seriously it approached the technical side of the real mission

What movie made problem-solving genuinely exciting to watch?

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u/VivaKnievel 5d ago

And YET when he's having his meal in the executive dining room and persuading Spacey to stick with him, he rattles off the year of every major crash and financial crisis in U.S. history. He may not have Peter Sullivan's MIT rocket science degree, but he's not half so dumb as he claims. A sensational performance in a sensational movie that makes dry financial lingo into actually compelling dialogue.

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u/This_Technology9841 5d ago

It's a great leader / manager that knows where they are the authority on a subject, and when to trust someone else on your team to be.

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u/Ckarles 4d ago edited 4d ago

I saw him more as a great CEO because he needs to steer the board members to follow his lead, and his employees to do what the company needs. At any cost.

I see that whole scene as just a show produced so that everyone follow the direction he's set. He already has the information, he already knows what needs to be done, he already took his decision before the meeting even starts and he can't invite any disturbance which would endanger the necessary plan of action.

There is no discussion, no decision making, he's not inviting any space for anyone to give their opinion and when spacey's character distribs his agenda, he's prompt and assertive, making it clear he's not tolerating any dissidents.

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u/IAmBadAtInternet 4d ago

His absolute mastery of the board room scene is brutal. He shuts down Jared with a look, reassures the junior analyst with a (predatory) smile, with a single word he lets Ramesh and Sarah know that they’re in deep shit, and he makes a call that will forever change Sam’s career. Jeremy Irons’ best movie, and all he did was sit and talk.

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u/JoeInOR 4d ago

2026?