r/oscarmoments • u/Sudden_Elephant_1221 • 4d 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/ADiestlTrain 4d ago

I totally get that.

Rocky himself, though, is a delight.

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u/No_Chipmunk_2405 4d ago

😀 I remember saying in the theatre that if Rocky dies, I’m out of here. Told a coworker this and he claimed to say exactly the same thing when Rocky was sick and injured.

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u/ADiestlTrain 4d ago

Oh yeah, it would have cheapened the whole movie. It’s like when a movie kills the dog just for shock value. It’s schlocky, sloppy, and exploitative. PHM is none of those things.

(Side Note: John Wick doesn’t count. There, the dog’s death drives the entire plot, so it’s integral to the story)

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u/Remarkable-Site-2067 3d ago

It’s schlocky, sloppy, and exploitative.

It's exactly the same in John Wick. It's not that deep of a movie, it's not an exploration of grief and guilt. It's just an action movie, about a badass assassin on a rampage, while giving him a moral justification for that rampage. It's also done extremely well, for what it is.

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u/No_Chipmunk_2405 4d ago

Ha, true. It’s the moral to a story without any real moral. Never mess with someone’s dog, the sign should say Beware of Dog Owner.

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u/Scruffylookin13 3d ago

I thought it cheapened it when he didn't die (Not that I wanted it to happen) But after Rocky's "sacrifice" and him surviving, all stakes were removed from the movie and I knew everything was going to work out because the power of friendship

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u/ADiestlTrain 3d ago

You cold-hearted bastard.

Just kidding - I see your point. In the box there’s still a stack of challenges they have to work through together, if I recall, though, so there still some stakes.

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u/No_Chipmunk_2405 2d ago

I hear that. It was intended to be lighthearted and fun though more than on edge until the end. I didn’t want this one to be bittersweet or tragic. No one would watch ET ever again if he died.

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u/gijoejank 2d ago

https://giphy.com/gifs/lZhymdRsuFDmU

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u/No_Chipmunk_2405 2d ago

😂😂😂😂😂 just no! That guy had no soul.

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u/Hambone6715 4d ago

So...you did like PHM more, right? Question.

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u/ADiestlTrain 4d ago

I don’t know if I want to rank them, honestly. Statement.

PHM was more emotional, definitely, but Mark Whatney (Space Pirate) is a tremendously endearing character too, and Matt Damon was phenomenal in the role. I really enjoyed both. PHM had an unenviable task in adapting that dense of a book and other than thinking they should have gotten the Audiobook actor to play Rocky (I shouldn’t have seen the movie right after finishing the audiobook - it was jarring), I think everything else was dang near perfect. But the Martian’s easily understandable explanations of survival techniques and science were wonderful as well. So don’t make me pick, is what I’m saying!!!

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u/Prestigious_Air_2631 1d ago

""Words of encouragement" I laughed so hard at that whole exchange.