Magnificent Desolation - Walking on the Moon (IMAX)
by Mark Cowen
List Price:
Our Price: $11.99
You Save: $7.99 (40%)
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
Buy Used: from $3.99 (click here)
Category: DVD
See more DVD details
Buy this DVD movie at online store in your country
Canada
Canada
DVD details
Actor: Bryan Cranston, John Corbett, Matt Damon, Morgan Freeman, Tom HanksDirector: Mark Cowen
Brand: Warner Brothers
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 5.1; English (Subtitled); Spanish (Subtitled); French (Subtitled); French (Dubbed), Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo; Spanish (Dubbed), Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo
Format: AC-3, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, Dubbed, DVD-Video, NTSC, Subtitled, Widescreen
Picture Format: 1.66:1
Running Time: 40 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2007-11-06
Audience Rating: Unrated
Studio: Hbo Home Video
DVD Reviews of Magnificent Desolation - Walking on the Moon (IMAX)
DVD Review: Worst "Film" Ever
Summary: 1 Stars
Usually, IMAX films are a disappointing (and expensive) 40 minutes of droning narration interspersed with a few spectacular wide-angle shots of stunning scenery and spacious vistas. This film is even WORSE than most because all of the wide-frame scenery is CGI. The few clips of actual moon footage are framed and superimposed on less than 1/4 of the full screen, and total less than 15% of the entire film.
The production values and voice-over work are excellent, of course. But this DVD should be restricted by law to be shown only for elementary-school science class. I would have been happier with just narration and dialog over some stock NASA stills. If I could rate it lower than one star, I would. Not only did I waste 40 minutes of my life, I'm out $12 bucks. Which is about what I would have paid to see it in an IMAX theater. At least I got to watch it at home, and my shoes didn't get sticky.
Here's my imatation of Tom Hanks narrating this film:
Producer (handing the script to Hanks): Here, read this into the microphone.
Hanks: Am I getting paid? Okay!
DVD Review: Cursory, IMAX-Formatted Look at the Apollo Lunar Missions Designed to Inspire the Next Generation
Summary: 3 Stars
If you saw the superb 2007 documentary, In the Shadow of the Moon, I am not certain what the point would be in viewing this forty-minute 2005 IMAX film - at least if you are old enough to remember the television coverage of the Apollo missions. The former film includes spectacular archival footage of those missions and insightful on-camera interviews with ten of the surviving astronauts. This one is aimed more directly as a motivational film for a youthful audience as it seeks to reignite the pioneering spirit that sparked the first space flights. NASA aficionado Tom Hanks wrote and produced (along with director Mark Cowen) this enthralling if somewhat cursory look at what it took to get to the moon and what it will take to continue the legacy. The film not only recreates some of the actual Apollo lunar missions but also posits what could have happened had disaster struck. The result adds a suspenseful element obviously designed to engage younger viewers.
Hanks applies his storytelling skills to full dramatic effect during these fictitious interludes. They are intertwined with a whirlwind of facts presented in a breezy manner, an especially effective tactic in chronicling mankind's fascination with the moon since this film is meant to inspire as well as to educate. To reinforce the approach, there is a series of quick interviews with youngsters that bookend the featurette showing how the space race has completely preceded them and how it could be resuscitated for the next generation of lunar exploration which targets us back on the moon by 2016. A number of famous actors provide the voices of the astronauts - Matt Damon, Morgan Freeman, Paul Newman - but few are recognizable. The 3-D visual effects are lost on the 2007 DVD, though I think not as much as the elongated dimensions provided by an IMAX theater. Even more than the technical elements, what really brings the film together is Hanks' obvious enthusiasm for the subject. The DVD includes additional video footage and photographs from the Apollo 11 mission plus a trivia game.
DVD Review: The closest I have come to actually being on the Moon!
Summary: 5 Stars
I have dreamed about space travel and going to the Moon for much of my life. This film is quite imaginative and exhilirating.
I took my kids to see the IMAX version- we all were stunned silent by the drama that unfolded. You can read about this story many times, but actually feeling it is different.
-Tahir Rahman, author of We Came in Peace for all Mankind: the untold story of the Apollo 11 silicon disc
DVD Review: Disappointing
Summary: 3 Stars
I saw this at an IMAX theater. I was hoping for real film of real astronauts. But it is almost all computer graphics which are not even all that good in a rather contrived 'docudrama' format. In addition the science is 'gradeschool' level stuff. You would be better off spending your money on 'Full Moon'. Its a book but the images are the real deal.DVD Review: Glad to see it available on DVD
Summary: 5 Stars
I went to see this movie at the pink palace IMAX in memphis and it was fantastic, I remember commenting after the show how it would be great on dvd and worthy of purchase. It was educational and had some great humor as well.
Description of Magnificent Desolation - Walking on the Moon (IMAX)
Only 12 have walked on the moon. You're next! Presented and narrated by Tom Hanks Magnificent Desolation: Walking on the Moon is an IMAX documentary film that transports the viewer to lunar surface where they can walk alongside the 12 extraordinary astronauts who have been there experiencing what they saw heard and felt.Running Time: 40 min.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre:?DOCUMENTARIES/MISC. UPC:?026359332128Tom Hanks continues his love affair with space that began with Apollo 13 and his miniseries From Earth to the Moon with this compelling IMAX adventure, Magnificent Desolation. Fans of space fact and fantasy will not want to miss this engaging docudrama, which combines actual footage of lunar walks and interviews of the few men who've trod there with dramatizations of scenarios both exciting and terrifying.
The true way to experience this film, of course, is in its IMAX splendor, but home-theater buffs won't be disappointed. The footage takes the "lunar visitor" along moon's craters and potholes, with nothing but the vastness of space all around. Unseen film shows close-ups of terrain as well as technical infrastructure that may well be models for future moon-living. One particularly scary scene thankfully has never happened on a moon mission, and involves the sudden loss of breathing apparatus. Scuba divers will recognize the "buddy system" of sharing a single air source--and viewers with any kind of claustrophobic issues may want to fast-forward. But overall, the thrills of space travel are made as real as possible for us mere mortals who will only experience it from our comfy chairs. Roger that.--A.T. Hurley
General DVDs
DVD Video
- Action & Adventure
- African American Cinema
- Animation
- Anime & Manga
- Art House & International
- Classics
- Comedy
- Cult Movies
- Documentary
- Drama
- Educational
- Fitness & Yoga
- Gay & Lesbian
- Horror
- Kids & Family
- Military & War
- Music Video & Concerts
- Musicals & Performing Arts
- Mystery & Suspense
- Science Fiction & Fantasy
- Special Interests
- Sports
- Television
- Westerns
Bestsellers in General DVDs
Jon & Kate Plus Ei8ht, Seasons 1 - 2Release date: 2008-09-09; DVD
Best price: $12.36
Price in other shops:
Bigger, Stronger, Faster*BIGGER, STRONGER, FASTER (DVD MOVIE); Release date: 2008-09-30; DVD
Best price: $16.99
Price in other shops:
CSNY / Deja VuRelease date: 2008-09-30; DVD
Best price: $7.80
Price in other shops:
The Universe - The Complete Season One (History Channel)A&E; Release date: 2007-11-20; DVD
Best price: $20.99
Price in other shops:
Spirit of the MarathonRelease date: 2008-10-07; DVD
Best price: $19.70
Price in other shops:
Shine a LightSHINE A LIGHT (DVD MOVIE); Release date: 2008-07-29; DVD
Best price: $13.49
Price in other shops:
Sicko (Special Edition)WELLSPRING/GENIUS; Release date: 2007-11-06; DVD
Best price: $4.86
Price in other shops:
Expelled: No Intelligence AllowedRelease date: 2008-10-21; DVD
Best price: $17.99
Price in other shops:
Young@HeartYOUNG AT HEART (DVD MOVIE); Release date: 2008-09-16; DVD
Best price: $16.49
Price in other shops:
Planet Earth - The Complete BBC SeriesWarner Brothers; Release date: 2007-04-24; DVD
Best price: $21.20
Price in other shops:
Similar DVDs, VHS Video, Audio CDs
Apollo 13 (Widescreen 2-Disc Anniversary Edition)Release date: 2005-03-29; DVD
Best price: $5.98
Price in other shops:
America In Space: NASA's First Fifty Years (Nasa)by Steven Dick, Robert Jacobs, Constance Moore, Bertram Ulrich
Abrams Books; Published: 2007-10-01; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $20.00
Price in other shops:
For All Mankind - Criterion CollectionRelease date: 2000-02-15; DVD
Best price: $23.99
Price in other shops:
In the Shadow of the Moon: A Challenging Journey to Tranquility, 1965-1969 (Outward Odyssey: A People's History of S)by Francis French, Colin Burgess
University of Nebraska Press; Published: 2007-09-01; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $18.72
Price in other shops:
Space Station (IMAX)Warner Brothers; Release date: 2005-07-19; DVD
Best price: $4.00
Price in other shops:
Digital Apollo: Human and Machine in Spaceflightby David A. Mindell
MIT Press; Published: 2008-05-31; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $18.53
Price in other shops:
Apollo 12 UncensoredRelease date: 1996-01-01; DVD
Best price: $21.95
Roving MarsBuena Vista Home Video; Release date: 2007-07-31; DVD
Best price: $19.48
Price in other shops:
From the Earth to the Moon - The Signature EditionHANKS,TOM; Release date: 2005-09-20; DVD
Best price: $19.98
Price in other shops:
In the Shadow of the MoonTHINKFILM LLC; Release date: 2008-02-22; DVD
Best price: $12.84
Price in other shops: