Talk:Apollo 13 (film)/GA1

GA Review[edit]

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I will be reviewing this article. Detailed comments to come. My two initial points are:

Are there no better references available to support the article? In particular in would benefit from:

Any magazine or book articles either about the film, about the careers of Hanks or Bacon (in particular), or about Howard's films generally, beyond just the movie reviews of the time, that will bolster the relaiability of sources, and perhaps provide some useful additional material.
Any articles or commentary, other than the interviews etc on the anniversary edition boxed set, discussing the technical accuracy of the film.

There is a bit of a layout issue, around the 'release' heading, where the realtionship between images and text needs to be tweaked to ensure smooth flow of text on the screen.

I will come back in coming days to look in more detail. But I'd really want to see some exploration of a wider range of references for such a major film. hamiltonstone (talk) 01:11, 11 May 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Further comments[edit]

The 'technical accuracy'section should be a subsection further up in the sequence of the article, either as part of the 'production' section, or as part of the 'critical reception' section. It also really needs to be based on more than just the interview with the Lovells. Surely there are published pieces about this??
'Cast training and filming' - this section needs to be more comprehensive. At present it focusses almost exclusively on what is undoubtedly the most significant feature of the filming - the use of KC-135 and zero-grav filming. But what about everything else about filming. How long did filming take? What locations? Any other details? Etc.
There appears to be no coverage of casting, or of screenplay etc development.
Having won so many awards, it should be possible to find some quotes and coverage of these that might provide additional material about the film. hamiltonstone (talk) 04:13, 12 May 2009 (UTC)[reply]
The plot summary is a bit too long and needs copyediting. For example, "The film then moves into a dramatic launch sequence as the astronauts are launched into orbit. The astronauts are feeling great,..." (this para is probably the weakest). "Launch" is used twice in the sentence, while "The astronauts are feeling great" really doesn't add anything, except perhaps confusion, becuase shortly thereafer, one of them is vomiting. Just generally, I would strip the plot summary down to material that is most crucial for understanding the trajectory of the story.

For example, I would replace:

"The film then moves into a dramatic launch sequence as the astronauts are launched into orbit. The astronauts are feeling great, and Lovell is enjoing the wonderful view of space just as Haise vomits due to space sickness. Lovell questions if he is alright. Haise replies quite embarrassed, "Just a little too much breakfast." This had not been the beginning of their problems. During ascent,"

With:

"Apollo 12 blasts off on schedule, however during ascent..."

I would replace:

"On the third day of the mission, the crew broadcasts a television program to Earth from their spacecraft. Unbeknown to them, the major networks have refused to air the program. The networks believe the public has come to view spaceflight as "routine" and this perceived lack of interest does not warrant valuable airtime. After the broadcast, the crew runs through an in-flight “housekeeping” checklist."

With:

"On the third day of the mission, the crew runs through an in-flight “housekeeping” checklist."

I would delete altogether:

"On the night before launch, Haise says his goodbye to his family; bachelor Swigert is seen off by at least one person who calls out "Jack" off screen. Also in attendance, to Lovell's surprise, is Marilyn, coming to see “a hell of a show.”"

Closing out review - no action[edit]

I'm failing the article at this stage. While changes to the plot summary have been made, other points have not been addressed. I'm happy to discuss with editors at any stage - ping me at my talk page. Regards. hamiltonstone (talk) 23:46, 8 June 2009 (UTC)[reply]