Apollo 13

Apollo 13 (1995) starring Tom Hanks, Kevin Bacon, Bill Paxton, Gary Sinise, Ed Harris, Kathleen Quinlan. For fans of space travel, this is a movie not to be missed. The ill-fated Apollo 13 flight is depicted brilliantly, warts and all. The glitches started early, with astronaut Ken Mattingly (Sinise) being bumped from the flight and replaced by Jack Swigert (Bacon). Jim Lovell (Hanks), commander of the mission, reassures his wife Marilyn (Quinlan) that 13 is just the number that comes after 12. But 13 indeed proves an unlucky number, as an explosion disables the spacecraft and forces the crew of Apollo 13 to go into survival mode. As we see in this movie, they just barely survived. It's an exciting and intense film, and even though I knew the outcome, I got caught up in the drama of the moment. Very, very good. (English subtitles for the hearing-impaired are available on the DVD.) Grade: A