{"id":3628,"date":"2021-09-24T21:51:02","date_gmt":"2021-09-24T21:51:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.sebpalmer.com\/blog\/?p=3628"},"modified":"2023-01-22T22:19:30","modified_gmt":"2023-01-22T22:19:30","slug":"film-october-sky-1999","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.sebpalmer.com\/blog\/?p=3628","title":{"rendered":"FiLM REViEW: October Sky, 1999"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"338\" height=\"500\" src=\"http:\/\/www.sebpalmer.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/img_1497.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-3625\" srcset=\"http:\/\/www.sebpalmer.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/img_1497.jpg 338w, http:\/\/www.sebpalmer.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/img_1497-203x300.jpg 203w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 338px) 100vw, 338px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"155\" height=\"30\" src=\"http:\/\/www.sebpalmer.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/stars_09_fourhalf-14.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-3624\" srcset=\"http:\/\/www.sebpalmer.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/stars_09_fourhalf-14.jpg 155w, http:\/\/www.sebpalmer.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/stars_09_fourhalf-14-150x30.jpg 150w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 155px) 100vw, 155px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>What a terrific movie. Based on a true story, as they say. I\u2019ve subsequently learned that, as is pretty near always the case, the moviemakers play fast and loose with historical facts. But nevertheless, this is a very engaging story well told. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Central to the story &#8211; in which a group of kids in a coal mining town get interested in building rockets, after seeing the Soviet Sputnik satellite pass overhead &#8211; are numerous strands of relationships. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"475\" height=\"350\" src=\"http:\/\/www.sebpalmer.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/img_1498.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-3626\" srcset=\"http:\/\/www.sebpalmer.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/img_1498.jpg 475w, http:\/\/www.sebpalmer.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/img_1498-300x221.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 475px) 100vw, 475px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Pa wants Homer Jr not just \u2018down to earth\u2019, but literally underground.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Perhaps the most foregrounded is that of central character Homer Hickam (Jake Gyllenhaal) and his coal miner father (Chris Cooper). Also key is Homer\u2019s teacher, Miss Reilly (Laura Dern). Then there\u2019s his family, his \u2018Rocket Boy\u2019 friends, and the community of Coalwood, a town literally built (and owned) by the mining company. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Set in the \u201850s, and depicting a very particular geographical and working culture, the film has a lot of nostalgic appeal. It\u2019s a corking feel-good watch. Certain aspects of the story, and even certain characters, are \u2018jazzed up\u2019 a bit. Personally I think it\u2019s a shame moviemakers seem to feel obliged to do such things. But maybe it does make for more compelling viewing?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"1024\" height=\"576\" src=\"http:\/\/www.sebpalmer.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/img_1500-1024x576.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-3627\" srcset=\"http:\/\/www.sebpalmer.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/img_1500-1024x576.jpg 1024w, http:\/\/www.sebpalmer.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/img_1500-300x169.jpg 300w, http:\/\/www.sebpalmer.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/img_1500-768x432.jpg 768w, http:\/\/www.sebpalmer.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/img_1500.jpg 1200w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 767px) 89vw, (max-width: 1000px) 54vw, (max-width: 1071px) 543px, 580px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">But for the Rocket Boys, things are looking up.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Watching the movie made me feel I ought to read Hickam\u2019s autobiographical <em>Rocket Boys <\/em>memoir. But, for now, the feel-good fun of the movie will suffice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>What a terrific movie. Based on a true story, as they say. I\u2019ve subsequently learned that, as is pretty near always the case, the moviemakers play fast and loose with historical facts. But nevertheless, this is a very engaging story well told. Central to the story &#8211; in which a group of kids in a &hellip; <\/p>\n<p class=\"link-more\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.sebpalmer.com\/blog\/?p=3628\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;FiLM REViEW: October Sky, 1999&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/paGwUa-Ww","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.sebpalmer.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3628"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.sebpalmer.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.sebpalmer.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.sebpalmer.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.sebpalmer.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3628"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.sebpalmer.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3628\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8167,"href":"http:\/\/www.sebpalmer.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3628\/revisions\/8167"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.sebpalmer.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3628"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.sebpalmer.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3628"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.sebpalmer.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3628"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}