Operation Avalanche (2016)

The short version: there's a conspiracy theory saying there was no Moon landing in 1969, and the footage from that day was made in studio. The long version: "Operation Avalanche". Well, extended only for Apollo 11 - nobody seems to care about the rest of Moon landings. This movie is a thriller presenting a version where some new young and ambitious CIA agents put together from scratch everythng, the script, the film, even the phrase with the small step and the giant leap. It's a "found footage" indie movie, which can be praised for the context authenticity. Everything is re-created perfectly, from production design - location, cars, etc to the camera work and sound - you're effectively transported in time more than 45 years back from now. The director is also the main lead, stealing the screen (which is not necessarily fine = there's actually too much screen time for one character), by playing a young agent for who all this operation gets to more like a personal project than work. Overall it was interesting, but I'm still not convinced by this theory. About the first film, if it is real, if it's not, may be debatable - but about getting on the Moon ... why would you release more movies, up to '72? If you publish a fake, I doubt you'll risk revealing it by repeating the thing for about 4 more years. Maybe a better "conspiracy theory" would be what was found in '72 there to stay away since then...

Rating: 3 out of 5

Iron Sky (2012)

Sorry for the delay, but I wasn't able to post my entry last week, although I had it in my head. So I'll be back with the following too soon. For the moment "Iron Sky" or adapted freely "How to launch an extraterrestrial invasion with a smartphone" is a sci-fi satire/parody, with a budget a bit bigger than the usual indie. Partially supported through crowd funding, the movie is a German-Finnish-Australian production. The subject: The return of the nazi .. from outer space .. or more exactly from the dark side of the Moon :)

I guess I've already summarized the story above, and since I'm delayed already I won't get any longer. The movie is .. to compare to something having an element in common, as credible as "Inglorious Basterds" (keeping the proportions). There are holes in the script, and other issues. But ... again, unlike for instance "Prometheus" from last week, in this case we have something not taking itself much into serious. On the good side, we have also some other stuff like the score that varies from blues pieces to an arrangement foe Wagner's "Ride of the Valkyries", starting with a arrangementcazul de fata avem ceva ce nu se ia prea in serios. In plus, avem cateva puncte de remarcat incepand cu partea de coloana sonora care merge de la cateva blues-uri pana la un aranjament pentru Ride of the Valkyries de Wagner, excellent synced with the movie scenes. The FX have a couple of glitches but overall are to be appreciated given the movie budget (altogether with the production design and the other related stuff). The actors, although I didn't know anybody besides Udo Kier, surprised me in a very pleasant way. And finally .. the parody scenes .. which might have been more, but what's striking is the well-known Hitler scene from "Untergang" (the clip heavily used with alternate subtitles on YouTube).

In the end I have to admit that the movie looks more like a B series one, but it's on top on its category :) It might not be much, but deserves the time, it's fun, witty, and ... subjectively speaking I've placed Julia Dietze on the list to watch for in the future ;)

Rating: 3 out of 5