Oscar Got It Wrong!: Best Adapted Screenplay 1995

The Contenders:

Apollo 13
Babe
Leaving Las Vegas
Il Postino
Sense and Sensibility (winner)

Oscar Got It Wrong!: Best Picture 1995

The Contenders:

Apollo 13
Babe
Braveheart (winner)
Il Postino
Sense and Sensibility

Apollo 13

Format: DVD from Rockford Public Library on laptop.

It’s not something that comes up here that often, but I’m a complete space nerd. About a third of the reading I do for pleasure is space science—cosmology, the creation of the solar system, the history of the space program and the like. It’s one of the greatest accomplishments of humankind, and I can’t get enough of it. That creates a problem for me with a film like Apollo 13; I know what’s going to happen here. I’ve read the accounts and I know the history. I know who guys like Deke Slayton and Gene Kranz are without being introduced to them in the film. That being the case, there aren’t a ton of surprises for me here. Of course, that’s also true because I’ve seen this before, but it was true the first time I watched.

What that means in real terms for me as a viewer is that it had better be a damn good film for me to have a good opinion of it. Fortunately, it is. Just as critically, Apollo 13 is accurate except for minor details made for narrative purposes. The main events, and even the things that seem like cinematic foreshadowing are things that actually happened in the real mission. I always appreciate historical accuracy.