Apollo 10½: A Space Age Childhood (2022)

Apollo 10½: A Space Age Childhood (2022)

PG-13

netflix

A wistful and playful throwback to the turbulent 1960s

7.2

Movie

Netherlands, United States
English
Adventure, Animation, Comedy, Drama
2022
RICHARD LINKLATER
Bill Wise, Brian Villalobos, Buzz Aldrin
98 min

What it's about

A man narrates stories of his life as a 10-year-old boy in 1969 Houston, weaving tales of nostalgia with a fantastical account of a journey to the moon.

The take

Narrated by the familiar voice of Jack Black, Apollo 10 ½ is a throwback story told with admirable specificity and imagination. Black plays a grown-up Stan, who looks back on his younger years with a mix of fondness and wonder: how did they get away with the things they did then? American suburbia in the 1960s was both loose and conservative, caught between a generation holding on to the reins of the earlier century and one eager to launch into the next. 

Stan, as the youngest child of a big, rowdy family, gives us a charming look into the times, as well as a projection of his own fascination: Apollo 11 and the space age. He inserts himself in this monumental narrative and generously brings us along in his fantasy. Sometimes it’s hard to tell whether Stan’s recruitment by NASA is actually fact or fiction, but that’s part of the fun, especially since Stan himself doesn’t seem to mind at all.

Comments

Add a comment

What did you think? Who should watch it?

UP NEXT 

UP NEXT 

UP NEXT 

The Ciambra (2017)

A gritty coming-of-age drama that doubles as an authentic immersion into an Italian-Roma family

7.8

Spy Kids: Armageddon (2023)

Shallow kids' entertainment that fulfills the bare minimum of having a coherent plot

4.5

Skate Kitchen (2018)

An all-girl skate crew take us for a dreamy verité ride-along through their coming of age

8.1

Love Is in the Air (2023)

It’s even more cliched and implausible than most standard-issue romantic comedies, but this Aussie film is not without its charms

6.0

Nanpakal Nerathu Mayakkam (2023)

Director Lijo Jose Pellissary invites us to Tamil Nadu in this dreamlike slice-of-life film

7.5

I Lost My Body (2019)

The Oscar-nominated unconventional animation

8.2

Smoke (1995)

A gorgeous indie gem whose every note is worth inhaling

8.7

Incendies (2011)

Part melodrama, part war thriller, Incendies is gorgeous and heartbreaking from the first scene

9.9

Booksmart (2019)

Two academic overachievers from high school set out to prove that they're a smart and fun for one last time.

9.0

What’s Love Got to Do with It? (2023)

Love has never looked so joyless in this semi-passionate, tolerably funny romantic comedy

6.7

Curated by humans, not algorithms.

agmtw logo

© 2023 agoodmovietowatch, all rights reserved.