Apollo 13 (1995)

_**Cinematic account of the ill-fated Apollo mission**_ In April, 1970, the Apollo 13 mission to the moon is aborted after an explosion causes internal damage. The three astronauts and Mission Control must now focus on merely surviving and getting back alive, if possible. Directed by Ron Howard, “Apollo 13” (1995) is a solid account of the real-life events and obviously influenced “The Martian” twenty years later, which is even better, albeit not based on historical events. I suppose this zeroes-in on the weakness of this movie: If you’re familiar with the account you know how the story ends, which diminishes suspense. Nevertheless, I found it interesting to observe the living conditions and challenges of real-life astronauts, as well as the resolve and ingenuity of the people at Mission Control to work with what’s available and to figure out how to get the astronauts home. The film runs 2 hours, 20 minutes. CAST: Tom Hanks, Bill Paxton, Kevin Bacon, Gary Sinise, Ed Harris and Kathleen Quinlan. GRADE: B/B-