Capricorn One (DVD)

One of the most popular conspiracy theory of recent years is the ‘Did we really land on the Moon?’ theory, ‘off course we did!’ is the answer but it is fun to speculate how such a massive conspiracy could be carried off. In 1978 ‘Capricorn One’ did just this; the only difference is that the conspiracy was about a manned landing on Mars instead of the Moon. THE PLOT Sometime in the near future (since the film was made in 1978 this would now be the near past) a manned mission to Mars is planned. Funding for such missions and space exploration in general is becoming more difficult to raise so the Capricorn One ...  Read the complete review

Conspiracy theories; don't you just love em? Is there a government installation somewhere called Area 51? Was there a second gunman in the Kennedy assassination? Are modern-day Americans descended from aliens? Lots of questions, with no definite answers. I love em! They give us something to think about, I suppose. It'd be pretty boring if we knew for certain the answers were 'No', 'No' and 'No, although I understand your suspicions'. Who cares if the simplest answer is often the right one? Sometimes we don't want the simplest answer. Sometimes we need something out-of-the-ordinary to feed our imaginations. Anyway, one ...  Read the complete review

'Capricorn One' isn't so daft if you're one of those people who believes the Moon landings were faked, and it's got some fascinating angles to it. Firstly, it's one of the first movies I can think of that latches onto an urban myth, and runs with it. Secondly, it shows the general cynicism caused by Nixon and Watergate, which had already influenced 'The Parallax View' and 'Night Moves', leeching into straight action-adventure movies. A couple of things automatically work in 'Capricorn One's favour: first, there's casting. As the head of the conspiracy, Hal Holbrook is perfect, the ultimate slippery civil ...  Read the complete review

Written and direced by Peter Hyams this 1978 thriller about how governments can be corrupt from the top down when it suits them features a very strong cast including Elliot Gould, James Brolin, Hal Holbrook and the now double infamous O.J.Simpson. (O.J. gave a good performance in this film so worth watching it for that alone) Telly Savalas appears in a cameo role and as usual is very good in his part. This is a real action thriller that is fast paced, gripping and makes a much deeper point about governments' potential bad behaviour than many viewers and film critics of it might think. The basic plot relates to a hoaxed landing of a space mission on ...  Read the complete review

This film follows three astronauts who are due to fly to Mars. They get to the point where they are sat in the launch module ready to blast off, when they are asked to leave and taken elsewhere. There is a problem with the life support. So the rocket blasts off unmanned. They eventually agree to stage the mars walks and other video footage. But then as the rocket returns to earth, it explodes. So they are now dead men. What will NASA do with them? Should they give NASA the chance to decide or decide themselves? Watch and learn. This is an oldie that is showing it’s age. When I first watched it on TV god knows how many years ago, I thought it was a great ...  Read the complete review