I'd been wanting to get out of Terre Haute for a while at the same time anticipating the release of the Duncan Jones' movie "Moon". It was indeed a fortuitous chain of events that lead me to the discovery that it was playing at the Art Theater in Champaign. I'd just had my birthday and so thought that it would be worthy of a quest or at the very least as much of a road trip as I'm able to muster at my age. My wife and I made plans to spend the day in Champaign with a movie at the Art and some fine dinning at Little Porgy's. I noticed that the economic turndown has effected Champaign since I was there last. The cool little eclectic shops seem to be a little more sparse, & the barbecue sauce not quite as hot. However, I wasn't disappointed with the Art Theater. Since I was there last there has been some improvements. The first thing you notice is that that the concessions have moved to the far wall opening up the lobby space but it's not just the physical space that has changed. The popcorn is now edible! The theater also sports new comfortable seats and someone finally scraped that gummy bear off the lower left hand side of the screen. I did sort of miss the nostalgia of original seating, but after sitting through a 97 minute movie I'm thinking, "Screw nostalgia, I can still walk." Moon was the perfect movie to see here and now. I'd been reading a lot about it for the past couple of months but I must say that I was a bit doubtful. The articles I read seemed to make a big deal out of his paternal linage, and of Jones' return to intelligent thoughtful science fiction. What can I say, I've been burned too many times in the past couple of years. Duncan Jones, however; is true to his word. In interviews he spoke about what he called the holy trinity of sci-fi films being Alien, Silent Running, and Outland. In Moon you can truly see the influence of each of those films without being a copy any one. It is indeed intelligent and thoughtful. There is not one single explosion in the film yet the suspense and tension remain. It is not the kind of movie that relies on any of the A.D.D. cinematic techniques that have become so prevalent in the past few years. Some may complain about "Fake Looking" miniatures but you can't honestly tell me that the CGI lens flares added in post to Star Trek added anything to the story. It's like the argument between CDs and Vinyl that in the end means nothing because any special effect is nothing without a story, and this movie is all about story. It's starts out simple enough, quickly becomes confusing, then allows you to sort things out along with the characters. Sometime you can predict their discoveries sometime you can't, but always you are right there with them. I can't say enough about Sam Rockwell's performance. Having only the voice of Kevin Spacey to work with he does an incredible job in essentially acting with himself. The reactions and empathy he emotes is especially amazing considering each Sam was filmed separately and patched together to form the seamless performance that you see on the screen. Especially memorable is the scene where he plays a game of ping pong with his younger self expertly foreshadowed by the line, "How about a game of Ping Pong? It might help you relax." I don't want to in any way suggest that Kevin Spacey's contribution was inconsequential. With only his voice and simple emoticons Spacey manages to turn a floating box into the truly complex character of the alternately creepy and caring computer GERTY. I can honestly say that Moon is the first movie in years that I have felt was worth the effort of seeing in a theater. The only downside to the evening was in talking with the manager of the Art after the movie. It seems that after decades, closings, re-openings, and re-definitions, the Art Theater may be closing for good. The owner of the "building" has raised the monthly rent to such an extent that it is very unlikely the "Theater" will be able to remain, but more on this later.
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