User Reviews

Cosmic Voyage (IMAX), 1996.

The movie was inspired by Kees Boeke's lovely 1957 book, Cosmic View: The Universe in 40 Jumps. The book shows the scale of everything, from the large scale of the universe, down to atomic nuclei, in 40 pictures, each a factor of 10 scale difference from the last. The movie does the same thing, showing galaxies colliding. In 1996 it took unique supercomputing to render the computer graphic images and videos as they might actually look and happen. Of course, an IMAX movie loses a lot of its impact on a small screen. Definitely look at the book too, it's online. vendian.org/mncharity/cosmicview/

"Cosmic Voyage" is an American documentary film from 20 years ago that was written and directed by Bayley Silleck and also brought him his first and (so far) only Oscar nomination. It is basically about the perspective between Earth and space and all we have accomplished in terms of astronomy in the last centuries. Yes, even 20 years ago, actor Morgan Freeman was already telling space-related stuff to audiences all over the planet, who were listening closely. The strength if this short documentary here is probably that it is informative without ever becoming too specific or difficult. I enjoyed the watch, especially in the first half. All in all, I am okay with this one getting an Oscar nomination, even if I must say that it was not really good enough for the win and I cannot say it stands out truly compared to other documentaries about the subject. Then again, most of these that I have seen were made considerably later than 1996, so it's all good I guess. A pretty decent watch and I recommend it.

Made for the public with the help from Smithsonian Air and Space museum, this film takes viewers on a journey through the true size of our macro and micro universe with stunning photography from the various space telescopes, film footage, and special effects. Without spoiling the documentary directed by Bayley Silleck, too much, I have to say, the visuals are breath-taking. Some great examples are the overhead shots near Fisher Towers in Utah, and the ground-level site & sounds of Venice, Italy. In addition of that, I love how the film slowly zoom out into the edge of the observable universe, using CGI & descends back to earth, to view a raindrop on a leaf, at the subatomic particles level, using macrography. Every shot of footage is very clear and in high depth. It's pretty impressive, for a 1990s movie. It almost, looks like it was filmed, just yesterday with today's digital technology. No wonder, why this 36-minute film was nominated for an Academy Award in 1996. It really did capitalize on the large-format, wide-angle technology's technical aspect and usage by taking on a similar format as the National Film Board of Canada's 1970's 'Cosmic Zoom', and IBM's classic 1977's 'Powers of Ten' educational video; which all films were based on the book, 'Cosmic View' by author, Kees Boeke. Films like this, is the reason, why IMAX was created. It's beautiful to watch. Not only that, but the movie was very clear & informative, even if, most of the physical & formal science, including brief insight on the Big Bang theory, black holes, and the development of our Solar System is at the elementary grade level, layman's terms. In the end, if you're looking for a deeper exploration of the concept, including a discussion about multiverse, dark matter, concordance cosmology, dead zones & dark flow. You're just out of luck. Another problem with this film, is how some of the informative is also, now, a bit outdated. The idea that the universe came into being about 16-20 billion years, as a result of a single event that launched the universe into a continuous state of expansion, is laying thin; as more research has been done, on the subject. Most scientists now believe that the universe was created 13.8 billion years ago & some cosmogonist believe that the 'Big Bang' was more complex than it was once, though of. As many, see the biggest problem with the theory is that none of the equations that explain what happened in the singularity can take us all the way back to the moment, where the Big Bang actually happened. Instead, the laws of physics can only explain, that the universe is rapidly expanding. Because of this, some recent theories, believe that the universe has always been, moving around, like a ball in a cosmic pinball machine. Don't get me wrong, while still believe, that the 'Big Bang' theory, still holds weight, but it does ask, the question, why would the big bang explode!? Another thing, is how can time, be reconciled with general relativity!? Is it part of an infinitely recurring cyclic model!? Who knows!? All, I know is that, the Tevatron, the circular particle accelerator, they feature in, the film, is now inactive, since 2011, in favor of the Large Hadron Collider in Switzerland; the area, most famous for discovering the Higgs boson. Despite the dated information, I do have to say, I love the voice-over narrative from actor, Morgan Freeman. He has such a calm, yet serious tone with his voice. He's just that smooth & collected. I'll admit that I'd listen to a recitation of the dictionary if it were narrated by Morgan Freeman. He's really good. I also, like how this was one of the first scientific documentaries, he ever narrative. Before this, he only narrative, historical pieces & documentaries relating to Hollywood filmmaking. In short, it's films like this, that got him, ready for the biggest, & most famous documentary, voice-over ever in his career, with 2005's 'March of the Penguins'. Nevertheless, as much as I love Morgan Freeman's voice work, I do have to say, the music by composer, David Michael Frank that went, along with the film was equally as striking to the ears. It really gave the film, the epic scope of self-worth & discovery! Overall: Its films like this; that the scientific community has to thank, in making science, in particular astronomy, cosmology and theoretical science more accessible to the general public. Yes, the substance is a bit simple-minded, but this is one film, still worth exploring, regardless. Its visuals are beautiful & bright. It's worthy to join the constellations of great non-fictional short films about space. So check it out!