In the Shadow of the Moon: Critic Reviews

In the Shadow of the Moon finds new resonance in the moment when America redefined progress -- but also when it heeded the siren song of a world so desolate it reminded you what a paradise ours truly is.

In the Shadow of the Moon is a morale booster. The power of its archival images hasn't diminished with familiarity.

There is something thrilling and moving in this documentary about the great era of the Nasa moon landings.

One small documentary for a filmmaker and one giant leap in inspiration for audiences.

Now, finally, we know what it was like to walk on the moon: unbelievably cool. Amazing. Fantastic. Scary.

It's so simple, so obvious -- and a revelation.

In the Shadow of the Moon recalls the wondrous moment when America had the entire world looking up, up, and not away.

Oh, what stories these heroes have to tell.

Thanks to who they are and what they're talking about, the ten talking heads of In the Shadow Of the Moon are more dramatic than the heroes of most dramas.

Though Shadow could use a bit more confessionals and a bit less history, it still succeeds as a reminder of America's can-do spirit at its best.

There's vibrant visual poetry here.

I came out giddy, feeling lighter -- by about five-sixths -- than I did when I went in.

It has taken a British director, David Sington, to do what nobody has done before: sit down with surviving Apollo astronauts and get them to talk us through what was, in retrospect, the happiest public event of an unhappy century.

A researcher for this production spent years screening NASA footage that was still, in many cases, in its original film cans and had never been seen. The film was cleaned up and restored, the color refreshed, and the result is beautiful and moving.

It has the air of an officially sanctioned tribute rather than a probing study, but it's stirring all the same.

The astronaut interviews are fun and occasionally moving...

In the Shadow of the Moon is, quite simply, a revelation.

The contrast between the near-surreal space footage and the down-to-earth men who were actually in those spacesuits is awe-inspiring.

It certainly is fascinating.

David Sington's In the Shadow of the Moon moved me to the extremes of nostalgia, regret and outright admiration as no other movie has moved me this year, even though -- or perhaps because -- it is a mere documentary.

The excitement, majesty and extraordinary human accomplishment of the American lunar program of the '60s and early '70s is rousingly captured in In the Shadow of the Moon.

It's a stirring reminder of a time when anything seemed possible.

When it comes to the Apollo program, nobody relates the saga of men going to the moon quite like the corps of 24 who actually made the trip.

A moving and masterful documentary by British filmmaker David Sington.

The movie fills us with wonder, and pride, and a tugging sense of loss.