“Up, up, and awaaay in my beautiful balloon” sang the Fifth Dimension in the swingin’ 1960s, making this bouncy pop tune their signature song. Drifting high above the clouds then seemed to be the epitome of a lazy, romantic dream date (still does). But a hundred years before, it was quite a different kind of excursion. Many risked their lives dangling from a rickety wicker basket thousands of feet above the ground. That’s the era of the new historical adventure film hitting theatres this weekend. And why were they risking it all? Escape from a hostile regime? Delivering intel to hasten a military victory? No, it’s something we truly take for granted today: predicting the weather. As we leave our homes we switch on the TV forecast or glance at our phone app to know how thick a coat or jacket we should wear or if we should...
- 12/6/2019
- by Jim Batts
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
The Oscar-garlanded pairing of Eddie Redmayne and Felicity Jones reteam five years after The Theory of Everything for The Aeronauts, an adventurous family-friendly slice of Victorian nostalgia about the exploits of plucky balloonists who risk all for the pursuit of science.
In 1862 London, Redmayne again plays a scientist in his awkward-quirky puppy-dog face vein as a forerunner meteorologist James Glaisher whose climatological predictions he says can only be checked high up in the air. Jones is his erstwhile sidekick Amelia Wren, but being the only pilot of the pair, it’s quickly established that she’s the one in charge. Both are victims of people who lord over them, James because of the old white men who dismiss his avant-guard experiments, and Amelia because of her sex.
The film goes at quite a clip, with the hair-raising balloon flight itself unspooling in almost real-time. Flashbacks fill in the intermediate gaps,...
In 1862 London, Redmayne again plays a scientist in his awkward-quirky puppy-dog face vein as a forerunner meteorologist James Glaisher whose climatological predictions he says can only be checked high up in the air. Jones is his erstwhile sidekick Amelia Wren, but being the only pilot of the pair, it’s quickly established that she’s the one in charge. Both are victims of people who lord over them, James because of the old white men who dismiss his avant-guard experiments, and Amelia because of her sex.
The film goes at quite a clip, with the hair-raising balloon flight itself unspooling in almost real-time. Flashbacks fill in the intermediate gaps,...
- 10/14/2019
- by Ed Frankl
- The Film Stage
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