Sputnik Archives - Jeremy C. Processing

Director – Joe Johnston – 1999 – US – Cert. PG – 97m

****1/2

Coming-of-age drama based on the teenage years of Homer Hickam who went on to become a NASA rocket scientist – out in UK cinemas on Friday, June 26th 1999

1957 was the year Sputnik became the Earth’s first man‑made satellite. This first of two December releases set in small town America against the backdrop of that event (the second is next week’s The Iron Giant, Brad Bird, 1999) is a coming-of-age drama based on the real life teenage years of Homer Hickam who went on to become a NASA rocket scientist. Homer (Jake Gyllenhaal) is initially inspired by the sight of the Sputnik flying over his hometown through 1957’s October skies, a tiny moving dot amidst the stars.

Hickham starts experimenting with home-made rockets – blowing up his mother’s picket fence, sending potentially lethal projectiles hurtling through the air towards the local pithead and, ultimately, becoming something of a local celebrity. Aided by his two best mates and the school nerd, a stereotype likely to infuriate anyone who wears spectacles, he receives support from admiring teacher Miss Riley (Laura Dern) but not his own mine superintendent father John (Chris Cooper) who regards him as an idealistic fool wasting his time.… Read the rest

The Iron Giant

Director – Brad Bird – 1999 – US – Cert. U – 88m

*****

1957. A giant robot falls out of the sky and is befriended by a young boy in Maine. However, the US government proves less sympathetic – animated feature is out in UK cinemas from Friday, December 17th, 1999

This has all the hallmarks of classic fifties sci-fi outings – giant monster, small American town, paranoid government agent, mobilised militia. For those demanding still more, it has a single working mum and a sympathetic beat sculptor, neither of whom would be out of place in a period Roger Corman cheapie.

But you shouldn’t pigeonhole The Iron Giant by genre because a further two factors mark it out as very different. Freely adapted from Ted Hughes’ marvellous children’s book The Iron Man but given a decidedly American spin by director Brad Bird (cartoon TV series The Simpsons, 2 eps, 1990-91; creator of Family Dog, 1993), this is without doubt the animated film of the year and arguably the film of the year period. We’ve grown so used to the Disney blockbuster model – cute characters (and merchandise), hit songs – that anything else (this employs neither device) comes as a shock.… Read the rest