Here we have Astronaut; The Last Push, (2012) Directed by Eric Hayden who also wrote it. It runs 85 long minutes and covers a three year period. Spoiler Alerts I will be talking about this film. First of all, Thanks for the terrific quality, Superb. What we have here is basically a one man show. The man being Astronaut Michael Forrest played by Khary Payton. His partner dies early, and shows up in flashbacks. Now he gets to talk to Mission Control's Bob Jenson, played. by Brian Baumgartner. The mission is to Europa, to visit Seaworld. However when things go south, it is a journey to get back to the Earth, from Venus. They were going to use Venus as a sling shot to gain speed to get to Jupiter. OK, maybe. What it turns into, is an exercise in isolation and tedium. Three years to get from Venus back to Earth, as the mission is aborted. The following year (2013) the movie Europa Report was released, It had a better ship, and a bigger crew, and ultimately was a better movie. This movie deals with the effects of Isolation, You have to give Khary Payton credit for giving us someone interesting to look at, almost full time. He reminds me of Obama in looks, his mood is almost perpetually dour, but living in cramped quarters, with little to do but mend the ship, and survive and go through isolation hallucinations to maintain our interest. A tall order.Repeated shots of exercise, sleeping, eating, and pooping are the framework this story is hung upon. The technical failures, each one life threatening, must be tended to, The claustrophobia is oppressive, There is not even a window to look out of. The effects are good. Only when the ship is within arms length of Venus, does a sense of wonder display itself. The music. simplistic and repetitive complements the dreary hours that make up a three year journey. Only swelling from the bland four note format, to a grander tonality as the views of Venus are revealed. Taking a final cue from movies such as the 1936 Things to Come, The movie strives for the Heroic note to end upon. Concerning mankind's drive to the stars, "For man, no rest and no ending..." We watch as the Astronaut virtually takes on a suicide turn to resume the aborted mission. He did not have to. I give this one Six out of Ten "Miles to go before I sleep" Stars.

Here's another movie you've seen before - if you're old enough to remember every iteration of the Robinson Crusoe mythology, or went to a high school film class. From Mr. Robinson Crusoe to Cast Away, and Robinson Crusoe on Mars, as well as 2001 and Silent Running, this story has been told many times before.The plot? In a nutshell, isolated astronaut goes nuts. On the plus side, Khary Payton does an acceptable job of on-camera work. On the other hand, his voice-overs could use work. In the end, it's an OK movie for a hangover, since it's intellectually and emotionally undemanding. On the other hand, you could turn the channel to a bass fishing show.

Visually, the special effects, the set itself, and overall film quality was pretty good on what I assume was probably quite a small budget.In terms of physics I was far less convinced. The finale was wholly unconvincing and impossible, and it was amusing that the diagrams of the trajectory of slingshots were really passbys that would have added little momentum; and then the pointless burn; and that the sun seemed to be completely absent in any calculations or diagrams! Well, you can suspend disbelief, so it wasn't too much of a distraction.However the writing about the state of mind of the astronaut wasn't very convincing at all, and neither were his decisions at the end of the film. Physically in terms of his body, his hair, his clothes there were no changes or deterioration over what we're to believe is three years. Psychologically there wasn't much in the way of change either. In short I didn't believe this man spent three years in a tiny tin can.In the end I'd say this is a wholly worthy effort - it isn't dreadful or anything, and I didn't burst out laughing or shout at the screen. But in the end I was unconvinced, and insight into the human condition seems lacking. But I'll be interested to see what he does next.

This movie was recommended to me by my nephew in high school. So I was reluctant to see the movie at first, but I'm so glad I did. This is one of the best Sci-Fi films I've seen in awhile. It was very real. Very powerful acting by Khary Payton. I don't think I've seen him in too much before this film. But after this film I bet he gets a lot more offers. I hope so, I would love to see him do more movies. His character is the only person you see for most of the film. You end up caring very deeply for him. The director, Eric Hayden also does a great job pacing the movie. I was fully entertained throughout the movie. I would recommend this film to everyone, especially space fans.