![]() While Homer’s new found curiosity has made his father seem to retreat even further into his old ways and reject the idea of him escaping the mine almost entirely. The film plays around with a lot of “new vs old” themes, especially with Homer’s relationships with many of the adults in Coal Wood. We see this when Dorothy Platt (Courtney Cole-Fendly), Homer’s crush, asks him to sign the local paper because he’s “going to be famous one day”. Just seeing a group of high schoolers launch a rocket a few thousand feet in the air was enough inspiration to believe that the future was in the skies. When they finally have their first successful launch they are immediately turned from weirdos to town heroes in a turn that reaffirms the main theme of the movie. From the moment Homer, O’Dell (Chad Lindberg), and Roy Lee (William Lee Scott) almost blow themselves up in Homer's front yard, to the first successful launch, the movie really lets us stew with the process. If you are a fan of movies that show the trial and error process, that really get into the “men at work” trope, then you will love the first act of this movie. Getting there wasn’t an easy road though and Johnston has a blast taking us through the entire scientific process. Hell, just daring to dream as big as they did established the group of boys as sort of outcasts in their town, until they succeeded. It's such a rarity that when he takes a seat the entire cafeteria goes quiet. In a moment that seems ridiculous in 2019 we watch as Homer decides to approach Quentin (Chris Owen), the class nerd and weirdo, to ask for help in their endeavor. For example, he defies his father (Chris Cooper giving the film’s best performance) by pursuing the exact thing he tells him not to. Throughout this story, Homer breaks every single social norm established in the 50’s, which may not seem like a big deal now but given the time, it was huge. This is what makes October Sky a successful film, its ability to convey just how much power these kinds of achievements have. If that sort of drive and inspiration came from a small speck of light soaring across the sky, just imagine what something like, say, landing a man on the moon could do for the human race. It made him want it so much he was willing to suffer failure after failure in order to achieve it. ![]() Just seeing the small speck of light move across the black backdrop of space inspired Homer Hickam to try and build a rocket. That is until Sputnik-1 went soaring across the night october sky, changing the lives of the people in Coal Wood, West Virginia, and the rest of the world forever. They are all sons of coal miners who were, for the most part, expected to also be miners. Homer, portrayed wonderfully by a young Jake Gyllenhaal, and his friends are severing ties with past generations and traditions. The story of a group of young men from a dead-end coal town who decide to try their hand at building rockets may just seem like a feel-good coming of age story on the surface, but their journey represents the importance of broadening your horizons. The story of Homer Hickam and the “Rocket Boys”, told in the 1999 Joe Johnston film October Sky, is a perfect encapsulation of the “big picture” merits of space exploration. But there is always a bigger picture to consider and hindsight is, as they say, 20/20. Between lives lost and government dollars and resources spent, there is an argument to be made during times of political and economic turmoil, like during The Cold War, that it is not. Here's the website where you can read my full review for this movie: !/2013/07/october-sky-review.Since the beginning of the space race, there has been an ongoing debate on whether or not space exploration is worth the cost, both literally and figuratively. What made it better is that it's based on a true story, focusing solely on Homer Hickam's life as a teenager. The storyline was fantastic, providing emotion, joyness, and sadness to appeal everyone, no matter how old you are. The rest of the cast played their part pretty well. Laura Dern is an underrated actress, and she gave a good performance since Jurassic Park. Jake Gyllenhaal delivered a memorable performance, and he stood true to his role as the NASA Engineer, Homer Hickam, Chris Cooper delivered a solid performance as John Hickam who has a lot of pride of himself. Even if it makes you hardheaded, this movie shows how taking your own advice is never a bad thing. It provides good life lessons on following your own footsteps and be ambitious of what you enjoy doing. This is one of those movies you can't pass up and overlook. October Sky is the best inspirational drama ever made, and it's one of my favorite movies of all time.
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