As a movie reviewer, my job is to point out the good and bad in movies to help enhance how you view them. Every so often, I like to throw out a classic that you may have never heard of, but simply must see. I want you to have a very diverse and entertaining movie collection, and to do that you need to add the movie Moon to your list.

Moon shows us two things that most people do not realize; Sam Rockwell has amazing range and you can completely rip off a bad movie and turn it into a classic. Moon is not an original movie at all, but it is also not a remake. It is based, not so loosely, on the exact same plot from the movie Rogue Moon from 1960. The difference is that Rogue Moon is terrible and Moon is a classic.

Moon continues to lay out its plot up until it is almost over. I normally do not like that in a movie, because I prefer my movie plots to be laid out early so we can see how the plot is resolved. But in this movie, the idea of waiting until nearly the end to find out all of the important information we need to understand the story works very, very well.

Sam Rockwell plays a couple of guys named Sam in this movie and normally that would be a great segue into a bad acting joke, but that simply does not apply here. Rockwell is extremely talented and he has 12 movie awards and 25 nominations to prove it. But his problem is that the movies that most people see him in are movies like Galaxy Quest where he plays a substandard character. When you see Rockwell in movies like Moon, Confessions of a Dangerous Mind, Conviction, and Seven Psychopaths; you can really appreciate what this guy can do.

Moon has only two location sets and most of the movie consists of Rockwell literally talking to himself. The movie explores so many sides of human fears that it should be classified as a psychological thriller instead of as a drama. As each part of the movie unfolds, you find yourself wondering exactly how this type of a situation could possibly end. The thing I loved about this movie is that you do not really root for Sam to win or lose. You just want to watch and see what happens to him.

How would you feel if you were told by a machine that you were absolutely worthless and you knew the machine was right? What if that machine was the only friend you had for years and you trusted it with your very life? Now try to imagine how you would feel if that machine told you that you weren’t really you. Yeah, it is that kind of movie.

Every scene in this movie is essential and every word somehow ties back into the plot. As the movie unfolds, you find yourself unable to look away, even though the movie tests you repeatedly with plenty of inspiration to look at the floor or close your eyes for just a little while. But you just cannot stop watching and, even when it is over, you want more.

This movie was written specifically for Sam Rockwell, which is probably why he is so brilliant in it. The production work to get Rockwell to play opposite himself and make it look so seamless is also brilliant. This is the kind of movie I could watch over and over again because you always find something new and it never gets boring.

Moon is one of those instances where the director and the actor have a strong passion for telling the story, they both wanted to work together, and it all shows up on screen. Take my word for it and set aside a couple of hours to watch Moon. I guarantee that when you see this movie once, you will want to see it again.

Rating: 4 out of 5

+George N Root III is a drive-in enthusiast and is getting really sick of winter. But on the plus side, you can use his movie reviews as a guide to creating a cool movie collection.

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