Noel Murray

<h1>The documentary “Apollo 11” — playing in select Imax theaters before opening more widely in regular cinemas on Friday — is one of the most rousing movies ever made about NASA and space exploration. The director, Todd Douglas Miller, and a team of archivists and editors found rare footage of the original manned lunar landing mission and compiled it into a film that’s an immersive and inspiring record of the voyage, from launch to splashdown.</h1>

But “Apollo 11” is far from the only great documentary about humanity’s efforts to explore beyond Earth’s atmosphere. The “space doc” is a small but fertile nonfiction cinema subgenre, populated by filmmakers who often partner with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration to combine astonishing images with recollections from the small handful of men and women who have dared to venture to the stars.

Here are five of the best of these movies, and how to stream them.

‘For All Mankind’

Stream it on Kanopy; buy or rent it on Amazon, iTunes and Vudu.

The gold standard for NASA documentaries, this Oscar-nominated film is rich with the alien wonder of a trip to the moon. The director, Al Reinert, was granted access to footage shot by astronauts during the Apollo missions, and he and his editors (led by Susan Korda) cut them into an approximation of a single voyage, with a focus on scenes that are eerie and awe-inspiring. With its score by ambient music pioneers Brian Eno, Roger Eno and Daniel Lanois — and its narration provided by the original Mission Control audio recordings, combined with reflective astronaut interviews — “For All Mankind” evokes the grand science-fiction adventure of Apollo. (For a more straightforward, less experimental account of the program, the 2007 British documentary “In the Shadow of the Moon” is also highly recommended. It’s available to stream for free on the ad-supported Tubi.)

‘The Last Man on the Moon’

Stream it on Netflix; buy or rent it on Amazon, Google Play, iTunes, Vudu and YouTube.

As a bittersweet bookend to “Apollo 11,” watch this documentary about the final moon mission and see how it changed the life of its commander, Eugene Cernan. The director, Mark Craig, keeps his film fairly equally divided among the personal, professional and political sides of Cernan’s NASA career. “The Last Man on the Moon” covers the public’s growing frustration with the expense of the space program, and also gets into the technical complexities of that last trip in 1972, and into how an astronaut’s job conflicts with family life. This is the rare space doc that’s also a poignant character sketch. And it doesn’t lack for great lunar footage, either. Apollo 17 had access to color video cameras far beyond what Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin worked with, and the images Cernan and his crew captured on the moon are stunning in their clarity.

‘The Farthest’

Stream it on Netflix; buy or rent it on Amazon, Google Play, iTunes and YouTube.

When NASA launched its two deep-space Voyager probes in 1977, the missions sparked conversations among scientists, artists, philosophers and ordinary citizens, all wondering what information about Earth should be sent out into the universe, and what data — or even communication — might come back from distant planets and stars. Emer Reynolds’ documentary “The Farthest” describes the work that went into creating these enduring marvels of mid-70s technology, which are still zooming away out there. The film is a reminder of the idealism and optimism of the people who worked in the space program over 40 years ago, and serves as a call to recapture their spirit and ingenuity.

‘The Mars Generation’

Manned space exploration has slowed lately, but the nonprofit organization the Mars Generation has been working since 2015 to keep the next wave of astronauts and rocket scientists ready anyway, just in case. The documentary “The Mars Generation” introduces some brilliant, space-obsessed teenagers, who take part in special camps designed to simulate what it might be like to travel to and even live on Mars. These kids are sometimes socially awkward, but always sweetly earnest. It’s heartwarming to watch them work together toward a goal they may never achieve in real life, unless the public broadly supports another big, expensive project on the scale of the Apollo missions.

How about a little historical “what if”? In 1960, NASA adviser William Randolph Lovelace II began an experiment to see if ace female pilots could endure the physical and mental challenges he had originally devised for the Mercury Seven astronauts. When he discovered that certain women scored higher on some tests than the men, the privately funded Woman in Space program started lobbying the media and the U.S. government, arguing that in order to compete with the Soviets in the space race, America needed to overcome its deep-rooted sexism. The documentary “Mercury 13” features interviews with some of the accomplished pilots and scientists who worked on this project, many of whom remain convinced that the space program — and perhaps even the culture — might have been different if NASA had been more open to Lovelace’s experiments.

This article originally appeared in <a id="28db2392-bfa1-4cf9-9006-4afc35cf9257" href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/03/movies/space-documentaries-stream-apollo-11.html">The New York Times</a>.

Here are five of the best of these movies, and how to stream them.

More moon shots to watch

1989

‘For All Mankind’

Stream it on Kanopy; buy or rent it on Amazon, iTunes and Vudu.

2016

‘The Last Man on the Moon’

Stream it on Netflix; buy or rent it on Amazon, Google Play, iTunes, Vudu and YouTube.

2017

‘The Farthest’

Stream it on Netflix; buy or rent it on Amazon, Google Play, iTunes and YouTube.

‘The Mars Generation’

Stream it on Netflix.

2018

‘Mercury 13’

Stream it on Netflix.

This article originally appeared in <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/03/movies/space-documentaries-stream-apollo-11.html" id="1ed4b632-6604-3d6a-a7cf-248a631ce345">The New York Times</a>.

The documentary “Apollo 11” — playing in select Imax theaters before opening more widely in regular cinemas on Friday — is one of the most rousing movies ever made about NASA and space exploration. The director, Todd Douglas Miller, and a team of archivists and editors found rare footage of the original manned lunar landing mission and compiled it into a film that’s an immersive and inspiring record of the voyage, from launch to splashdown.

More Moon Shots to Watch

<h1>On Jan. 10, 1999, a mobster walked into a psychiatrist’s office. What happened next — over the course of eight years — was a television revolution. By time the writer and producer David Chase brought “The Sopranos” to a close on June 10, 2007, he had helped establish HBO as a cultural force and make literary symbolism, cinematic style, long-form storytelling and complicated antiheroes the norm for high-end TV dramas.</h1>

With the 20th anniversary of “The Sopranos” premiere happening this week, there’s a lot of chatter right now about the show’s legacy. If you are already a fan, it might prompt you to want to do a re-watch. But who has time for 86 hourlong episodes? If you’re interested in a more efficient way to re-immerse yourself, what follows are some suggestions, for both a short dip and a deeper dive.

This guide is designed for people who have already watched the entire “Sopranos” series at least once, broken down by different viewing strategies. Spoilers are kept to a minimum, though, so in theory, newcomers could try one of these paths as well.

So grab a platter of “gabagool” and “moozadell,” keep an eye out for wily Russians and let’s head back to Jersey. (Stream the entire series on HBO or free on Amazon with a Prime subscription.)

I Want to Watch Only One Episode

“The Sopranos” begins as New Jersey mafia boss Tony Soprano (James Gandolfini) reluctantly seeks therapy for help with his panic attacks. Through six seasons (seven by some counts, as the final season was 21 episodes and split in two), the series grows into an increasingly complex, violent and morally ambiguous story about changing times and old grudges. Throughout, Chase and his writers, directors and actors challenge viewers to consider what they might have in common with a criminal.

Fans argue vehemently over which episode is the series’ high point. “College?” “Pine Barrens?” “Whitecaps?” But the first “Sopranos” episode — sometimes listed as “Pilot” and sometimes as “The Sopranos” — isn’t just one of the series’ best, it is easily among the best first episodes of any TV drama. In a tightly constructed 60 minutes, Chase, as the writer and director, skillfully introduces the premise, themes and tone of the show within a largely self-contained story that would be a classic even if HBO had never ordered any more.

Framed by two therapy sessions between Tony and his new psychiatrist, Dr. Jennifer Melfi (Lorraine Bracco), “The Sopranos” pilot defies expectations at every turn — beginning with the way it compares the familiar mob milieu of seedy dives and old Italian-American neighborhoods with the yuppie trappings of the suburbs. The modern version of organized crime on this show isn’t just about gambling, labor unions, prostitution and hijacking. It is also about junk bonds and health care scams ... and it’s more than a little sad.

The first “Sopranos” also establishes what Tony will face for the rest of the series: nitpicking and undercutting from the mob’s old-timers, and a nagging feeling that the best days of his profession were over long before he rose to power.

I’ve Got Some Time. I’ll Watch Five.

Season 1: Episodes 1 and 5

Season 3: Episodes 4, 6, 11

Dig into the episodes that are widely considered the best of the best. Episode 11 of Season 3, “Pine Barrens” (directed by Steve Buscemi, with a teleplay credited to Terence Winter, the future creator of “Boardwalk Empire,” from a story by Tim Van Patten, a frequent “Sopranos” director), is a fan favorite for good reasons. The story of the Soprano lieutenants Paulie Gualtieri (Tony Sirico) and Christopher Moltisanti (Michael Imperioli) getting lost in the woods while trying to dispose of a not-quite-dead body is a peerless example of the show’s dark sense of humor — and is one of the many times the creators refused to grant the audience closure.

Along the same lines, also from Season 3, “Employee of the Month” (Episode 4) has a difficult main plot, in which Dr. Melfi is sexually assaulted by a stranger and weighs whether she should call on Tony for vengeance. The writers ask viewers whether it’s healthy to root for violence, even in a work of fiction, and then answer their own question in a chilling final line of dialogue.

The most thematically significant episodes of this batch, though, are the companion-pieces “College” (Season 1, Episode 5) and “University” (Season 3, Episode 6). In “College,” Tony takes his daughter, Meadow (Jamie-Lynn Sigler), on a tour of Maine colleges and runs into a former colleague, now in witness protection. In “University,” Meadow deals with an annoying Columbia University roommate, at the same time that Tony and his henchmen are distracted by an emotionally needy stripper.

Both episodes build to shocking acts of emotional and physical brutality, meant to remind fans that these characters — while damnably likable — have been corrupted by a life in which inconvenient people are considered easily disposable.

I’m Into It. I’ll Watch 10 Episodes.

Season 1: Episodes 1, 5 and 13

Season 3: Episodes 4, 6 and 11

Throughout the series, “The Sopranos” balanced episodic storytelling with more sweeping arcs, as Tony made decisions about how to dispatch some of his pesky in-family rivals: his jealous uncle, Junior (Dominic Chianese); his mean-spirited mother, Livia (Nancy Marchand); the brooding ex-con Richie Aprile (David Proval); the obnoxious Ralph Cifaretto (Joe Pantoliano); the sad-sack Tony Blundetto (Steve Buscemi); the FBI informants Sal Bonpensiero (Vincent Pastore) and Adriana La Cerva (Drea de Matteo); and even his own judgmental wife, Carmela (Edie Falco). The show’s biggest conflicts were usually resolved by season’s end.

So if you’re going to watch 10 episodes, watch some finales. Make time for “I Dream of Jeannie Cusamano,” the Season 1 finale, when Tony reasserts his power after surviving an assassination attempt. At the time, Chase didn’t know if he would get a second season, so Season 1 comes to a satisfyingly poetic conclusion.

Be sure also to see the Season 4 finale, “Whitecaps,” in which four seasons of marital woes between Tony and Carmela boil over into arguments as gruesome as any mob hit. Carmela is a complicated character who wrestles with the bargain she made when she married Tony, trading complicity with his sins for upper-middle-class comforts. The couple’s barbed back-and-forth in “Whitecaps” is overdue, and harrowing to watch.

Watch some of the pre-finales, too. Although there’s a big murder in the Season 2 finale, “Funhouse,” the more important death happens in the episode before, “The Knight in White Satin Armor,” in which a difficult choice gets taken out of Tony’s hands. Similarly, while the final two episodes of Season 5 feature farewells to two major characters, that season’s penultimate episode, “Long Term Parking,” is the one that really rises to the level of tragedy.

Last, although many fans are still mad about how the series finale, “Made in America,” ends, the episode is as tense and heart-rending an hour as Chase has ever produced. Don’t skip it.

The Days Are Short, and It’s Cold Outside. I’ll Watch 20.

Season 2: Episodes 3, 7, 10 and 12

Season 4: Episodes 5 and 13

Season 5: Episodes 3, 8 and 12

Season 6: Episodes 3, 8, 9, 18 and 21

If you have time to watch 20 episodes, you can fill in some of the key “Sopranos” story lines and character-arcs, or you can finish an entire season. If you are going the full-season route, do Season 3, which is rich with subplots and personal conflict. Otherwise, spread out, and tackle a few choice episodes from each season.

Season 2 shifts the show’s focus somewhat, examining what happens to the people close to someone as self-centered and temperamental as Tony. In Episode 3, Meadow gives a party in her grandmother’s house, then refuses to take responsibility when her friends trash the place. (Her indignant “I could’ve taken ecstasy but I didn’t!” is a top-tier example of the Sopranos family’s talent for blame-shifting and goalpost-moving.) Also watch Episode 7, in which Christopher finds himself torn between his dreams of being a filmmaker and his commitment to becoming a mafia bigwig.

The best Season 2 episode, though, is Episode 10, “Bust Out,” with its step-by-step depiction of how Tony destroys the life and business of an old friend who owes him a debt. “Bust Out” really gets into the finer points of how Tony and his crew see themselves: as shrewd operators, delivering righteous punishment and life lessons to folks who have crossed the wrong line.

The various Ralph Cifaretto story lines of Seasons 3 and 4 come to a head in the Episode 5 of Season 4, “Pie-O-My,” in which Tony falls in love with a racehorse and begins to see Ralphie’s indifference to the animal as an unforgivable moral failing. The Tony Blundetto arc in Season 5 is best-represented by Episodes 3 and 8, which take different angles on how an ex-con struggles to re-enter society and go straight — and how those problems eat at Tony Soprano.

The “roads not taken” for these characters become a major theme in Season 6. In Episode 3, a hospitalized, comatose Tony imagines himself as a nebbishy Middle American salesman on a business trip; meanwhile, in the waking world, Tony’s trusted right-hand man, Silvio Dante (Steven Van Zandt), becomes the acting head of the family and begins to understand why his boss is always in such poor health.

Later, in Episode 8, the closeted gay hit man Vito Spatafore (Joseph R. Gannascoli) goes on the lam to a quaint New Hampshire town, where he pretends to be a writer and wonders if he can avoid his grim fate back home.

As the series winds down — especially after Tony recovers — a sense of wistful “Is this all there is?” melancholy settles over several of the best episodes. In Episode 9 of Season 6, the frequently distracted and shortsighted Paulie cuts costs on an annual festival, with disastrous results. And in Episode 18, (written by Chase and “Mad Men” creator Matthew Weiner), Tony faces the realization that Christopher may never get the kind of satisfaction he’s looking for from this life.

Both of these episodes are resonant with one of the show’s dominant emotional notes: the feeling that whatever was holding the world together, it broke irreparably, long ago.

Just Help Me Skip the Weaker Episodes

The percentage of good-to-great “Sopranos” episodes is pretty high, so don’t feel as if you have to go out of your way to avoid any. That said, “Christopher,” from Season 4, has been widely — and rightly — derided. Its central story, about Tony’s crew standing up against anti-Columbus Day demonstrations, is both out-of-character and uncharacteristically heavy-handed.

A lot of Season 4 is relatively dreary and unfocused compared to the rest of the series. If you want to be ruthlessly stingy, know that some fans subscribe to an “every odd season” theory, roughly considering the entireties of Seasons 1, 3, 5 and 7 worth watching, with Seasons 2, 4 and 6 being less essential, a few episodes in each.

Again, that’s relatively speaking. For those who can swing it, watching — or re-watching — the whole run from start to finish is still recommended.

This article originally appeared in <a id="de1ff65f-dcda-431b-ad6e-0a8927d5733d" href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/09/arts/television/the-sopranos-seasons.html">The New York Times</a>.

With the 20th anniversary of “The Sopranos” premiere happening this week, there’s a lot of chatter right now about the show’s legacy.

A guide to re-watching 'The Sopranos'

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Noel Murray

Articles written by the author

More moon shots to watch

More Moon Shots to Watch

A guide to re-watching 'The Sopranos'