You hear a lot about the first landing on the moon with Neil Armstrong, but surprisingly little about Apollo 17, the last manned flight to the moon and Gene Cernan, the last man to set foot on the lunar surface.

This is the documentary the man deserves, replete with his total cooperation. Cernan sits down for extensive interviews, taking you through his entire experience from the NASA training program, until that legendary walk.

There’s plenty of amazing footage and photos, including Cernan’s failed spacewalk before Apollo 17, and his driving the lunar lander on the moonscape. It’s incredible stuff.

Before we had our smart phones and Internet, there was a guy up there scratching his daughter’s initials into the moon’s surface. This film touches upon plenty, including Cernan’s marital woes and personal struggles as a product of the space program. What this man overcame to eventually take that moonwalk is mind boggling, and the troubles he experienced after totally make sense.

This documentary does a nice job portraying his struggles and triumphs. There’s an incredible moment near the film’s end where Cernan stands by the actual capsule where it rests today and ponders the mannequin now sitting in his seat. He wonders about the notion of whether or not anybody will ever visit the moon again, and actually gets a little frustrated. Then the movie simply cuts to Cernan fishing with his dog, trying to relax. He has most certainly earned many a fishing trip.

This guy was, is, and shall be a total badass. (Available for rent on iTunes, Amazon.com and On Demand during a limited theatrical run).

Nominated for an Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film, writer-director Tobias Lindholm has delivered a mixed bag war drama.

The first half is actually quite good as Claus (Pilou Asbaek), a soldier from Denmark stationed in Afghanistan tries to lead a tired troop on patrols while his wife Maria (Tuva Novotny) holds things together back home. Life takes a bad turn for Claus when he inadvertently kills civilians during battle and is returned home to face charges. Lindholm’s film then becomes a courtroom drama with very little mystery and tension. The second half of the movie doesn’t feel like it belongs to the first.

The film actually works best when showing Maria dealing with a child who is acting up in the absence of his father. In this respect, it’s actually quite memorable as an examination of families whose loved ones have gone off to war.

Once the courtroom drama kicks in, Maria takes a backseat to standard cinematic legal drama. It’s too bad, and it’s also surprising that this film got the Oscar nod over such great movies as the horror show Goodnight, Mommy from Germany and the haunting Rams from Iceland.

Those films were far more fully realized. A War isn’t a bad movie. It has some solid performances (especially from Novotny) and a first half that resonates. As for everything that takes place in the courtroom, it’s unnecessary and, quite frankly, boring. 

Filmmakers Nicole Franklin and Jai Tigget premiere the fifth installation of their race narrative, Little Brother—which was filmed right here in the Old Pueblo—at the YWCA Tucson this Monday, Feb. 29. The documentary's goal: to remind people that black boys are more than societal stereotypes. 

Filming of Little Brother started back in 2010. Each 15-minute chapter explores black boys' lives—as well as their fears and hopes for the future in various communities, ranging from Camden, New Jersey, to Chicago, to here in Tucson. Franklin says the documentaries highlight race issues in wake of recent police violence aimed at black boys and teenagers, but that she and Tigget didn't originally want to tell these boys' stories for that reason. 

"We gotta give everyone a chance to be aware of their humanity," she said. "We have to give them that acknowledgement—you know, that, 'I really need to understand who you are,'"

Little Brother: Manchild in the Promised Land, set here in the Old Pueblo, tells the untold history and present of Tucson's black boys and illuminates southwest race relations at large, according to Franklin, who directed this chapter of the docu-series. She says people often forget that black men and women in the southwest were pioneers and conquistadors, but that Tucson Heritage Tours teach this to the local young black community. 

"Our history doesn’t have to be one where we’re just slaves—which is true—but there's so many different aspects to our history. Different colors, different riches. It's just something we can highlight, especially in this chapter." 

Watch Lady Gaga perform Til It Happens to you at the #Oscars here https://t.co/ptBYEAIKqq

— Lady Gaga Facts (@LGMonsterFacts) February 29, 2016

Tonight at the Academy Awards, Oscar-nominated performer, Lady Gaga, took the stage in support of the millions of victims of sexual violence. In an incredibly passionate performance of her song "Til it Happens to You," Lady Gaga laid it all on the table and it was spectacular. I was moved to tears by her conviction, courage, vulnerability and, of course, her beautiful voice.

Lady Gaga, a victim of sexual violence herself,  was joined on stage by several dozen survivors who each had their own statement written on their arm. Those included sentiments like "unbreakable," "not your fault," and "it happened to me."

The song was introduced by Vice President Joe Biden who represented the White House's It's On Us campaign to end sexual assault.

Every day, I become more disillusioned with our society's unwillingness to end the abuse experienced by one in five women and one in 71 men. In the light of these feelings, I was so happy to see this years' Oscars would be used as a platform to discuss important issues as well as glamour, talent and fame.

Well, it's Oscar weekend. Are you boycotting the telecast because of the white-washing issue? Eagerly looking at the nominations and making predictions? Feeling completely behind schedule because apparently it's already March next week—and who has time to watch all of 2015's big deal movies, anyway?

Whatever you're feelin' right now, we're here (just like every week) for you with the list of Casa Video's Top 10 most rented films. 

Take a night off, enjoy yourself and watch some films. Here's what your neighbors are renting:

1. Ted 2

Ip Man was an actual real-life figure who trained many in the martial arts of Wing Chun, including Bruce Lee.

Donnie Yen plays Ip Man in this fantastical take on the his life, a film that utilizes a few of the details from Ip Man’s biography, but then goes crazy. Early in the movie, Ip Man is visited by a young dude looking to serve as his disciple, and the meeting doesn’t go so well. It turns out the man is Bruce Lee, and his character will appear briefly later in the film in what amounts to a fun cameo in a wacky movie.

The film is set in 1959 Hong Kong where Ip Man finds himself trying to protect a school from thugs. It’s just a premise to bounce a bunch of fights off of, including a matchup of Ip Man and Mike Tyson (!) playing a crime boss.

Yes, Iron Mike goes to battle with Iron Monkey, and the results are surprisingly exciting, even if Tyson’s arsenal doesn’t have much to do with martial arts (He just punches things).

The movie is a strange mix of goofiness and sentimentality (there’s a subplot involving Ip Man’s wife’s cancer), but fans of the genre will like it for the fights, of which there are many. Also, seeing Mike Tyson in something like this is a real trip. 

What starts as a fairly interesting film about how foreign countries feed and teach their children goes off the rails and loses any sense of focus in this, the latest junk food documentary from goofball Michael Moore.

The premise for this one has a flag toting Moore representing America “invading” other countries and threatening to steal ideas like great school cafeterias and free tuition. Moore has a way of presenting scintillating factoids only to cloud their presentation with dopey and gimmicky showboating.

The bit where he plants American flags and says he’s claiming shit for America is lame the first time, and incredibly mundane the tenth. There’s just something about this guy when he gets all sad and somber and scary with his narrations that makes me want to throw a small car at the movie screen.

As usual, Moore presents some facts about other great countries while demonizing the one we live in. Sure, we have much room for improvement, but so do the countries Moore visits in the movie.

Oddly enough, we only see the really good stuff other countries have to offer with only mere small mentions of any problems they might be having. Moore has a history of twisting and playing with the facts to match up with his agenda, and this movie is no exception. Plus, it just isn’t very well made. It’s sloppy and lazy documentary filmmaking.

It's award season which interests me for just about two reasons: We can watch (and rewatch) the Hamilton cast's performance at the Grammys and the Oscar nominated animated shorts are showing in theaters. 

Oh, you want to see the live action shorts? Forget about it, those were last week and they're not the important ones anyway. These are the ones you want.

The Loft Cinema (3233 E Speedway Blvd) is showing the films (and a few bonus ones!) this Thursday, Feb. 25 at 7:30 p.m.  

Here's a taste of the films, with descriptions provided by the Loft:

Sanjay’s Super Team – Bored with his father’s meditation, a young Indian boy daydreams of Hindu gods as superheroes. (Dir. by Sanjay Patel, 2015, USA, 7 mins.)

I don't know how the first weeks of 2016 have treated you, but some of us are feeling a little overwhelmed. Some of us need to spend some time relaxing at home, watching some movies and eating some popcorn we've spiced up with heart-shaped seasoning (aren't stock photos strange).

And, hey, even if you're doing great this year, watching a movie is a pretty easy/delightful way to support local business. Here's a list of the most rented DVDs from last week at Casa Video:

1. Spectre

Two Icelandic sheepherding brothers who haven’t spoken in four decades face tragedy when their neighboring herds become infected and must be slaughtered.

Gummi (Sigurður Sigurjonsson) and Kiddi (Theódór Júlíusson) have developed a rivalry over the years, with Kiddi winning local “best sheep” competitions. A jealous Gummi reports that his brother’s sheep might be ill, and the report rings true. Veterinarians recommend that all of the sheep in their valley be destroyed, wreaking havoc on their lives. Gummi comes up with a strange plan to salvage some of the herd, forcing Kiddi to join him on a mission to save the sheep.

Writer-director Grimur Hakonarson’s hauntingly beautiful movie is a fine testament to sibling rivalry. We never really find out what has caused the brotherly rift, and we don’t really need to know. The two actors (forgive me…I just don’t want to retype those names) are excellent as the brothers, two men who love sheep so much they put them before family.

Rams is an exquisitely made film, and was somehow snubbed for a Best Foreign Film Academy Award nomination. Voters truly missed the boat on this one.