Ever since the United States beat the Soviet Union to the moon, there have been conspiracy theorists claiming it was a sham. There are even conspiracy theories about the conspiracy theories, like in Room 237 – a documentary about The Shining – which claims Stanley Kubrick littered the film with clues as his "confession" about helping the U.S. fake the moon landing.
Operation Avalanche takes a very tongue-in-cheek approach to that idea, going "behind the scenes" of a non-existent movie about a fake event. Writer-director Matt Johnson drew acclaim and controversy in 2013 with The Dirties, in which a movie dramatizing a school shooting gets disturbingly real. This one should be slightly less controversial and reach a wider audience.
The film played at plenty of festivals this year, including Sundance, SXSW and the Dallas International Film Festival, to name a few. It is set to open in limited release on September 16.
About Kip Mooney
Like many film critics born during and after the 1980s, my hero is Roger Ebert. The man was already the best critic in the nation when he won the Pulitzer in 1975, but his indomitable spirit during and after his recent battle with cancer keeps me coming back to read not only his reviews but his insightful commentary on the everyday. But enough about a guy you know a lot about.
I knew I was going to be a film critic—some would say a snob—in middle school, when I had to voraciously defend my position that The Royal Tenenbaums was only a million times better than Adam Sandler’s remake of Mr. Deeds. From then on, I would seek out Wes Anderson’s films and avoid Sandler’s like the plague.
Still, I like to think of myself as a populist, and I’ll be just as likely to see the next superhero movie as the next Sundance sensation. The thing I most deplore in a movie is laziness. I’d much rather see movies with big ambitions try and fail than movies with no ambitions succeed at simply existing. I’m also a big advocate of fun-bad movies like The Room and most of Nicolas Cage’s work.
In the past, I’ve written for The Dallas Morning News and the North Texas Daily, which I edited for a semester. I also contributed to Dallas-based Pegasus News, which in the circle of life, is now part of The Dallas Morning News, where I got my big break in 2007. Eventually, I’d love to write and talk about film full-time, but until that’s a viable career option, I work as an auditor for Wells Fargo.
I hope to one day meet my hero, go to the Toronto International Film Festival, and compete on Jeopardy. Until then, I’m excited to share my love of film with you.
