Moon shine on Monday

As the nights draw in it seems apt that two films were released on DVD this Monday which celebrate man's obsession with the Moon, 40 years on from the first Apollo mission.

First up is one of the gems of this year's Edinburgh International Film Festival, Duncan Jones' sci-fi debut, Moon (Sony Pictures). Set on the surface of said planet, we're introduced to astronaut Sam Bell (Sam Rockwell) who's nearing the end of a three year mining mission.

With a robot called Gerty (Kevin Spacey) his only companion, Sam's preparations for returning to Earth are put in jeopardy when he crashes a moon buggy, only to find himself waking up in the infirmary.

What follows is mind-bending journey into Sam's own psyche as he's forced to come to terms with what it really means to be human as the countdown starts to tick towards the arrival of a rescue team.

Made on a tiny budget in the confines of Shepperton Studios, this is a brilliant little British film with a smart script and memorable performance from the quirky Rockwell. Extras include two commentaries from the film's makers as well as a previous short film made by Jones.

Also out is For All Mankind (Masters of Cinema), the 1989 documentary telling of the Apollo lunar missions from the perspective of the astronauts who took part.

Filmed between 1968 to 1972, each astronaut was handed a 16mm camera and asked to film what they could. The end result was reams of footage from the launch of the rockets through to landing on the surface of the moon via shots of the crews testing themselves in zero gravity from within their living quarters.

Like most people, I've seen the usual clips of Neil Armstrong stepping onto the moon and astronauts taking short journeys around the planet on buggies, but here we see far more than before, and it's fascinating.

We may never know what it's like to look up and see the Earth above us or feel the rocks of another world under our feet, but director Al Reinart's documentary at least gives us a taster.

Extras including an audio commentary from Reinart and Apollo 17 commander Eugene A. Cernan, the last man to set foot on the moon, plus a new documentary on the making of the film make for a comprehensive set.