Hidden Figures (2016): Why it matters

Tags

Apollo 13, Hidden Figures, Space Movies, The Right Stuff

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hidden_Figures

Yesterday I wrote about how awesome Hidden Figures is as a film. And, really, it is, go see it if you can.

Today I want to talk about why Hidden Figures matters.

Hidden Figures (2016)

Tags

Apollo 13, Hidden Figures, October Sky, Space Movies, The Right Stuff

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hidden_Figures

Based on the book by Margot Lee Shetterly, Hidden Figures, directed by Theodore Melfi, and starring Taraji P. Henson, Octavia Spencer, and Janelle Monae, is quite simply an astonishing film.

It is a film that made me laugh because it was funny, laugh because otherwise I’d want to cry, cry at one of the sweetest romances on screen, and applaud both during and at the end.

Based on real events, albeit with some significant adjustments, the stories of Katherine Goble Johnson, Mary Jackson, and Dorothy Vaughan are utterly compelling viewing.

Space Cowboys (2000) with Major Spoilers of TEH STUPID.

Tags

Space Cowboys, Space Movies, The Right Stuff, Wings of Honneamise

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_Cowboys

For all that I enjoyed Space Cowboys, and will probably watch it again, oh dear lord there’s a whole lot of stupid in the set up.

The Stupid isn’t the Premise. Mostly.

I’m not even talking about the core conceit, which is sending antiquated experts up into space to fix antiquated technology. That I can live with, after all John Glenn successfully rode the shuttle when he was 77, and the rest of the core conceit is Artistic License. If you’re not prepared to deal with that on its own terms, why watch Space Cowboys at all?

Gravity (2013) with Spoilers

Tags

Apollo 13, Gravity, Space Movies

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gravity_(film)

Gravity is an effective film on an emotional level, with a superb performance by Sandra Bullock, but one that failed to suspend my disbelief on a technical level.

Despite the effectiveness of the emotional arc of the film, I was to some extent snickering at it inside.

Interstellar (2014)

Tags

Interstellar, Space Movies

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interstellar_(film)

I think I liked Interstellar better when it was The Black Hole. That’s a cheap shot perhaps, and certainly unfair to some of the actors[1]. However it reflects my unhappiness with a film that was reaching for something beyond director Christopher Nolan’s grasp.

I don’t consider Interstellar to be a space movie in the same sense as the others[2] that I’ve reviewed.