Giantrobo

The film recounts the story of the African-American mathematician Katherine Johnson and her two colleagues, Dorothy Vaughan and Mary Jackson (engineer), who helped NASA catch up in the Space Race. Using their calculations, John Glenn became the first American astronaut to make a complete orbit of the Earth.

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


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Superman07

Katherine Johnson was featured on an episode of Timeless, with reference to a movie about her. Until then I didn't know about this period of NASA history.

Plus Kevin Costner!

Solid Snake

Kevin Costner is really into making movies w/ minorities playing of some importance. Lol. That Hispanic track team one. The one w/ him taking care of his black granddaughter. And this one too.

Technically, there's nothing wrong w/ the idea of these films but it is interesting to see Costner making a thing of it.

E Unit

He still needs to cover Asians.

dex14

Reviews are pretty strong for this.

Currently 92% on RT: https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/hidden_figures

It looked pretty Oscar-baity to me. But, the cast and director (loved St. Vincent) are promising. I was hoping to see Silence this weekend, but if that isn't playing anywhere near me, I'll check this out.

Brack

And he adopted an alien in Man of Steel.

TomOpus

What The Flick thinks it's well made. While schmaltzy, it's a good schmaltzy.

Baron Of Hell

Just seen it and thought it was great. The romance plot could have been skipped though.

Hazel Motes

Janelle Monae is such a knockout.

dex14

Indeed she is.

Patman

I enjoyed it. Math and Science > Racism.

I give it 3 stars, or a grade of B.

Double_Oh_7

The Help + The Right Stuff = Hidden Figures

Daytripper

And the camera loves her. She is gorgeous. And man, the girl can act! I had to go to IMDB as soon as it was over to see what else she's done (other than her music). Other than this and "Moonlight", she's only done voice work ("American Dad!" and "Rio 2"). I didn't know anything about "Moonlight" until recently, and saw her briefly in that trailer. But she definitely has a future in film should she decide to continue to act. Wonderful film btw.

Cardsfan111

Excellent film. I was happy that the story even kept my kids engaged the entire time.

Decker

Me too. My kids liked it and I think we will be buying the book to read more details. Very strong family film.
Plus I'm a sucker for the space program.

P.S. : Who is "Butler" and shouldn't "Spencer" be listed instead?

davidh777

I thought it was appropriate to see this on the day of the women's march. (And I heard that Monae spoke at the rally in DC.)

I thought it was great. An important story well-told, with a great cast and great pacing. With almost any movie, I get annoyed by stuff that could've easily been cut, but nothing seemed superfluous here. Someone commented earlier how the romance could've been cut, and I can see the case for it, but her family was important in terms of being a single mom in a high-stress, all-consuming job.

The other woman in the workspace (Ruth, I think?) really looked like Gillian Anderson. (The person who played Ruth is married to the director.)

I tried to fact-check some of the plot points--like whether those key women really carpooled together all the time--and read that it was pretty accurate, including John Glenn REALLY MINOR POSSIBLE SPOILER , but they didn't address that particular question. I suppose I could read the book.

asianxcore

Saw this last week with a friend of mine. We both went into it a bit blind and walked out in love with it.

Orbi-Wan Techno

In our area (Virginia Beach/Norfolk), Pharrell Williams bought out showings at two theaters today so lower income families could take their kids to see "Hidden Figures" for free.

davidh777

Yeah, I heard Jim Parsons did that in Houston too. And his character doesn't even come off that great in the movie.

Decker

Good 40 minute interview with Director Theodore Melfi about the genesis of the movie and the reaction to it.

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RichC2

I'm starting to think this might clean up come Oscar time, at least in terms of nominations.

Mabuse

Would this be okay for a 9 year old? I mean more from a "comprehending what the heck is going on" perspective. Does it presume the audience already knows about the space program and the key players?

Also, over on imdb a comment said there's a scene where IBM pros stand aside while some character does a "I used to help my daddy in the garage" routine and she fixes a giant mainframe. Is this true and is the whole film filled with these kinds of silly scenes or is it realistic?

Decker

It was fine for my 10 year old. It's a good family movie.

Yeah that IBM scene is there and it stretches credulity but most other stuff is more plausible and actually true.

Noonan

Went with the wife to see this over the weekend. What an amazing movie. I have read a good bit about Margaret Hamilton but had never heard the stories of these women, which is sad. I'm surprised it took so long to tell their story.

Strange to say but all this movie was really missing was more of an obstacle for them. It's about overcoming obstacles but everything went right for them. Maybe that's how the real story went; which would be great to hear. I'm used to movies like this having some major setback for the leads before their triumphant climb. These women were firing on all cylinders from day 1.

Couldn't get past Glen Powell...only saw him as Chad Radwell the whole time. Also think Parsons was mis-cast. He doesn't play a slightly racist d-bag very well.

Edit since I just saw the Oscar Nods. Taraji didn't get a nom for best actress? Wow...

Daytripper

Is this really such a surprise? I loved the movie too. And thought Taraji was great. But she wasn't mentioned in any of the top 5 possible nominees on any Oscar predictions website or talk. Annette Bening and Amy Adams were considered locks in this category. Neither got a nomination either. And both are mentioned online everywhere as being snubbed.