Hidden Figures (2016)

Hidden Figures is an excellent, straightforward crowd pleaser. It highlights three African American women at West Area Computers division at NASA who faced challenges at every turn. It is an important story for our generation, hopefully inspiring girls and African Americans and other POCs to enter STEM fields. The story draws attention to the fact that minorities need to be so much more brilliant to achieve the same level as less brilliant white men.  Octavia Spencer's character has the foresight to see that her division is about to become obsolete and being so self-reliant, she teaches herself Fortran. Not only that, she teaches her co-workers Fortran to keep them relevant and indispensable. They need to be that much better to keep their jobs. Also, I think it's hilarious that computer was a human job. From the perspective of 2017, it's funny to think about doing all that math by hand. It sounds like a nightmare.

I thought Pharrell and Hans Zimmer's music was very fitting for the era. The acting is all phenomenal.  Octavia Spencer is the Oscar-nominee, but i think Taraji P. Henson steals the show in her pivotal outburst. And Janelle Monae has had some amazing year.                                            

St. Vincent (2014)

This was a pleasant surprise.  Aside from being funny, it was charming.  There is something that audience's love about unlikely relationships--this time between a schoolboy and his elderly curmudgeon of a neighbor.  And of course the setting is Brooklyn; where else would this happen?  It is not your typical Melissa McCarthy fare.  There is a serious and sentimental side to this comedy.  The cast is outstanding with Bill Murray in the lead in fine form.  The movie is predictable but that doesn't detract from the quality of the movie.