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.                                            

Midnight Special (2016)

This movie has a Steven Spielberg feel to it. It is his brand of science fiction. It is a little bit Close Encounters and a little bit Super 8--all very prominently feature the night. It is about a young boy with mysterious powers who needs to get to the right place at the right time for something. It is all shrouded in mystery. There are three parties who have competing stakes. One party is the FBI, joined by Adam Driver from the NSA. Adam Driver is a little subdued, he kind of under acts. It is the same bland delivery of lines as in Paterson and Star Wars. Sure, I guess it fits the role but it's always the same with him. Another party is a religious cult that reads prophecies from the boy's powers. And the third party is made up of Michael Shannon, Kirsten Dunst, and Joel Edgerton. All three of them are excellent. I particularly liked Shannon's intense performance as a concerned father. The movie is engaging and mysterious, not to mention visually striking.