How wonderful it is to see this fine actress carry a film and carry it so beautifully.

Ok... Let's be honest. It cannot be the best movie but is quite enjoyable. The movie has the potential to develop a great plot for future movies

Close shines in drama with strong language, adult themes.

Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

I enjoyed this thoroughly. It isn't likely to be the most true to life imagining I've ever seen of the problems people of colour faced in the US in the 60's and it no doubt glosses over a lot of issues, but all in all I found it sufficiently entertaining not to mind.A solid 7/10.

On the way home from seeing Hidden Figures, I flipped my car radio on to WRKF, the Baton Rouge public radio station my wife and I have listened to and supported since we moved here in August 1982. It came on in the middle of Bob Dylan's Ring them bells, the program being Nick Spitzer's American Routes. Although that song was recorded in 1989 at the end of Bob's Christian period, long after I'd quit paying attention to him for all practical purposes, the music, words and message echo his protest songs of the early 1960s.. Ring them bells for the blind and the deaf Ring them bells for all of us who are left Ring them bells for the chosen few Who will judge the many when the game is through Ring them bells, for the time that flies For the child that cries When innocence diesI wouldn't have known or recognized the song had I not bought the Amnesty International Chimes of Freedom 2012 compilation of 72 Bob Dylan covers two years ago. For that collection, Natasha Beddington, a popular young British singer whom I'd never heard of prior to that, performed a lovely cover of Ring them bells in pop R&B style. I was in the process of reviewing all the songs and researching the artists when my Mom became ill and I never finished that project.Next was the Byrds' 1969 psychedelic folk rock cover of Dylan's This wheel's on fire, the version the Zambo Flirts modeled an arrangement on and often performed live back in the '70s ("Please notify my next of kin, this wheel shall explode"), followed by Dylan's completely hilarious after all these years Talking World War 3 Blues from 1961. By the magic of synchronicity, 1961 was the year Alan Shepard piloted the first US manned space launch, an event at the center of the action of Hidden Figures. The relevance of my long prelude: walking from the theater to my car I'd already been transported by the film back to the time of the Space Race, a signature geopolitical contest at the height of the Cold War, when it was the West against the East, the Free World against the Communist Bloc. The old friends I grew up with and other peers will remember seeing PSA's showing Nikita Khrushchev pounding his shoe on the podium at the UN and shouting (according to the subtitles) "We will bury you!" We remember John F. Kennedy challenging us to "Ask not what your country can do for you..." Back then (and long afterwards) anyone who publically questioned the Russians being our mortal enemies risked being the subject of a dossier in J. Edgar Hoover's desk, something that affects my thinking to this day. America was desperate not to be beaten in any venue by the Russians. When their Yuri Gagarin became the first man in space five weeks ahead of our Alan Shepherd, the nation and the much-heralded NASA space program were deeply humiliated.This is the context of Hidden Figures, the fact-based story of a group of highly intelligent, motivated and competent black women performing critically important work for NASA. I'm writing this review instead of my usual practice of doing background research on films based on history (a somewhat endangered discipline as I write this although I still believe it will outlive the current era of alt-facts). Thus, I have not fact-checked the film for accuracy. Be that as it may, Hidden Figures is a beautiful movie. It focuses on three real people, all black women employed at NASA's Langley Research Center in Hampton, VA who worked on Project Mercury. The goal was to send astronauts into outer space and bring them home safely. Putting humans into space has always been a dicey proposition. The scientists and engineers at Langley had the heavy responsibility of designing, building, testing and approving the rockets, space vehicles and flight plans that had a significant chance of resulting in not just more national humiliation but the horrifying public deaths of our ultimate fly boys, the hand-picked guys who epitomized the Right Stuff. The task required bold mathematical, technological, and ergonomic innovation on a daily basis under intense pressure.The lead actresses, Taraji P. Henson, Octavia Spencer, and the irrepressible Janelle Monae are uniformly brilliant and engaging, portraying three exemplary patriots and public servants. We follow the women as they maintain their dignity under duress in the classic tradition of the Civil Rights Movement, make essential contributions to the success of Project Mercury, and hold precious private lives together while enduring the unapologetic racism and sexism of this time and place. The indignities they routinely suffer at and away from work are painful to watch, no less so for a viewer who recognizes that the struggle for opportunity, justice and basic human rights they embody is unfinished business even today, some 56 years later. Fine supporting performances are turned in by Kevin Costner as project director Al Harrison, Kirsten Dunst as the chilly supervisor of female NASA's employees, and Glen Powell as rock star astronaut John Glenn, among quite a few others. Hidden Figures is ultimately an uplifting, inspiring, feel good movie. It made me laugh, cry, and feel that pride we all have deep down of being a citizen of the USA, the ongoing experiment in self-government of which each fellow American is a stakeholder. It reminded me of who I am, the path I've traveled to arrive where I am, and, above all, affirmed who our greatest President, at another time of national crisis, once declared we all are:"We are not enemies, but friends. We must not be enemies. Though passion may have strained it must not break our bonds of affection. The mystic chords of memory, stretching from every battlefield and patriot grave to every living heart and hearthstone all over this broad land, will yet swell the chorus of the Union, when again touched, as surely they will be, by the better angels of our nature." (Lincoln, First Inaugural Address, March 4, 1861).Go see it.

Hidden Figures is a good movie with a reasonably well developed plot and a terrific cast. There are uplifting performances from the likes of Janelle Monáe, Kevin Costner and Marshala Ali, who all are truly commited to their roles and have left their own personas, portraying these real life beings with all their soul. Taraji P. Henson is without a doubt the highlight as Katherine G. Johnson, she is absolutely mesmeric in this part and had me engaged every single moment she was on screen, delivering a real, truly extraordinary performance. I did find that the film did not try hard enough to bring the struggles of these three women to the forefront. While I would usually like this kind of light hearted humour that features here, it felt like an injustice for such an incredible true story, it failed to uplift me as a result. As well as that, I was never convinced by Octavia Spencer, it felt as if she was just acting and was not truly immersing herself in to this part. She was going through the motions which made the ensemble of the three females fall flat. Flawed, but enjoyable. Certainly not perfect, Hidden Figures still brings an incredible, unknown true story to the forefront, which certainly makes it worth a watch if you are looking for a good biography film. Follows three female, African-American mathematicians who served a major role during the early years of NASA. Best Performance: Taraji P. Henson / Worst Performance: Octavia Spencer

I'm sure many of you didn't know who Katherine Johnson, Dorothy Vaughan or Mary Jackson were before watching this. And now that you have watched it, you've come out fully informed right? Thus, this historically significant event during the space race of the 60s has done its job, with excellence might I add. The three coloured women mentioned above were all working for NASA in different departments. Using their intellect and self-determination, they must overcome the obstacles of Virginia's enforced segregation policy in order to achieve their maximum potential in their careers. Immediately I was drawn in by the chemistry of our three leading ladies. Henson, Spencer and Monáe did not succumb to the typical role of playing a minority. No no, they embraced the chance to showcase the power, confidence and, most importantly, sass that coloured women took pride in. It's about standing up to the conformities of 60s America, not just laying down on your back because a white man told you to! It gives me great pleasure to see films like this that present equality and the requirement of teamwork regardless of gender, race etc. still being produced today. The narrative beautifully blends the intellectual assignments of NASA with petty racial segregating amenities. One coloured women's bathroom? A kettle just for coloured folk? It's outrageous that disgusting actions like those actually happened. This is why we need films like this, to ensure we never regress to such a primal state of mind in society. For that, this film succeeds. Always brought a smug smile to my face when any of these characters show off and solve a fiendishly difficult calculation that the other employees could not answer. The script allows these characters to be developed by portraying their personal lives as well. It is a bloated subject where certain areas are underdeveloped like the family lives and the new flourishing romance. However, an important and well crafted film.