2017 Oscar Predictions, Part Two: Costumes, Sets, Music, Cinematography, Makeup

More techs! Today it’s time to suss out costumes, sets, makeup, music, etc. These can go to either the Best Picture frontrunner in a sweep or to a movie that stands out really spectacularly in its own category, no matter the quality of the overall film. Let’s dive in.

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY

The cinematography of 'La La Land' remains the frontrunner 

• Arrival
• Lion
• La La Land
• Moonlight
• Silence

The ASC award (cinematography guild) went to Lion, but the BAFTA went to what’s thought to be the Oscar frontrunner, La La Land. I’d stick with La La Land on this one, for the beautiful shots and lighting.

Winner: La La Land

Alternate: Lion

BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN

The art direction for the epilogue is where the production design comes in

• Arrival
• Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them
• Hail, Caesar!
• La La Land
• Passengers

This used to be known as art direction, but it’s all about the sets. As I stated the other day, the guild went to three different films, but La La Land was among them, and BAFTA chose Fantastic Beasts, which certainly has the MOST set decoration. If they’re at all wanting to spread the wealth, I think Fantastic Beasts is where they would go in this category. But the safe bet is to stick with La La Land again.

Winner: La La Land

Alternate: Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them

BEST COSTUME DESIGN

The recreation of Jackie Kennedy's wardrobe seem to set it apart from the rest

• Allied
• Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them
• Florence Foster Jenkins
• Jackie
• La La Land

Now this is a category I think probably won’t go to La La Land, since contemporary costumes never win. The fanciest period costumes almost always take this award, no matter the quality of the overall movie. I think Jackie has the upper hand, having won the BAFTA and the Critics Choice award here.

Winner: Jackie

Alternate: Florence Foster Jenkins (the 1920’s outfits are pretty dazzling in this one)

BEST HAIRSTYLING & MAKEUP

'Star Trek Beyond' holds a claim to best makeup over 'Suicide Squad'

• A Man Called Ove
• Star Trek Beyond
• Suicide Squad

BAFTA’s no help on this one, since it went with Florence Foster Jenkins (which I really thought would get nominated here, to no avail), so I’m gonna say Star Trek. They won’t want to give Suicide Squad an Oscar, right? And most voters won’t have seen A Man Called Ove, because it’s a foreign language film (sad, but true).

Winner: Star Trek Beyond

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE

The 'La La Land' score has it in the bag

• Jackie
• La La Land
• Lion
• Moonlight
• Passengers

This one is an easy win for La La Land, an original musical. It’s taken every precursor in this category.

Winner: La La Land

Alternate: Lion

BEST ORIGINAL SONG

'City of Stars' leads the pack for original song

• “The Empty Chair,” Jim: The James Foley Story
• “Audition,” La La Land
• “City of Stars,” La La Land
• “How Far I’ll Go,” Moana
• “Can’t Stop the Feeling,” Trolls

I’m guessing this is going to “City of Stars,” since it’s the main song of the movie. I do think the Moana song has a chance, since it’s Lin-Manuel Miranda, but as I learned with the Lady Gaga debacle last year, the voters don’t see who the singer is on the ballot and just check off the movie. So there you go. Too bad- the actual best song in this category is the Justin Timberlake Trolls one, as it’s the only popular hit of the bunch.

Winner: “City of Stars,” La La Land

Alternate: “How Far I’ll Go,” Moana

2017 Oscar Predictions, Part One: Effects, Sound and Shorts

Alright, it’s prediction time! With the Oscars this Sunday, it’s time for my annual try at getting the picks right, which is always a hit and miss affair. Two years ago I did the best I’ve ever done, last year was dreadful. Hopefully it swings back around again. I feel pretty confident about La La Land taking the lion’s share this year, but as always it’s harder to pick out the places where they might go somewhere else. As usual, we start with the techs, and today that’s the sound and effects awards, along with the three short categories.

BEST VISUAL EFFECTS

The visuals in 'The Jungle Book' have secured the visual effects prize

• Deepwater Horizon
• Doctor Strange
• Kubo and the Two Strings
• The Jungle Book
• Rogue One: A Star Wars Story

This one is going to The Jungle Book, which has won the effects award just about everywhere, including BAFTA and the Visual Effects Society. It’s a pretty easy call.

Winner: The Jungle Book

BEST SOUND MIXING

Sound mixing always goes to a musical...

• 13 Hours
• Arrival
• Hacksaw Ridge
• La La Land
• Rogue One: A Star Wars Story

Ugh. Every year I bemoan the fact that they can’t just combine the two sound categories into one, and call it Best Sound. Come on, doesn’t that sound logical to everyone else? As it is, whenever there’s a musical nominated in the sound mixing category, it always wins, so it has to go to La La Land.

Winner: La La Land

BEST SOUND EDITING

...while sound editing usually goes to an action movie

• Arrival
• Deepwater Horizon
• Hacksaw Ridge
• La La Land
• Sully

This one’s actually trickier. Normally the two sound awards go hand in hand, so this could easily be La La Land’s as well, but the sound editing award has split in the past, and when it does it usually goes to a big loud action movie if there is one. This time I think that’s Hacksaw Ridge, so I’m tempted to do the unwise thing here and predict a split.

Winner: Hacksaw Ridge

Alternate: La La Land

BEST DOCUMENTARY SHORT

Syrian rescue workers in 'The White Helmets'

• Extremis
• 4.1 Miles
• Joe’s Violin
• Watani: My Homeland
• The White Helmets

I haven’t seen any of the shorts this year, so I’m kinda flying blind. I’m going by subject matter only. And I think given what happened with the Syrian rescue workers who were the subject of The White Helmets, and the fact that they are now coming to the Oscars only after that awful travel ban was lifted, gives that film the upper hand (and rightfully so- statements need to be made this year).

Winner: The White Helmets

BEST LIVE ACTION SHORT

A conversation about immigration is the subject in 'Ennemis Interieurs'

• Ennemis Intérieurs
• La Femme et le TGV
• Silent Nights
• Sing
• Timecode

I’m totally in the dark on this one. Gonna go with Ennemis Interieurs, due to the fact that it’s about immigration in France, and the timeliness will give it the edge.

Winner: Ennemis Intérieurs

BEST ANIMATED SHORT

Pixar's 'Piper' is the frontrunner

• Blind Vaysha
• Borrowed Time
• Pear Cider and Cigarettes
• Pearl
• Piper

Disney/Pixar almost always rules the day here, so gonna have to go with Piper, although Pearl and Pear Cider and Cigarettes are highly acclaimed as well.

Winner: Piper

Alternate: Pear Cider and Cigarettes

'Moonlight' and 'Arrival' Win WGA Awards

Well, there you go. Moonlight picks up the WGA for Original Screenplay, but it's competing in Adapted at the Oscars, while Arrival takes advantage of Moonlight's absence in the category to grab the prize for itself at the Writers Guild. 

• Adapted Screenplay: Arrival
• Original Screenplay: Moonlight
• Documentary Screenplay: Command and Control

Moonlight also won the USC Scripter award last week, which pretty much guarantees its win in Adapted at the Oscars next Sunday. So the question is what wins in original. I think it's Manchester By the Sea, but all we have to go on there is the hint from the critics prizes, since Moonlight has crowded it out in most of the precursors. Elsewhere, the Art Directors Guild gave out its prizes last week as well, but it's not all that helpful in predicting, since they have separate categories:

'La La Land' in the lead for production design

• Fantasy: Passengers
• Contemporary: La La Land
• Period: Hidden Figures

This isn't very helpful, and BAFTA went with Fantastic Beasts in the category, so this could be a surprise on Oscar night. I'd stick with La La Land, simply because it's the Best Picture frontrunner, but Fantastic Beasts certainly does have a LOT of production design, and often times the biggest, gaudiest sets win this category. Finally, the Makeup & Hairstyling Guild awarded its winners tonight, and like production design, they separate everything out:

• Contemporary Makeup: Nocturnal Animals
• Contemporary Hairstyling: La La Land
• Period and/or Character Makeup: Suicide Squad
• Period and/or Character Hairstyling: Hail, Caesar!
• Special Makeup Effects: Star Trek Beyond

There are only three nominees in this category at the Oscars, so of these winners, that would leave Suicide Squad and Star Trek Beyond up against each other. For the Academy's sake, I would really hope they'd give a decently received movie the award (any award) and so I'd go with Star Trek on this one.

'Star Trek Beyond' has a shot to win Best Makeup

'La La Land' Wins 5 BAFTA Awards

No surprise here that La La Land won all the top BAFTA awards, including Picture, Director, Actress and Music, but it was a little unexpected to see so much wealth spread around elsewhere. For example, Dev Patel in Supporting Actor for Lion! And 13th for Documentary, Kubo and the Two Strings in Animated, Hacksaw Ridge in Editing. It's hard to know if these are likely to repeat at the Academy though. I still think OJ and Zootopia are locked for their respective races. And there's no way Moonlight's getting shut out. But when the time comes for predictions next week, I do take the guild and BAFTA winners into account for each category, so there may be some surprises in the smaller categories on Oscar night. But not so for the big ones. La La Land is locked and loaded for the win.

2017 BAFTA WINNERS

• Best Film: La La Land 
• Best Director: Damien Chazelle, La La Land
• Best Actor: Casey Affleck – Manchester by the Sea
• Best Actress: Emma Stone – La La Land
• Supporting Actor: Dev Patel – Lion
• Supporting Actress: Viola Davis – Fences
• Cinematography: La La Land 
• Best Original Screenplay: Manchester by the Sea
• Adapted Screenplay: Lion 
• Outstanding British debut: Under the Shadow
• Film Not in the English Language: Son of Saul
• Best Animated Film: Kubo and the Two Strings 
• Documentary: 13TH 
• Special Visual Effects: The Jungle Book
• Production Design: Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them 
• Editing: Hacksaw Ridge
• Sound: Arrival 
• Costume Design: Jackie 
• Original Music: La La Land 
• Make-Up & Hair: Florence Foster Jenkins
• British Short Film: Home 
• British Short Animation: A Love Story 
• Best British Film: I, Daniel Blake 
• EE Rising Star Award: Tom Holland

Dev Patel picks up a surprise Best Supporting Actor win for 'Lion'

Damian Chazelle Wins DGA, 'Lion' Wins Cinematography Guild

Well, what a surprise. Actually it's not at all, as La La Land's Damian Chazelle won the Directors Guild award tonight, traditionally the best harbinger for both Director and Picture at the Oscars. It's definitely a sweep year, alright. The only question now is how many trophies La La Land can score on Oscar night. 

• Feature: Damian Chazelle, La La Land
• First-time Feature: Garth Davis, Lion
• Documentary Feature: Ezra Edelman, OJ: Made in America

Elsewhere, the ASC held its awards as well tonight, with Lion coming out on top for the best cinematography honor. Now that one IS a surprise, as it was expected to go to La La Land easily, and to be honest, I think La La Land still wins the Oscar in this category as well. The ASC looks like an oddball pick this year.

'Zootopia' Wins Big at Annie Awards

Disney's Zootopia cleaned up at the Annies tonight, garnering Best Feature, Director, Writing, Voice Acting, Character Design and Storyboarding. I'd say that about wraps up the Oscar race in this category, if it wasn't already. I do think that Kubo and the Two Strings could have had a shot if not for the incredible timeliness of Zootopia's message in this apocalyptic Trump era.

ANNIE AWARD WINNERS

• Best Animated Feature: ZOOTOPIA
• Directing in an Animated Feature Production: Byron Howard, Rich Moore, ZOOTOPIA
• Best Animated Feature-Independent: THE RED TURTLE
• Writing in an Animated Feature Production: Jared Bush, Phil Johnston, ZOOTOPIA
• Voice Acting in an Animated Feature Production: (tie) Auli’i Cravalho as Moana, MOANA & Jason Bateman as Nick Wilde, ZOOTOPIA
• Production Design in an Animated Feature Production: Nelson Lowry, Trevor Dalmer, August Hall, Ean McNamara, KUBO AND THE TWO STRINGS
• Character Animation in an Animated Feature Production: Jan Maas, KUBO AND THE TWO STRINGS
• Character Animation in a Live Action Production: Andrew R. Jones, Peta Bayley, Gabriele Zucchelli, Benjamin Jones, THE JUNGLE BOOK
• Character Design in an Animated Feature Production: Cory Loftis, ZOOTOPIA
• Music in an Animated Feature Production: Hans Zimmer, Richard Harvey, Camille, THE LITTLE PRINCE
• Animated Effects in a Live Action Production: Georg Kaltenbrunner, Michael Marcuzzi, Thomas Bevan, Andrew Graham, Jihyun Yoon, DOCTOR STRANGE – MIRROR DIMENSION
• Animated Effects in an Animated Feature Production: Marlon West, Erin V. Ramos, Blair Pierpont, Ian J. Coony, John M. Kosnik, MOANA
• Best Animated Short Subject: PIPER
• Editorial in an Animated Feature Production: Christopher Murrie, KUBO AND THE TWO STRINGS
• Storyboarding in an Animated Feature Production: Dean Wellins, ZOOTOPIA

'Hidden Figures' Wins SAG Ensemble, Denzel Washington Upsets in Best Actor

Now that was an awards show! The whole ceremony for the Screen Actors Guild awards was highly politically charged, as was to be expected, given the muslim ban put in place by the lunatic in chief just hours earlier. Everyone felt the need to speak out, from Julia Louis-Dreyfus to Ashton Kutcher, Sarah Paulson and Stranger Things' David Harbour, who brought the house down with a pretty awesome rant (posted in the TV section). The winners were expected on the film side, except for the one big upset with Denzel Washington in Lead Actor, which kinda throws that race up in the air, after Casey Affleck had won just about everything until now. Whoever wins the SAG almost always wins Best Actor, so this now appears to be a coin toss. But there a couple of caveats- first, there's the fact that Denzel had amazingly never won a SAG award in his long career, so the guild may have been thinking about that. But he does have two Oscars already, and it's pretty rare to win three. Also, Casey Affleck is nominated for a BAFTA award and almost sure to win that, since Denzel isn't nominated there at all. Still, SAG is a big one, so it can't be discounted.

• ENSEMBLE: Hidden Figures
• LEAD ACTOR: Denzel Washington, Fences
• LEAD ACTRESS: Emma Stone, La La Land
• SUPPORTING ACTOR: Mahershala Ali, Moonlight
• SUPPORTING ACTRESS: Viola Davis, Fences

In the other categories, it looks like Emma Stone now has the Best Actress Oscar wrapped up, so even though it had been competitive, that would appear to not be the case any longer. And I'd say the same for the supporting races, with Davis and Ali favored and almost certain to win on Oscar night. As for the ensemble win, I do think that Hidden Figures might be the one movie that could give La La Land a run for its money in Best Picture at this point- it's a huge hit, and feels much more relevant in this political climate than a fluffy musical. But it's still a long shot, given La La Land's strength in the nominations. But with that preferential ballot, anything could happen, so if the Academy wants to make a statement, this is their chance. The Oscars are always political anyway- why not go full in? 

'La La Land' Wins the PGA

Well, no big surprise here. The Producers Guild held a politically charged show, as presenters and winners were understandably outraged by current events happening outside the ceremony, but La La Land prevailed as the winner for feature film, along with Zootopia in animated and OJ: Made in America in documentary, once more cementing all three as the Oscar frontrunners in their respective categories. The SAG awards are held tomorrow night, but with that PGA win under its belt, the race for Best Picture is pretty much over at this point. It's not nominated for the SAG ensemble, so that's going to go to something else (my guess is Hidden Figures), but expect Damian Chazelle to win the DGA easily in a couple weeks.

John Hurt 1940-2017

The great John Hurt has passed away at the age of 77, after a two year battle with pancreatic cancer. A longtime character actor who appeared in hundreds of films over the years, there's a good chance you've seen in him in at least a handful of films you may not have even realized. Here's a partial list of all the movies he'd been in since his breakout supporting role in A Man for All Seasons in 1966: Midnight Express, Alien, The Elephant Man, Rob Roy, Contact, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, Hellboy, The Proposition, V for Vendetta, Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy, Only Lovers Left Alive, Snowpiercer, Jackie, and four films still to be released this year. He was nominated for Oscars for his roles in Midnight Express and The Elephant Man, and of course has one of cinema's all time great death scenes in Alien. I personally think his role as the eccentric billionaire in Contact is one of his most underrated. He was knighted by the Queen in 2015 and was made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 2004.

ACE Eddie Awards Go to 'Arrival,' 'La La Land,' 'Zootopia'

The first of the guild awards announced its winners for editing and they are as follows:

• Best Editing in a Feature Film (Drama): Arrival
• Best Editing in a Feature Film (Comedy): La La Land
• Best Editing in Feature Film (Animated): Zootopia
• Best Editing in a Documentary Feature: OJ: Made in America

No real surprises there, although maybe Arrival was the most unexpected, since Drama Feature seemed wide open. But otherwise, La La Land, Zootopia and OJ are all looking like the frontrunners on their way to winning Best Picture, Animated and Documentary at the Oscars.

'La La Land' Gets 14 Oscar Nominations, Ties All Time Record

Here we go, guys. La La Land tied All About Eve and Titanic this morning by scoring 14 Oscar nominations, the most of all time. I cannot believe the overpraise this movie is receiving, but after this haul, I believe this race is essentially over. It will likely win 8 or 9 Oscars, including Picture and Director, so there you go. Does it deserve it? NO. But in other news, it was a record breaking year for black actors and filmmakers, as there was at least one person of color in every acting category, and Fences, Moonlight and Hidden Figures were all nominated in Best Picture, which is great. Not to mention that four out of the five documentary nominees were from black filmmakers, and many other nominations behind the camera in the tech categories as well. No need for the OscarSoWhite hashtag this year, but hopefully this year is not an anomaly. I think it speaks more to the kinds of films that were released and in the Academy's wheelhouse as well- this was always an industry problem, rather than the Academy itself. When the films are there, receive attention and receive campaigns, the voters will respond. 

BEST PICTURE

• Arrival
• Fences
• Hacksaw Ridge
• Hell or High Water
• Hidden Figures
• La La Land
• Lion
• Manchester By the Sea
• Moonlight

BEST DIRECTOR

• Damien Chazelle, La La Land
• Mel Gibson, Hacksaw Ridge
• Barry Jenkins, Moonlight
• Kenneth Lonergan, Manchester By the Sea
• Denis Villenueve, Arrival

BEST ACTOR

• Casey Affleck, Manchester By the Sea
• Andrew Garfield, Hacksaw Ridge
• Ryan Gosling, La La Land
• Viggo Mortenson, Captain Fantastic
• Denzel Washington, Fences

BEST ACTRESS

• Isabelle Huppert, Elle
• Ruth Negga, Loving
• Natalie Portman, Jackie
• Emma Stone, La La Land
• Meryl Streep, Florence Foster Jenkins

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR

• Mahershala Ali, Moonlight
• Jeff Bridges, Hell or High Water
• Lucas Hedges, Manchester By the Sea
• Dev Patel, Lion
• Michael Shannon, Nocturnal Animals

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS

• Viola Davis, Fences
• Naomie Harris, Moonlight
• Nicole Kidman, Lion
• Octavia Spencer, Hidden Figures
• Michelle Williams, Manchester By the Sea

Ruth Negga scores a Best Actress nomination for 'Loving'

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY

• 20th Century Women
• Hell or High Water
• La La Land
• The Lobster
• Manchester By the Sea

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY

• Arrival
• Fences
• Hidden Figures
• Lion
• Moonlight

BEST ANIMATED FEATURE

• Kubo and the Two Strings
• Moana
• My Life as a Courgette
• The Red Turtle
• Zootopia

BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM

• Land of Mine (Denmark)
• A Man Called Ove (Sweden)
• The Salesman (Iran)
• Tanna (Australia)
• Toni Erdmann (Germany)

BEST DOCUMENTARY

• 13th
• Fire at Sea
• I Am Not Your Negro
• Life, Animated
• OJ: Made in America

BEST EDITING

• Arrival
• La La Land
• Hacksaw Ridge
• Hell or High Water
• Moonlight

'Moonlight' gets 8 Oscar nominations total

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY

• Arrival
• Hail, Caesar!
• La La Land
• Moonlight
• Silence

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE

• Jackie
• La La Land
• Lion
• Moonlight
• Passengers

BEST ORIGINAL SONG

• "The Empty Chair," Jim: The James Foley Story
• "Audition," La La Land
• "City of Stars," La La Land
• "How Far I'll Go," Moana
• "Can't Stop the Feeling," Trolls

BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN

• Arrival
• Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them
• Hail, Caesar!
• La La Land
• Passengers

BEST COSTUMES

• Allied
• Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them
• Florence Foster Jenkins
• Jackie
• La La Land

BEST HAIRSTYLING & MAKEUP

• Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them
• Florence Foster Jenkins
• Suicide Squad

Meryl Streep gets her 20th acting nomination

BEST VISUAL EFFECTS

• Deepwater Horizon
• Doctor Strange
• Kubo and the Two Strings
• The Jungle Book
• Rogue One: A Star Wars story

BEST SOUND EDITING

• Arrival
• Deepwater Horizon
• Hacksaw Ridge
• La La Land
• Sully

BEST SOUND MIXING

• 13 Hours
• Arrival
• Hacksaw Ridge
• La La Land
• Rogue One

BEST DOCUMENTARY SHORT

• EXTREMIS
• 4.1 MILES
• JOE'S VIOLIN
• WATANI: MY HOMELAND
• THE WHITE HELMETS

BEST ANIMATED SHORT

• BLIND VAYSHA
• BORROWED TIME
• PEAR CIDER AND CIGARETTES
• PEARL
• PIPER

BEST LIVE-ACTION SHORT

• ENNEMIS INTÉRIEURS
• LA FEMME ET LE TGV
• SILENT NIGHTS
• SING
• TIMECODE

So, as for any egregious snubs, I have to say I'm shocked that Amy Adams missed out on a nod for Arrival, despite the movie landing 8 nominations, including Picture and Director. Looks like they had to make room for Meryl Streep's 20th (which I think may have been secured after her Golden Globes speech), or maybe it was the surprise nom for Ruth Negga, whose film seems to have faded in buzz, as she got a lone Best Actress nomination for it. Mel Gibson actually got in for Best Director, surprisingly, although in the year of Trump, I guess it's fitting that Hollywood has decided now's the time to forgive him. Pfft. Michael Shannon also pushed Hugh Grant (still never nominated) out of contention, as he got the sole nod for Nocturnal Animals in supporting. But overall, these nominations were pretty predictable this year. I mean, the nine films nominated for Picture is the entire PGA list minus Deadpool. They weren't daring enough to go for Deadpool anywhere, it seems. On the bright side, I think I may be able to nail my predictions for winners this time, since it looks like we're in for a much bigger sweep year, the biggest since Slumdog Millionaire won eight.

'Arrival' gets 8 nominations but Amy Adams is snubbed in Best Actress

REVIEW: "Hidden Figures" (2016) Taraji P. Henson, Octavia Spencer. Dir. Theodore Melfi

The world is in desperate need of inspirational stories right now. And it never hurts when these are true, either. The title for this film based on the book of the same name by Margot Lee Shetterly could not be more appropriate. How many of us knew that there were a significant number of female African-American mathematicians working at NASA in the 1960’s who helped send our astronauts into space? We know one side of the story- the more famous side, the one involving John Glenn and the other six pilots who became the first American men in space. That story was told in the 1980 classic The Right Stuff, but this one? This one is new precisely because it’s been hidden for so long.

Taraji P. Henson plays Katherine Johnson, the mathematical genius who overcame poverty in early 20th century West Virginia to make her way to Langley by 1961, one of many female “computers,” whose job was, as you might be able to deduce, to compute the numbers before we had those little machines to do it for us. Katherine was a widow with three children who worked long hours at NASA, along with her friends and colleagues Dorothy Vaughn (Octavia Spencer) and Mary Jackson (Janelle Monae), in the computing and engineering departments. Finally, Katherine is pulled out of the segregated computing section and placed in a high level position to calculate flight trajectories in the all white, all male Space Task Group, headed by director Al Harrison (played with natural grit and no nonsense gruffness by Kevin Costner). 

Faced with overcoming the prevalent and institutionalized racism and sexism of the time and place (Virginia had routinely ignored such civil rights decisions as Brown v. Board of Education), Katherine fought her way into the halls of power through her sheer brilliance, simply by being better with the numbers than everyone else. Hidden Figures tells this underknown story through conventional but highly entertaining filmmaking that highlights the remarkable accomplishments and intelligence of these women at a time when their undoubted ability wasn’t enough to break anyone in who wasn’t white and male. The three leads share a chemistry and charisma that pop off the screen (especially from singer Janelle Monae, a newcomer in films this year) and sell us these characters in a way that’s impossible to root against.

Or for some, maybe not. Watching this film recreate the segregation and tumultuousness of the early 60’s, it’s hard not to think how relevant stories like this have become once again. Senseless discrimination based on gender and race (or sexual orientation) serves to deprive societies of reaching heretofore unimagined heights, as this film and this story clearly shows. These women were necessary for the goal of sending humans into space, a feat which may very well have never been achieved had we not reached into the parts of our population for whom opportunity was and IS routinely denied. This movie is also a celebration of science, of scientific achievement the likes of which are under attack from those who see a film like this and long to go back to this time. A time when discrimination allowed only one segment of the populace, the one that has always been in power and never been denied, their unchallenged rule over those deemed unlike them, and therefore unworthy. It’s appalling that there even exists at all a “nostalgia” for days like this. The only people who would want to go back to this are the ones who see the systematic oppression of others as a benefit to themselves. We must continue to shine a light on the achievements of those who’ve worked steadily, out of the spotlight, unseen, and uncelebrated for far too long.

* * * 1/2