Hidden Figures - DVD

I love this movie. It is only one of the events that blacks have been recognized for in the history of this country. If you look at many inventions and construction, black have made insurmountable contributions to the USA and abroad. Forget prejudices and recognize that without the labor and inventions of blacks this country would not be what it is today. Yet history buff and educators do not teach the real stories only the half truths.

This movie was so powerful its to show people no matter what life throws at you that you must continue to move forward even when all odds are against you... Stay strong and fight for what you believe in

Space exploration is a favorite subject of mine, always amazed by the cosmos and wandering what is out there. It's even better when people from your home state help out with the space program. I love October Sky, a film about a teenager, Homer Hickham (A fellow West Virginias) who saw Sputnik, and decided to become a scientist and later did work at NASA despite living in the coal fields where it was either football or mining. Color me surprised when I learned of Katherine Johnson, a NASA human computer who was born here in WV. An amazing woman who helped out NASA with the first men in space, helped with the moon landing, and even helped chart a plan to Mars. So I was excited to see this film, but it came with a rather sensationalized story with many falsehoods, but still entertaining nonetheless. Katherine Goble (Taraji P. Henson, terrific as always) is working in Langley, VA as a human computer, with 2 fellow colleagues in a racially and gender segregated area, Dorothy Vaughan (Octavia Spencer, also terrific) and Mary Jackson (Janelle Monae). After the Soviets send Yuri Gregarin to space, they are sent to the Space Task Group in Houston, Texas, headed up by All Harrison (Kevin Costner). They are all extremely demeaning to the trio, especially by STG head engineer Paul Stafford (Jim Parsons). Over time, they earn respect for their courage and work efforts, and take down boundaries as well. I gotta say, this is a really good movie, with the acting being a stand-out, but this is a solid effort overall. Co-writer and director Theodore Melfi does really well with the material, though it's very sensationalized in nature (the famous scene where Harrison destroys a segregated bathroom sign cause of the half-mile walk to the other side isn't accurate). The screenplay has many cliches, character condensation and outright lies, but it still gives off a good message about women and how segregation is wrong. The 60s aesthetic is beautiful and the cinematography is similarly beautiful. Overall, a feel-good movie that'll entertain well enough, and will make you want to learn more about these ladies of NASA. The PQ is mighty impressive for a DVD, with it carrying a nice detailed, standard definition image that upscales nice on an HDTV. The film, shot on 35mm and 16mm film, delivers a beautiful image with depth and details and accurate colors along with a nice, even grain field. The sound is also nice as well, with the robustly designed 5.1 surround sound track that has plenty of surround activity, but not much LFE, sadly. Overall, it's a nice DVD presentation. Moving on to the extras, the DVD doesn't come with all the extras, on the disc itself, but with the included Digital HD code, it bundles every extra on your digital service of choice (and the film looks even better in HD, and I'm sure is fantastic in the 4k UHD), but I'll stick to the disc, starting with a commentary with Melfi and Henson. Next up are a photo gallery, a five minute piece on the locations in Georgia used for filming, 2 featurettes from the longer documentary on the digital copy and HD copies of the film, which looks at the life and work of Katherine Johnson, and the films trailer complete the DVD. The 45 minute documentary is a must see that has plenty of BTS goodies as well, so use that digital copy to view. Overall, this a cheap way to get an HD version of the film with all the extras on the digital platform of choice, but the DVD is a nice way to view a nice film with plenty of extras on the DVD itself, but I'd recommend the Bluray or 4k versions to get everything in one place with better picture and sound.

I had heard of Katherine Johnson but not the other two ladies and their accomplishments. This is a wonderful movie and very inspiring for everyone. It shows also the prejudice and discrimination these ladies had to deal with and over came and their amazing contributions to science, the country and space program.

This is a wonderfully made true story. With true stories, things often get exaggerated or altered to make them more dramatic and I didn't get that feel with this one. I thought it was a great representation of the amazing contributions these ladies had with our space program.