Hidden Figures

With Hidden Figures you get a two-for-one deal. It tells the story of the forgotten black women who worked on the early days of the space program in the US, just like it's advertised as, but it also goes deeper and explores the damaging nature of the segregation laws that were present in many of the southern US states during the 1960s. Those two parts combine to make an impactful and inspirational story.

In 1961, Katherine Goble (Taraji P. Henson) works at NASA, crunching numbers on whatever project she is assigned to. She is one of a larger group of black female mathematicians that do this job that also includes Dorothy Vaughan (Octavia Spencer) and Mary Jackson (Janelle Monaé). One day she is hired by Al Harrison (Kevin Costner) and his Space Task Group in order to put a man into space. There is immense pressure to do so from the government, as the Soviets have not only launched their series of satellites, but they have beaten the US in sending a man into space. Since Katherine is a black woman, she has the twin obstacles in proving that she can actually do the job and gain the respect of her colleagues.

After doing some research, I found out that the segregation of the facility in which they work had been basically non-existent since the 1950s. The reason I mention that fact is that it leaves the film in a strange limbo. The movie is very much about being a black person in the 1960s and the majority of society was subject to these Jim Crow laws, but at the same time the film has to be true to experiences of the people being portrayed in the film. I think that director Theodore Melfi balances these two elements really well and that although the segregation laws may not have affected these women in the ways presented in the film, it allows the audience to extrapolate them into the rest of society.

To make these strong women believable and sympathetic, they need to be backed up by strong performances from the female leads. Luckily this movie has plenty of those. Taraji P. Henson transforms into Katherine Goble so completely it's fantastic. She is able to really convey the strength and confidence that the Goble must have had to work in a completely male environment at a time when women were not at all seen as intelligent beings. I am a huge fan of Octavia Spencer and whenever I see something that she's in, I know that she is going to give the best she can and she doesn't disappoint. Especially when it comes to being the comic relief of the three leads, something that she excels at. It seems that to get your film nominated for best picture you need to put Janelle Monaé in it, because she has been in two Oscar nominated films this year (the other being Moonlight). Her character's struggle against segregation is the more amazing of the three as she became the first qualified black female engineer for NASA, which is no small feat. It's also worth noting that if you want to make a movie set during the Cold War, there is an obligation to put Kevin Costner in it.

Hidden Figures is an incredibly inspirational movie. I know that we don't live in a world that has such open discrimination where racism is acceptable (in most countries at least), it is good to be told a story that you can do whatever you want if you work really hard to go out and get it. This is especially true of a world where the pay gap between the genders is so big when it shouldn't be.

Bad Santa 2

The original Bad Santa was a refreshing take on the Christmas movie genre. The joy of the time was replaced by a hard cynicism and the usual happy ending was replaced by the (non-fatal shooting) of the main character. It seems like a pretty easy movie to replicate for a sequel, but unfortunately it misses the mark that the original. That said, it still has a lot of charm to distract you from that fact.

Former thief Willie Soke (Billy Bob Thornton) has hit rock bottom, living in his tiny apartment and spending most of his days getting drunk. Just as he is attempting suicide, his de facto son Thurman (Brett Kelly) comes in and with the news that his former partner Marcus (Tony Cox) has gotten in touch and wants him to come to Chicago to pull a job. It turns out that Marcus has a new associate in Willie's mother Sunny (Kathy Bates), whom he despises. Willie is only convinced to help out as a safecracker when Marcus promises to scam Sunny out of any money they get. The target they are hitting is a charity run by the wealthy Diane (Christina Hendricks), who attempts to turn Willie's life around.

While most of the hallmarks of what made the original good are still there, Bad Santa 2 some how ends up becoming a part of the genre it was originally trying to mock. Yes it is foul mouthed and scandalous, but it almost seems conventional. Gone is the hot un-Christmas-like location of Arizona and in it's place we have Chicago, which is the only other snowy city you want to be for Christmas after New York (for that conclusion see the much better sequel movie Home Alone 2: Lost in New York). Unlike the original, Willie's ending is a tad more upbeat and hopeful. He learns a lesson about family, a message that all Christmas movies have. This movie also seems to have a lot of interchangeable parts. Take out Lauren Graham and replace her with Christina Hendricks, replace Bernie Mac (RIP) with some less funny white guy. Thank god they didn't try and replace Cloris Leachman.

Luckily, there are some pretty good jokes. While they seem to be rehashes of jokes from the original; Thurman's possible mental disability, Octavia Spencer's turn as a prostitute, Willie's general demeanour, they are pretty funny. Thornton's reactions to other people's comments are almost as good as his sharp tongue. Lines about General MacArthur's Philippines Campaign go hand in hand with calling other Santas pedophiles. Kathy Bates is a huge boost to the film because just the idea of her being a surly old bitch is enticing enough, but she really carries it off.

To Bad Santa 2's benefit, the amount of time passed between it and the original is just between remembering that the first one was funny and complete loss of memory that it exists. If anything though, that is more a testament to the staying power of the first one than the merits of this movie.

Zootopia

Disney knows it’s the king of anthropomorphic animation, and the company sticks to its strengths with the Byron Howard/Rich Moore helmed Zootopia. It might not be a Pixar feature, but Zootopia promises plenty of fun scenes and more than just one mystery beneath its surface.

In a world of talking mammals (not to be confused with the world of talking reptiles in Disney’s upcoming Reptilia) a small rabbit from the countryside, Judy Hopps (Ginnifer Goodwin) goes against the expectations of her carrot farming parents to become the first rabbit police officer. Judy travels to the massive city of Zootopia, where - much like when other young people first go out into the world - she inhabits a small apartment with noisy neighbours and realises her job isn't all it's cracked up to be.

Parking Officer Judy meets con-artist Nick Wilde (Jason Bateman) on one of her shifts, and immediately takes a dislike to him, given her previous experiences with foxes. After abandoning her post to pursue a thief, her unimpressed supervisor, Chief Bogo (Idris Elba) gives her one last chance; to solve a missing mammals case in 48 hours. With her job on the line, Judy discovers that Nick was one of the last known mammals to see the victim. Tracking Nick down, Judy convinces him to help her, teaching kids watching the movie a valuable lesson in blackmail.

Zootopia started off tooting the same ‘follow your dreams’ mantra that Disney has heralded for many years, which plagued the awful Tomorrowland, and to a much lesser extent Big Hero 6. Not that it’s a bad concept to be communicating the power of ambition to kids, but it does wear-out very quickly. Thankfully however, after the first act and when the story takes an investigative arc, Zootopia gets into gear. As always there are a smattering of jokes tailored just for adults - such as a well-handled series of references to The Godfather - but despite its PG rating, there’s not a lot that would go over kids heads.

There’s a decent amount of tension as the mystery unfolds - especially in some of the darker scenes - and elements of the plot are surprisingly relevant, touching on social and racial issues that are all the buzz right now thanks to the U.S presidential election, among other events. However, it does seem to push these themes a little too blatantly for my liking, and for a standout Disney film it still doesn’t reach the same level of emotional complexity of even an average Pixar film.

Animation wise though, you can see the influence of Pixar on the team at their sister studio, because Zootopia screams forth with vibrant, fluid imagery that perfectly captures the tone of Zootopia and its many districts. Whilst not revolutionary in style, the animation will have sucked you into the world even before Judy reaches the big city. Matching the visuals, we get well-rounded voice work from the entire cast, thanks to the talents of Ginnifer Goodwin, Jason Bateman, Idris Elba, J.K Simmons and many others, as well as witty dialogue from Howard and co-writer Jared Bush. The characters themselves are as diverse as their animal pedigree, pitting the overly-excited Judy against the grumbling Chief Bogo, the sly Nick against the weasley Duke Weaselton, and who couldn’t love Simmon’s Mayor Lionheart, easily *unimpressive Zorg accent* my favourite.

Zootopia may be pushing its values further than its story can take them, but it’s still a beautiful, well-acted, enjoyable family movie with just enough edge and mystery to keep it interesting.