First Man

Producer Steven Spielberg, director Damien Chazelle (Whiplash, La La Land), and Ryan Gosling have teamed up for “Oscar Bait 2018,” I mean First Man, a fact-based biopic (based on James R. Hansen’s book), about astronaut Neil Armstrong and family’s life leading up to the Apollo 11 mission and Armstrong’s historic first steps on the moon. Now, there was some controversy made about no American flag planting scene, some folks even going as far as to say there was no American flag represented in the film at all. That’s a bunch of bogus/fake news/Alex Jones nonsense. While the film doesn’t show a flag planting scene (let’s just say it’s left out to tell a much more personal story, I’m not going to spoil it for you here), the American flag is shown throughout: on the astronaut’s uniforms, in a scene where a boy slowly raises an American flag, and there’s even a shot of “the eagle” on the moon after the American flag has been planted. Don’t believe the cynics, JFK’s “moon speech” is featured as well. Much ado about nothing! Besides the obvious Oscar nominations (Picture, Director, Gosling, Claire Foy), Josh Singer, who penned Spotlight and The Post, will likely get a screenplay nod. Jason Clarke, who plays Ed White (and who also turned in a great performance as Ted Kennedy in last year’s Chappaquiddick), and Social Circle, Georgia’s own Kyle Chandler (Bloodline) both could be up for Best Supporting Actor.

[PG-13]