Effectively Captures the Essence of the 60's Space Program

Rating: 7/10 (12 October 2018)

I liked it. But that's the thing, I only liked it. It wasn't a masterpiece or an extraordinary film. Some parts of the movie were unfathomably beautiful, whilst other parts had me bobbing my head prying my eyelids open. The movie balances many odd dichotomies of character, heavily influencing my review:

IMAX is absolutely stunning, but only in the last 15 minutes of the film and dizzying the rest of the film.
Ryan Gosling and Claire Foy well demonstrated N. Armstrong's family dynamic, but they didn't complement each other's acting ability.
Damien Chazelle's vision to capture the feeling of the 60's with a grainy film texture is wonderful, yet lead to many out of focus and gross looking shots.
The soundtrack was written poorly for an Apollo Space Program biopic, but on it's own accord was marvelous (sorry Justin Hurwitz).
The cinematography and shot placement choices for a certain buildup scene were jaw-dropping, but the pacing and sound effects were lacking.

All in all, First Man wasn't disappointing, but the many months of my over-excitement and impatience lead to a dissatisfied movie experience.
6.7/10