First Man                             4 stars

First Man from director Damien Chazelle gives us a spectacular look of what it must be like to be on board those early space missions of the sixties.  It follows the career of astronaut Neil Armstrong from 1961 until the Apollo 11 moon mission with all the perils involved in space travel.  I found the moments about the time during the missions to be mesmerizing, but the parts of his personal life to be less so.  Maybe Ryan Gosling was not best suited for the role.  That cannot be said about Claire Foy who played his wife who brought some very painful emotion to her role.  Chazelle is best known for previous works La La Land and Whiplash both of which I found to be superior films.  First Man comes close but just misses that level.  The visual effects were first rate and the movie received a well-deserved Oscar in that category.