Neil Armstrong (Ryan Gosling) was a civilian test pilot who was selected to be an astronaut for Project Gemini. He suffered personal loss before his selection for Gemini because his daughter had just died. Neil Armstrong would go on to be the first man to step on the moon apart of the Apollo 11 mission seven years later in July 1969. Armstrong was a smart man who felt more alive when he was flying or in space where he seemed aloof when he was with his family (as he kept his emotions inside). His wife Janet (Claire Foy) was by Neil’s side as she supported his career every step.

FIRST MAN is the closet one will get to how it feels to be in a test plane 60,000 feet in the air or how it feels to be in a rocket capsule. I also felt the claustrophobia of the rocket capsule, but FIRST MAN is also a work of beauty. It is a wonderful portrait of an astronaut (the training and the family life) and an interesting look at the various things involved during the early days of NASA. It is a down-to-earth realistic biopic that also is a portrait of the 1960s space program and how people felt about it. I expect FIRST MAN to be nominated for many awards during award season as this is the best movie about the early American space program since THE RIGHT STUFF and APOLLO 11 (too bad it didn't nab noms for best picture, acting, or best direction among the nominations it got). Ryan Gosling nails the quiet strength of a man who keeps things inside himself. Corey Stoll is a scene stealer with his performance as astronaut Buzz Aldrin.

SPECIAL FEATURES:
Two deleted scenes and I think the second one with the Apollo 8 launch should have been left in the movie

SHOOTING FOR THE MOON (3:40)- promotional featurette about how the project came about
PREPARING TO LAUNCH (3:39)-B roll from making the movie mixed with interviews
GIANT LEAP IN ONE SMALL STEP (4:31)- Neil Armstrong's real sons, the director, and Ryan Gosling talk about Neil Armstrong mixed with archival footage from the 1960s
MISSION GONE WRONG (2:42)- Behind-the-scenes of filming the crash of the Lunar Lander training vehicle

PUTTING YOU IN THE SEAT (7:09)- a behind-the-scenes look at how they created the air and space sequences using a giant curved LED wall screen to help create a realistic first person POV experience for the audience
RECREATING THE MOON LANDING (6:01)- a look at how the moon landing was recreated and using an outdoor set (a quarry) at night
SHOOTING AT NASA (3:11)- using the real NASA locations for the movie
ASTRONAUT TRAINING (4:02)- behind-the-scenes of the cast going to Space Camp

Audio commentary with Director Damien Chazelle, screenwriter Josh Singer, and Editor Tom Cross

FINAL ANALYSIS: FIRST MAN is one of those biopics that stay strong with each viewing. I do think I enjoyed it even more on a second viewing. When the disc gets into the behind-the-scenes stuff of how they created it, this is where the extras shine. I hope Universal double dips on this one and produces more extensive extras on the making of the movie and the real events the movie depicts in the 1960s. Definitely, FIRST MAN is one of the best movies of 2018 that more people should have seen. Now there is a second chance with its release on blu-ray, DVD, 4K UHD, and digital.

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