Film Review/ UNKNOWN: COSMIC TIME MACHINE

Documentary fans will be delighted, and those new to the genre will be won over, with this fascinating look into the creation of the world's largest telescope that has been exploring our universe for the past year.  NASA's James Webb Space Telescope is the latest, newest, largest and most ambitious one ever imagined, and this film depicts, in real footage and animations, every step from inception to launch.

"Webb has over 1200 skilled scientists, engineers and technicians from 14 countries (and more than 27 US states) building it. (It is a joint NASA/ESA/CSA mission.)"

I know, I know -- the premise of Cosmic Time Machine sounds too techy and nerdy and ultra-scientific, at least it did to me. But it's actually very approachable, full of beautiful images of distant stars and galaxies and interesting interviews with the brilliant space engineers and many others involved.  It's also quite suspenseful, since the viewer is constantly reminded of how easy it is for it all to fail. If just one tiny thing goes wrong, it's the end for this $10 billion project and heartbreak for the hundreds of people who have worked on it for the past 30 years.

An added bonus is that in just an hour you will feel, and actually be, smarter from watching it, a rare result of most movie-viewing these days. Now streaming on Netflix.