Widescreen: This Independence Day, look to the stars (no, not for aliens)
There are revolutionary war films such as Mel Gibson's "The Patriot" (Netflix), biographies of great Americans including Steven Spielberg's "Lincoln" (HBO Max) and rah-rah action movies like Harrison Ford's "Air Force One" (Amazon Prime and Tubi), but the three films that best exemplify the American exceptionalism we celebrate on the Fourth of July involve space - and I don't mean Will Smith fighting aliens.
This Independence Day, treat yourself to a NASA triple feature:
Start with 2016's "Hidden Figures" (fuboTV, digital rental), starring Taraji P. Henson as trailblazing Black mathematician Katherine Johnson. She helped astronauts reach new frontiers over several decades, and the film focuses on her work in the '60s and John Glenn's historic orbital spaceflight - and her struggle for equality with her white, male co-workers.
The standout scene: A confrontation between Johnson and boss Al Harrison (Kevin Costner) over NASA's segregated bathrooms. "Hidden Figures" is inspiring, albeit heavily dramatized.
You can probably guess the next movie in the lineup, because of course it's Ron Howard's 1995 classic "Apollo 13" (Starz, digital rental). Tom Hanks plays Jim Lovell, the astronaut with a North Chicago VA hospital named after him. He captained the Apollo 13 moon mission in 1970 that could have ended in tragedy after an oxygen system failure. But as chronicled in the film, Lovell and shipmates Fred Haise (the dearly departed Bill Paxton) and Jack Swigert (Kevin Bacon) made it home with determination and the collective ingenuity of Houston's finest.
More stirring than the story: James Horner's chill-inducing music. A pilot himself, Horner's work showed a particular affinity for films about flight. "Apollo 13" contains his grandest theme, and ethereal vocals by Annie Lennox.
Wrap it up with the only sci-fi film on this list, grounded in reality though it may be. "The Martian" (fuboTV, digital rental) refers not to a green beastie with antennae, but stranded astronaut Mark Watney (Matt Damon), left behind on Mars and presumed dead by his crewmates after a storm. Director Ridley Scott's flawless technical wizardry augments a surprisingly funny script by Drew Goddard ("Bad Times at the El Royale") that keeps upping the stakes even as it drops "Lord of the Rings" references and lets Watney snark away about his captain's (Jessica Chastain) affinity for disco.
Why it belongs on this list: Released just six years ago, "The Martian" already feels a little too idealistic in its portrayal of humanity overcoming all-but-certain doom (and bureaucracy) in a fictional American future. But July 4 is a fine day for optimism.
• Sean Stangland is an assistant news editor who does indeed love the movie "Independence Day."