Good examples of science in movies

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What movie do you think does something admirable (though not necessarily accurate) regarding science? Bonus points for answering whether the chosen movie is any good generally....

This would also included positive representations of science folks, too, i guess.

I'd offer up Real Genius(the pranks they pull actually worked), and the kids were actually positively depicted.

― kingfish cyclopean ice cream (kingfish 2.0), Thursday, 3 August 2006 21:51 (nineteen years ago)

75 hilarious answers by morning

― rrrobyn sharkattack battleforcenet (rrrobyn), Thursday, 3 August 2006 22:00 (nineteen years ago)

honey i shrunk the kids

― rrrobyn sharkattack battleforcenet (rrrobyn), Thursday, 3 August 2006 22:01 (nineteen years ago)

"does something admirable regarding science" wtf grammar

― the doaple gonger (nickalicious), Thursday, 3 August 2006 22:04 (nineteen years ago)

Whatever this question is trying to ask, the answer is probably PRIMER.

― the doaple gonger (nickalicious), Thursday, 3 August 2006 22:06 (nineteen years ago)

admirable (though not necessarily accurate)

Interesting, internally consistent extrapolation: BLADE RUNNER

― Whitman Mayonnaise (Rock Hardy), Thursday, 3 August 2006 22:08 (nineteen years ago)

also, nothing Jeff Goldblum has ever done would qualify(except for Buckaroo Banzai)

(and maybe Vibes)

― kingfish cyclopean ice cream (kingfish 2.0), Thursday, 3 August 2006 22:10 (nineteen years ago)

Does weird science count?

― chap who would dare to start Raaatpackin (chap), Thursday, 3 August 2006 22:11 (nineteen years ago)

my first answer was actually ALIENS

― rrrobyn sharkattack battleforcenet (rrrobyn), Thursday, 3 August 2006 22:11 (nineteen years ago)

THE FLY doesn't count then?

― rrrobyn sharkattack battleforcenet (rrrobyn), Thursday, 3 August 2006 22:12 (nineteen years ago)

probably not, as the one science guy is demented enough to fuck with nature and barfs on his food, which just won't do in polite company

― kingfish cyclopean ice cream (kingfish 2.0), Thursday, 3 August 2006 22:14 (nineteen years ago)

how are we defining science? does it include engineering?

― gabbneb (gabbneb), Thursday, 3 August 2006 22:14 (nineteen years ago)

SHORT CIRCUIT.

― c('°c) (Leee), Thursday, 3 August 2006 22:15 (nineteen years ago)

Short Circuit 2.

― c('°c) (Leee), Thursday, 3 August 2006 22:15 (nineteen years ago)

Alphaville for how realistic the bogus science therein is

― xavier (xave), Thursday, 3 August 2006 22:16 (nineteen years ago)

i feel like i don't understand science anymore

― rrrobyn sharkattack battleforcenet (rrrobyn), Thursday, 3 August 2006 22:16 (nineteen years ago)

How about the soft sciences?

Not that Hollywood's output is full of good examples of psychology or anthropology...

― chap who would dare to start Raaatpackin (chap), Thursday, 3 August 2006 22:17 (nineteen years ago)

Back to the Future 2.
Back to the Future 3.

― c('°c) (Leee), Thursday, 3 August 2006 22:18 (nineteen years ago)

ooh ooh
Hulk

― rrrobyn sharkattack battleforcenet (rrrobyn), Thursday, 3 August 2006 22:20 (nineteen years ago)

Ok, if we're playing this game
Young Einstein

― chap who would dare to start Raaatpackin (chap), Thursday, 3 August 2006 22:21 (nineteen years ago)

haha, where are all the movies about sociologists??
xpost re soft sciences

― rrrobyn sharkattack battleforcenet (rrrobyn), Thursday, 3 August 2006 22:22 (nineteen years ago)

i think the original question is referring to shit on screen that actually makes sense, that isn't bullshit lazy scriptwriter malarkey(e.g. using a powerbook to u/l a virus to an alien mothership). I think this is generally what is referred to as "hard S.F." in literature.

Also, most of 2001 & 2010 (where the physics actually worked). A nasa guy gave an after-class presentation when i was still an undergrad, and talked about how one of their teams sat down and figured out that Kubrick & Clarke got the spacecraft right, and were only off by 1/3 for the spinning habitat module. For Keir Dullea to really be able to run around it like that, it would need to either be 3x longer radius or spin 3x as fast.

― kingfish cyclopean ice cream (kingfish 2.0), Thursday, 3 August 2006 22:24 (nineteen years ago)

What movie do you think does something admirable (though not necessarily accurate) regarding science?

TRANSLATED

What movie do you think portrays science/scientists admirably (if not accurately)?

MUCH BETTER...I RUEL.

― the doaple gonger (nickalicious), Thursday, 3 August 2006 22:32 (nineteen years ago)

Barbarella

― Steve Shasta (Steve Shasta), Thursday, 3 August 2006 22:33 (nineteen years ago)

And the winner is still PRIMER.

― the doaple gonger (nickalicious), Thursday, 3 August 2006 22:33 (nineteen years ago)

Not a movie but FUTURAMA also wins, if only for FARNSWORTH PARADOX.

― the doaple gonger (nickalicious), Thursday, 3 August 2006 22:35 (nineteen years ago)

Hollow Man.... Elisabeth Shue uses "science" to aid herself out of sticky situations at the point when the film turns into a teenage slasher flick....

― JTS (JTS), Thursday, 3 August 2006 23:53 (nineteen years ago)

tarareidscientist.jpg

― Marmot 4-Tay: The root cause of dragon hatred among power metal bands. (marmotwo, Friday, 4 August 2006 00:15 (nineteen years ago)

EVOLUTION. Rectal Head & Shoulders, people.

― StanM (StanM), Friday, 4 August 2006 00:23 (nineteen years ago)

I vote for Sneakers

― Elvis Telecom (Chris Barrus), Friday, 4 August 2006 00:26 (nineteen years ago)

ALTERED STATES

― rrrobyn sharkattack battleforcenet (rrrobyn), Friday, 4 August 2006 00:34 (nineteen years ago)

ha i was JUST about to post that

― de latebloomer's 2015 youth crew revival (latebloomer), Friday, 4 August 2006 00:36 (nineteen years ago)

because it is so AWESOME

― rrrobyn sharkattack battleforcenet (rrrobyn), Friday, 4 August 2006 00:41 (nineteen years ago)

Blade Runner's also good because at the start it presents a pretty faithful Turing test to determine if the replicant is human or not (replicant fails, shoots proctor, Harrison Ford is called)

― badg (badg), Friday, 4 August 2006 01:32 (nineteen years ago)

http://www.dvdinmypants.com/reviews/A-G/images/alone2.jpg

― timmy tannin (pompous), Friday, 4 August 2006 01:35 (nineteen years ago)

it ain't science til ya wake up an ape man at the zoo

― de latebloomer's 2015 youth crew revival (latebloomer), Friday, 4 August 2006 01:46 (nineteen years ago)

http://austin.metblogs.com/archives/images/2005/12/zapped.jpg

― timmy tannin (pompous), Friday, 4 August 2006 01:49 (nineteen years ago)

Timmy tannin is that a photo from the museum of anthropology at the University of British Columbia in Canada? I believe I've touched that animal, and commented on how much it resembles one of the gatekeepers from Ghostbusters. Ooh! Hang on!

Good example of science in movies: Bill Murray the paranormal psychologist in Ghostbusters. Cats and Dogs living together - mass hysteria!

― badg (badg), Friday, 4 August 2006 05:29 (nineteen years ago)

Er, Good Will Hunting? And Pi, especially due to the ending, where *SPOILERS!* the dude realizes there is no one pattern to unlock the secrets of the universe.

― Tuomas (Tuomas), Friday, 4 August 2006 05:34 (nineteen years ago)

er, badg, that is a still from some godawful tara reid vehicle from a year or two ago, can't remember the name. possibly filmed on location, or modeled after the museum you mentioned.
xpost

― timmy tannin (pompous), Friday, 4 August 2006 05:39 (nineteen years ago)

HAHAHAH "Alone in the Dark" the movie! Starring Christian Slater and Tara Reid as a SCIENTIST!

― kingfish cyclopean ice cream (kingfish 2.0), Friday, 4 August 2006 05:43 (nineteen years ago)

I thought I started a thead about this a while ago... or maybe I just talked about starting a thread on it. ABout how the role of Science has changed within movies over the decades - from good thing, to bad, uncontrolled thing, evil scientists (from Frankenstein on) - science will save us, vs. science will kill us all.

But I can't remember what I called it. Sigh.

― I'm On The Radio So I Don't Care!!!1! (kate), Friday, 4 August 2006 08:15 (nineteen years ago)

was a thing on bbc called "Hollywood Science" where Kryten from Red Dwarf and some bloke from the other bbc2 pop science shows tried to recreate various scenes from films and commented on how plausible the science behind them was. was good. one of them was the electromagnet escape in Hollow Man (as briefly mentioned above).

http://www.open2.net/science/hollywood_science/

― Koogy Yonderboy (koogs), Friday, 4 August 2006 08:56 (nineteen years ago)

Not a movie but FUTURAMA also wins, if only for FARNSWORTH PARADOX.

Haha I knew you'd beat me to that Nicka. But its the Farnsworth paraBOX, duder! ;P

But yes, Futurama went to great lengths to always obey physics in space and whatnot. Bender being shot out of the moving ship by accident, and them saying they couldnt catch him as a result, was nice - as was how he stopped himself subsequently by chucking stuff out of his swag in the opposite direction til he spun on the spot and slowed to a halt.

― Trayce (trayce), Saturday, 5 August 2006 04:32 (nineteen years ago)

The test in Blade Runner is different from a Turing Test in focusing on
biological indicators of emotional response.
The (brief) description of the doomsday weapon in Doctor Strangelove is
completely accurate.

― shieldforyoureyes (shieldforyoureyes), Saturday, 5 August 2006 05:29 (nineteen years ago)

I'd like to see more films that get computer shit right. I realise its all about visuals and dumbing things down, but it is so rare to see someone even using bloody Windows, ffs. Giant envelopes lying around singing "youve got mail!" just give me headaches on helpdesk jobs cos people think thats how the intarweb works.

― Trayce (trayce), Saturday, 5 August 2006 07:09 (nineteen years ago)

one month passes...

i've finally seen Real Genius (singapore hb0 whooo).
i'm a fan of lasers, esp movie lasers.

― rrrobyn, the situation (rrrobyn), Wednesday, 13 September 2006 03:01 (nineteen years ago)

and destroying things with popcorn. SCIENCE!

― rrrobyn, the situation (rrrobyn), Wednesday, 13 September 2006 03:10 (nineteen years ago)

A wonderful, wonderful film. And apparently based largely on reality, if my Cal Tech-attending high school science teacher is to be believed.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Wednesday, 13 September 2006 03:24 (nineteen years ago)

i recalled Real Genius was pure greatness at its time, so i bought it not too long ago having not seen it for a while. it seemed poor at first, nothing like i remembered.

But then I watched it over and over and over again and realised its still fucking ace.

that Comsat Angels song is fantastic, and Tears for Fears coming in at the end is near perfect.

― Ste (Fuzzy), Wednesday, 13 September 2006 07:41 (nineteen years ago)

i think its turning point is the crazy pool party, with the lasers giving directions. from there on out, action.

― rrrobyn, the situation (rrrobyn), Wednesday, 13 September 2006 13:05 (nineteen years ago)

Terminator used lasers to quite a good effect, ie they were more of an instant flash than say a laser blast from Star Wars

― Ste (Fuzzy), Wednesday, 13 September 2006 14:35 (nineteen years ago)

Silent explosion in space in RobotJox

― Stone Monkey (Stone Monkey), Wednesday, 13 September 2006 14:47 (nineteen years ago)

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