My Science Project
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Movie Reviews of My Science Project
Movie Review: Fun
Summary: 4 Stars
Yeah, buy this fun movie for your DVD collection -- but at the lowest price you can find.Movie Review: "Is this like when you told us we could smoke banana peels?"
Summary: 3 Stars
If I recall correctly, the last science project I did in school involved using a potato, nails, and a couple of pennies to make a kind of battery... okay, so I never threatened to disrupt the space/time continuum with my potato battery, but it was still pretty cool...My Science Project (1985), written and directed by Jonathan Betuel, who had a seemingly very short career in Hollywood writing 1984's The Last Starfighter and then sort of falling off the face of the Earth after his 1995 flop Theodore Rex, starring Whoopi Goldberg (she really has the Midas touch, but instead of turning things into gold, they turn into cr@p). Starring in the film is John Stockwell (Losin' It, Christine), Danielle von Zerneck (La Bamba), and Fisher Stevens (Short Circuit, Super Mario Bros.). Also appearing is Raphael Sbarge (Vision Quest, Carnosaur), Richard Masur (Risky Business), Barry Corbin (Stir Crazy), Ann Wedgeworth (Love and a .45) and Dennis Hopper (Blue Velvet).
The film begins with scenes at a U.S. air force base, circa 1957, and the decision, of the highest authority, to cover up a mysterious UFO that was found crashed nearby. The story then moves to the present (1985 being the present), where we meet Mike Harlan, a high school student and motor head (that's someone who's really good with cars), eagerly awaiting to graduate, but finds himself in the predicament of having to come up with a science project, or else his science teacher, Bob Roberts (Hopper) won't pass him. He scavenges the local junkyard (which used to be the air force base in the 50's), and comes across a strange, glowing thingy (all that was left of the UFO) and decides to try and pass it off as his project. Only problem is the strange thingy begins feeding on various power sources (Hey, let's hotwire it into an electrical outlet!), and soon begins creating trans-dimensional rifts in time and space, causing different time periods (the past, present, and future) to co-exist, along with drawing his science teacher into the subsequent vortex (I wonder how that will effect his chances of graduating). Will Mike and his friends be able to stop the alien thing-a-ma-gig from tearing the very fabric of the space/time continuum a new one?
My Science Project is one of those films from the 80's of which I had fond remembrances (much like Night of the Comet, which, as I write this, has still to make an appearance on DVD). While some of those films haven't held up as well watching them some 20 years later, for me, this one has...it's funny, engaging, and visually entertaining. Keep in mind this isn't a movie where the characters travel through time, but one where elements from different time periods appear in their reality. The casting is very well done, especially with Stockwell (who appeared earlier as Arnie's jock friend Dennis in John Carpenter's killer car film Christine) as the lead character of Mike, a seemingly single-minded fellow (he cares more for his red GTO muscle car than he does for relationships with people) finding there's more to life than carburetors and spark plugs (is it me, or does Stockwell seem to have just a really huge forehead, certainly more than the average person). Danielle von Zerneck (her most famous role probably as Ritchie Valens girlfriend Donna in 1987's La Bamba) also does well as Mike's would be girlfriend, a nerdy, bookish character who learns there's something to be said for living life outside her books. And Hopper as the hippy-ish science teacher seems a no brainer, obviously utilizing his past experiences to our benefit. The only character I didn't care much for was that of Vince Latello (Stevens), the stereotypical greasy Italian friend of Mike's. He was obviously the comic relief, and you will either love him or hate him, but I thought Stevens' performance a little too over the top for my tastes, and ultimately distracting. In case you're not familiar with Stevens, his sort of ambiguous ethnicity allows him to play many different kinds of characters, including his role as the Indian inventor in the 1986 Steve Guttenberg/Ally Sheedy film Short Circuit. The direction was strong, as Betuel manages to juggle a decent story with a few subplots well, keeping my interest throughout, and also throws in a couple of references, one to Stockwell's earlier film Christine, and one with Hopper's character showing up wearing the same outfit he wore in Easy Rider. He also develops the characters enough to get some of them (the important ones, at least) past the realm of being two-dimensional. I thought it kind of strange that he should have so little in the way of other credits to his name, as he shows here he can not only direct a film well, write a decent story. The special effects looked really good for the time it was released, and even hold up well to today's standards. I especially liked the Tyrannosaurus Rex in the school gymnasium, although it's no match for Spielberg's creation in Jurassic Park, it was still done well. They did tend to use the swirling vortex above the school a bit much for my tastes, but that's a relatively minor point.
The widescreen (2.35:1) picture, released by Touchstone, on this DVD looks pretty good, but there are a few, minor flaws, and I thought the audio a bit soft. There was an earlier release by Anchor Bay that featured both widescreen and full screen formats, but no full screen here. There are no special features available, not even a trailer, so given the lack of effort in the release, I have to go with three stars.
Cookieman108
Movie Review: Love the movie, DVD could use some work
Summary: 3 Stars
Usually when I buy an older movie on DVD, I expect it to have little in the way of cleanup or processing to make it appear better in the new digital media. This movie was no exception, though perhaps it ranks a bit low on the list.
The worst part was the sound, which seemed worse to me than my old VHS copy of the movie. It seemed like it needs to be remixed to make sure the dialogue is audible over the foley and music in several places, as the speech is hard to hear. The video is grainy and poor, with multiple instances of dust or hairs flicking on the screen, which are easily remedied with today's technology (not much more than a guy with a video editing program on his computer). Further, it seems like some of the profanity was poorly dubbed out that I don't recall on the old tape, using "funk" or "suck" instead of the F-word in a few places, while other words are left untouched. I noticed the same thing on my Last Starfighter DVD and suspect it was some partial edit to conform to rating standards and/or market the movie to younger audiences. Perhaps it was like that on the tape and is only noticeable on the DVD due to the sound issues, but it's clear that the actors' voices shift as in any dubbing situation, such as those on network TV.
Still, the movie is great to have once again, if as a poor quality version for the medium. I'd recommend it only to those die-hards who need to see the flick one more time, because even for an 80s movie it holds up pretty well.
Movie Review: my science project movie
Summary: 3 Stars
the movie looks good but it lacks a better definition than other movies from its time and the wide screen format is very thik in the top and bottom margins so it makes the movie to look smaller...any way its a good movie ...i enjoyed.Movie Review: Science progect homework.
Summary: 3 Stars
The plot is a bit thin on substance, science plausibility or character development. However, the movie is very entertaining and humorous. All-in-all it is a very good movie.