It’s another Thursday and I’m doing my best to keep up with the Thursday Movie Picks. Thursday Movie Picks is held every Thursday. The rules are very simple. Just pick three to five movies that go along with the theme of the week. This week it’s “Scientists.”
1. Jurassic Park: “Your scientists were so preoccupied with whether they could, they didn’t stop to think if they should.”
Paleontologists Alan Grant and Ellie Sattler and mathematician Ian Malcolm are among a select group chosen to tour an island theme park populated by dinosaurs created from prehistoric DNA. While the park’s mastermind, billionaire John Hammond, assures everyone that the facility is safe, they find out otherwise when various ferocious predators break free and go on the hunt.
This is one of my favorite movies. Anytime it’s on TV I have to watch it. I still get butterflies in my stomach when Dr. Grant sees an actual dinosaur for the first time. It’s a pretty solid warning of what not to do with scientific power as well. And yet there are how many more movies after this one? But I love it and I can’t get enough. I can’t wait for Jurassic World 3.
2. Avengers Endgame: “Good. You had me worried there, because that’d be horseshit. That’s not how quantum physics works.”
After the devastating events of Avengers: Infinity War (2018), the universe is in ruins. With the help of remaining allies, the Avengers assemble once more in order to reverse Thanos’ actions and restore balance to the universe.
It might be a little bit of a reach but you have Bruce Banner/Hulk and Tony Stark both trying to figure out time travel and how the entire thing would work. There’s a lot of science in these movies, even if it’s exaggerated. I mean, the entire reason Hulk exists is because of an experiment gone wrong. Thor has even compared science and magic in previous movies. The MCU is filled with various scientists, engineers, and smart asses.
3. The Fly (1986): “I’m working on something that will change the world, and human life as we know it.”
In an isolated and outdated laboratory, a physicist called Brundle discovers teleportation and he shows Veronica, a journalist, his lab and his invention. The scientist decides then to experiment it on himself, but a fly enters the machine too and the man undergoes an unexpected mutation. Brundle progressively changes becoming a mutant monster with an uncontrollable force.
I probably saw this movie for the first time when I was way too young but it’s a good one. You have Jeff Goldblum playing a eccentric scientist who has an experiment go horribly wrong. Science is all fun and games until you accidentally turn yourself into a fly/human hybrid. I’ve never seen the original but I might try and make that happen soon. It’ll be interesting to compare the two since they seem very different story wise.
Only three movies this week on the list! I tried my best to mix it up. I didn’t want to include biopics because I felt a lot of people might have them on their lists. A few other films that crossed my mind though included “The Martian, “Arrival, and “Independence Day.”
I’ve only seen two of your picks but they are terrific ones and fit the theme wonderfully. I’m not as big a fan of Jurassic Park as you but it was a great thrill ride when I saw it in the theatre when it first came out. The sequels I can take or leave.
The Fly was another intense experience in the theatre but with Jeff Goldblum so ideally cast and solid direction it was a super entertainment.
I am so burnt out on The Avengers (and any X-Men related films) at this point I just ignore them when they come out. But I did love the initial X-Men film.
I don’t have a blog so I just post my three in the comments. I love my first two and the third is a flyaway comedy that spawned far too many follow-ups.
Creator (1985)-Wildly eccentric but brilliant scientist Dr. Harry Wolper (Peter O’Toole), head of his department at a prestigious medical research university, is at a crossroads. After years of living an unconventional but steady life, which includes trying to clone his late wife in his backyard laboratory, two people enter his sphere and radically change his perspective. Funny, poignant, quirky, evocative comedy drama is anchored by a masterful performance by the great O’Toole.
Hidden Figures (2016)-Three brilliant African-American women, Katherine Johnson (Taraji P. Henson), Dorothy Vaughan (Octavia Spencer) and Mary Jackson (Janelle Monáe), work behind the scenes at NASA. Though in many ways they have superior skills to their supervisors they face double discrimination because of both their sex and color but slowly things begin to change as the agency prepares to launch astronaut John Glenn (Glen Powell) into orbit. Involving drama which like Apollo 13 manages to impart a sense of suspense despite the outcome being a known.
Honey, I Shrunk the Kids (1989)-When his kids sneak into inventor Wayne Szalinski’s (Rick Moranis) upstairs lab to retrieve a baseball, his experimental shrink ray miniaturizes them. On that goofy premise this silly but very successful comedy hinges. Followed by far too many sequels.
I looooove Honey, I Shrunk the Kids! That’s a super solid choice as well. I love seeing what everyone comes up with every week for the different themes. And honestly, I’m over the X-Men related moves as well. I can’t remember the last X-related film I saw, besides Deadpool which I don’t really count for some reason!
I don’t think Endgame is a reach at all! That’s a great choice. I love your first two picks but have never seen The Fly. That’s been on my list for a while.
I hope you get a chance to watch The Fly soon! And thank you!
I liked how they did the time travel thing in Endgame. They gave a simple explanation that was pretty much nonsensical and just rolled with it without bending over backwards to try to explain it 🙂 What matters is how fun movie was, it played like the journey through MCU so far
I agree with some of the above commenters that I like what they did in Endgame. The time travel wasn’t confusing and it genuinely made sense.
I’ve seen both your first and last pick. I too saw The Fly when I was very young and haven’t seen it since, I do remember that it was creepy.
I’ve missed your week until now and have seen your first 2 picks but not The Fly. I have seen the original which is quite good.