Brainstorm (1983)

[FlyingPenguin]

One of my (as well as my wife's) favorite all-time hard science fiction movies (followed closely be Andromeda Strain, and 2001 A Space Odyssey). I must have watched this movie two dozen times and just watched it again tonight. Notably this was also Natalie Wood's last movie - she actually died late in the filming which required some scenes to be re-written to work with the footage of her they had. Christopher Walken excels in the starring role as a brilliant, but naive genius.

There are four interesting things going on in this movie. One is the standard "The government/military will corrupt good science" theme, which provides the tension. However there are other threads. One is the excellent way they show the logical progression of a technology from primitive laboratory testbed, through prototypes, to production models. It's quite believable, and logical. There is also the examination of the social upheaval this new technology will cause. Then there is also the marvelous exploration of the mind and human soul. If you've never seen the movie, I don't want to spoil it for you.

Yes it's a bit dated, but still holds up well. The technology is believable in the context of the 80's. Resist the urge to pick it apart too carefully (like how it requires a holographic tape to record the massive amount of data that comprises a person's thoughts, but you can somehow transmit that data on an acoustic modem). Someone spent a LOT of loving attention on making the lab completely believable, and all the equipment functional and realistic looking.

There is also a deep social message in this movie. One that connects with the social upheaval going on today with social networking, Internet everywhere, and wearable computing.

http://www.amazon.com/Brainstorm/dp/B00 ... brainstorm

[normalicy]

Somehow I never caught this one. Gonna grab it.

[Executioner]

Wow I haven't seen that flick in years. Probably back in the 80's.