Platypuschow
Starring the late great Dennis Hopper and underrated talent Fisher Stevens this is an odd little 80's sci-fi comedy that I'd never heard of. I can only assume this is because it didn't do all too well.It tells the story of a car nut who finds a mysterious device while searching for something to use for his science project. The device distorts time and space building to an epic climax featuring dinosaurs, laser firing space men and everything in between.On paper this should have been outstanding but for whatever reason it fell flat.The sci-fi side looks pretty terrible and does not even remotely meet its potential while the comedy element is so lacking it's hard to believe they even call it that. In fact the only comedy comes from Fisher Stevens who is one of the movies saving graces.Those into 80's cheese might appreciate this but don't go expecting Weird Science (1985) because it isn't even close.The Good:Solid scriptFisher StevensThe Bad:Doesn't flow very wellIsn't funnyThings I Learnt From This Movie:You can wear sunglasses during mug shots
StuOz
A kid makes a strange science project that leads to time travel.Forget the over-rated "Bill And Ted", forget the "Back To The Future" movies, if you want a 1980s time travel flick you will find it here in "My Science Project".For the life of me, I will never know why this film is now so forgotten and unknown while the above mentioned movies get free-to-air reruns every six months (atleast in Australia)!!!!????What makes "My Science Project" so much better than the above films? I guess it partly comes down to the characters in the movie. From nutty Dennis Hopper, to the kid who keeps referencing all those 1960s/1970s shows/movies, and to the lead character who just comes over as pleasing (in a non Michael J Fox-sort of way).But also the ending, which I dare not give away.Granted, this is missing the mighty opening theme tune of the "Back To The Future" movies, but with the exception of the music, "My Science Project" wins hands down!
MrBark
I was five-years-old when this movie first came to HBO. I haven't seen it in a while, but I still have a good impression of it. If you like cheesy sci-fi films, you'll like this one.<SPOILER ALERT> The premise of the movie is fantastic. A UFO crashes decades ago. What does the military do with it? They put it in a junkyard where high-schoolers have access to the strange craft's engine.Now Michael tries to pass off the alien time-warp engine as his own science project. Now, I've studied to be a teacher, and there's no way on The Good Lord's earth that ANY teacher would believe this was a student's own project.My favorite part was when they were trying to outrun the electric tendrils of the gizmo. Now let's see, electricity runs at THE SPEED OF LIGHT!!! According to Einstein, NOTHING but energy can go as fast as light. Yet, THEY OUTRUN THE TENDRILS! I don't care how good your car is, it can't run that fast! This is so cheesy, you have to love it.I would have to say that Dennis Hopper, the teacher, and Fisher Stevens, the best-friend Vince, give Academy Award winning performances, if the Academy had a sense of humor. The best line belongs to Stevens. As Vince is having his mug shot taken, the cop asks him why he's wearing sunglasses at night (How '80s is that?). He replies, "When you're cool, the sun shines on you 24 hours a day." Great delivery.If you like cheesy films, you must, MUST, see this one.
GordonFly
I love 'My Science Project'. I first saw it on HBO one day back in 87 and loved it right away, it's a great sci-fi thriller, with many moments of comedy as well.SPOILER ALERT!!!It concerns a car nut high school student played by John Stockwell (you'd think that after the hell he went through with Christine, he'd stay the heck away from cars), who needs a science project to pass his science class, problem is, he doesn't have one. So one night he, and his new girlfreind are rumaging around in an old military junk yard outside of town hoping to find something suitable to impress his teacher, and find a very odd little machine. It's high tech looking, with a glass globe mounted in the middle that when powered up, emits electricity that resembles one of those plasma globes you'd find at Spencers Gifts in the mall. As he's cleaning it, he decides to hook it up to a power supply, this turns out to be a huge mistake as 'the gizmo', as it's called in the film, turns out to be an engine from a spacecraft and can locally warp time and space, bringing objects and people from other times into our own. It soon goes wildly out of control and eventually the whole school is caught in a warp, and it's up to Stockwell, and his wise cracking freind, played wonderfully by Fisher Stevens, to shut down the gizmo for good.A very underrated film, with impressive visuals that still hold up well (except for the dinosaur), great acting from it's cast, inspired writing, and when watched on a good surround set up, a great audio mix to boot. It means no harm, and is fun.
AD
