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This? This is ice. This is what happens to water when it gets too cold.

South Austin

By South Austin
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South Austin

South Austin 52509

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2 hours ago, Bender Bending Rodriguez said:

I think it's aged well because it's not very gimmicky and has legitimately good performances from Val Kilmer and William Atherton. Atherton was a legendary 80's wet blanket villain and his chemistry with Kilmer is hilarious to watch decades later. It's been said that Kilmer is a character actor stuck in a leading man's body, but he's genuinely great as the clear lead in Real Genius. Awesome 80's montage sequences too, including the Tears For Fears popcorn ending. 

Very much all of this.  It will feel even more dated the older you get, but I still think the film overall holds up very well.  And as you said, Kilmer and Atherton were great.  In particular, Kilmer's comedic timing and overall performance were . . . well, genius.

And I've always thought that the end scene to credits with Everybody Wants to Rule the World playing is such a great film moment on so many levels.  In my opinion, it's one of the iconic and timeless songs of the 1980's, not only for the guitar/synthesizer/shuffle beat combo that captured much of the 80s pop sound, but also the fatalistic Cold War lyrics, appropriate for that movie and that moment in time.  And, as Rimbo noted, while Real Genius competed with other science-based comedies around the same time, it was much more than a comedy about a bunch of nerdy and crazy college kids.  It examined a serious topic of the ethical dilemma when technological advances meet military weaponization.  Yet, the film still ends with a light-hearted optimism, set in a rain of popcorn.

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Rimbo

Rimbo 25936

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1 hour ago, LCHorn said:

It holds up and Ebert’s review is one of my favorites of his.  There’s a humanism to Ebert’s reviews that is lacking in many of his contemporaries and who get distracted by film making techniques or the rhetoric around the production.  

What made Ebert a truly great critic for me was two things. One, his biases were always very clear. Two, he was very good at describing the relevant aspects of a film.

As a result, I could read his reviews and tell if I would like a movie or not regardless of whether or not HE liked it.

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Rimbo

Rimbo 25936

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22 minutes ago, South Austin said:

Very much all of this.  It will feel even more dated the older you get, but I still think the film overall holds up very well.  And as you said, Kilmer and Atherton were great.  In particular, Kilmer's comedic timing and overall performance were . . . well, genius.

And I've always thought that the end scene to credits with Everybody Wants to Rule the World playing is such a great film moment on so many levels.  In my opinion, it's one of the iconic and timeless songs of the 1980's, not only for the guitar/synthesizer/shuffle beat combo that captured much of the 80s pop sound, but also the fatalistic Cold War lyrics, appropriate for that movie and that moment in time.  And, as Rimbo noted, while Real Genius competed with other science-based comedies around the same time, it was much more than a comedy about a bunch of nerdy and crazy college kids.  It examined a serious topic of the ethical dilemma when technological advances meet military weaponization.  Yet, the film still ends with a light-hearted optimism, set in a rain of popcorn.

i mean who the fuck doesn't like popcorn

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TrashMaster G

TrashMaster G 17557

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2 hours ago, Rimbo said:

Truth. And the characters they're playing are very real, and not dated tropes, which is something Ebert caught on to at the time. "Everybody Wants to Rule the World" ended up being a timeless classic.

Reviews from the 21st century point out that Reagan-era militarism and academic ethical violations have aged well, too; the former has become clearer in hindsight, and the latter is, like the Tears for Fears song, timeless.

Just dropping in to assert that "Everybody Wants to Rule the World" is the single greatest 80's song.

Fight me.

And Real Genius is a classic.

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Rimbo

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9 minutes ago, TrashMaster G said:

Just dropping in to assert that "Everybody Wants to Rule the World" is the single greatest 80's song.

Fight me.

And Real Genius is a classic.

Eh, I wouldn't fight you. There's a handful of songs that have a pretty strong claim on that title, and that's one of them.

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Biff Tannen

Biff Tannen 45687

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5 hours ago, Rimbo said:

i wonder if I should watch this movie again to determine if it's as good as I remember it, or if I should just let the memory stay good and not destroy it

It holds up wonderfully.  I watch it at least once a year.

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South Austin

South Austin 52509

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47 minutes ago, TrashMaster G said:

Just dropping in to assert that "Everybody Wants to Rule the World" is the single greatest 80's song.

I saw Tears for Fears play that in the Summer of 2017 at Moody Theater.  They still sounded really good musically and vocally.

And yes, you're goddam right it is.

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TrashMaster G

TrashMaster G 17557

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9 minutes ago, South Austin said:

I saw Tears for Fears play that in the Summer of 2017 at Moody Theater.  They still sounded really good musically and vocally.

And yes, you're goddam right it is.

Finally saw them last summer at Moody Center and they were awesome. 

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Biff Tannen

Biff Tannen 45687

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2 hours ago, LCHorn said:

I actually have all of his T-shirts.  And the bunny slippers.

20 points higher than me?  Thinks a big guy like that can wear his clothes?

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