My Science Project (1985)

It's a mild crowd pleaser for people who are exhausted by blockbusters.

Blending excellent reporting and strong storytelling, this is a disturbing film truly stranger than fiction

It is an exhilarating, distressing, funny and profound film, with one of the more memorable film scores in years,

Worth seeing just to witness how winsome it is.

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!

It all started good with an alien craft crash, military "cover up" and the typical American high schools clichés. The jock needs to find a science project really quick to graduate, there are 2 nerds and the crazy science professor.But then it fell apart.The president requests his military scientists to destroy a crashed alien craft. WTF?"I need a science project. Oh wait, I am going to break into to a military junkyard and find something." What a clever and sound idea!For your reading pleasure, here's a non comprehensive list of "hows" and "whys":Why the hell are the characters plugging the alien device to a battery for where nothing obvious gives them any clue to do so? Why choose to detonate an electric pylon (and black out the city) after stealing dynamite when you can simply cut the power at the fuse box? Why is the nerd able to fight like Chuck Norris? How are these kids used to M16 and their grenade launcher. Why is the main character using the grenade launcher against the dinosaur in last resort (perhaps he was not used to it after all :-))? How can they defeat a gladiator with their bare hands? How can they steal a police car so easily (with a shotgun inside). Why are the M16 fitted with unlimited ammos? Why are the viet congs armed with M16s?How can the GTO be faster than the speed of light? It overtakes the electric surge on the wires so that they can tape the dynamite on the pylon and then set it off. When a car is at maximum revs in top gear, activating boost will only destroy the drive train and/or the engine. It won't go any faster. Why is the car breaking down because of the alien device when they are on the road and why can it be fixed in the garage when the alien device is right next to it?The list of "hows" and "whys" goes on and on... I don't even want to address the little prick played by Fisher Stevens. Sighs...A waste of time unless you want to laugh at all nonsensical stuff that's packed in 1 hour 30 minutes or unless you want to see the "hows" and "whys" for yourself.

Michael and Ellie break into a military junkyard to find a science project for Michael's class, and discover a strange glowing orb which absorbs electricity. When the orb begins to blend past, present, and future, its up to Michael and Ellie to stop the orb and save mankind......Fisher Stevens is a fun screen presence, John Stockwell isn't, that's why I would have rather have had Stevens in the central role, rather than Cletus the slack jawed yokel.And its easy to see why this film vanished without a trace, unlike similar films like BTTF, because that film was consistent fun, whereas this film doesn't get going until the final twenty minutes, when it's admittedly fun.But you have to get through a whole hour of mundane narrative, and predictable stereotypes to get there. We know the girl with the glasses will end up with Stockwell, we know Stevens will be the best thing in the film, and yes, the makers decided to keep Hopper out of the film for the majority of it, and bring him back in his Easy Rider garb.Its a shame, because it is a wonderful concept, but it should have been more family orientated, because it's too immature for its target demographic.

Man I've been watching My Science Project since way back when I was a kid. It was better then but the only thing that has really dated it is the special effects. The story is still good, Fisher Stevens is still funny, and Dennis Hopper is still far out man! I'm not saying that this movie is better than Star Wars or anything but it's a pretty good example of cheesy 80's Sci-Fi. The trick to watching My Science Project or indeed, any movie from the 80's, is to not take it seriously. Turn off the white hot critic's eye and just enjoy this movie for what it is. It's a great movie. Bottom Line: I can't think of many 80's movies in this genre that are this film's equal, except for maybe The Last Starfighter. If you can let me know.