IAP 2003 Movie Descriptions

Movies

Classic/Foreign Movie Series

Lectures

Sneaks

The 25th Annual SciFi Marathon Saturday January 25, 6pm in 26-100

Featuring: Alien, Contact, Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb, Innerspace, Star Trek: The Ultimate Computer; Shorts: "Attack of the Chubbchubbs", "Horses on Mars", "More", "Animato"; a pizza break, and a bonus for the late stayers. Admission is $6. Marathon starts at 6pm. Individual start times follow. Half price after Contact (11:30pm). Innerspace and Dr. Strangelove will replay Sunday night at he normal $3 rate.

Alien (1979) (R) 117 minutes (Dolby Stereo) Saturday January 25, 6:10pm in 26-100

In space no one can hear you scream. The film that launched Sigourney Weaver to prominence, Alien provides a creepy look into the perils of contact with new species. Far from the antiseptic interiors of Star Wars and the technological wizardry of Star Trek, a commercial towing vessel comes across a mysterious distress signal. Going down to investigate, they are horrified and must fight to stay alive. Featuring Alien design by H. R. Giger, the film won a 1979 Academy Award for Special Effects. Short preceding movie: The Chubbchubbs (2002) 6 minutes Deciding to be a hero is the easy part... Director Eric Armstrong introduces us to the alien inhabitants of the Planet Glorf: a singing Diva named Meeper, 20 foot-tall red-eyed bullies called Zyzaks, and the ChubbChubbs. Meeper valiantly tries to warn the patrons of the Ale-E-Inn, an intergalactic watering hole with its own constellation of stars, of impending danger only to find himself face to face with the toughest creatures in the universe.

BREAK; Pizza orders taken Saturday January 25, 8:20pm in 26-100

Contact (1997) (PG) 153 minutes Saturday January 25, 8:50pm in 26-100

A journey to the heart of the universe. Based on the acclaimed novel by astronomer Carl Sagan. SETI researcher Dr. Ellie Arroway (Jodie Foster) makes the breakthrough of a lifetime, being the first to successfully receive transmissions of an extraterrestrial origin. Soon, the race is on to decode the transmissions and find out what the extraterrestrials want. Amidst religious sects looking to the end of the world and global firms interested in the aliens' technology, Dr. Arroway must find her own spiritual enlightenment and come to terms with the loss of her father. Winner of a 1998 Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation. (The Hugo is one of the highest prizes attainable by science fiction works) Rated PG for some intense action, mild language and a scene of sensuality. Short preceding movie: Horses on Mars (2001) 8 minutes He's 3.5 microns tall, and he's 100 million miles from home. A microbe living on an asteroid is separated from his friend, journeying through millions of miles of space filled with wondrous imagery. Evokes the spirit of space exploration (fitting in a visit by Soviet spacecraft to Venus), this short film is a perfect lead-in to Contact.

BREAK; Pizza arrives Saturday January 25, 11:30pm in 26-100

Classic Science Fiction Trailers Sunday January 26, 12:15am in 26-100

Take yourself back decades with these previews of ground-breaking science fiction films. Some of these are older than you are, so don't miss these treasures from the LSC archives!

Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964) (PG) 93 minutes (Academy mono, Black and White) Sunday January 26, 12:30am in 26-100   Sunday January 26, 7pm in 26-100   (Special replay showing)

The hotline suspense comedy. How do you make a comedy out of nuclear explosions and the end of the world? Almost impossible, but not for legendary director Stanley Kubrick (Spartacus, 2001: A Space Odyssey, A Clockwork Orange, The Shining). The film features a nuclear attack against the Soviet Union, a Doomsday Device which will destroy all life on the planet Earth, a general obsessed with denying women his "precious Bodily Fluids," a Texas cowboy in command of a B-52 attack bomber, and a scientist (Dr. Strangelove) with a remarkable resemblance to Henry Kissinger. Consistently ranked by critics as one of the best films ever made, and introducing none other than James Earl Jones (the voice of Darth Vader) in his first motion picture feature, Dr. Strangelove is not to be missed. Nominated for four Academy Awards, and winner of a 1965 Hugo Award. Short preceding movie: More (1998) 6 minutes What price success A worker on a tedious assembly line tinkers in his spare time, and finally succeeds in perfecting his invention, which allows people to see life through rose-colored glasses. A tremendously innovative short film, the first clay-animated film photographed in the tremendous clarity and depth of large-format IMAX, More was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Short Animated Film. Trailer for Kubrick's Lolita Director Stanley Kubrick ranks among the legends of cinema. But how do you make a movie out of Lolita in strait-laced 1962? A very well-known and hilarious trailer, this will get you in the Kubrick mood for Dr. Strangelove.

BREAK Sunday January 26, 2:15am in 26-100

Special Feature: Star Trek memorabilia Sunday January 26, 2:45am in 26-100

Between the end of the television series and the first Star Trek film, the cast of the show branched into various occupations, including singing. Yes, that's right, singing. Join a crowd of your fellow MIT students in laughter (or, if you prefer, a sing-along) as we play songs from the classic recordings of William Shatner and Leonard Nimoy. We will also feature audio clips from LSC lectures given by Star Trek affiliates.

Star Trek: The Ultimate Computer (1967) 50 minutes (16mm) Sunday January 26, 3:00am in 26-100

Tightly edited, action-packed, and incorporating practically every special effects shot produced for the series, this episode ranks as one of the classics. Captain Kirk and a skeleton crew stay on board the Enterprise as the controls are handed over to M5, an advanced multitronic computer designed by the same man who made the duotronic breakthrough that made the Enterprise possible. But when the computer starts destroying Starfleet ships and puts up a force field around it to prevent itself from being disconnected, the crew must find a way to stop the computer before it kills thousands.

BREAK Sunday January 26, 3:50am in 26-100

Attack of the Killer Tomatos sing-along Sunday January 26, 4:20am in 26-100

Follow the inevetable bouncing lazer pointers as you join your fellow audience members in singing this classic science fiction theme song.

Innerspace (1987) (PG) 120 minutes (Dolby Stereo SR) Sunday January 26, 4:30am in 26-100   Sunday January 26, 10pm in 26-100   (Special replay showing)

An Adventure of Incredible Proportions. Director Steven Spielberg introduces us to Tuck Pendleton (Dennis Quaid), a cocky pilot who is taking part in a miniaturization experiment. He is shrunk and placed in a submarine-like craft in preparation for injection into a rabbit. When techno-terrorists break into the lab to steal the technology, one of the fleeing scientists grabs part of the material needed to restore Tuck and the syringe containing him. The scientist, dying from a bullet wound, flees into the mall where he injects Tuck into hypochondriac Jack Putter (Martin Short). By linking into Jack's systems Tuck convinces him to go back to the lab only to discover that the other ingredient to the restorative was stolen. What follows is a thrilling race against time as Tuck's oxygen supply is depleted and his only hope may be a lead from reporter Lydia Maxwell (Meg Ryan), Tuck's former girlfriend. Short preceding movie: Animato (1979) (16mm) 3 minutes This short is the award winning precursor to Mike Jittlov's famous Wizard of Speed and Time. Models glide in like an ultra-slick fashion parade with an easybeat enjoyment to an uptempo Petula Clark song. Our favorite guy in the green jacket floats through Los Angeles while UFO's are buzzing jets, rockets lifting out of Hollywood monuments, into galloping sight/sound transcendence and a whirl wind trip to space and sheer joy!

Bonus for audience members who stay through marathon Sunday January 26, 6:40am in 26-100

It isn't easy to stay through the Science-Fiction Marathon, so those in the audience at the conclusion of Innerspace will get a small reward for their endurance. (You could sleep through the Marathon and come back in the morning, but what would be the fun in that?)

Silence of the Lambs (1991) (R) 118 minutes Friday January 31, 8pm in 26-100   Saturday February 1, 8pm in 26-100

To enter the mind of a killer she must challenge the mind of a madman. Rookie FBI agent Clarice Starling (Jodie Foster) is assigned to help find and rescue a missing woman from a psychopathic serial killer who skins his victims. Clarice attempts to gain better insight into the twisted mind of the killer by talking to incarcerated psychiatrist, Hannibal "The Cannibal" Lecter (Anthony Hopkins). FBI agent Jack Crawford believes that Lecter, who is also a very powerful and clever mind manipulator, might have the answers to their questions to help locate the killer. Clarice must gain Lecter's confidence before they can get from him the information they need.