My Science Project [VHS]

Was a good movie when I first saw it in the 80's and still is !

I love lost 80's flicks. I also love sci-fi and time travel movies. I would give it 5 stars but their is some really antiquated special effects in this one...must have had a lower budget than Back to the Future and Ghostbusters...

A slacker car enthusiast (John Stockwell as Michael Harlan) realizes too late that he’s expected to turn in a science project or risk failing. Instead of actually coming up with a science project, Harlan breaks into a government junk yard and stumbles across alien technology that he hopes he can pass off as something unique and worthy of a good grade. It glows and once he cleans it up he realizes that it has buttons to push and levers to pull and before he can appreciate his recklessness, the device starts draining power from any available power source. He takes the device to his hippie science teacher (Dennis Hopper as Dr. Roberts) who makes a wild guess. This gizmo is a portal to another dimension and time. And before you can say “is it worth an A,” the hippie teacher disappears into the vortex. Harlan and his wacky friend Vince (Fisher Stevens) decide to steal some dynamite and blow up the gizmo’s access to the town’s power system. Without due process, they are immediately arrested by a hick cowboy cop (Richard Masur). And then things get much worse when the vortex of space and time opens above the school.This was not a box office success. It was released in the same year that featured Weird Science, Real Genius, and Back to the Future. The plot isn’t as well thought out. Some of the gags don’t work. It’s like a rough sketch of an idea that might have worked given more time to develop. But there is the wonderful sequence in the school during the time warp that features an incredible T-Rex along with some other time visitors.This is an old favorite that I can’t justify. It’s flawed but fabulous.

My Science Project made in 1985 was a film where a high school kid goes to a military junkyard and finds a device so as to pass off as a school science project.  The small device was a power drive for a UFO which can RIP holes in time and space when not used properly.  The device when attached to batteries and powerlines did just that.  It was still a cute film where the mechanic high school boy fell in love with the right nerd school girl.  Pretty good film from 1985!

This is a great video movie that most junior high school students would enjoy. Great special effects. A science project with out-of-control adventure & science student surprises. One great movie for novices dealing with 'the science'.

Loved it

Great Video

If I recall correctly, the last science project I did in school involved using a potato, nails, and a couple of pennies to make a kind of battery... okay, so I never threatened to disrupt the space/time continuum with my potato battery, but it was still pretty cool...My Science Project (1985), written and directed by Jonathan Betuel, who had a seemingly very short career in Hollywood writing 1984's The Last Starfighter and then sort of falling off the face of the Earth after his 1995 flop Theodore Rex, starring Whoopi Goldberg (she really has the Midas touch, but instead of turning things into gold, they turn into cr@p). Starring in the film is John Stockwell (Losin' It, Christine), Danielle von Zerneck (La Bamba), and Fisher Stevens (Short Circuit, Super Mario Bros.). Also appearing is Raphael Sbarge (Vision Quest, Carnosaur), Richard Masur (Risky Business), Barry Corbin (Stir Crazy), Ann Wedgeworth (Love and a .45) and Dennis Hopper (Blue Velvet).The film begins with scenes at a U.S. air force base, circa 1957, and the decision, of the highest authority, to cover up a mysterious UFO that was found crashed nearby. The story then moves to the present (1985 being the present), where we meet Mike Harlan, a high school student and motor head (that's someone who's really good with cars), eagerly awaiting to graduate, but finds himself in the predicament of having to come up with a science project, or else his science teacher, Bob Roberts (Hopper) won't pass him. He scavenges the local junkyard (which used to be the air force base in the 50's), and comes across a strange, glowing thingy (all that was left of the UFO) and decides to try and pass it off as his project. Only problem is the strange thingy begins feeding on various power sources (Hey, let's hotwire it into an electrical outlet!), and soon begins creating trans-dimensional rifts in time and space, causing different time periods (the past, present, and future) to co-exist, along with drawing his science teacher into the subsequent vortex (I wonder how that will effect his chances of graduating). Will Mike and his friends be able to stop the alien thing-a-ma-gig from tearing the very fabric of the space/time continuum a new one?My Science Project is one of those films from the 80's of which I had fond remembrances (much like Night of the Comet, which, as I write this, has still to make an appearance on DVD). While some of those films haven't held up as well watching them some 20 years later, for me, this one has...it's funny, engaging, and visually entertaining. Keep in mind this isn't a movie where the characters travel through time, but one where elements from different time periods appear in their reality. The casting is very well done, especially with Stockwell (who appeared earlier as Arnie's jock friend Dennis in John Carpenter's killer car film Christine) as the lead character of Mike, a seemingly single-minded fellow (he cares more for his red GTO muscle car than he does for relationships with people) finding there's more to life than carburetors and spark plugs (is it me, or does Stockwell seem to have just a really huge forehead, certainly more than the average person). Danielle von Zerneck (her most famous role probably as Ritchie Valens girlfriend Donna in 1987's La Bamba) also does well as Mike's would be girlfriend, a nerdy, bookish character who learns there's something to be said for living life outside her books. And Hopper as the hippy-ish science teacher seems a no brainer, obviously utilizing his past experiences to our benefit. The only character I didn't care much for was that of Vince Latello (Stevens), the stereotypical greasy Italian friend of Mike's. He was obviously the comic relief, and you will either love him or hate him, but I thought Stevens' performance a little too over the top for my tastes, and ultimately distracting. In case you're not familiar with Stevens, his sort of ambiguous ethnicity allows him to play many different kinds of characters, including his role as the Indian inventor in the 1986 Steve Guttenberg/Ally Sheedy film Short Circuit. The direction was strong, as Betuel manages to juggle a decent story with a few subplots well, keeping my interest throughout, and also throws in a couple of references, one to Stockwell's earlier film Christine, and one with Hopper's character showing up wearing the same outfit he wore in Easy Rider. He also develops the characters enough to get some of them (the important ones, at least) past the realm of being two-dimensional. I thought it kind of strange that he should have so little in the way of other credits to his name, as he shows here he can not only direct a film well, write a decent story. The special effects looked really good for the time it was released, and even hold up well to today's standards. I especially liked the Tyrannosaurus Rex in the school gymnasium, although it's no match for Spielberg's creation in Jurassic Park, it was still done well. They did tend to use the swirling vortex above the school a bit much for my tastes, but that's a relatively minor point.The widescreen (2.35:1) picture, released by Touchstone, on this DVD looks pretty good, but there are a few, minor flaws, and I thought the audio a bit soft. There was an earlier release by Anchor Bay that featured both widescreen and full screen formats, but no full screen here. There are no special features available, not even a trailer, so given the lack of effort in the release, I have to go with three stars.Cookieman108

one of my favourite 80's films MY SCIENCE PROJECT gets a new blu-ray reissue by U.S label Kino Lorberthis film was first released on blu-ray few years ago by Mill creek entertainment which has a terrible HD transferand no extras anyway, this new 2020 reissue is 10 times better here's whyKino have given the film a new 2:35:1 HD transfer and the picture quality does look amazing qualityalot more sharper & clearer picture than the Mill creek blu-ray, and the colour restoration looks excellent aswellHardly no Grain no Dirt Kino Lorber made the effort to clean up the picture qualityso i'll probably give about 9/10 for picture quality the Mill creek transfer was only about 5/10 qualitythe sound quality has also been given a big boost with a new 2.0 master stereo mix sounds really Good 7/10EXTRAS for the first time ever this film gets a few new extras at least.a new brief exclusive interview with Co-star Fisher stevens only goes for 6min 30sec but still worth watching.he briefly talks about his audition for the film, working with Director Johnathan Betuelworking with John stockwell and Dennis Hopper, the filming Locations etcthere's also a new audio commentary recorded for this blu-ray reissueby Film critics Mike McPadden & Kat Ellinger very Detailed commentary worth listening toplus the usual Theatrical trailer in 1:33:1 Full screen looks VHS transfer qualityyes the picture quality looks average at best for some reason the Trailer was not given a Digital remasterbut comparing this to the previous Mill creek blu-ray this Kino Lorber reissue is 100% worth buyingbut it is region A locked so you need a multi region player of course, yes theres optional English subtitlesoh i should also say that Kino lorber also reissued the film on DVD with a new 2:35:1 HD mastered transferwhich has the exact same extras anyway the dvd reissue is region 1 Locked so if you already have all regions dvd player instead then buy the dvd reissue so 5 stars for this new blu-ray reissuebased on excellent looking HD transfer and sound quality but a few new extras 100% worth buyingit beats the Mill creek blu-ray anyday

Beim wiederholten Genuss von 80er Filmen (die ja als Kategorie an sich einen beachtlich guten Ruf haben) drängt sich mir oft der Gedanke auf, ob ich sie genauso toll fände, wenn ich sie jetzt zum ersten Mal sehen würde. Bei My science project hatte ich jetzt einmal diese seltene Gelegenheit, mir war der Film in den 80ern (und danach) bis jetzt komplett entgangen. Der Genuss war nichtsdestotrotz riesig, diese Leichtigkeit, dieser hohe Unterhaltungsfaktor, alles wild und bunt und witzig, immer auch mit Klischees aber kreativ genug, um das zu rechtfertigen, und ne große Portion Herz - das können so nur die 80er! Man kann bei 80er-Filmen also fast bedenkenlos zugreifen, zum zweiten oder ersten Mal! Ein Wort noch zur Besetzung: u.a. mit John Stockwell aus Radioactive dreams, Danielle von Zerneck aus La Bamba und Fisher Stevens aus Nummer 5 UND Dennis Hopper on top auch perfekt und 80er-gemäß gut besetzt!

Questo film riguardandolo mi ha portato alla mia infanzia! Il Dvd è l'edizione Inglese ma con l'audio anche in Italiano. Il video come l'audio non sono proprio il massimo, ma almeno ho potuto aggiungerlo alla mia collezione.

Die Rezension bezieht sich nur auf die UK Import Version des Films, denn der Film allein ist absolute Spitze. Aber Fans sollten sich diesen Film als 4:3 nicht kaufen, da es nicht in 4:3 gefilmt wurde, sondern in WideScopeCinema. Mann was für eine Enttäuschung!

Effettivamente la qualità video è scadente sembra di vedere una VHS. Anche l'audio, seppur mono, lascia molto a desiderare. Prendetelo solo se questo film degli anni '80 ha lasciato un bel ricordo nella vostra memoria.