CliqueClackInsultingly Stupid Movie Physics takes filmmakers to task
Movie nerds and nerds alike will love this takedown of hilariously terribly movie physics.
There are some people out there that I would affectionately call “nerds”. Sometimes I say it to my face. You may be thinking “Oh, I’m not really a nerd”. But if you’ve ever watched a movie and thought: “What? No, that’s not possible!”, then you should read this book.
Insultingly Stupid Movie Physics comes from the website Intuitor Insultingly Stupid Movie Physics, where it grades several popular movies on a scale of decent “Good” physics to “Extremely Terrible” physics. It is the site that proudly proclaimed the pretty stupid disaster movie The Core to be the worst physics movie of all time, and is therefore hilariously watchable. But you don’t need to know a lot of physics math or formulas to like this book, although if you do, you will adore this book. The book is great for movie buffs or physics students wondering how to grasp some key concepts. Of course, the very start of this text admits that enjoying some movies (like fantasy) allows for more than a little suspension of disbelief.
But here is the book’s radical treatise: Maybe movies don’t have to be realistic to be fun.
There’s a lot to recommend this fun book about movie mistakes and real world physics. Whether you like really overthinking movies, nitpicking them, enjoying them, or merely are confused about physics, this book is quite a bit of fun. And for the fervent Star Trek versus Star Wars fans out there, you will quite enjoy the chapter that pits these two sci-fi juggernauts against each other. Let the biggest nerd win!
8 Comments on “Insultingly Stupid Movie Physics takes filmmakers to task”
One of the many idiocies that get me is in Armageddon, where Bruce Willis and crew keep flying the space shuttle nose first towards the incoming asteroid.
Yeah, that really cuts down the wind resistance.
I am Proudly a NERD and an Engineer by trade. Being a Typical Nerd I enjoy FANTASY in Games and Movies and Literature – NOT Exclusively, but quite a lot. In order to Participate in this GENRE one must exercise a cognitive technique called ‘suspended disbelief’ – just for fun. I do Understand GROANING over ‘Silly Science’ in Science Fiction but I have other stuff to do so I do not concern myself over it much.
@John Craig: I didn’t have time to worry about that. I was still stuck on the whole idea that it’s somehow easier for oil rig workers to become astronauts than for astronauts to learn how to operate a drill.
Oh come on!! Its entertainment not an MIT physics lecture. Just sit back and enjoy the fantasy. If you want to watch reality find a science show. Film is the world of make-believe and escapism .
But the more accurate the physics, the easier it is (by far) to suspend disbelief and to “get into” the story. I think that’s more and more important with the more nerdy and physics-minded you are, but it does apply to everyone intuitively. That’s why the latest computer games are getting more and more physics-accurate. Both the creators, and the players, at least intuitively know how much more enjoyable games can be as the physics improves.
@SpagCakes I’m ME now, but before my trip to the university I worked as roustabout for several years. I also know two astronauts personally. From my experience I would be willing to believe that taking rig hands and training them for space would be easier than getting astronauts to be able to work a rig.
If the physics are bad, then it is not science fiction, rather it is fantasy. You don’t need ghosts and unicorns to make it a genre fantasy.