Movies are stupid!!

towards the end of last term I for some reason had a strange desire to see the movie Innerspace again. I remember that movie as being hilarious and fun, the perfect blend of sci-fi and comedy that had a solid story combined with great actors (Quaid, Short, Ryan). I recall the amazing special effects and realism of the mini-sub travelling through the body. At the time I had thought it was a superb omage to the much older Fantastic Voyage (which is aparantely getting a remake in 2010). Now remember that it was 1987 and my impression of movies might have been skewed.

So during the last week of classes I was home during a 4 hour break and thought I would watch some TV while I ate lunch. To my surprise there was the movie I had so fondly remembered only the day before. And more to my surprise that movie was bad! I won't go into too much detail but here are a few choice moments that I thought were truly terrible.

1. car chase scene between an older scientist on a bicycle and menacing bad guy driving a death mobile (black of course) in which the scientist easily pedals faster than a speeding car.
2. the fact that the menacing bad guy had a fake hand that was also a gun! He could use the hand normally but it also shot a bullet out of his index finger. All he needed to do was cock back his thumb and point. To reload he needed to change the whole hand though.
3. the "science of shrinking" that stated clearly that Dennis Quaid would run out of air in 24 hours if they couldn't get him back to normal size. Why can't he just open the hatch and take a breath of fresh air? Because that would cause instant depressurization and blow up his mini-sub.
Now none of that makes sense because if pressure was the only issue he could just slowly repressurize.
Also in a scene not too long after that Martin Short drinks whiskey so that Dennis Quaid can get some whiskey to drink. How is this accomplished? Well he just opens a hatch and sticks his flask out into THE OPEN AIR!! catching the alcohol as it goes past. Too bad he can't get any air with his whiskey.

So I don't recommend watching this movie again unless you want your childhood memories shattered. Unless you haven't seen it yet, then I would put this on high priority the next time you are looking for something to rent.

p.s. The scene where Martin is talking to Dennis (who is inside of him) while he is using a urinal... priceless