Future Project - Das Geheimprojekt

This was an OK movie. John Stockwell and Fisher Stevens were a good team. Latello's (Stevens) wise-cracks are what made this movie enjoyable for me! The story is slow at times, but the action picks up and so does the movie. I recommend this for a Saturday afternoon when you have nothing to watch.

All in all, a enjoyable film.

I noticed a few bad reviews. One person said it was the Citizen Kane of bad movies. Seriously? This is hardly the worst movie, but I guess that might all depend on how life was affecting that person at that time. I mean their girlfriend or boyfriend might have left them and this movie might have been playing on the television as all that went down. SO I can understand that it may have been guilt by association. If this is a bad movie then I know what a guilty pleasure is now. I thought it had a nice charm to it overall. It was a decent plot. The leads all had personality. I thought the cute romance had some chemistry. Matter of fact, although its not the Breakfast Club of teen interpretation, I knew all these kids in high school. There was a Fisher Stevens character and I knew a Harlan type as well. It has a humor that is winning to it, especially the Fisher Stevens character. Of course it always comes down to a matter of taste. But when I saw this movie went down as one of the worst movies I had to champion it. To me whoever made it seemed to have a bit of love in their heart for it. Its a personal favorite for that reason. I must have seen this movie three times in the theatre. Granted its not the Godfather, or Close Encounters, or 2001 caliber. But the movie is well made with great special effects for the time. Its on youtube free. GIve it a chance if you don't have high expectations, or even if you do. With so much respect, the person who said this was the Citizen Kane of bad movies needs to see more movies. Gotta say, loved it. This movie has a small following. I hate to see myself as a follower, but just watched it recently and it holds up great. I hated the 80s. It may be nostalgia, but this is a fond memory from that time. Sure its mindless. But it sure is fun.

Sadly, My Science Project was a very big risk that seems to transcend it's teen film genre. While people will cite better time-travel themed movies like Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure and Back o the Future, this one will certainly stand on its own due to the Twilight Zone quality of it. Great visuals, great idea, and the story didn't try to insult it's audience by making the story painfully obvious.

I especially liked Mike's character, a kind of good guy that was a diamond stuck in the pond scum. Unfortunately, his entire performance was stepped on by Fisher Steven's over the top performance. Dennis Hopper made a perfect cameo performance that really fit his bi-polar acting style.

While this film won't be considered one of the elite teen films of the 1980s like The Breakfast Club, Bill and Ted, River's Edge, Say Anything, Sixteen Candles and Ferris Bueller's Day Off, but it will fit comfortably with the silver medalists of that area, much like Can't Buy Me love, The Wraith and Three O'Clock High. A great film for teen movie aficionados.

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.

Movies come in phases now and then where a bunch of movies with similar themes come out at about the same time. There was the underwater craze of 89 ("The Abyss", "Leviathan", and "Deepstar Six") and there was the body switch craze ("Big", "Vice Versa", and one with Dudley Moore). This movie came out during the comedy with a science twist. The other two movies that came out during this phase are "Real Genius" and "Weird Science". I liked this phase as I enjoyed all three movies quite a bit. This one was no exception as it combined humor and science fiction very well. This one has a couple of kids finding this strange device that I think ended up being some type of engine. Anyway when this thing gets hooked up with power and turns on all sorts of strange stuff starts happening. The thing seems to be able to move time or open portals. The end is great as the thing really goes berserk and it turns the school (I think it was the school) into a battle zone complete with different times. There is a dinosaur and mutants. All in all I am probably in the minority in liking this one, but I thought it was really good.