Me & Isaac Newton

But if you don't watch PBS often, you might find this film interesting.

The film starts with seven scientists' childhoods, then goes to their professional "work", then their "Eurika" moments (or the lack of it), then every one got to say something about "future".

Every sections jump cut through all seven scientists. I sensed some discontinuities between these jumps, like half finished sentences. Maybe I completely missed the rhythm of this film, or maybe I watched too much NOVA series that I was numb to all the sweet spots this film was trying to hit.

I kept screaming silently, "I KNEW THIS ALREADY, tell me something new!". But the film never did.

When I look for new cars, I expect not to be shown boats. When I drink fountain Coke, I should expect that the drink contains Coke. When I watch a movie that embellishes itself with the name of en excellent scientist, I expect that it is in some way relevant to that person or their work. This could have been people discussing my grannys' diary. The material covered is relevant only in that they vaguely tirade science. I fell asleep the first time I tried to watch it, & the second time I stopped watching it.

I love science & documentaries. I would rather watch them over the latest blockbuster. However this falls far short of providing anything worth your time – Avoid at all costs.

This documentary I rented over my summer vacation to see if it had anything to do with Newton. To my surprise, it was a particularly interesting sketch of 7 seperate lives telling of their 7 seperate paths from the everyday blah growing up to eventually pursue that powerful marker of humanity's progress known as science. The epitaph left by Newton's name made for the scintillating affect in the calenture of the title's words. Screaming that which is exclusive to the personal reflections one makes on scientific paths when curiousity becomes excited by the pumping of scientific blood nurtured by one's scientific embraces. It was only a year ago that I read the latest book by theoretical physicist, Michio Kaku so I had some knowledge of at least one of these individuals going into the documentary. Quantum physics is a personal curiosity and I am hoping that it succeeds in one day claiming experimentally what it is bounded for at the theoretical domains.

I thought the movie was a poor documentary. Nothing of substance was discussed. It seemed to cheapen the ideas and did not provide anything new. The film lacked wonder or romance or anything that would really drive one to science. Most scientists appeared "stereotyped" and sometimes weird. A woman said that her awards didn't matter a whole lot, only children that were helped. She said that after a 10 minute scene where she explained all her awards. Playing "humble scientist", are we? "I have equations dancing in my head," another said. I don't see how that explains anything to us. It hasn't covered significant effects of science on our culture. Politics of science were barely touched.

Not a bad flick for a 10-14 year-olds. Other than that, I felt it was boring and unrevealing.

4/10

A well done documentary dealing with somewhat challenging subjects. We chose to see it last night over typical Hollywood fare and were glad we did. If you enjoy stimulating conversation, and subjects a bit deeper than what's on sale at the local mall...go see this movie. It's a winner. Especially recommend you take kids with the potential for science, medicine or math careers.