Skeptical Movies? Three You Might Have Missed

Flicking back through my records, I noticed a list that was first started by Daniel Loxton on Facebook, recommending some good films for skeptics. He suggested:

Leap of Faith -  with Steve Martin, loosely based on the Peter Popoff faith healing scam.

Fairy Tale: A True Story – which he pointed out has an excellent message within it despite the dodgy parts: how skepticism has to be sensitive to claims when there’s a lot of emotion and even children involved.

Contact – with Jodi Foster – I ended up writing about ‘A Girl Called Ellie‘ earlier in the year, the humility of saying ‘I don’t know’.

It got me wondering what changes or additions I would make to my own list, for those who are looking for films to show or enjoy.

Later today I’ll be putting up the Linneaus Legacy, so take some time to view a different screen after that! I’m going to be both travelling for a conference and working over the rest of the week, perhaps you can check these out instead.

Let me know in the comments if you have any more to add.

Magicians (2007) – Directed by Andrew O’Connor. With Robert Webb, David Mitchell, Sarah Hadland.

You’ve been offered a job as a cold-reader on a psychic chat line. Something you consider phony, manipulative and fake. It’s tough after you’ve killed your magician’s assistant wife with a guillotine, just after you caught her screwing your partner in the ’sawing the woman in half’ box.

But then six years later – there’s a chance to reunite with your partner for a magic competition and get back your reputation. Which might have worked if he wasn’t so terrified that you were going to kill him in revenge for the adultery-thing… and the fact that you haven’t worked out the issues with the adultery-thing. Or the death. Or everyone’s fascination that you murdered your wife on stage. There’s a lot to deal with. Not helped by the fact that your new magic assistant isn’t aware of all of this… yet…

Magicians is British black-comedy with lots of magic tricks, plenty of nods at the artiface, manipulation and commercialisation (’What would Courtney Cox think?’) in the magic world, swearing, sex and a lot of English angst. And who’s for the chop next?

I’ve put up a segment of this film on my blog before, regarding acting as a psychic on stage – worth checking out again:

The Man Who Would Be King (1975) – Directed by John Huston. With Sean Connery, Michael Caine, Christopher Plummer.

Con men – they’ve existed throughout the ages, even in the shape of Daniel Dravot and Peachy Carnehan (who kind of look like 007 and Alfie…). These former British Army soldiers have gone bad in India and are going worse in Africa, searching for a profit. The con is on and it’s based on a classic by Kipling.

Enjoy it because ‘Thou shalt not go around saying thou are god-like because the locals only need one smart woman to give you a well-deserving slap in the face to prove you wrong’.

Only You (1994) – Directed by Norman Jewison. With Marisa Tomei, Robert Downey Jr., Bonnie Hunt.

I’ve heard a lot of complaints about how chick-flicks “embrace the credulous”. It’s either get in touch with your Wiccan heritage, have a bunch of bitch friends who embrace your Wiccan heritage, have everything about your relationship based on chance encounters and throw in a bunch of time-travelling hooey that would make Stephen Hawking throw a vomit comet.

Only You starts with an ouija board, a tarot card reading and then pretty much goes on to show how it’s complete and utter garbage relying on such advice when it comes to finding true love. Plenty of female bonding in an effort to get that message through to a very sparky Marisa Tomei who gallops around the prettiest parts of Italy in a wedding dress. And it helps to notice once again that Robert Downey Jr is still an 80s hottie, in 2008.

If you’re looking for more, I have suggested the Biotechnology Australia site in the past, now sadly no longer operating. I loved their touring lectures and part of the studies that Biotechnology Australia did involved long-term research into what perceptions people have of cloning due to Hollywood movies.

They even rank and have teaching suggestions on their site for people who wish to have better materials than ‘Island of Doctor Moreau’ films and the ‘mad scientist’ stereotype perpetuated – “There are, however, a few films which look seriously at biotechnology and its history, where it may lead us, and some of the ethical dilemmas it may present. Gattaca (1997) is perhaps the best known, and its focus on a future society based on genetic discrimination presents a stylish look at where the future may lie.” You can download a pdf of Biotechnology at the Movies at this link - [PDF 857 KB | 4mins 15secs @ 33.6kbps]

Thanks, enjoy the blog carnival and will write from the conference at the National Skeptics conference weekend. See you in Adelaide if you’re there!

Tagged as: A Fairly Tale, Adelaide, Australia, Australian Skeptics, chick flick, cloning, comedy, con artists, conference, Contact, cool, Cottingley Fairies, Ellie, films, Leap of Faith, magicians, movie, National Skeptics Conference Adelaide, Only You, psychic, recommendation, research, romance, Science, skeptic, skeptic chick, skeptic movies, skeptical chick flick, skeptical movies, studies, The Man Who Would Be King, UK