Last movie watched...

[JamesC]

I'm just staring to watch Star Trek 6 on my afternoon off. It's the one I've seen least, and not for gages so I'm looking forward to it.

The first scene has made me think of a geeky Star Trek question which I'm sure somebody here will be able to help me with.

The scene starts with the USS Excelsior heading home on full impulse power when it's hit by a massive shock wave which tips the ship. This makes Captain Sulu's tea cup get knocked off the side and the crew all fall out of their beds etc. Now, if there's no up and down in space and the ship is using artificial gravity, set to make the bottom hull of the ship 'down' and the top hull 'up', why would the ship tilting make everyone fall to one side of the ship until the ship rights itself?

[I, Cosh]

It damaged the artificial gravity generator making the its directional focus wobble back and forth like a pendulum before ultimately coming to rest in the starting position again?

[Spaceghost]

Having everyone lean to one side is the cheapest way to show damage to the ship?

[JamesC]

It damaged the artificial gravity generator making the its directional focus wobble back and forth like a pendulum before ultimately coming to rest in the starting position again?

Hmmm. That's not really what happened. The ship tilted to one side and the gravity tipped everyone and everything over in that direction - it didn't wobble.

[Theblazeuk]

For more in this line of error, see every Star Trek episode involving space combat or tricky maneuvers.

[Definitely Not Mister Pops]

For more in this line of error, see every Star Trek episode involving space combat or tricky maneuvers.

Also practically every space-based TV show or movie where you can hear explosions (or indeed any noise, laser pew-pews and so forth) in a vacuum.

[JamesC]

This is Star Trek. Somebody somewhere must have come up with a rational, in universe explanation.

[TordelBack]

It's nothing to do with the artificial gravity really (which is a very sturdy comparmentalised system built into the deckplates) - it's a failure of the inertial dampers to respond correctly to the unpredictably irregular wavefront of an anti-matter generated 'shockwave' which probably had both real-space and sub-space components.  Over- or under-compensation for changes in velocity manifest as vibration and lurches due to improperly managed inertia of the ship and its contents.

[JamesC]

That's more like it!

[I, Cosh]

Computer Chess certainly sounded like a winner. An early 80s costume drama set around a smalltown American hotel where the nation's best coders are gathered to see their algorithms do battle. Sadly the premise is the best thing about it, although the deliberately glitchy black and white look (reminiscent of that old film Another Girl, Another Planet for 100 times the budget) has an appeal. Too much studied awkwardness, too many wackily random strands introduced and never paid off, not enough computers. In its (Luzhin) defence, the bits where they're talking about the code are probably the closest I've ever seen in a film to real life.

[Professor Bear]

This is Star Trek. Somebody somewhere must have come up with a rational, in universe explanation.

In Star Trek 6, the Excelsior maintains a planet-like gravitational force, and like the gravity on planets like Earth, if you shake a glass of water side-to-side, the water splashes up the side of the glass even though gravity is still pulling it downwards.  The shaking side-to-side is adding an extra force or energy equal (or greater) to the existing gravity, but not negating it, so the shockwave in ST6 added extra energy to the existing field of gravity in the ship making people go all directions even though the ship's artificial gravity is still telling things that "down" is the bottom of the ship.
A similar effect can be observed in Star trek Into Darkness, only Star Trek Into Darkness is a load of shit so it was probably wizards or something doing it in that.

[Tiplodocus]

In its (Luzhin) defence, the bits where they're talking about the code are probably the closest I've ever seen in a film to real life.

Knowing a little bit about mainframe computers and coding, I've always thought that computers must be the least realistically portrayed item in film and cinema. After Elevetors and air conditioning vents, naturally.

[TordelBack]

In its (Luzhin) defence, the bits where they're talking about the code are probably the closest I've ever seen in a film to real life.

Knowing a little bit about mainframe computers and coding, I've always thought that computers must be the least realistically portrayed item in film and cinema. After Elevetors and air conditioning vents, naturally.

But way after the explosive properties of cars.

My last watched film was The Hunger Games 2, or Catching Fire or whatever it was subtitled.  I thought it was great.  I did feel I was missing loads of important things this time, especially with regard to the other tributes, that presumably are of significance in the book, but I thought the design, pace and structure of the thing were great, and Jennifer Lawrence was, again, extraordinarily watchable.  The still-horrifically-named Katniss Everdeen could be a ghastly wish-fulfillment creation, but somehow her mix of utterly steely pragmatism and vulnerable confusion makes her a quite compelling character - although I suspect much of this exists in Lawrence's superb performance rather than in the script.  The abruptly-sprung cliffhanger left me immediately checking IMDB to see how soon I could see the next part, and from an adapted YA serial, you can't ask for much more.

[JamesC]

Europa Report

More accurately, the first half of Europa Report because I turned it off out of boredom.
I'd heard good things about this film but I'm afraid I found it pretty dismal. There were only two characters that were approaching anything interesting (the old guy Blok and James who had a wife and child at home and so had to die).
Everything I saw in the first half hour I'd seen in other films which were more entertaining. I read the synopsis on Wikipedia after switching off, just in case there was some amazing twist I was going to miss. Didn't look like it.

I don't like being so negative about films but I can't think of much good to say about it. It looks quite nice  considering the low budget but that isn't much help if the story and characters aren't entertaining.

[Professor Bear]

The still-horrifically-named Katniss Everdeen could be a ghastly wish-fulfillment creation, but somehow her mix of utterly steely pragmatism and vulnerable confusion makes her a quite compelling character - although I suspect much of this exists in Lawrence's superb performance rather than in the script.

I have heard from someone who read the series that the films make her a much less manipulative and unlikeable character than the books do.
There are some not-terrible HG offerings like Weeping Willow and The Hanging Tree that help field the idea that there's a lot you're missing if you haven't read the books, but some Hunger Games wiki-ing reveals that it's just enthusiastic fans padding out the mythology.  Katniss vs Bella is just as pointless as you'd expect, though.