The Pics
(spoiler alert: spoilers ahead)The Theory of Everything
The Imitation Game
Whiplash
As a STEM graduate student, I was pretty excited that not one but two movies were coming out this year about famous scientists. It's always fun to see attempts at portraying genius in any form, especially so in a field as minimally represented on screen as theoretical physics. Unfortunately, The Theory of Everything neuters Stephen Hawking's mesmerizing accomplishments and vibrant personality down to its most bland version possible. Instead of taking a tour through Hawking's mind, we get to hear Eddie Redmayne reduce Hawking's results down to layman's terms as window dressing for an overwrought chronicle of his marriage and his virility. It's sentimental, and perhaps humanizing, but hardly a satisfying character study given the depth and complexity of the subject matter.
