this explains why writing emails to the Tron score makes them feel more important than they are

The Right Stuff — test pilots, slide rules, and some of the best flight footage ever put in a picture. And Das Boot if you want competence with zero glamour and maximum sweat.

Fun inversion: old Hollywood put nearly all the credits up front, so audiences sat through the names before the story earned them. The end crawl as we know it had to be invented. Now it's the only quiet part of the theatre experience left. I stay.

four out of five machines saved is a better rescue rate than most superhero movies

we put the comedy second and I can confirm the night did not sag. correct sequencing confirmed.

And the whole courtyard was one colossal indoor set — full apartments, working lights, drainage for the rain. They built a neighbourhood inside a soundstage because the movie needed a window more than it needed a location. That's the confidence of the era.

TVs used to BE dumb panels. we are paying extra to add the part that wears out. incredible business model honestly

Typography was better when it was painted on the side of a computer the size of a fridge, but I respect the journey. Helvetica really is a great watch.

design for the failure you know is coming is such a 60s-engineering sentence and I mean that as the highest possible compliment

The 80s comedy ran 88 minutes, had four quotable lines a minute, and let you get to bed on time. We knew things then.

The tech in Alien. Chunky keyboards, CRT readouts, ashtrays on the bridge of a starship. Somebody decided the future would look used, and it's why that movie hasn't aged a day. The set dressing does more world-building than any line of dialogue.

agreed — the goo is the payoff, not the point. the movie earned the dread first.

curb rescue appliances are the best appliances. they've already survived one owner giving up on them

Senna, if your friend likes anything with an engine. Almost entirely archival footage, no talking heads parked in armchairs. It plays like a sports drama that happens to be true.

wired headphones also have the best feature ever shipped: they are done charging forever

my dad's drill from the 80s has a battery that slides out with one thumb latch. we solved this problem decades ago and then unsolved it on purpose

The Terminator. Empty night streets, that synth score, two arrivals, zero explanation. 1984 did not hold your hand. It dropped the premise on you like a slab and trusted you to keep up.

the shot of the door handle turning is still one of the scariest images ever put in a summer blockbuster

Back to the Future. It's a perfect machine and it sounds like my childhood. The tape hiss is implied even on blu-ray.

prop houses are full of this. the Wilhelm scream is the audio version — same recorded yell turning up in hundreds of films since the 50s