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Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home (1986)
7.3/10on IMDb
Released
Scotty tries speaking into a computer mouse before he resorts to the keyboard. The scene gets its laugh by making an object he doesn’t recognize instantly familiar to you. The advanced technology is the bit of this world he can handle. The desk is his problem.
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Dune (1984)
6.2/10on IMDb
Released
In David Lynch’s Dune, the stillsuit makes a trip across the desert something you have to get dressed for properly. You can see the hoses and the nose tube when the suit’s workings are explained. Arrakis feels more hostile once you know even moisture from breathing matters.
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Akira (1988)
8.0/10on IMDb
Released
Kaneda’s red motorcycle cuts through Neo-Tokyo with a shape and color you can pick out in an instant. When the bike turns sideways and slides to a stop, its whole long profile tells you how much momentum he has to shed. Animation gives that bit of riding its own weight.
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Flight of the Navigator (1986)
6.9/10on IMDb
Released
The spaceship in Flight of the Navigator has a staircase that grows out of its hull. David gets to walk up that strange, familiar shape before he learns how the ship works. It’s a little gesture that makes climbing aboard feel like the start of a conversation.
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Explorers (1985)
6.4/10on IMDb
Released
The homemade ship gives Explorers a different flavor from a story about kids finding a sleek alien vehicle. Their machine takes shape around a carnival ride car, so entering it feels like climbing into something built with whatever was on hand. The ambition is bigger than the materials.
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Real Genius (1985)
6.9/10on IMDb
Released
The laser project in Real Genius starts as a way for students to show off a piece of engineering. The movie eventually finds a much sillier use for it, involving a house and a great deal of popcorn. The prank lands because you know which laboratory tool got dragged into it.
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Honey, I Shrunk the Kids (1989)
6.5/10on IMDb
Released
The shrinking machine changes a patch of yard more thoroughly than a spaceship could change the scenery. The blades of grass become an obstacle course because the film keeps measuring the kids against ordinary objects. It’s a good pick if you want a movie to spend time on what a gadget does to the world around it.
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Back to the Future Part II (1989)
7.8/10on IMDb
Released
A hoverboard seems like the answer to a chase until Marty takes it over water and it stops carrying him forward. The water makes a terrific boundary for the scene because you can see it well before he runs out of ideas.
More about Back to the Future Part II30
Videodrome (1983)
7.2/10on IMDb
Released
Recording a TV signal on videotape gives Max a way to look at something he would rather be able to switch off. The familiar cassette helps make Cronenberg’s stranger images feel uncomfortably close to your own living room. It’s a particularly unsettling choice if you want the technology itself to be the source of the unease.
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Predator (1987)
7.8/10on IMDb
Released
The Predator’s thermal view changes the way you read the jungle. The colors make you look for bodies and movement where the ordinary reverse shots show leaves and shadow. The film lets you get used to the device’s point of view before it becomes important to the people being watched.
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The Abyss (1989)
7.5/10on IMDb
Released
The diving suit confronts Bud with the idea of breathing liquid. The pause before he can stop fighting it does as much as any explanation to make the equipment believable. It gives Cameron a way to make the descent feel personal before the depth becomes the main problem.
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Short Circuit (1986)
6.6/10on IMDb
Released
Number 5 tears through reading material in search of more input. The pages and the robot’s quick hands make curiosity look like a mechanical process you can see happening. That physical appetite for books tells you more about how it thinks than the lightning that gets it out of the lab.
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