Movies

Writing for Wired, Prof. Nicholas De Monchaux compares the clear division between digital and physical reality presented in The Matrix films with life in real cities where the physical and virtual worlds are increasingly merging. “This new world is inhabited by our digital shadows,” writes De Monchaux. “They follow our steps in the real one and are born from the data trail we leave when we post on social media, search on Google Maps, order things from Amazon, or leave reviews on restaurant sites.”

The MIT Museum is hosting a virtual movie night on April 24, during which participants can join “other Mars and Matt Damon enthusiasts to view The Martian, followed by an online conversation with MIT researchers who’ve worked on real Mars missions,” reports The Boston Globe.

Writing for The Washington Post, Prof. Alan Lightman notes the importance of movie theaters and the need to ensure they survive the Covid-19 pandemic. “Although movies will undoubtedly still be made and streamed into private homes, if theaters do not survive, something irreplaceable will have been lost,” writes Lightman. “We are social creatures. No matter how comfortable our living rooms and sophisticated our technology, we need community, we need physical contact with one another.”

The MIT Museum is hosting a virtual screening and discussion of the movie Jurassic Park, reports Joel Lau for The Boston Globe. “Join researchers from MIT’s Sculpting Evolution group on Zoom for an introduction to the film,” writes Lau, “then participants will watch the 1993 blockbuster and rejoin for a post-show discussion on everything from movie effects to the science and ethics of reviving long-lost species.”

Graduate student Jonny Sun is writing the script for a new movie called “Paper Lanterns,” which will blend live action and animation, reports Kevin Slane for Boston.com.

Motherboard reporter Kaleigh Rogers writes that MIT researchers have developed an AI system that can generate scary-sounding music. Rogers explains that the researchers used a “huge number of midi files and a handful of horror movies soundtracks as ‘primer melodies’ to give the AI a starting point to make up the rest of the soundtrack.”

Twenty years after its release, “Good Will Hunting,” which follows an MIT janitor turned math genius, remains incredibly popular with Boston-area college students. MIT junior Scott Cameron, “credits “Good Will Hunting” with shifting his notion of MIT from a far-off place to an actual goal. He first saw the film at 14 and, years later, it remains one of his favorites,” writes Sonia Rao at The Washington Post.

Wired reporter Joshua Sokol speaks with Profs. Janet Conrad and Lindley Winslow about how they helped the Ghostbusters team infuse the film with science, and how they hope the film’s portrayal of female scientists will inspire viewers. Winslow says the movie is important “because middle school girls will watch it. It will put that seed in their head.”

New York Times reporter Dennis Overbye reviews “The Signal,” a new film based on three fictional MIT students.