So glad “Amadeus” was included in this list! As an artist and musician myself, I’ve often directed people to it who can’t understand how creatives obsessive needs to explore what is forming in their minds. It is not a hobby or a job… it’s like oxygen that is required to live but if suppressed, can be volatile or destructive. The Requiem scene is one of the best depictions of this put to film. ☮️❤️🎶
Billy Joel had a perfect description of Mozart. He said it was as if Mozart was taking dictation (as opposed to Beethoven, who agonized over every note). "I am not Mozart and I absolutely hate how easy it was for him, " he jokingly told an audience. Now I do think Bach was also a genius (I believe most musicians name him the greatest composer of all time), but because he didn't have the dramatic events in his life he makes it tough to have a great movie.
Other movies to consider: π ("Pi" (1998), not "the Life of Pi") Darren Aronofsky's first movie about a math genius obsessed with pi. Weird Science is worth mentioning. I wish more of these movies were available on RUclips TV. They have "Good Will Hunting", "The Imitation Game", and "The Man Who Knew Infinity", and had "Amadeus" at some point (not now and not recently). Been looking for Phenomenon for two years, nothing.
The brilliance of PI is that I think it was made for somewhere that was approximately 31,415.90 USD lol. For real tho. That movie was made so cheap, and so awesome.
You were kinder to "The Imitation Game" than it deserved. It's a well made film, I just wish it had actually been about Alan Turing and not whomever that was that Cumberbatch was playing.
Cumberbatch play a facsimile of an imitation of Turing. Turning was a different cat but the story was highly manipulated and changed to fit a narrative vs the truth.
@@TheDraftHorse2025 I don't remember anything about him being autistic, but it's been a while since I've seen the movie. I do know (from what I remember) the movie was about the events, and not a deep dive into who Turing was and his personality. But, again, nasabear was confused about who Cumberbatch was playing, not about how he played him (which was based on the writing and direction rather than the actor himself), so I answered. There was no reason for this whole off-topic discussion reading far more into this than there was.
@@Moraenil I wasn't confused. I was using a rhetorical device. Of course I knew he was playing Turing, I just thought it was a very poor, mostly unrecognizable version of Turing. I'm sorry that wasn't clear.
"The Man Who Knew Infinity" is probably S tier imo. (Ramanujan. An og of set theory, and a life that left us too early. He did more in 20 something years of existence than I could in 1000 lifetimes.) Same thing with "The Theory of Everything". (Stephen Hawking) Oppenheimer seems to be S-Tier also. "A Beautiful Mind" is as well. Game Theory is fun, and John Nash was a brilliantly broken person with a perfectly odd mind.
What about the Kurt Russell, Cesar Romero vehicle, 'The Computer Wore Tennis Shoes' (1969)? And 'Limitless' (2011) starring Bradley Cooper.? Both are similar to 'Lucy' (2014) in that the intellect was enhanced by external events.
I know this type of thing is a matter of opinion, but out of all the movies they covered, Imitation Game is the best movie of the bunch. Benedict Cumberbatch as Alan Turing? Best performance of the lot.
I know he likes The Martian. He nitpicks it, but I guess that is his job. Overall he was happy to allow some facts to be incorrect or exaggerated for artistic license.
"The first term of his formula is accurate to PI to one part in 13 million and then it gets better after that." *chuckle chuckle chuckle* You know the level of nerd you have to be to find humor in that. My god.
I'd like to see where they'd put "X+Y" (a.k.a. "A Brilliant Young Mind") with Asa Butterfield. In terms of an actor portraying a very gifted autist, I think Asa did an amazing job.
Maybe you should revisit "phenomenon" where Travolta was inflicted by a Brain tumor that evidenced itself with a flash of light within his perception he mistakes for lightning/aliens/or mabe even as a gift from god. Reviled at the end of the movie to be a tumor.
Again, he wasn't hit by lightning, he had a brain tumor that made him think he saw a bright light. It's that very infliction that causes the actual phenomenon.
Dear Dr. Tyson Would you please watch Dr. Stone and give your input it’s about the world turning to stone yet someone wakes up out of the stone out of no where and he tries to restart civilization from scratch
NEIL!!! i would love for you to take a look at Dr.Stone is a animated show about after a world ending event that turned people into stone, a guy tries to rebuild civilization with science!
How did I not know half of these movies exist? I generally watch StarTalk for theoretical stuff; this is the first episode that will have a practical effect in my life since now I have to track down some movies to watch lol
Whenever either of them use the word "Genii" [Pron. "Jee-Nee-Eye"] as the plural of "Genius", indicating they are able to operate a dictionary, I will believe they are genii. As long as they use geniuses, let's just say that they are smart people.
Imitation Game script does have the title even it they don't call it the Turing test... And that's this big paper you wrote? What's it called? "The Imitation Game" Right, that's... That's what it's about? Would you like to play?
These 2 are not geniuses, they are very good but not geniuses. Genius gets thrown around a lot these days. For example, I am a genius so i know who is a fellow genius.
There wouldn't be any astronauts in space if it wasn't for the black genius minds of the women from hidden figures, based on a true story, versus the fake movies they rated. 😎👍🏿
@@topspacesource the movies they discussed are movies people actually watch is what I mean. No one really cares about that movie or that story, nothing really significant about it
@@LogoSmith87 Oh, did I hurt your feelings? I never claimed to be a genius. Average man, of average intelligence. But definitely higher level of logic and self reflection than you have. lol
I mean, it's a great movie, but for the scale and reasoning they were grading these movies, I wouldn't rate it as such. It really wasn't about actual genius. It was too far on the sci-fi spectrum.
@@purrple.shadows I'm sure Neil and Gott have elements of genius and at least moments of inappropriate ego. In case it wasn't clear, the intention of my comment was to highlight Neil's unqualified self-reference to genius in the video's title. He's obviously a very, very smart person who has contributed many, many times more good to the world than the average person. So, I'm a big fan.
So glad “Amadeus” was included in this list! As an artist and musician myself, I’ve often directed people to it who can’t understand how creatives obsessive needs to explore what is forming in their minds. It is not a hobby or a job… it’s like oxygen that is required to live but if suppressed, can be volatile or destructive. The Requiem scene is one of the best depictions of this put to film. ☮️❤️🎶
they could have included Copying Beethoven too. I guess we don't have a great biopic for Bach yet 😅
Billy Joel had a perfect description of Mozart. He said it was as if Mozart was taking dictation (as opposed to Beethoven, who agonized over every note). "I am not Mozart and I absolutely hate how easy it was for him, " he jokingly told an audience. Now I do think Bach was also a genius (I believe most musicians name him the greatest composer of all time), but because he didn't have the dramatic events in his life he makes it tough to have a great movie.
Fun fact, they stopped using E in the grading scale because parents kept thinking it meant excellent. 😅
How long ago was that? Definitely before my lifetime.
@I.am.Sarah. like 1897? 😂
@@TheGiggleMasterP 😅🤣😂
Thats so nonsensical. Its like gutting grade A because some doofuses says it stands for amateur...
Good Will Hunting for its depth of psychology is a top 3 movie for me.
Other movies to consider:
π ("Pi" (1998), not "the Life of Pi") Darren Aronofsky's first movie about a math genius obsessed with pi.
Weird Science is worth mentioning.
I wish more of these movies were available on RUclips TV. They have "Good Will Hunting", "The Imitation Game", and "The Man Who Knew Infinity", and had "Amadeus" at some point (not now and not recently). Been looking for Phenomenon for two years, nothing.
The brilliance of PI is that I think it was made for somewhere that was approximately 31,415.90 USD lol.
For real tho. That movie was made so cheap, and so awesome.
5:17 “WE HAD THE SAME DOCTOR ACTUALLY!” 😂😂😂😭😭
Perfect! now i have a list of movies to go through if I ever get some time over :) I think a majority of these were new to me.
You were kinder to "The Imitation Game" than it deserved. It's a well made film, I just wish it had actually been about Alan Turing and not whomever that was that Cumberbatch was playing.
Cumberbatch played Alan Turing. It was about him.
Cumberbatch play a facsimile of an imitation of Turing. Turning was a different cat but the story was highly manipulated and changed to fit a narrative vs the truth.
@@ianlassitter2397 Be that as it may, he played the character of Alan Turing, not Joe Shmoe or anyone else like nasabear was saying.
@@TheDraftHorse2025 I don't remember anything about him being autistic, but it's been a while since I've seen the movie. I do know (from what I remember) the movie was about the events, and not a deep dive into who Turing was and his personality. But, again, nasabear was confused about who Cumberbatch was playing, not about how he played him (which was based on the writing and direction rather than the actor himself), so I answered. There was no reason for this whole off-topic discussion reading far more into this than there was.
@@Moraenil I wasn't confused. I was using a rhetorical device. Of course I knew he was playing Turing, I just thought it was a very poor, mostly unrecognizable version of Turing. I'm sorry that wasn't clear.
“Sneakers” with Robert Redford, Dan Akaroyd, River Phoenix
S - Grade
Revenge of the Nerds was the first movie I saw that showed the V. It is a classic.
No mention of 'Little Man Tate' was surprising.
One of my favs. "It's not about what he knows, it's about what he understands."
Amadeus is absolutely one of the best movies of all time.
True. Great acting. But sadly, fictional. It doesn't tell much about the real Mozart and Salieri.
@@LePageChannel Yeah they did Salieri dirty. Great character, terrible representation of the man.
"The Man Who Knew Infinity" is probably S tier imo. (Ramanujan. An og of set theory, and a life that left us too early. He did more in 20 something years of existence than I could in 1000 lifetimes.)
Same thing with "The Theory of Everything". (Stephen Hawking)
Oppenheimer seems to be S-Tier also.
"A Beautiful Mind" is as well. Game Theory is fun, and John Nash was a brilliantly broken person with a perfectly odd mind.
What about the Kurt Russell, Cesar Romero vehicle, 'The Computer Wore Tennis Shoes' (1969)? And 'Limitless' (2011) starring Bradley Cooper.? Both are similar to 'Lucy' (2014) in that the intellect was enhanced by external events.
I know this type of thing is a matter of opinion, but out of all the movies they covered, Imitation Game is the best movie of the bunch. Benedict Cumberbatch as Alan Turing? Best performance of the lot.
I want to go to any movie that Neil likes. I almost always feel the same about movies he talks about (not just here). Great discussion!
I know he likes The Martian. He nitpicks it, but I guess that is his job. Overall he was happy to allow some facts to be incorrect or exaggerated for artistic license.
Good video - however Clips show for Revenge of the Nerds are actually from Revenge of the Nerds II
The Imitation Game is sooo good. My favorite by far
How about Proof? That was a good one!
@Neildegrasstyson did you see the new Radition Galaxy that was discovered by South Afica ?
Wasn’t there a film where Matthew Broderick played Richard Feynman? I forget the name of the film, was it Infinity or The Man Who Knew Infinity?
"The first term of his formula is accurate to PI to one part in 13 million and then it gets better after that." *chuckle chuckle chuckle*
You know the level of nerd you have to be to find humor in that. My god.
And yet they omitted the Movie Pi. Sad.
I'd like to see where they'd put "X+Y" (a.k.a. "A Brilliant Young Mind") with Asa Butterfield. In terms of an actor portraying a very gifted autist, I think Asa did an amazing job.
As well as Gifted
Thanx you two. Great conversation 💙🌻💙
Where is movie on Edington and Einstein? . I love that movie it should be in S.
Maybe you should revisit "phenomenon" where Travolta was inflicted by a Brain tumor that evidenced itself with a flash of light within his perception he mistakes for lightning/aliens/or mabe even as a gift from god. Reviled at the end of the movie to be a tumor.
They totally missed the spirit of this movie
If you’ve ever read the Alchemist, Jeremy Irons read an audio book for it. 10/10
Again, he wasn't hit by lightning, he had a brain tumor that made him think he saw a bright light. It's that very infliction that causes the actual phenomenon.
Oh...ven vas da last time you vent Wahoo?
Dear Dr. Tyson
Would you please watch Dr. Stone and give your input it’s about the world turning to stone yet someone wakes up out of the stone out of no where and he tries to restart civilization from scratch
NEIL!!! i would love for you to take a look at Dr.Stone is a animated show about after a world ending event that turned people into stone, a guy tries to rebuild civilization with science!
How did I not know half of these movies exist? I generally watch StarTalk for theoretical stuff; this is the first episode that will have a practical effect in my life since now I have to track down some movies to watch lol
Whenever either of them use the word "Genii" [Pron. "Jee-Nee-Eye"] as the plural of "Genius", indicating they are able to operate a dictionary, I will believe they are genii.
As long as they use geniuses, let's just say that they are smart people.
A Beautiful Mind = a beautiful min-d = a beautiful Mindy
~ Mork from Ork
There was a chess film from New Zealand I believe as well.. an ex-gang member that was a chess champion
Not a movie, but the BBC documentary on Andrew Wiles and Fermat's Last Theorem.
So how would you rate 'Catch Me If You Can'?
"Good Will Hunting" is MIT, not that other school up the street.
Imitation Game script does have the title even it they don't call it the Turing test...
And that's this big paper you wrote? What's it called?
"The Imitation Game"
Right, that's... That's what it's about?
Would you like to play?
How about Mr Peabody and his boy, Sherman?
What about The Accountant?
I really enjoyed the movie Powder. I don’t think it did well in box office.
I was still in junior high. I got you I got you.
How about Silence of the Lambs?
Crazy type of genius, interesting. And perhaps Frankenstein, the Kenneth Branagh/ Robert Dinero one. Evil geniuses.
Have you seen "Ender's Game" its si fi
There should be a space for Jodie Foster's 'Little Man Tate'
Man who knew infinity got S, then Neil got uncomfortable and made him put lower
I have only one question about the Turing test. Does the human who test the Ai have to be lowest common denominator in humanity? 😂
No Oppenheimer?
Maybe this is an older interview as Hidden Figures also isn't mentioned.
I love richard saying "i saw him walk" in awe
Most of those are pretty decent ranking, but how could you omit Pi? Talk about an absolutely fantastic movie...
Next show like this: Rating "Documentaries" made by Flat earthers!😁🤣
Niel and Richard, y'all rock! Peace
"Little Man Tate" says hello.
Ow about limitless (2011) and also isn't Lucy an S since she is basically omniscient lol
Winnebago Man, Though. 🤨
I'm surprised he didn't mention Gifted, even when he quickly went through some of the kid genius movies.
This made me rent The man who knew infinite.. I'll let you know if i liked it.
y🤔
Limitless?
Lucy gets an S MAN COME ON
SUPERWOMAN
Where would they rate Ender's Game?
and how about the Outer Limits episode The Inheritors?
Lucy was a fun movie, but I thought that its portrayal of "intelligence" was laughably bad.
E=mc^2 ??
Little Man Tate 🎥 🍿
Really? Didn’t you care for prodigy teens?
⭐️ Starring a high school valedictorian! 👨🎓
2:50 Real Genius *1985
Tyson still can't figure out things that my 3 year old knows
OK you got me. I’m still listening I’m on your side holy shit Keep gone.
Limitless
That is not the plot of Phenomenon
Definetly missed Openheimer
AVP 👽
Just stopping through /
"I.Q." was hardly a biopic!
It was a comedy 😅
What about Shakespeare in Love?
How dare you not mention MacGyver!
Missed opportunity to make fun of a really, really bad "genius" portrayal like Patch Adams . . .
what? Lucy?
Is it true that Ramanujan never finished college? That he flunked out.
haha calling yourself a genius doesn't make it so. A Genius would know what is a man and woman.
Neil has lost all credibility, and genius status I'm my book. Thumbs down 👎
You guys are easy graders.
These 2 are not geniuses, they are very good but not geniuses. Genius gets thrown around a lot these days. For example, I am a genius so i know who is a fellow genius.
where is dumb and dumber?
Gotta say cutting nitrogen for a coin imitation isnt very smart unless hes doing it for the heck of it or just to see if it works
Is Baby Geniuses on here
Where is K Pax?
Wow I'm really speechless that the movie Hidden figures wasn't there. Only a single film with a woman. Wow. Next time, please do better research.
No one cares about that movie tho...
I think this interview might have been done before that film came out . I remember watching this quite a long time ago.
There wouldn't be any astronauts in space if it wasn't for the black genius minds of the women from hidden figures, based on a true story, versus the fake movies they rated. 😎👍🏿
@@adampryor4662 highly disagree with your opinion.
@@topspacesource the movies they discussed are movies people actually watch is what I mean. No one really cares about that movie or that story, nothing really significant about it
One of these "geniuses" can't distinguish men and women from men playing women.
Wouldn't classify you as either, inflict your hate-filled opinions on people that care👎
@@LogoSmith87 Oh, did I hurt your feelings? I never claimed to be a genius. Average man, of average intelligence. But definitely higher level of logic and self reflection than you have. lol
Lucy should be in the S category!!
I mean, it's a great movie, but for the scale and reasoning they were grading these movies, I wouldn't rate it as such. It really wasn't about actual genius. It was too far on the sci-fi spectrum.
I watched Neil and J Richard Gott III rank movies but missed the ranking by geniuses. Anyone also miss that part? :-)
@@OneAmongBillions Huge egos, lacking genius.
@@purrple.shadows I'm sure Neil and Gott have elements of genius and at least moments of inappropriate ego. In case it wasn't clear, the intention of my comment was to highlight Neil's unqualified self-reference to genius in the video's title. He's obviously a very, very smart person who has contributed many, many times more good to the world than the average person. So, I'm a big fan.
@@OneAmongBillions We wouldn't be here if we weren't big fans.
What happened to calling it A+? & how is S the highest rank? It does not come before A in the alphabet.
Because Japan
welcome to the last 5 years of tier lists on the internet and like 25+ years of gaming in america.
Whoop
First view
view number 59 right here, second post!
October Sky
ruclips.net/video/RJhUWcpLfoc/видео.html