The defence The Sentimental Softie
“Sincerity is not manipulation.”
The film risks embarrassment to make emotion communal, and that openness is harder than fashionable detachment.
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Short Circuit
Science Fiction · Comedy · Family · 1986
After a lightning bolt zaps a robot named Number 5, the lovable machine starts to think he's human and escapes the lab. Hot on his trail is his designer, Newton, who hopes to get to Number 5 before the military does. In the meantime, a spunky animal lover mistakes the robot for an alien and takes him in, teaching her new guest about life on Earth.
Movie details
Short Circuit
“Something wonderful has happened... No. 5 is alive.”
1986 Science Fiction · Comedy · Family 1h 38m
Critical arithmetic
One number, for now.
Scores change. Arguments endure.
TMDB
6.7 / 10
Community rating
After a lightning bolt zaps a robot named Number 5, the lovable machine starts to think he's human and escapes the lab. Hot on his trail is his designer, Newton, who hopes to get to Number 5 before the military does. In the meantime, a spunky animal lover mistakes the robot for an alien and takes him in, teaching her new guest about life on Earth.
CriticWise case file
What this film says about your taste.
Not a recommendation score. A measure of how closely the film’s taste signals resemble yours.
The archetype split
Who fights over Short Circuit?
For the defence
The Sentimental Softie
“You came to feel something, and you will.”
Read their case For the prosecution
The Cool Ironist
“Feeling things is a little embarrassing.”
Read their objectionThe split comes from the same five-axis model used by the test, not audience ratings or review sentiment.
Taste neighbourhood
Nearby on the taste map.
TMDB supplies the candidates. CriticWise reorders them by craft, strangeness, prestige, emotion, and pace.
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D.A.R.Y.L.
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Earth to Echo
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After a construction project begins digging in their neighbourhood, best friends Tuck, Munch and Alex inexplicably begin to receive strange, encoded messages on their cell phones. Convinced something bigger is going on, they go to their parents and the authorities. The three embark on a secret adventure to crack the code and follow it to its source, and discover a mysterious being from another world who desperately needs their help. The journey that follows will change all their lives forever.
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When Roger (a Robin Hood-esque, stray dog) and Belle (an elegant yet spoilt pet cat) are thrown together amidst the chaos of a robot take-over of their home city, they must push all their preconceptions aside in order to survive, as they embark on a high-stakes, action-packed adventure.
Thunderstruck
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The Loud House Movie
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The Loud family travel to Scotland and discover they are descendants of Scottish royalty as they move into their giant ancestral castle.
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Names above the title
The people responsible.
Cast & crew
Directed by
John Badham
Written by
Brent Maddock
Ally Sheedy
Stephanie Speck
Steve Guttenberg
Newton Crosby
Fisher Stevens
Ben Jabituya
Austin Pendleton
Howard Marner
G.W. Bailey
Skroeder
Brian McNamara
Frank
Tim Blaney
Number 5 (voice)
Court is in session
Put Short Circuit on trial.
Two incompatible taste archetypes. One film. Read the arguments, then issue a completely binding cultural ruling.
The prosecution The Cool Ironist
“The strings are showing.”
Every cue tells you exactly what to feel and when, leaving sentiment to do the work character should have done.