It’s one of those movie things you either have to go with, or drive yourself crazy nitpicking. I saw Starship Troopers last night in the theater with a bunch of other fans. I started to think about how Denise Richards seems to become a pilot in something like 3 weeks but shut down that part of my brain. For me, there’s just no nitpicking allowed in certain movies. It takes the fun away.
Hated it. Should’ve listened to you. On the bright side, my wife loved it. Then we got home and watched Sin Nombre, which I thought was incredible, but my wife hated it. I also really liked the new X-Men movie.
Not sure why you all needed to know that.
We went to see this instead of Green Lantern, and I would say that my wife and I made the right choice. Nothing groundbreaking, but generally well done. The train was a little much.
To Rand Rover
Makes sense to me that he would blame the drunk. Just because he didn’t directly cause it, a grief-stricken husband might still pin it on him, in a “it should’ve been you” way. Only 4 months had passed, so the wound was still fairly open.
I saw it today and loved it. Hated the lens flare, though. That was annoying.
I think the man said something about the father ‘stepping up’ to be a father to the kid now that the mom was gone. I got the impression he worked a lot, and was never around.
Well, yeah, but then the kids yell out, “Drugs are bad!!” in a really high-volume voice clip, so it’s clear that this is not recommended behavior. 
Also, I went to Middle School between 1975-78, so that label is not anachronistic at all.
Loved the movie, by the way. It’s weird to say a Spielbergian homage should feel “retro,” but this does. In a good way. Right from the beginning I felt like I was in the same world as ET or Stand By Me or Close Encounters-ish (and yes, I know Stand By Me wasn’t a Spielberg film).
And yes, those lens flares aren’t as cool as JJ Abrams thinks they are.
Interesting – I took it as happening in the mid '80s, since there was a bit at the beginning where I’d swear you overhear a newscaster talking about Chernobyl. Though perhaps I misheard; the kids were singing My Sharona like it was the new catchy song, and that came out in '79. Huh.
Early in the film, we see a television showing the network news anchor talking about the Three Mile Island incident, which occurred at the end of March, 1979.
Aha. I must have conflated that with Chernobyl.
It has Ronald Reagan as President, so it can’t happen before1981.
If that’s the case then they got the year of mom’s death wrong by at least two years.
But I don’t recall ever seeing Reagan in the movie, though that doesn’t mean he was there. Could you refresh where he was seen and what the context was it was clear he was president (since he was a national political figure long before he was elected)?
There were two or three scenes where he was shown on televison in the background, and I’m like 90% sure (though not 100%) that in at least one of those scenes he was being introduced before a speech as “The President of the United States.”
You are mistaken.
The film was very explicitly set in 1979. The mother died in February (as per the tombstone) and the train wreck and subsequent events happened “four months later,” i.e., June, 1979.
The Three Mile Island incident was featured in the news.
I was very watchful for anachronisms, and would have noticed if Reagan had been mentioned as president. He wasn’t.
Yes he was. Watch it again.
ETA he’s at least shown on television multiple times, and I’m reasonably sure he’s explicitly called the POTUS at least once. Why would he be shown on tv so many times if he was NOT POTUS? 1979 would have been too early for campaign appearances.
Perhaps he was mentioned as a presidential candidate?
You watch it again. You are mistaken, Dio. As I said, I watched very carefully for anachronisms.
IMDb vets its “Goofs” before they get listed. From IMDb:
My emphasis.
If Reagan had been depicted as president, believe me, it would have shown up at IMDb as a “Goof” by now. It’s not there. You are mistaken.
I honestly don’t remember seeing Reagan once. The only time I remember them watching TV was the coverage of the train wreck. No talk about the president.
I’m certain they showed Reagan on TV. I specifically remember it confusing me as to the date. I could be wrong about him being called POTUS, but I’m positive he was shown on television.
In 1979, he was running for president so perhaps he was mentioned as a candidate?
I went to Middle Schools in California, Texas, and Tennessee from 1979-1982 (we moved a lot), so I don’t think that the name of the school is anachronistic at all.
I also remember getting a Rubik’s Cube for Christmas in 1980, and a Walkman a couple of years later, so 1979 did seem a bit early for both of these. The handheld electronic game that the teacher had confiscated was right on the money, though–I was playing those too in 1979.
Like Spoke, I was looking for anachronisms, too. I was the same age as the kids in the movie in 1979.
I remember seeing a clip of Reagan on the TV, but there was *never *any mention of him being President. He would have been in the public eye as a presidential candidate, though.