Two films
Two new films: one that has been released and one that has not. First, the film that has been released, Bill Nye: Science guy, directed by David Alvarado and Jason Sussberg. (The film that is due to be released is “We believe in dinosaurs,” featuring David MacMillan and Dan Phelps, and I will discuss it below the fold.) The IMDb entry for “Bill Nye: Science guy” says,
A famous television personality struggles to restore science to its rightful place in a world hostile to evidence and reason.
and gives the following storyline,
Bill Nye is retiring his kid show act in a bid to become more like his late professor, astronomer Carl Sagan. Sagan dreamed of launching a spacecraft that could change interplanetary exploration. Bill sets out to accomplish Sagan’s space mission, but he is pulled away when he is challenged by evolution and climate change contrarians to defend the scientific consensus. Can Bill show the world why science matters in a culture increasingly indifferent to evidence?
The film was released October 29 and grossed approximately $7000 that weekend. Despite a very favorable review from IMDb user John Fix, the film garnered a rating of only 4.3/10 from 230 users. That despite the appearances of Neil DeGrasse Tyson, Anne Druyan, Michael Mann, Francis Collins, and Eugenie Scott. The Times review by Andy Webster was substantially more favorable but noted that Mr. Nye’s debate with Ken Ham served only to “galvanize” Mr. Ham’s minions.
The film is mostly a portrait of Mr. Nye, and Mr. Fix concludes,
Bottom line, an entertaining documentary that covers both personal and professional sides of Bill Nye and lets us see the man behind the bow tie and lab coat.
Next, the film that is about to be released, We believe in dinosaurs. This film, which we discussed on Panda’s Thumb, features two of our sometime contributors, David MacMillan and Dan Phelps. It is produced by 137 Films and will be released in 2018. Mr. Phelps tells us that
137 Films gave [him] a “Science Advocacy” award at their fundraiser (the 137 Films Science Fair) on October 13.
The storyline according to IMDb is,
Amid protests and controversy, young earth creationists build an enormous, $120 million, “life-size” Noah’s Ark in Kentucky with the specific aim of debunking the Theory of Evolution. They aim to prove the earth is only 6,000 years old and that the Bible is scientifically accurate. We Believe In Dinosaurs follows the building of the Ark from blueprints to opening day through the eyes of three Kentuckians: Doug, a gifted artist who creates lifelike animals for the Ark; Dan[,] a geologist and impassioned pro-science activist who blows the whistle on the Ark’s discriminatory hiring practices; and David[,] a young former creationist who mowed lawns to raise money for creationist causes in his youth. A jarring cultural examination in the vein of Jesus Camp, We Believe In Dinosaurs explores the complicated relationship between science and religion by peering into one of the most prominent cultural “bubbles” in the United States today.