Tangents (1994)

An inventor comes up with a time machine, but must prevent its abuse at the hands of an evil CEO.

Director:

David Giancola

Writer:

David Giancola

Stars:

Matthew Bruch, Bonnie Pritchard, Peter Harrington

Bottom 100 #60 | 1 win.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Matthew Bruch	...	Nick Miller
Bonnie Pritchard	...	Lisa Henson
Peter Harrington	...	Matthew Paul
George Woodard	...	J.K. Robertson
Michael J. Valentine	...	Cabbie
Jim Rohn	...	Richter
Ted Pendleton	...	Gris
Becky Fenton	...	Becks
Jack McGinnis	...	Mick
Martin Guigui	...	Marty
Peter Beckwith	...	Scalper
Ilene Blackman	...	Newspaper Editor
Daniel Nelson	...	Nicky
Emily Nelson	...	Lis
Margaret Daly	...	Nicky's Mom (as Margaret Schenck)

Storyline

Nick creates a time machine out of an airplane and a Commodore-64, and shows it to his friends by taking them 50 years into the future. Nick sells the technology to Gen-Corp, a high-tech firm run by J.K. Robertson, whose office is in the mezzanine of a shopping mall. Robertson, however, turns out to be Evil, and uses the time machine to plunder the future. With the lives of himself and his friends at stake, Nick needs to use his time machine to travel a week back in time and convince himself not to give the demo to Robertson.

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Plot Keywords:

future | airplane | cult film | bicycle | 2040s | 

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Taglines:

The times they are a changing...

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Genres:

Sci-Fi

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Certificate:

PG-13

Details

Official Sites:

Official Edgewood Studios Website

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

17 March 1994 (USA)

Also Known As:

Time Chasers

Filming Locations:

Burlington, Vermont, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Edgewood Entertainment

Technical Specs

Runtime:

89 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Contrary to popular belief, the "woman at fountain" is played by Vicky A. Bourn not Lisa Kudrow. Bourn, whose character is billed as "worshipful one" in the credits, was dating the producer at the time.

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Goofs

In 1777, the American flag had 13 stars, not 50.

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Quotes

[after Matt has been fired]
Nick: Well, at least you didn't get shot this time.

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Connections

References Back to the Future (1985)

User Reviews

It could be worse, but not much.

Whether or not you're a fan of 'Back to the Future', it's hard to argue against it being a good movie; it's a perfect example of how a time-travel movie can work. A torn-up poster for 'Back To The Future' shows up in this movie, representing -- probably unintentionally -- what the makers of 'Tangents' (aka 'Time Chasers') did to the time-travel formula. Then again, the movie was made in 1994, but it looks -- and sounds -- like it was actually shot at least ten years earlier, so maybe they achieved some sort of time-travel after all.

Start with an aggressively unappealing leading man. I mean, what woman doesn't love gangly, whiny, lantern-jawed, butt-chinned, mullet-men with giant Coke-bottle glasses? Well, prepare to tough it out, ladies, cuz that's our hero ("Hey, movie? I wanna see your supervisor, movie; this will NOT stand!").

Second, add a leading lady who -- while not entirely unattractive -- personally embodies many '80s clichés: big hair, too much makeup, two different plaids ("Oh, man! I'm a naked robot and even I know that's a fashion no-no."), shoulder pads, acid-washed mom-jeans, etc.

Throw in a Michael Medved look-alike who wears pink blazers and white pants, a painfully transparent villain who talks like Mortimer Snerd and has an office that looks like a circus-themed library, and evil henchmen who seem to have nothing better to do than direct air traffic ("Oh, so they're the really NICE evil guys!"). That's our cast, folks.

I don't want to spoil the plot, but since I've yet to figure out exactly what the plot IS, I'm not too worried about it. In fact, it would probably be less time-consuming for you to just track down a copy of this movie and watch it yourself. If YOU figure out the plot, please contact me; I'm curious.

I would strongly advise watching this movie with the help of the folks at Mystery Science Theater 3000; I don't think it could stand on its own... beer would probably help, too.

The film, 'Tangents': 3 stars -- they tried.

MST3K's 'Time Chasers' episode: 8 stars -- they succeeded.