math in the movies

a few weeks ago randy and i saw the tourist at the dollar theater for one of our dates. it was entertaining, but probably not one i am going to see again. especially because angelina jolie's eye makeup killed me the whole time. nowhere in the movie is it anywhere near as lightly put on as in the poster above. i realize that i am on the more conservative end with my makeup, but seriously, this was just too much. no one wears their makeup like that. no one.

that's not the point.


in the movie, johnny depp's character is a math professor at a community college. there is a point in the movie where he needs to open a safe (to which he does not know the combination) under a tremendous amount of pressure. there is a long period of time leading up to when he is supposed to open the safe and the whole time i kept hoping that the combination would be the answer to some mathematical puzzle that he had solved based on subtle clues he had picked up along the way. you know, some constant, or a geometric series, or a formula. something like that.

it wasn't. and i was a little disappointed that they didn't go that route with it.

i guess we all have our own superheroes. apparently the script writer's heroes like to use guns and brute force instead of math. whatever.