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Poster for The Arrival

The Arrival

1996 · Film · 115 min

Directed by David Twohy

Science FictionThrillerMystery

Zane Ziminski is an astrophysicist who receives a message that seems to have extraterrestrial origins. Eerily soon after his discovery, Zane is fired. He then embarks on a search to determine the origins of the transmission that leads him into a Hitchcockian labyrinth of paranoia and intrigue.

3 positive1 negative4 neutralfrom 8 commenters

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8 comments on Hacker News

  1. NeutralFrustratedMonkyNov 17, 2025

    The US has flipped. Forget Net-Zero. It's Net-Positive, how can we get more CO2.

    Like the movie The Arrival (1996)

    How can we burn more coal, more gas.

  2. NeutralChrisMarshallNYMay 5, 2024

    The Arrival[0] (not Arrival) was like that.

    [0] https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0115571/

  3. NeutralDerekLFeb 3, 2022

    I think you mean “Arrival”. “The Arrival” is a 1996 film starring Charlie Sheen, which is also about aliens coming to earth.

  4. Neutraljra_sambaMay 14, 2021

    You're talking about "Arrival", not "The Arrival", which is a 1996 movie staring Charlie Sheen about an alien invasion.

    https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0115571/

    Strangely enough the Charlie Sheen "The Arrival" is also a really good physics movie. I've yet to see a movie do the SETI/Astronomy/physics stuff better :-).

    I love him building a radio telescope control in his attic, using local people's roof satellite dishes as the array !

  5. PositivestaredMay 13, 2021

    I would add "The Arrival", which I enjoyed a lot (rare for a movie based on a story I love). Even though it dropped the crucial physics reference, which was the turning point in "The Story of Your Life".

    Still, physicist or not, if you are interested what is time, I couldn't recommend a better writer than Ted Chiang.

  6. PositivebigmattystylesDec 30, 2020

    For some reason, my mind went to the Charlie Sheen movie 'The Arrival', which as a 15 year old, I actually liked - but for 10 seconds, your comment confused me :-)

  7. Negativerubber_duckJan 7, 2017

    Well I guess there are different kinds of science fiction - sci-fi that's obviously fiction and doesn't try to pretend to be realistic - Alien, Star Wars, etc. - I'm fine with this - it's just the author taking you in to his own fantasy world - just like Game of Thrones doesn't try to describe how dragons get to be aerodynamic or explain the white walkers superior strength by using dumbed down science.

    Then there's Sci-Fi that's actually beleivable - like The Martian - I'm OK with this as well.

    But then there's this pseudo-sciency trying to look serious while actually being BS part like Interstellar, The Arrival, etc. The main point of science there is not to be a fictional setting but trying to give a feeling of realism trough sci/techbabble. I don't even mind cheap sci-fi drama movies, for example I liked The Fountain, but when they try to pretend they are realistic that's what breaks the immersion for me completely because I start to critically evaluate the plot and it just falls apart.

  8. PositivejdavidJan 27, 2009

    still a few more (some are in the works)

    * Stargate

    * "startup.com" - about the formation of 'govworks.com' i wonder what these guys think about Obama.

    * Takedown - 'Kevin Mitnick's story'

    * Serenity

    * Star Trek: the Voyage Home

    * The Last Starfighter

    * Johnny Mnemonic

    * Short Circuit 1 & 2

    * Crest of the Stars (anime)

    * Fahrenheit 451

    * Equilibrium

    * Batman (begins, dark night, the tim burten one)

    * Edward Scissor Hands

    * Space Balls

    * Avalon ( http://www.cyberpunkreview.com/movie/decade/2000-current/avalon/#comments)

    * LAIN: The Serial Experiments (anime)

    * Cherry 2000

    * Dune

    * Ender's Shadow (in the works)

    * Ender's Game (in the works)

    * Diamond Age (in the works for sci-fi, 'a young girls illustrated primer')

    * The Arrival

    * The Terminator 1,2,3

    * The Sarah Conner Chronicles

    * D.A.R.Y.L

    * Flight of the Navigator

    * Explorers

    * AI

    * Batteries Not Included

    * Blade Runner

    * IRobot

    * Appleseed (anime)

    * Bubble Gum Crisis (anime)

    * Ergo Proxy (anime)

    * Virtuosity

    * Metropolis (all of them are good)

    * The Last Exile (anime)

    * Cherry 2000

    * Robocop (this so hold up)

    * Primmer

    * Probe ( the TV series, it took me 3 months to find the copies of this Issac Asimov based TV series on ABC ) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Probe_(TV_series)

    * Infest Wisely

    * Logan's Run

    * Planet of the Apes

    * Star Trek: First Contact

    * CQ ( if you get it, you'll get why this is a hacker movie , 'la resistance')

    * Amelie

    * 2046

    * Trigun (anime)

    * Escaflone (anime)

    * Tank Girl

    * Twelve Monkeys

    * THX 1138

    * Bicentennial Man

    * The Philadelphia Experiment http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Philadelphia_Experiment_(film)

    * Seaquest ( some episodes )

    * Strange Days ( new yeas hacker style )

    * Freejack