10. Sneakers, 1992
Computer hacker Martin (Robert Redford) heads a group of specialists who test the security of various San Francisco companies. Martin is approached by two National Security Agency officers who ask him to steal a newly invented decoder. Martin and his team discover that the black box can crack any encryption code, posing a huge threat if it lands in the wrong hands. When Martin realizes the NSA men who approached him are rogue agents, they frame him for the murder of the device's inventor.
9. Infinity, 1996
Richard Feynman (Matthew Broderick) is a talented young physics student at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology when he meets Arline Greenbaum (Patricia Arquette). They quickly fall in love and plan on getting married. But when Arline discovers she has tuberculosis, and Feynman is hired by the government to work on the creation of the atomic bomb, his faith in science is thrown into doubt. This true story about the Nobel Prize-winning physicist was directed by Broderick.
8. I.Q, 1994
Catherine Boyd (Meg Ryan) is a highly intelligent doctoral student at Princeton University and is engaged to stuffy Professor James Moreland (Stephen Fry). Ed Walters (Tim Robbins), a mechanic and all-around regular guy, falls for Catherine and searches for a way to impress her. Believing that the key to Catherine's heart is his IQ, Ed passes himself off as a physicist with the help of Catherine's uncle, who just happens to be Albert Einstein (Walter Matthau).
7. The Bank, 2001
Jim Doyle (David Wenham) is a mathematical prodigy trying to concoct a way of foreseeing stock market collapses. He's approached by Centabank CEO Simon O'Reilly (Anthony LaPaglia), who is eager to co-opt Doyle's potential breakthrough. As an employee of Centabank, Jim works toward his goal, while Simon is under pressure from the board of directors. Meanwhile, a working class couple with a vendetta pursues legal action against the bank. Inevitably, corruption soon rears its ugly head.
6. 21 Grams, 2003
In a film that plays with the idea of straightforward storytelling, a group of troubled people find that they are linked in unpredictable ways. Paul Rivers (Sean Penn) is an academic dealing with a terminal heart condition, but his life is changed by a car crash that seems unrelated to his ailment. The traffic accident, involving ex-con Jack Jordan (Benicio Del Toro) and the husband of Cristina Peck (Naomi Watts), is one that ruins lives but ultimately also resurrects them.
5. Stand and Deliver, 1988
Los Angeles high school teacher Jaime Escalante (Edward James Olmos) is being hassled by tough students like Angel Guzman (Lou Diamond Phillips). But Jaime is also pressured by his bosses, who want him to control his raucous classroom. Caught in the middle, he opts to immerse his students in higher math. After intensive study, his students ace California's calculus test, only to learn that their scores are being questioned. They'll have to retake the exam in order to quiet the critics.
4. Pi, 1998
Numbers whiz Max Cohen (Sean Gullette) is stunted by psychological delusions of paranoia and debilitating headaches. He lives in a messy Chinatown apartment, where he tinkers with equations and his homemade, super-advanced computer. One day, however, Cohen encounters a mysterious number. Soon after reporting his discovery to his mentor (Mark Margolis) and to a religious friend (Ben Shenkman), he finds himself the target of ill-intentioned Wall Street agents bent on using the number for profit.
3. 21, 2008
Ben Campbell (Jim Sturgess), a brilliant student at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, needs some quick cash to pay his tuition bills. He joins a group of students who, under the leadership of unorthodox professor Mickey Rosa (Kevin Spacey), use their math skills to win big in Las Vegas. Seduced by a beautiful teammate (Kate Bosworth) and loads of money, Ben learns that the stakes are higher than he ever imagined when he crosses paths with casino enforcer Cole Williams (Laurence Fishburne).
2. A Beautiful Mind, 2001
A human drama inspired by events in the life of John Forbes Nash Jr., and in part based on the biography "A Beautiful Mind" by Sylvia Nasar. From the heights of notoriety to the depths of depravity, John Forbes Nash Jr. experienced it all. A mathematical genius, he made an astonishing discovery early in his career and stood on the brink of international acclaim. But the handsome and arrogant Nash soon found himself on a painful and harrowing journey of self-discovery.
1. Good Will Hunting, 1997
Will Hunting (Matt Damon) has a genius-level IQ but chooses to work as a janitor at MIT. When he solves a difficult graduate-level math problem, his talents are discovered by Professor Gerald Lambeau (Stellan Skarsgard), who decides to help the misguided youth reach his potential. When Will is arrested for attacking a police officer, Professor Lambeau makes a deal to get leniency for him if he will get treatment from therapist Sean Maguire (Robin Williams).
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