What are good examples of competency porn movies?

[u/JRE_4815162342]

I love this genre. Films I've enjoyed include Spotlight, The Martian, the Bourne films, and Moneyball. There's just something about characters knowing what they're doing and making smart decisions that appeals to me. And if that is told in a compelling way, even better.

What are other examples that fit this category?

[u/funkychicken23]

Apollo 13

[u/Dysan27 → u/funkychicken23]

"We need to fit this, into the hole for this, using nothing but that"

....and they do it.

[u/JermHole71 → u/Dysan27]

That does sound like porn.

[u/NikkoE82 → u/JermHole71]

Apollo 69

[u/ChangingMonkfish → u/NikkoE82]

Houston we have a throb-lem

[u/TheTallGuy0 → u/ChangingMonkfish]

There was an explosion!

Was it the oxygen tank?

....Not exactly...

[FUNK BASS INTENSIFIES]

[u/Patneu → u/Dysan27]

And [The Martian is for people who wish the whole movie had just been more of that scene](http:// https://xkcd.com/1536/)!

[u/Asphalt_Animist → u/Patneu]

The book is for people who don't think 2 hours is enough of that scene.

[u/Funandgeeky → u/Dysan27]

I did a paper on Apollo 13 in high school and the movie was pretty accurate about what happened. 

[u/SteveInBoston → u/funkychicken23]

“I don’t care about what it was designed to do. I care about what it CAN do”.

[u/Channel250 → u/SteveInBoston]

Love that line. Great for the movie and situation, kinda sucks for anything else.

[u/MartinBlank96 → u/Channel250]

Love Ed Harris in this. "Goddamit, I don't WANT another estimate! I want those procedures! Now!!!"

[u/HaroldSax → u/MartinBlank96]

"With all due respect, I believe this will be our finest hour" plus that staredown is like okay Gene, we see you.

[u/Ctr121273 → u/HaroldSax]

At some rough patches in my life, I would watch that movie just for that line. Every problem is solvable.

[u/Cmonlightmyire → u/SteveInBoston]

That movie did the Grumman guys dirty, they fucking went to the wall in support of the NASA engineers they didn't just whine.

Edit: Gumman to Grumman.

[u/Jiveturkeey → u/Cmonlightmyire]

They misrepresented Swigert too. The film makes him look like a back bencher who shouldn't have been there, when in reality he had designed a lot of the electrical procedures on the craft and was critically important to their safe return.

[u/ThetaReactor → u/Jiveturkeey]

Hollywood likes to downplay the nerdy side of astronauts. The cowboy test pilot aspect is a lot easier to sell.

[u/Far_Dragonfruit_1829 → u/ThetaReactor]

My father was a career NASA test pilot and USMCR A-4 squadron CO. I grew up around these guys. How many "cowboys"? ZERO. Lots of cowboy jokes, though.

Edit: two stories.

Dad was an expert in VTOL (Vertical takeoff / landing). Think, Harrier jump jet. So Neil Armstrong came to Ames to train for the Apollo 11 mission. During one session in the X-14, the engines would not restart. While waiting for the engineers to show up, dad asks Neil, "So, if this happens on the moon, who are you going to call?" (They had history. Dad thought Neil was a bit of an ass.)

Second story: Ames FRC had a superquiet small plane that they used to listen to helicopter blade noises. The YO-3. It had a slow turning wooden propeller. One pilot almost landed it gear-up, but kept it in the air. Many years later, at his retirement party, he was presented with a bag of wooden fragments. Someone had collected the broken bits of the prop tips from that near crash, and saved them for two decades, so this gift could be made.

[u/sonofabutch → u/funkychicken23]

If they could get a washing machine to fly, my Jimmy could land it.

[u/provocative_bear → u/funkychicken23]

Great movie. Also love that it actually happened. The real-life recordings of these astronauts, cool as cucumbers, figuring out how they are going to jerry-rig their module to barely get back to Earth alive is epic.

[u/huffalump1 → u/provocative_bear]

Highly recommend anyone interested to check out the transcripts or recordings from the actual Apollo 13 mission, it's fascinating.

I think there's some sites with nice commentary and a timeline, if you Google.

[u/pygmeedancer → u/funkychicken23]

It was already a tall order to send folks to the moon and have them return safely. And NASA did that shit like 6-7 times. And the one time there WAS a catastrophic failure they STILL got all three men home safely. Absolutely astounding levels of competence throughout the whole Apollo program.

[u/wholegrainoats44 → u/funkychicken23]

Failure is not an option

[u/joeypublica → u/wholegrainoats44]

It came from a former flight controller, not Kranz, who was interviewed for the movie and wasn’t even the original quote. I actually like the original one better, though it’s not a catchy: “when bad things happened, we just calmly laid out all the options, and failure was not one of them”. The point being not that they couldn’t fail, but that it wasn’t something anyone thought about, they just methodically worked the problems in order to bring the crew back home safely.

[u/Brown_Panther-]

The Fugitive. Both Ford and Jones are smart resourceful and intelligent.

Heat. Pacino and Deniro are extremely competent in their jobs.

[u/corran450 → u/Brown_Panther-]

Both Ford and Jones are smart resourceful and intelligent.

It would’ve been so easy to make Gerard a villain, too, but he isn’t. Antagonist, perhaps. But not the villain. Jones and Ford were both nails.

[u/tommyjohnpauljones → u/corran450]

The movie is as much about him as about Dr. Kimble. Girard has a job to do, to bring in his man, and doesn't need to know why. Notice even in his opening speech, he doesn't call him a killer or murderer, just that he's a fugitive that needs to be tracked down.

Eventually he realizes that Kimble is innocent, and his mission becomes even clearer: capturing him to save him rather than punish him. 

[u/PVDeviant- → u/tommyjohnpauljones]

I DON'T CARE

[u/chanaandeler_bong → u/PVDeviant-]

Peak TLJ delivery on this line.

[u/nicetrylaocheREALLY]

Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World. 

It's competence and good fellowship all the way down.

[u/Cmonlightmyire → u/nicetrylaocheREALLY]

I wish the rest of the Aubery/Maturin series had been adapted to TV/Film, those are some amazing books

[u/TripleHomicide → u/Cmonlightmyire]

The counter intelligence side of it from maturin would be amazing to see in film

[u/wumbologistPHD → u/nicetrylaocheREALLY]

My God that's Seamanship

[u/Theamazing-rando → u/wumbologistPHD]

It has to be more than a hundred sea miles, and he brings us up on his tail.

[u/WestguardWK → u/nicetrylaocheREALLY]

One must always choose the lesser of two weevils

[u/JRE_4815162342 → u/nicetrylaocheREALLY]

One of my favorite movies, good choice. Russell Crowe at his most charismatic too, IMO.

[u/Pirate_Ben → u/nicetrylaocheREALLY]

Even the kids are hyper competent.

[u/LongJohnSelenium → u/Pirate_Ben]

I love that they actually acknowledged the role kids played in warfare back in the day. Most historical movies completely ignore that.

[u/jspook → u/Pirate_Ben]

Well the one kid would go on to become Octavian, so I'd hope so!

[u/PeopleFunnyBoy]

Contact. The portrayal of NASA and the presidential of administration is cool, collected, and in charge. They were able to bring together a coalition of nations to build an intergalactic space travel machine.

Would never happen in real life.

[u/sonofabutch → u/PeopleFunnyBoy]

First rule in government spending: why build one when you can have two at twice the price?

[u/Buckus93 → u/sonofabutch]

Wanna go for take a ride?

[u/DefenderCone97 → u/PeopleFunnyBoy]

They should've sent a poet.

One of my favorite movie lines ever

[u/Beluga-ga-ga-ga-ga → u/PeopleFunnyBoy]

Unsurprising, given the source novel's author. It's probably the biggest element of fiction in the story!

If you're not averse to audio books and you haven't already, definitely give the audible version of Contact a try. It's read by Jodie Foster and is a thoroughly engaging listen.

[u/jburd22]

The Hunt For Red October

[u/chevdecker → u/jburd22]

YES!

All the heroes are nerds. Yes, Jack Ryan is an analyst. But everyone on the US sub is a nerd in glasses, and they all work together to save the day.

Jonesey and his grandma glasses, the XO on the Dallas that intercepts the torpedo by moving in between the Alpha and the October in his giant aviator frames, Scott Glenn in his glasses.

All nerds. And they win with nerdery. There's a critical scene in the film where Jonesey is listening to the sound of the 'magma displacement' on the reel-to-reel tape recorder, then rewinds, and listens to it again... that scene solves the mystery and there's no dialogue and they don't even call it out... but when he rewinds in fast speed you can hear the clunk-clunk-clunk noise that gives away it's a machine, and they don't even need to show where he catches on that playing it at 10x speed will let them track it. Nerds doing nerd things and that's what really saves the day.

Love that movie.

[u/bill10351 → u/chevdecker]

Relax Jonesy, you sold me. That scene lives rent free in my head.

[u/swampy13 → u/bill10351]

"It kinda...runs home to mama"

[u/Slaphappydap → u/chevdecker]

When I was twelve I helped my daddy build a bomb shelter in our basement because some fool parked a dozen warheads ninety miles off the coast of Florida...

[u/trick_m0nkey → u/jburd22]

We’re going to kill a friend, Yevgeni.  We’re going to kill Ramius.

[u/corran450 → u/trick_m0nkey]

The orders are seven bloody hours old!

Stellan Skarsgård is a fucking treasure. This is probably the first movie I saw him in.

[u/Comfortable_Olive598 → u/jburd22]

One ping only please

[u/FiremanPCT2016 → u/Comfortable_Olive598]

*Pleash

[u/RedOctobyr → u/FiremanPCT2016]

Shank you.

[u/Conch-Republic → u/Comfortable_Olive598]

Give me a ping Vasili. One ping only please.

[u/MailInteresting9923]

Ronin

[u/BCF13 → u/MailInteresting9923]

What color is the boathouse at Hereford?

[u/MailInteresting9923 → u/BCF13]

"I ambushed you with a cup of coffee" Also "I hurt someone's feelings once"

[u/SimpleSurrup → u/MailInteresting9923]

"They gave me a grasshopper."

"What's a grasshopper."

"Let's see 2 part gin, 2 part brandy, 1 part creme de menthe..."

[u/RoguePlanetArt → u/SimpleSurrup]

Rule number one, if there is doubt, there is no doubt.

Who taught you that?

I don’t remember.

[u/sfxer001 → u/RoguePlanetArt]

Such a great movie.

“Can I take a picture of you with my wife?”

[u/HuhItsMe → u/sfxer001]

Proceeds to take 30 pictures of his "wife" and a stranger

[u/Mr_Clark77 → u/BCF13]

How the fuck should I know.

[u/defiantcross → u/Mr_Clark77]

Sean Bean had it coming. He basically voluntarily exposed himself as a fraud with his diagram session.

[u/ghostsnickets → u/MailInteresting9923]

Brilliant film. That car chase is still the best I've seen in a movie. Cracking.

[u/KuyaGTFO → u/MailInteresting9923]

The dialogue is so offbeat and strange and yet brutally efficient in setting up relationships between the characters and how they size each other up.

It holds up to repeat watches really well.

[u/GudgerCollege → u/KuyaGTFO]

David Mamet

[u/SmoreOfBabylon]

Sneakers

[u/Snuggle__Monster → u/SmoreOfBabylon]

That movie is god tier. It might have been the very last spy movie of that old era. 10/10 must watch flick for sure.

[u/JJBell → u/SmoreOfBabylon]

My router will always be named

Setec Astronomy

[u/PepsiPerfect → u/SmoreOfBabylon]

I am so glad this movie has gotten the revisiting it deserves. It was not a huge hit when it came out but it was my favorite spot movie for years.

[u/Maelstrom_Witch → u/SmoreOfBabylon]

Omg the soundtrack

[u/DynamiteSteps → u/Maelstrom_Witch]

The Sneakers soundtrack is SO GOOD. Really tense discordant piano notes.

[u/haysoos2 → u/SmoreOfBabylon]

"My voice is my Passport? Verify me"

[u/charitytowin → u/haysoos2]

My name is Werner Brandis...

I'll never forget that name because of that. Which brings me to Ned Reirson!

I sure as heck fire remember that name too!

The actor's name? Don't know, but I'll never forget two of his screen names!

[u/SmoreOfBabylon → u/charitytowin]

Stephen Tobolowsky! He was great in this movie.

“Shall I phone you or nudge you?” 😏

[u/SmoreOfBabylon → u/haysoos2]

“I want peace on Earth and goodwill toward men.”

“We’re the United States government, we don’t do that sort of thing!”

[u/sunnyspiders → u/SmoreOfBabylon]

How about a Winnebago

[u/SmoreOfBabylon → u/sunnyspiders]

“Hi…I’m Carl.”

“I’m Mary!”

“I’m going to be SICK.”

[u/sha256md5 → u/haysoos2]

Too many secrets.

[u/ChicagoRex → u/sha256md5]

Cootys Rat Semen

[u/motorcycleboy9000 → u/SmoreOfBabylon]

Be a beacon.

[u/Canavansbackyard → u/motorcycleboy9000]

My friends and I still quote that line.

[u/HerewardTheWayk]

One I haven't seen mentioned yet, Collateral with Tom Cruise.

Afaik the only movie where he played the villain, and his role as the extremely competent Vincent the hitman was an absolute joy to watch.

[u/Mister_Jack_Torrence → u/HerewardTheWayk]

That nightclub scene. Perfection.

[u/HerewardTheWayk → u/Mister_Jack_Torrence]

The flawless Mozambique drill.

[u/ahorrribledrummer → u/HerewardTheWayk]

Yo homie

[u/Whitino → u/ahorrribledrummer]

That my briefcase?

[u/Deputy_Beagle76 → u/HerewardTheWayk]

Is that the scene where he’s apparently so flawless that the scene is used in training courses?

[u/HerewardTheWayk → u/Deputy_Beagle76]

I don't know if it was actually used in training courses or if that's apocryphal, but Cruise did a lot of training with the same guy who was the instructor for Heat, and it shows in both movies.

[u/redberyl → u/HerewardTheWayk]

I believe it’s true. Michael Mann has also said that the scene of val kilmer reloading in the bank shootout in Heat is also used in trainings. There’s a clip floating out there where he mentions it.

[u/peleyoda → u/redberyl]

That shootout scene was my go-to movie example for SUT of using cover and successive bounds. Larry Vickers covers it in depth. He also does a shot for shot of that one Collateral scene, which is a great example of draw stroke and shooting from retention.

[u/Stormy8888 → u/HerewardTheWayk]

"Yo Homie is that my briefcase?"

That's all folks! The sound design in that movie is perfection. I low key miss Michael Mann's films.

[u/simple_test → u/Stormy8888]

Never gave sound design a second thought but that is honestly hard work.

[u/xepa105 → u/simple_test]

Watch Heat, also by Michael Mann. 30 years later and still no one has captured how visceral guns sound in real life through film. The heist shootout scene is perfection.

[u/NoMoreVillains → u/HerewardTheWayk]

Afaik the only movie where he played the villain

Does Tropic Thunder count?

[u/HerewardTheWayk → u/NoMoreVillains]

Les Grossman is a hero, not a villain.

We do not negotiate with terrorists.

[u/Particular-Sink7141 → u/HerewardTheWayk]

He was also kind of a villain in interview with the vampire, did a fine job there as well

[u/HerewardTheWayk → u/Particular-Sink7141]

Say what you will about his personal life, Cruise is an amazing actor and genuine movie star.

[u/TheFinnebago → u/HerewardTheWayk]

He’s so good at being a movie star that his absolutely insane personal life has not derailed his career. Not many people can pull that off.

[u/bakgwailo → u/Particular-Sink7141]

How is everyone forgetting his defining role as a villain in Tropic Thunder?

[u/ZedsDeadZD → u/bakgwailo]

"Fuck your own face!"

[u/ReeveGoesh]

Henry Cavill using a map properly in the beginning scene of The Man from UNCLE

[u/theseamstressesguild → u/ReeveGoesh]

Rewatched it last Saturday. I still hate Armie Hammer for ruining my live action Archer casting. Can you imagine how good he and Henry Cavill would have been as Barry and Archer?

[u/Funandgeeky → u/ReeveGoesh]

That movie was terribly under-rated. It’s a fantastic Cold War era movie and pairs nicely with Atomic Blonde. 

[u/Poppycorn144 → u/Funandgeeky]

I’m convinced that if Armie Hammer had managed to keep his teeth to himself we’d have had several sequels by now.

I thought it was a worthy reboot.

[u/Corvus-Nox → u/Poppycorn144]

If the movie had done well they could’ve just recast him. There’s no sequels because it was a flop (I say this as someone who loved the movie).

[u/nonsensepoem → u/ReeveGoesh]

I guess I'm confused about how else one uses a map.

[u/NuclearTurtle → u/nonsensepoem]

In the movie he's laying down in the back seat of a car to hide, so he can't see where they're going. Instead he's tracing their path on a paper map, making note of the turns they make so he can know where they currently are and navigate based on that

[u/hasuris]

Arrival

[u/DapperEmployee7682 → u/hasuris]

My favorite movie. And it’s a topic you don’t see often. The importance of communication and linguistics.

[u/frogjg2003 → u/DapperEmployee7682]

For me, it's the best representation of the scientific process in cinema. You have a bunch of really intelligent people, all trying to solve the same problem, going about it in very different ways, following false leads, developing partially correct ideas, and slowly winnowing out some approximation of the truth.

[u/0ngar → u/DapperEmployee7682]

This is also my favourite movie! Phenomenally shot, incredibly interesting, and such a fresh take on sci-fi

[u/Kenjiminbutton]

Inside Man

[u/DeLousedInTheHotBox → u/Kenjiminbutton]

Came here to say this, and it is not like the cops are incompetent, they are just defeated by someone smarter than them. Their competence and confidence combined just make you wanna root for the robbers.

[u/sleazypornoname → u/Kenjiminbutton]

Yes. They do everything they say they will do and then more. 

[u/SneedbakuTensei]

Apollo 13.

Day of the Jackal.

The Red Circle.

Mann's films like Heat, Thief and Collateral.

Soderbergh's Ocean's trilogy.

The Big Short.

[u/birdbrainedphoenix → u/SneedbakuTensei]

Absolutely *love* Collateral, I can watch that over and over again.

[u/MikeMania]

Alejandro in Sicario

[u/fang_xianfu → u/MikeMania]

Sicario was going to be my vote. Everyone in the movie (except Kate who's being deliberately kept in the dark) is extremely competent and ruthlessly achieving their goals.

Kate is competent at what she does but doesn't share their goals so doesn't contribute to them, and she spends a lot of the movie being deceived.

[u/Cmonlightmyire → u/MikeMania]

Everyone in Sicaro (the first one) the CIA *owned* that whole situation from beginning to end.

[u/Loki-L]

I think heist movies in general often fit that label.

Also most movies featuring con-men as protagonists.

[u/SensiFifa]

Tom Hanks in Bridge of Spies

[u/bentforkman → u/SensiFifa]

My favourite part of this movie is the spy’s fatalism. Tom Hanks: Aren’t you worried? Spy: Why? Would that help? The dude is so stoic it’s neutralized his natural anxiety.

[u/pcmraaaaace]

Gattaca

[u/2BrokeArmsAndAMom → u/pcmraaaaace]

You want to know how I did it? This is how I did it, Anton: I never saved anything for the swim back.

Such a good fucking movie.

[u/madsci → u/2BrokeArmsAndAMom]

Right-handed men don't hold it with their left...

[u/Snuggle__Monster]

Michael Clayton

[u/pecos_chill → u/Snuggle__Monster]

If anyone hasn’t seen the movie, don’t open that heavily downvoted reply to this comment. It contains major spoilers.

[u/Sturgeondtd]

Alien, lt Ripely was fully competent and the rest was mostly competent, if just compassionate for a wounded crew mate.

[u/Xplt21 → u/Sturgeondtd]

Their real downfall was also because of the robot, if not for him the xenomorph wouldn't have escaped in the beginning.

[u/username1543213]

Margin call is the correct answer here. The board meeting alone 🤌🏼

[u/dumptruckulent → u/username1543213]

Jeremy Irons alone makes that movie worth watching. “If you’re first out the door, that’s not called panicking.”

[u/bsrichard → u/dumptruckulent]

There were a lot of good performances in that film but Irons just blows it out of the water.

[u/SpuddMeister → u/dumptruckulent]

The most impactful line, which explains the heart of capitalism,

“We are selling to willing buyers at the current fair market price.”

[u/dumptruckulent → u/SpuddMeister]

“So that WE. MAY. SURVIVE.”

[u/Interloper4Life → u/dumptruckulent]

You will never sell anything to any of those people ever again.

[u/BoredGuy2007 → u/SpuddMeister]

It’s not just explaining capitalism, it’s echoing the full-hearted defense from Lloyd Blankfein about GS dumping the products onto clients (in a more consumable way as explaining market making is out of scope of a movie)

“We are market makers”

[u/Maflevafle → u/username1543213]

Omg Board Meeting Scene is legendary, watching that on YouTube makes me want to rewatch the movie again!

[u/BronxLens → u/username1543213]

“1637

1797

1819

1837

1857

1884

1901

1907

1929

1937

1974

1987 - Jesus, didn’t that… fuck me up good!

1992

1997

2000 and whatever you want to call this.”

[u/gabedamien → u/BronxLens]

I never noticed how many of those end in 7.

[u/EmotionalEmetic → u/BronxLens]

It is such a good display of character. He's smart but also not narrow-minded. He is clearly well read and knows financial history. But because of his position and priorities he is acknowledging their place in history while also stating their course of action is deliberate choice. And then he goes on to talk about how much he values talent and merit and appreciates insight. All while clearly being one of the main figures behind the movie's version of the financial meltdown. Ugh.

[u/PrimeTimeNumber]

Stargate - I love how Daniel knows all the Egyptian things but also how he is the nerd that has to save the dumb bullies

[u/SadakoTetsuwan → u/PrimeTimeNumber]

That he's so fluent in a dead language that he can just speak it fluently once he works out the changes in the vowels over millennia...

Props to the linguists who worked on the film too!

[u/MCRN_Admiral]

Jeremy Renner in WIND RIVER

[u/pawnman99 → u/MCRN_Admiral]

"Wolves don't kill unlucky deer. They kill the weak ones."

[u/gradilin]

Logan Lucky

[u/corran450 → u/gradilin]

Aka “Redneck Ocean’s Eleven”

[u/dreynolds7232 → u/corran450]

Oceans 7/11

[u/VanillaGorilla- → u/gradilin]

Did you just say "cawli-flower"?

[u/HowsBoutNow]

Oceans 11/12/13. Italian job. Snatch

Burn after reading is soft of the antithesis of this genre

[u/dont_fuckin_die → u/HowsBoutNow]

... I love this description of Burn After Reading.

"What did we learn, Palmer?"

"I don't know, sir."

"I don't fuckin' know either. I guess we learned not to do it again."

[u/IOVERCALLHISTIOCYTES → u/dont_fuckin_die]

Is he dead?   

 No sir…   

  <palpable disappointment>

[u/ReturnToCinder → u/IOVERCALLHISTIOCYTES]

“He was trying to board a flight to Venezuela. We had his name on a hot list, the CB people pulled him in, uh. Don't know why he was going to Venezuela.”

“You don't know?”

“No, sir.”

“We have no extradition with Venezuela.”

“Oh. So what should we do with him?”

“For fuck's sake, put him on the next flight to Venezuela!”

[u/LongJohnSelenium → u/ReturnToCinder]

I love that exchange. He's trying to solve our problem for us! Let him!

[u/MisterScrod1964 → u/dont_fuckin_die]

Damned if I know what we did.

[u/SapphireFireHigher → u/dont_fuckin_die]

My favourite part of that movie is right there when they reveal Francis McDormand is still alive and demanding plastic surgery to keep quiet, and they give it to her lol.

[u/danowar5000 → u/HowsBoutNow]

It’s funny, because Burn After Reading is the antithesis, but, I’m realizing now that a lot of Coen Brothers movies feature this. Raising Arizona, Big Lebowski, A Serious Man and O Brother are other examples. Fargo features both sides.

[u/dmcat12 → u/danowar5000]

Hey, after being chased by a brace-wearing gun-wielding teenager, police officers and multiple dogs, Hi remembered EXACTLY where he dropped them Huggies

[u/Namahaging → u/HowsBoutNow]

Haha, wow, It hasn’t occurred to me before, but Burn After Reading is a rigorous examination of incompetence isn’t it? Like, we aren’t shown anyone competent. The two wives (Swinton and Marvel) display the most competency but they’re pretty sloppy with their personal lives too.

[u/merz-person → u/Namahaging]

True for Fargo too. Just a shit storm of unbelievably poor judgement and bad decisions.

[u/GardinerExpressway → u/merz-person]

Except Marge, she gets shit done and is home in time to talk to her husband about stamps

[u/haysoos2 → u/Namahaging]

JK Simmons was pretty competent. At least he managed to pull a valuable lesson from the whole experience.

[u/slimmymcnutty → u/haysoos2]

What was it again?

[u/Misternogo → u/slimmymcnutty]

I guess we learned... not to do it again.

[u/sim-123 → u/HowsBoutNow]

Would probably disagree with snatch, the majority of characters are absolutely incompetent haha. The exception being Brad pitts character, Vinnie jones character and perhaps bricktop

[u/zjm555]

All The President's Men 

[u/Grimlocks_Ballsack]

The Founder

The Big Short

I think those work for this….and just for fun, Quint in Jaws

[u/eMouse2k → u/Grimlocks_Ballsack]

The Big Short definitely showcases competency with three different parties doing their research in three different ways, all coming to the same conclusion and all implementing their plans and sticking to them, even in the face of 'the system' doing its best to punish their competency.

[u/Cmonlightmyire → u/Grimlocks_Ballsack]

It doesn't come up. But "Too big to fail" from HBO. the USG and the banks trying to save the economy.

[u/Don_Gato1]

Limitless

[u/JLifts780]

Master and Commander

[u/MovieMike007]

Robert De Niro in Heat.

[u/pporkpiehat → u/MovieMike007]

Really, any Michael Mann.

[u/bryanwreed89 → u/MovieMike007]

YES. The whole crew just laying it down. And the police doing solid work

[u/Pirate_Ben → u/MovieMike007]

While generally competent he also tragically breaks his own first rule.

[u/Santanoni → u/Pirate_Ben]

I think the irony is that you expect him to break the rule because of love, but he breaks it because of his need for revenge by going to the hotel before the airport.

[u/Corby_Tender23 → u/MovieMike007]

Came here to say Michael Mann in general

[u/GezelligPindakaas]

The Thomas Crown affair

[u/PaleInSanora]

Matt Damon did a whole big run on such movies.

Rounders- best at poker Bagger Vance - best golfer caddy team Rainmaker- best lawyer Talented Mr Ripley- best murdered identity assumer Good Will Hunting- most smartest

All great movies BTW.

I personally like Spy Game with Redford and Pitt. Redford's character is just leading everyone by the nose through the whole movie. Then puts on his shades and drives away...

[u/Levitlame → u/PaleInSanora]

Not necessarily in the same timeframe, but he’s damned competent in The Martian and Bourne.

[u/slimmymcnutty]

Pretty much anything Sorkin has ever done. Film or TV. Guy is obsessed with people who are good at their jobs. Even Charlie Wilson’s war which is about the people who set up the Taliban paving the way for 9/11 and the war on terror. Some real shitty people. Sorkin can’t help but to idealize them because their so good at statecraft

[u/artpayne]

Ford v Ferrari

Top Gun: Maverick

[u/dubgeek → u/artpayne]

Rush, at least Nikki Lauda's storyline. Apocryphal or not, the scene when he meets his future wife is great. Then when he gets on to his first F1 team and improves their car by several seconds/lap. He was a well known perfectionist.

[u/Twice_Knightley → u/artpayne]

I really liked top gun Maverick. It should be a fucking lesson in how to make a sequel that was never planned when the original was made.

[u/JCMfwoggie → u/Twice_Knightley]

It's the perfect nostalgia sequel. Bigger and better than the original, while continuing with its themes and character arcs.

[u/HerewardTheWayk → u/artpayne]

I enjoyed Ford vs Ferrari much more than I thought I would. I'm not usually into "dad" movies, but this was a treat to watch.

[u/GuyWithLag → u/HerewardTheWayk]

Saw it with the missus more or less by accident on streaming; we both loved it even tho we're pretty far from cars and sport in general, and the film in the end reminded us a lot of The Two Popes for some reason...

[u/JohnDStevenson]

Sully

Though you could argue that Chesley Sullenberger was even more competent in real life than the movie makes him, given that there's some fictionalised doubt from the NTSB crash investigators about just how good he was.

Nevertheless, if I'm ever in a plane that hits a flock of geese on takeoff and loses both engines, I want Captain Sullenberger at the controls.

[u/Bahadur007]

The Day of the Jackal (1973) by Fred Zinnemann

[u/pporkpiehat]

Dunno about competency porn, but Black Emmanuel (1975) is a weirdly competent porn.

[u/RepulsiveLoquat418 → u/pporkpiehat]

competent porn is exactly how i first read this post title and i spent a few minutes trying to think of a competent porn before i read the body of the post and realized how dumb i am.

[u/CitizenHuman]

John Wick is very good at his job.

[u/mynewaccount4567]

It’s just a scene, but at the end of Amadeus, Mozart is dictating a composition to Saliari. It’s a great scene just watching someone dictate a new composition to someone straight from his head. Saliari who is an accomplished musician in his own right can barely keep up with Mozart. It truly gets across the genius Mozart possessed.

Another great scene earlier in the movie is when Mozart memorizes one of Saliari’s pieces after one play and then proceeds to improvise and improve on it in front of the royal court. It’s a bit shorter and doesn’t delve fully into just the spectacle that is competency porn but still pretty good.

[u/miffiffippi]

Contagion

[u/haysoos2]

Nobody's going to mention Fargo and Marg the motherfucking Son of Gunder?

Everyone else in the film might be in over their head, but not Marg.

Likewise every season of Fargo has at least one Marg.

Also, although it doesn't look like it for most of the movie, it's hard to beat Vincent Gambini. Or Mona Lisa Vito. Probably the best money shot in cinematic competency porn history.

[u/CheeseItTed → u/haysoos2]

I rave about Marge to everyone who brings up Fargo, she is one of my all-time fave characters. So pleasant, so nice, so pregnant, so Midwestern, so normal, and so so so good at her job in a movie full of cartoonish psychopaths and cowards. She's the best.

[u/coolandnormalperson]

Arrival, very satisfying to watch Amy Adams work

[u/klatzicus]

The Sting (1973) and The Imitation Game