A lot of great math movies hinge on the United States not being the anti-intellectual capital of the world. 14 Rubick’s Cube of Death 1997’s Cube was conceived by mad mathematician David W. Pravica.

“Math is truth,” says Mark Hamill’s aged patriarch, Albie Krantz, in Mike Flanagan’s recent adaptation of Stephen King’s The Life of Chuck. “It’s used in everything. In every job. In every facet of ...