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Ask HN: What are some (good) hacker movies?

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Re: Ask HN: What are some (good) hacker movies?

#131
post #105

GATTACA might be worth adding to the list. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gattaca

Gattaca is an underrated classic. Andre Niccol's other movie The Truman Show is even better.

His other other movie, Lord of War, was also pretty good. It does involve entrepreneurship. The Terminal, his other other other movie, was ok, but no hacking. I haven't seen his other other other other movie, S1m0ne.

Re: Ask HN: What are some (good) hacker movies?

#132
post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

On the other hand, Hackers did take the time to name its characters after handles taken from 2600.

It also had Angelina Jolie. It... motivate me to be a hacker. And yet now that I am a hacker... I am no closer to Angelina, funny that.

(I know I'm going to get downmodded to hell for this but it has to be said)

The reason why you're not closer to Angelina has a simple solution - you haven't yet hacked The Gibson.

Re: Ask HN: What are some (good) hacker movies?

#133
post #72

Slightly off topic, but a good hacker TV show is "Big Bang Theory" on Monday nights on ABC. It's about 4 physics PhD students at Cal Tech. The best part is that they don't water down the physics at all. One guy got dumped by his girlfriend because of their differing opinions on string theory. I just got the season 1 DVD and it's great.

I've been following the show since the pilot, and have been extremely impressed that it has developed a following enough to warrant a second season. I was initially worried it would get killed mid-season like so many other great geeky/sci-fi shows.

Re: Ask HN: What are some (good) hacker movies?

#136

Not all are hacker movies per se, but these have great general geek appeal: Existenz http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0120907/ Cube http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0123755/ The Nines http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0810988/ The World's Fastest Indian http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0412080/ October Sky http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0132477/ Three Days of the Condor http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0073802/

+1 for Cube. Cube 2: Hypercube and Cube Zero, not so much.

Re: Ask HN: What are some (good) hacker movies?

#137
post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I got a real kick out of watching Pirates of Silicon Valley.

I much prefer "Triumph of the Nerds." http://www.pbs.org/nerds/ The real Gates, Jobs, etc. are far more compelling, interesting, and charismatic than actors trying to portray them.

Though Steve Jobs thought Noah Wyle was so good that he invited him to trick the audience at one of his keynotes.

Re: Ask HN: What are some (good) hacker movies?

#139
post #81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's what he says, but they lack the skepticism of actual scientists. I love the movie - and the quote - but Venkman is clearly calling himself a scientist because it's convenient at the moment.

Wait, how do we know that Venkman isn't a legitimate scientist, again? Because he's insufficiently skeptical about ghosts? But in the universe of Ghostbusters ghosts physically exist ! If anything, the part of Ghostbusters that strains my credulity is that in their universe there seem to be scientists who don't believe in ghosts. You'd think that the accumulated evidence would be pretty overwhelming by the 1980s!

I was thinking more of that scene, where his line before that one was "Are you, Alice, menstruating right now?" It's clear he's more interest in her than the study. Again, it makes for a funny movie, but it's also making fun of scientists.
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