GATTACA might be worth adding to the list. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gattaca
Gattaca is currently free on Hulu: http://www.hulu.com/watch/46029/gattaca
Ask HN: What are some (good) hacker movies?
141–150 of 186 posts
Re: Ask HN: What are some (good) hacker movies?
#142Okay, I'm insane, I know that. But I have this strange urge to nominate The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai in this category. I'm not sure I can explain why. Perhaps it's just to be perverse. ;) There's just something about the character that rings true. He's a famous superhero, but he doesn't wear a costume or come from another planet. He's a mad scientist, but he doesn't cackle or plot or soliloquize. He's an odd guy…
I just saw this recently, and the one problem I had with it is the actor playing Buckaroo (Peter Weller) is maybe the worst actor in the movie. Having John Lithgow, Jeff Goldblum, and Christopher Lloyd in secondary roles was amazing; they really go all out to push the intentional corniness over the top. (Lithgow's intentionally bad fake Italian accent is wonderful; Lloyd, as usual, really does seem like someone not o…
Having so much great acting around him made Peter Weller kind of painful to watch.
See, I think that Peter Weller's take on the character is one of the movie's charms. The guy plays Buckaroo Banzai as a perpetually preoccupied, frighteningly odd physics professor with a slight amount of Asperger's. A person who is sometimes painful to watch. [1] In other words, he's the kind of character whom you normally meet only in real life, not in the movies.
Without picking on any individuals by name, let me assure you that many real-world geniuses are even more painful to watch.
And the last thing the movie needed was more corniness. The central character is kind of deadpan, but that provides a valuable contrast with the silly antics going on around him.
Re: Ask HN: What are some (good) hacker movies?
#143Not 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.
Totally agreed. The others were dismal.
Re: Ask HN: What are some (good) hacker movies?
#144The Devil Wears Prada
Its about fashion, but I see a lot of parallels with fashions in software coming and going and returning.
Re: Ask HN: What are some (good) hacker movies?
#145Dup. http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=396120
Ask HN: What's a modern equivalent of the 80's "War Games" movie?
4 points by gur 45 days ago | 5 comments | flag
Re: Ask HN: What are some (good) hacker movies?
#146Primer - Ultra low budget film about a couple of engineers who accidentally invent a time machine in their garage while working on a startup.
Blow - Not really a hacker movie, but it's rags-to-riches-to-rags storyline should be interesting to a lot of entrepreneurs.
Day of the Jackal - Not a hacker movie either, but the main character's methodical preparation for an assassination will appeal to a lot of hackers.
The Net - A pretty good thriller about a hacker who has her identity stolen in a big conspiracy.
Fat Man and Little Boy - Slow but well done movie about the Manhattan Project.
Re: Ask HN: What are some (good) hacker movies?
#147Okay, I'm insane, I know that. But I have this strange urge to nominate The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai in this category. I'm not sure I can explain why. Perhaps it's just to be perverse. ;) There's just something about the character that rings true. He's a famous superhero, but he doesn't wear a costume or come from another planet. He's a mad scientist, but he doesn't cackle or plot or soliloquize. He's an odd guy…
I once walked past John Lithgow in Harvard Yard.
I was so surprised I blurted out "Dr. Lazardo!"
"Laugh while you can, monkey-boy," he replied, and kept walking.
Re: Ask HN: What are some (good) hacker movies?
#148TRON
Re: Ask HN: What are some (good) hacker movies?
#149More sci-fi than pure tech, I just saw: "The man from earth", http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0756683/ Highly recommended.
I've watched The Man From Earth about 30 times. Favorite movie of the past few years by a long shot.
Bixby also wrote a Star Trek TOS episode with basically the same story: http://www.cbs.com/classics/star_trek/video/video.php?cid=64...
Re: Ask HN: What are some (good) hacker movies?
#150E-Dreams: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0262021/ Startup.com: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0256408/
I'd like to second (third, really) Startup.com. It's a great documentary showing what not to do in a startup and the problems that faced many of the poorly run Web 1.0 companies before the nasdaq tanked in 2001.