I enjoyed 'The Bit Player' about Claude Shannon.
Also the mini series Devs.
Ask HN: What are some technically inspiring movies, TV shows or documentaries?
51–60 of 115 posts
Re: Ask HN: What are some technically inspiring movies, TV shows or documentaries?
#52The beginning part of the Founder (i.e. the story about how Ray Kroc turned McDonalds into a huge empire) is sort of inspirational in that the man has gumption and he recognizes the potential for Micky D's to become huge even though the original McDonald brothers never wanted to take it as big.
In fact, there's a portion of the movie where's psyching himself up to go and hustle by listening to a recording of Calvin Coolidge's speech on Persistence.
Like all that was really cool. My fave moment, though was when the McDonald brothers describe how they optimized the layout of their McDonald's location in San Bernardino.
In the last 3rd of the movie you see the bad part of Ray Kroc and how he ripped off the brothers but aside from that the first half is pretty inspirational to me.
Overall, a great movie.
Re: Ask HN: What are some technically inspiring movies, TV shows or documentaries?
#53To Mars by A-Bomb: The Secret History of Project Orion. Inspiring by the sheer grandiosity of the task, the will, and the ingenuity to tackle it. Back in the 1950s, while a trip to the Earth Moon was still just science fiction stuff, those guys were planning to go as far as Saturn in a couple of decades, riding nukes. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1039992/
Re: Ask HN: What are some technically inspiring movies, TV shows or documentaries?
#54The episode about the Halloween movie from the Netflix series movies that made us. Those guys were all unknowns working in a network of established players that wouldn't take to them. Not tech but those guys embody the entrepreneurial spirit.
Re: Ask HN: What are some technically inspiring movies, TV shows or documentaries?
#55Pirates of Silicon Valley. One of my favorite movies of all time.
That movie is better than all the movies about Steve Jobs that came out since. It shows the good and the bad.
Re: Ask HN: What are some technically inspiring movies, TV shows or documentaries?
#56Hackers (1995) Not joking, it's a silly and campy movie but it captures the enthusiasm I had as a kid for making computers do things. Not about coding, but about achieving something through persistence and hard work: Fitzcarraldo (1982)
> Fitzcarraldo (Herzog, 1982)
In-drama and out-drama?
> When shooting was nearly complete, the chief of the Machiguenga tribe, who were used extensively as extras, asked Herzog if they should kill Kinski for him
Re: Ask HN: What are some technically inspiring movies, TV shows or documentaries?
#57I got you Documentaries - The Airbnb Story[1] - High Score (A netflix series on the history of games, the first episode has a part where some college guys had to change hardware to make games harder) - The Pirate Bay, Away from Keyboard - Silicon Cowboys; highly recommend this one, I believe we wouldn't have the industry as it is today, if it weren't for Compaq. Movies - Who Am I, No System is safe (Look for one with…
I second Silicon Cowboys. It sounds exactly what OP is looking for. 1980s David vs. Goliath. I was cheering from my sofa.
Re: Ask HN: What are some technically inspiring movies, TV shows or documentaries?
#58Apollo: Missions to the Moon[0]
There is no narrator for this documentary. All of the "narration" is from recorded tv, radio, and home movies from the time. It is really inspiring to watch humans overcome Earth's gravity to get to the Moon as it happened over 50 years ago.
[0] https://www.natgeotv.com/int/apollo-missions-to-the-moon
Re: Ask HN: What are some technically inspiring movies, TV shows or documentaries?
#59Apollo 13 (1995) - there are various scenes showing the engineers working through various technical problems (much like gravity and the martian)
Antitrust (2001) - The technical portion is goofy, but discusses the open source software movement, VCs, working for a major tech company (an evil bill gates character played by tim robbins)
Sneakers (1992) - Personally, one of my favorite movies of all-time. Code breaking, old school hacking (think wargames). I think the best description i've heard of it is an 1970s caper movie. You will never see a better cast in a movie. Robert Redford, Sidney Poitier, Ben Kingsley, James Earl Jones, Dan Ackroyd, River Phoenix, David Strathairn, Mary McDonnell all play major roles
Mythic Quest (2020) - Apple tv show about creating video games and running a tech company
Re: Ask HN: What are some technically inspiring movies, TV shows or documentaries?
#60General Magic (2018) absolutely captures the essence of running & working at a startup doing innovative work on products that were well ahead of their time. Marc Porat is an incredible speaker, and he sheds a ton of light on what struggles they went through ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6RaTIF6st4c ), and the thought process behind bringing Magic Cap to market. The soundtrack alone (done by Benji Merrison) makes…
Do you know if it's possible to buy a DRM-free version of it?
I don't think it's possible, although it is available on DVD/Blu-Ray, for what that's worth.