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A list of movies about hacking

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Re: A list of movies about hacking

#61
post #56

This doesn't appear to be so much a curated list of much-watch movies so much as a list of all movies about hacking ever. Here is my curated list of movies ever hacker and cyberpunk enthusiast must watch: * Sneakers * Ghost in the Shell * Tron Why is Tron there? Because the screenwriter loosely based the character around her husband. Who was her husband? Alan Kay. Tron's protagonist is Alan Kay.

I'm very pleased to see a comment repping Sneakers on the top of the pile. A highly underrated true hacker classic! Ghost in the Shell rather than Patlabor?

I've never seen Patlabor. Sounds like I should.

And Sneakers, asides from the magic, encryption-breaking MacGuffin, is some of the most realistic hacking in movies. What's the preferred tactic of these tech geniuses? Basic social engineering. Sure, they know a lot of other tricks, but why figure out a clever way through the badge system if a cake and some birthday balloons will work just as well?

Re: A list of movies about hacking

#62
For action I would add Equilibrium (it has a cyberpunk feel to it) as well as the other movie he director did that I can't recall.

Also Existenz which has a female programmer and predates the Matrix and Inception.

Re: A list of movies about hacking

#64
post #62

For action I would add Equilibrium (it has a cyberpunk feel to it) as well as the other movie he director did that I can't recall. Also Existenz which has a female programmer and predates the Matrix and Inception.

If you're adding (the excellent) Equilibrium, I'd say V for Vendetta too due to its influence on "Anonymous". And Fight Club because of what their end goal is.

That said, I can still remember seeing eXistenZ in the cinema:

>Death to the demoness, Allegra Geller.

Re: A list of movies about hacking

#65
post #36

I'm going to go against the grain and say: don't watch these. Or rather, don't prioritize watching these. Try to balance out movies and books related to your profession or hobby with those outside of it. The world already has enough stereotypical geeks loving Ghost in the Shell, Star Wars and Star Trek, it needs more geeks having an interest in what "regular people" do and like.

That is rather offensively narrow-minded to think that "regular people" don't also enjoy those those movies. That simply having a job or hobby related to STEM somehow does not make you a regular person.

You don't know any actual "regular people", do you? (Edit: I don't mean to put your friends down, I just mean that the people you know are probably smart, interesting people, sadly unlike a large portion of humanity.) I don't mean 'person working outside of tech'. I mean the kind of people who think Big Bang Theory is 'a show for smart people'.

Most of the world is like this. It's terrifying.

Re: A list of movies about hacking

#66

Not for the hacker or cyberpunk genre but I do think that 'Primer' needs to be in this list. Haven't seen more realistic time travel movie than this yet.

" Realistic time travel " movie?

The forward-only time machine in Futurama is probably the only paradox-free time travel premise that's possible. Even that had a giant plot hole re: the motion of the planet, solar system, etc.

Re: A list of movies about hacking

#67
post #6

Seeing this list inspired me to write about the list I keep for the books I read, many of them cyberpunk/scifi. After reading so many of these types of books, you can't help notice their elements in other media. It's interesting in seeing the print inspirations for many of these movies. The term "The Matrix" was first coined in William Gibson's Neuromancer and considered to be the seminal Cyberpunk novel, even predat…

meanwhile, i'm waiting for my damn smartwheels and knight visions over here. These sumerian wizards aren't going to defeat themselves, you know!

Re: A list of movies about hacking

#70

Not for the hacker or cyberpunk genre but I do think that 'Primer' needs to be in this list. Haven't seen more realistic time travel movie than this yet.

" Realistic time travel " movie?

there's a paradox here somewhere. ;)
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