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'Hackers' at 20

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Re: 'Hackers' at 20

#81

Post by cxseven »

It captures an optimistic spirit of the culture about as well as Hunter S. Thompson talking about the middle 60s:

DUKE (V/O): Strange memories on this nervous night in Las Vegas.

(he gets up, pours himself a drink.)

DUKE (V/O): Has it been five years? Six? It seems like a lifetime -- the kind of peak that never comes again. San Francisco in the middle sixties was a very special time and place to be a part of. But no explanation, no mix of words or music or memories can touch that sense of knowing that you were there and alive in that corner of time and the world. Whatever it meant.

DUKE throws open the curtains. Light streams in. Ext. 1965 Stock Footage: We are in San Francisco. Images of the time flood in.

DUKE (V/O): There was madness in any direction, at any hour... you could strike sparks anywhere there was a fantastic universal sense that whatever we were doing was right, that we were winning. And that, I think, was the handle -- that sense of inevitable victory over the forces of old and evil. Not in any mean or military sense; we didn't need that. our energy would simply prevail.

We had all the momentum; we were riding the crest of a high and beautiful wave...

DUKE's face is suffused with a sadness and serenity we have never seen before.

DUKE (V/O): So now, less than five years later, you can go up on a steep hill in Las Vegas and look west, and with the right kind of eyes you can almost see the high water mark -- that place where the wave finally broke and rolled back.

The memories dissolve into the night skyline of Vegas. DUKE closes the curtain. The room is in darkness again.

Re: 'Hackers' at 20

#82

Post by simoncion »

jedberg wrote: post #76

This movie came out when I was 18 and I very much related to the characters in the story. My friends and I definitely stepped up our "hacker" game after seeing this film. I also bought the soundtrack on CD (that's something you did then) and it was what got me into techno/house music. Funny side story: I grew up in LA and one of the things we got to do as teenagers was see pre-screenings of movies. This was usually b…

> ...20 years later that scene is horribly sexist and a sign of the times.

IIRC, (and I may not RC) that scene is Jolie and Miller engaging in sexual role-play. A few moments later, we cut to what's actually going on: the pair is making out on a bed, and their friends have just walked in to deliver good news, but are currently gawping at the spectacle. Jolie notices the gawpers, gets up, calls them something off-color, and we get to hear the good news.

Is my memory of the scene dramatically off the mark, or am I missing the sexism?

Re: 'Hackers' at 20

#83

Post by jmtame »

xentronium wrote: post #80
orionblastar wrote: post #11

"Hackers" wasn't accurate but it did bring about awareness for the need for computer security and strong passwords. I think Hollywood should reboot it for the modern times.

Mr.Robot is mostly accurate when it comes to computer security details.

Within the first few minutes they were talking about tor exit nodes. I knew very quickly I'd like the show.

Re: 'Hackers' at 20

#84

Post by aidenn0 »

intractable wrote: post #78
aidenn0 wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, the hacking in that was just right for a heist film (not technically impossible, but probably would fail 9 times out of 10), and the cast: Robert Redford, Sydney Poitier, Ben Kingsley, River Phoenix, James Earl Jones, Dan Aykroyd... probably more, but that's 3 Oscar winners, and a fourth with a nomination in there alone...

> Robert Redford, Sydney Poitier, River Phoenix, James Earl Jones, Dan Aykroyd Don't forget Ben Kingsley, another Oscar winner.

I was actually counting him, I've edited my post

Re: 'Hackers' at 20

#85

Post by amalcon »

thephyber wrote: post #45

Sneakers[1] > Track Down/Takedown[2] > Hackers[3] > Sword Fish[4] [1] http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0105435/ [2] http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0159784/ [3] http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0113243/ [4] http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0244244/

What, no WarGames? http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0086567/

Granted, that one's more about the cold war than about hacking, but Swordfish is more about... um... I'm not exactly sure what that one's about...

Re: 'Hackers' at 20

#86

Post by angersock »

simoncion wrote: post #82
jedberg wrote: post #76

This movie came out when I was 18 and I very much related to the characters in the story. My friends and I definitely stepped up our "hacker" game after seeing this film. I also bought the soundtrack on CD (that's something you did then) and it was what got me into techno/house music. Funny side story: I grew up in LA and one of the things we got to do as teenagers was see pre-screenings of movies. This was usually b…

> ...20 years later that scene is horribly sexist and a sign of the times. IIRC, (and I may not RC) that scene is Jolie and Miller engaging in sexual role-play. A few moments later, we cut to what's actually going on: the pair is making out on a bed, and their friends have just walked in to deliver good news, but are currently gawping at the spectacle. Jolie notices the gawpers, gets up, calls them something off-colo…

These days, anything remotely sex-positive for heterosexuality is usually claimed to be sexist.¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Re: 'Hackers' at 20

#87

Post by simoncion »

angersock wrote: post #86
simoncion wrote: post #82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> ...20 years later that scene is horribly sexist and a sign of the times. IIRC, (and I may not RC) that scene is Jolie and Miller engaging in sexual role-play. A few moments later, we cut to what's actually going on: the pair is making out on a bed, and their friends have just walked in to deliver good news, but are currently gawping at the spectacle. Jolie notices the gawpers, gets up, calls them something off-colo…

These days, anything remotely sex-positive for heterosexuality is usually claimed to be sexist.¯\_(ツ)_/¯

I understand the appeal of making such a cathartic comment, but I'm trying to discover the root of jedberg's opinion. I expect that the reason behind his opinion will be substantially more nuanced than your comment makes it out to be. :)

Re: 'Hackers' at 20

#88

Post by sevensor »

TillE wrote: post #2

It's been a very long time since I've seen the movie, but I was going to make the same point that the director does: it was never intended to be realistic, just a fantasy which captured the right feelings. It's probably not a good movie for other reasons, but I think it was successful at doing that. I've heard similar criticism of William Gibson's work, that his 1980s-flavored cyberpunk makes no sense scientifically…

You really have to appreciate the "punk" as much as the "cyber". Especially in his early stuff, Gibson's message is punk --- "cyber" is just a setting.

Re: 'Hackers' at 20

#89

Post by endgame »

klt0825 wrote: post #50

Seeing this at 11 is honestly what made me interested in computers and pushed me towards my current career, so seeing that it is 20 years old is sort of a shock. I can also certainly can relate to the portion of the audience that found phreaking much more interesting than hacking and the fact that the phreaking scene is all but dead is pretty sad.

If you missed the phreaking era like I did, do yourself a favour and read "Exploding the Phone": http://explodingthephone.com/ .

Re: 'Hackers' at 20

#90

Post by valm- »

thephyber wrote: post #45

Sneakers[1] > Track Down/Takedown[2] > Hackers[3] > Sword Fish[4] [1] http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0105435/ [2] http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0159784/ [3] http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0113243/ [4] http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0244244/

Sneakers is an all time favorite of mine. If you like heist movies, I think you will find it to be a very satisfying example of the genre.
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