10 essential movies for hackers
10 films that hackers have to see.
A few of the obvious selections are omitted because of how dreadful they are...cough...Hackers...Matrix.
A few of the obvious selections are omitted because of how dreadful they are...cough...Hackers...Matrix.
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10 titles
- DirectorSydney PollackStarsRobert RedfordFaye DunawayCliff RobertsonA bookish CIA researcher in Manhattan finds all his co-workers dead, and must outwit those responsible until he figures out who he can really trust.Spies, conspiracies within conspiracies, hit-men and phreaking. That should be all you need. This film is disgracefully under-appreciated and alarmingly prophetic. Just watch it.
- DirectorPhil Alden RobinsonStarsRobert RedfordDan AykroydSidney PoitierA security pro finds his past returning to haunt him when he and his unique team are tasked with retrieving a particularly important item.A great hacker adventure again featuring Robert Redford as the protagonist hacker. It's more fanciful, and technologically flawed, but it has some great acting, a thoughtful plot and lots of hardware that any hacker would really like to get their hands on...if it existed.
- DirectorSteven LisbergerStarsJeff BridgesBruce BoxleitnerDavid WarnerA computer hacker is abducted into the digital world and forced to participate in gladiatorial games where his only chance of escape is with the help of a heroic security program.Don't laugh, especially if you haven't seen the original. At the time of production, the technology required to make this film didn't exist and yet they pulled it off.
Also movies featuring virtual worlds may be old hat now but again, at the time, this was fresh and new.
A real world hacker [Jeff Bridges as Kevin Flynn] being "sucked into a big computer" (as reviewers described it on release) is all you need to know. Some people say the effects look old and dated now and that the younger generation are expecting better CGI but this is simply not the case. There is very little CGI in this film, because CGI didn't exist back then - at least not in a form that could produce a visually stunning movie. What most people think is CGI is actually animation - mostly by hand. Consequently the film doesn't suffer from the problems of, say, the remastered Star Treks - where the 16-bit renderings of the Enterprise look kind of pathetic. It looks as sharp and beautiful as it did 30 years ago. Good god...30 years ago. - DirectorJohn BadhamStarsMatthew BroderickAlly SheedyJohn WoodA young man finds a back door into a military central computer in which reality is confused with game-playing, possibly starting World War III.This is *the* original hacker movie. You will already have seen it if you're reading this list; if not then what the hell are you doing? Download it and watch it right now! Tell no-one you'd never seen it before and never speak to me again.
- DirectorTerry GilliamStarsJonathan PryceKim GreistRobert De NiroA bureaucrat in a dystopic society becomes an enemy of the state as he pursues the woman of his dreams.Brazil is the best movie ever made - that's the only description I'm prepared to give.
- DirectorRichard LesterStarsChristopher ReeveRichard PryorMargot KidderSynthetic kryptonite laced with tar splits Superman in two: good Clark Kent and bad Man of Steel.Ignore the haters. This is proper superman - the Christopher Reeve superman - and Richard Bloody Prior! How can it not be awesome? This is hilarious, not always intentionally, and utterly ludicrous - but that's because it's a Superman film. As far as hacking is concerned it's a good'un, with Gus [Prior] elevating from unemployable loser to super-hacker and back again.
- DirectorTony ScottStarsWill SmithGene HackmanJon VoightA lawyer becomes targeted by a corrupt politician and his N.S.A. goons when he accidentally receives key evidence to a politically motivated crime.People have looked me in the eye and told me that the technology used in this film is 100% real - and that they know so because their [insert tenuous relation here] has a friend in the NSA. This film is fantasy, albeit it loosely based on contemporary technology in 1998, but it's a superb action adventure and by the time I've finished typing this, I'll probably have a black helicopter over my house.
- DirectorMike JudgeStarsRon LivingstonJennifer AnistonDavid HermanThree company workers who hate their jobs decide to rebel against their greedy boss.Defrauding the company payroll with a "virus", beating a printer to death and waiting for a mac to shutdown and go back to DOS are enough to make this fit the list. Regardless, everybody in the world needs to see this film so it should belong on all lists.
- DirectorPeter CollinsonStarsMichael CaineNoël CowardBenny HillA comic caper movie about a plan to steal a gold shipment from the streets of Turin by creating a traffic jam.Benny Hill as the computer genius who "likes 'em big" is almost an incidental character despite his key role in setting up the heist. Nonetheless every hacker should have a knowledge of all quotes in this film as part of their arsenal.
- DirectorVincenzo NataliStarsJeremy NorthamLucy LiuNigel BennettAn unsuspecting, disenchanted man finds himself working as a spy in the dangerous, high-stakes world of corporate espionage. Quickly getting way over-his-head, he teams up with a mysterious femme fatale.A compelling and twisty movie about corporate espionage, conspiracies, identity and paranoia. Again there are echoes of PKD with the classic theme of blurring dreams and reality. There's also a stupendous scene which captures the raw excitement of a corporate sales conference. Don't judge this movie by the name or any blurb. Just grit your teeth and remember Lucy Liu is in it. After a few minutes you'll get why it made this list.