While it may not be the star of any one film, the computer has played a leading role in many Hollywood movies. Let me review for you my favorite computer films.
2001: A Space Oddyssey. What computer on the planet can ever compete with HAL, the psycho that runs amok on the trip to Jupiter? HAL wasn’t really a computer because he spoke and thought and was more like a human character. But I would be remiss in not mentioning 2001 as one of the great computer movies.
Wargames. This is the big one, confirming that kids with modems can indeed start World War III. The technology was more-or-less based on real stuff. The film spawned a whole legion of kids using the name “Joshua” on their computers. It sold a lot of modems. It made Matthew Broderick a star! And it clued me into what the clunkly old Imsai could be with thousands of dollars of upgrades.
TRON. One of the first films to extensively use computer graphics, TRON is still well-liked today. My kids even liked it when I showed them the DVD. The technology is hokey. The names are even hokier: TRON is a silly BASIC keyword. A character named “ROM”? Oh, please! But it was fun to watch and I enjoyed the music. Forget that it took hours to render a single frame. It was fun stuff!
Sidebar. The first film to use computer animation was actually WestWorld in 1973. Some of the images the bad robot sees were early computer graphics.
Colossus: The Forbin Project. Chilling. It would seem old hat today: the computer Colossus takes over the defense of the United States and then begins a casual chat with its Soviet-counterpart named Guardian. Then it decides who the real enemy is!
I could think of a few more, but as computers become part of the mainstream, having films specifically starring them becomes rare. What are your favorite computer movies?
Does the Matrix count? Not really one of my favorites, but I think it has to be in the mix. There are of course other silly movies like “You’ve got mail…” I usually don’t like computer movies because I get too analytical about them.
Comment by jamh51 — June 18, 2008 @ 4:48 pm
Sure! It’s silly of me to forget the Matrix, probably because the computer isn’t in the movie as much as the computer is the movie! But I could say the same thing about TRON.
You’ve Got Mail is probably one of the few computer chick-flicks out there.
I also like the movie Sneakers, which is a silly movie with a disappointing ending, but it uses technology well.
Comment by admin — June 18, 2008 @ 4:56 pm