Do you often wonder while looking at the sky if there is another world out there waiting to be discovered? Are you obsessed with the coolest gadgets coming out in the market? Do you love watching science fiction? Do you imagine how tomorrow would be? Will we be seeing flying cars in the future? What would it be like to travel between galaxies? Do you think about new possibilities of human-machine interaction? Do you fear robots will take over the world?
The best way to feed these fantasies is to experience them live in a two hour film on your screen. Yup, films that leave you gaping and wondering about a world of new possibilities and parallel realities! Films, that leave you mesmerized with a larger than life experience of technology and its wonder applications!
If you are a person who craves these things….this list is for you!
I have handpicked 11 from movies over the period of 40 years, which left us awestruck with the marvels of technology while challenging human imagination beyond measure; either written by technology enthusiastic writers or directed by technology enthusiasts; they left us amused, entertained and thrilled beyond our expectations.
You must have seen some of them, and if you have missed out any, my advice for you is to watch them now!
1. The Andromeda Strain
Based on the novel by Michael Crichton, a physician by profession but a science fiction writer at heart.He went big in Hollywood later on with successes such as “The Jurassic Park”, “Congo”, and “Disclosure”.
The Andromeda Strain came out in 1971, at the very start of modern IT revolution. The story is about a group of scientists who investigate the strange endemic wiping out a whole village leaving only three survivors.It all starts after a satellite probe falls in that village, with a surprise visitor on board.
The use of technology, protocols and image capturing computer devices as per the showcased period is nothing but awesome! Depiction of human machine interaction and the way these machines assist the scientists in exploring alien life is something hard to perceive for a movie of that time.
2. Back to the Future
Wait a minute, Doc. Ah… are you telling me that you built a time machine… out of a DeLorean?
Based on the theme of time travel, it’s a masterpiece that thrilled and entertained a whole generation for a decade. Directed by Robert Zemeckis – the film showcased gadgets and use of technology in the year 1985, which has now actually come to life years later! Some of the exciting one were Hover boards, holograms, emails and fax machines.
Well, we don’t see time machines invented any time soon! Maybe we need some plutonium too!
Although a science fiction trilogy, it teaches us a very important lesson.
“Your future hasn’t been written yet. No one’s has. Your future is whatever you make it. So, make it a good one” -Doc Brown
In “Back to the Future Part II,” Marty McFly travels to October 21, 2015, to save his children, yet to be born in “Back to the Future’s” 1985. The world celebrated the “Back to the Future Day” to relive the memory of this movie.
3. Sneakers
Released in the early nineties when the world was in the age of 8080 machines, big keyboard, no mouse, and plastic floppy disks; this very interesting film about software technology came out showcasing ideas like closed circuit network systems encryption, gadgets and hacking!
The film delivers a compelling story where a mathematician designed a machine to de-crypt the complex networks such as Air Traffic Controls, Power Grids and Stock Exchange.
The main concept of the film was that the future holds “too many secrets” and only the one with the key can reveal them.
This tremendous blend of Comedy and thrills was directed by Phil Alden Robinson, with Robert Redford, Ben Kingsley and Sidney Poitier in the lead roles.
4. The Net
Director Irwin Winkler goes on-line on the newly invented World Wide Web and brings along Sandra Bullock as an application developer who develops websites while working remotely from her home.
A web security company, to create the immense demand for its product, injects a virus in the web sites. On clicking that icon, the system can access any web page under the client list of that company. Hence, starts a full throttle ride of murder, mistaken identities and showcasing of some of the high-tech devices of 90’s era.
5. I Robot!
Alex Proyas alongwith Will Smith, brings his sci-fi masterpiece to life with action, robots and some critical questions regarding artificial intelligence.
Packed with super cool CGI and near to life 3D simulations of live robots, driver less cars, holograms, and a mega super computer, the film became a sensation at the time of its release.
The film questions the 3 laws regarding robots and makes us think about the dangers of artificial intelligence. Imagine robots taking over the race of men!
6. Die Hard 4.0
Just imagine, a cyber-terrorist attack on your city hacking all the city infrastructure system; it would literally hijack the whole city! Sounds dangerous, doesn’t it?
Directed by Len Weisman, who thrilled the world with his “Underworld” franchise becomes high tech in this cyber-crime thriller.
The movie revolves around computers and cyber-terrorism; and “Fire Sale” was the word which took everyone’s attention after its release;
“ It’s a three-step… it’s a three-step systematic attack on the entire national infrastructure. Okay, step one: take out all the transportation. Step two: the financial base and telecoms. Step three: You get rid of all the utilities. Gas, water, electric, nuclear. Pretty much anything that’s run by computers which… which today is almost everything. So that’s why they call it a fire sale, because everything must go”
Well, let’s hope we never see that happening to us!
7. Swordfish
Dominic Sena, who got our attention via his high speed adrenaline flick “Gone in 60 Seconds” created this all stylish heist film about a rogue terrorist who is after a huge sum of money from a CIA covert operation.
In this flick, he hires Hugh Jackman to break into the banking network to steal residing electronically within the complex banking networks – a sum of 400 million dollars.
Well, besides being an action flick, the film depicts how hackers work with crawlers, viruses and worms to work out the security of the systems.
If you are hacker, it will surely interest you!
8. The Social Network
How can anyone miss out a film which we live every day; a film about the story behind Facebook and a bunch of geeky friends ending up as accidental billionaires.
The story, however, has a much deeper perspective of how Mark Zuckerberg comes up with the idea which was actually labeled as “stolen” by some of his counterparts and how friendships went down the drain when the biggest invention of the known cyberspace was coming to life – Facebook!
From geeky talks, startups, flash programming, hacking and Harvard life – this movie is a complete package by none other than David Fincher himself.
9. Automata
If you have seen I Robot and loved it, then you would not want to miss this one!
From the acclaimed director Gabe Ibáñez, who created “The Day of the Beast”, this film deals with two topics at the same time.
The movie is set in “Post Apocalyptic”period, where the world is almost destroyed by the reasons of solar storms, wars and pollution, and the second was the Artificial Intelligence.
The famous Antonio Benderas while working as an insurance agent for robots comes across an anomaly; one of the robot simply repairs itself- this seems impossible!
Things unfold themselves later with compelling questions regarding the intelligent machines, human emotions and redemption.
Check it out for yourself!
10. Ex Machina
Directed by, Alex Garland, who also contributed in films such as 28 Days later and Sunshine while being a protégé for Danny Boyle.
The film stars Oscar Isaac portraying the mysterious scientist and Alicia Vikander plays his fully functional intelligent human like machine.
The film is based on “Turing Test”; human-machine interaction and psychology of both entities at play; a puzzle that we are about to solve in the near future.
11. Interstellar
The answer to including interstellar in the list is embedded secretly within the film.
The best thing about Christopher Nolan, director of Dark Knight, Memento and Inception, is that he does not present technology as the main focus of the film. He carefully knits a beautiful story around it.
The movie’s most unconventional feature are boxed shaped robots having a great sense of humor in addition to making intelligent responses controlled via voice command. The robots have decision making function as well as they rescue Dr. Brands on the water filled planet.
You also see self driven harvesting machines, drones flying on their own using solar powered cells and complex mathematical scenarios, all in one package; while the story unfolding in front of you is about a dying planet Earth, and the question of the survival of human race.
Talk and tales of technology does not mean application and programming. The actual purpose is to push forward the limits of possibilities and discover a new and better way to live everyday. The future holds a lot of undiscovered realities which are mysteries to our understanding. They are still out there, waiting to be discovered by the human race. One thing is for sure; one can only create what one can imagine! So, whats say we talk about intelligent machines, the internet of things and going faster than speed of light?
For me, the past is prologue….lets embrace the future!
Let us know in the comments what you think about the list!
