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Paul Hopkins

Paul Hopkins

A must-see sci- hacker movie

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IN 1982, Time magazine declined to name a Man of e Year. Instead, the magazine selected a Machine of e Year: the computer. Time noted that “computers were once regarded as distant, ominous abstractions, like Big Brother. In 1982, they truly became personalised, brought down to scale, so that people could hold, prod and play with them.”

But beyond the technological boom, the shadow of nuclear war loomed. While the early ‘80s were a period of tremendous growth, technology also allowed governments to further extend their reach with faster missiles like the Pershing II. Amid all this came John Badham’s 1983 movie that neatly tied the two trends together with a story about teenagers. WarGames on Amazon Prime Video has become a Silicon Valley classic. When Google hosted a 25th- anniversary screening in 2008, cofounder Sergey Brin called it “a key movie of a generation, especially for those of us who got into computing.” It’s easy to see why. While WarGames is skeptical about technology, it places its faith in the hacker. at hacker is David Lightman, played by Matthew Broderick three years before he was solidi ed in the ‘80s canon with Ferris Bueller. David, a teenager in Seattle, is mostly pretty ordinary. He could study harder, enjoys cracking jokes at the expense of his teachers, and isn’t particularly close with his parents.

But he is phenomenally talented with computers, to the extent that he can hack into his school’s system and alter his grades.

WarGames also suggests that talent with computers can help a young man attract girls.

Meanwhile, the US Air Force is having serious personnel problems. ey’ve been running surprise nuclear attack drills, and 22% of sta have shown they’re incapable of actually ring the weapons that could kill millions.

As that drama unfolds, David uses his computer to dial every phone number in the Seattle area in the hope of eventually nding a computer company. Known as scanning, this was a common hacking technique. David eventually nds his way into a system he doesn’t recognise and is curious to learn more.

When WarGames was released, contemporary supercomputers had a blistering 128 megabytes of memory.

David takes a hint from the computer and starts researching the man who created WOPR, Stephen Falken, who apparently died young after his child also passed away. Guessing that the child’s name, Joshua, is a password, David is granted access to a list of games that range from ‘chess’ to ‘global thermonuclear war’. Choosing to go nuclear, David initiates the war game. is triggers a panicked reaction from NORAD. ere’s a clear sense that adults are clueless in WarGames, especially when David is able to sneak out of military custody when WOPR starts to take the game a little too seriously. ese moments help the movie get where it needs to be: David, at the helm of NORAD, trying to outsmart the WOPR.

WarGames demanded that humans control technology, but also lets the computer warn humanity about war’s futile nature.

e worst-rated 2021 Net ix lms

CHECKING the score of a lm on Rotten Tomatoes before diving into it has become an involuntary response for many of us. More often than not, the Tomatometer saves us from indulging in trashy lms and helps us handpick good ones that we might genuinely enjoy.

Net ix has been releasing a lot of original content over the years, ranging from lms and documentaries to series and reality shows that have all garnered their respective fan following.

In 2021, the streamer saw monumental success, with many of its releases topping charts and winning public favour.

Nearly a decade after reigning supreme among the list of streaming services, it became an indispensable part of our existence, especially during the coronavirus pandemic that forced us into the con nes of our homes. Net ix became our undisputed best friend, o ering solace in the darkest of times.

In 2021, Net ix released a lot of 0riginal lms that have garnered massive acclaim. However, they released certain lms that were honestly painful to watch.

Here is a list of Net ix lms with the worst rating on Rotten Tomatoes that you can still watch to check if you agree.

THE WORSTRATED FILMS ON NETFLIX IN 2021:

5. under Force – Ben Falcone 4. Madame Claude – Sylvie Verheyde 3. Squared Love – Filip Zylber 2. Carnaval – Leandro Neri 1. e Girl on the Train – Ribhu Dasgupta

5

movies to stream on Amazon

Shia LaBeouf wrote the screenplay for this autobiographical movie about a child actor and his relationship with his father. We follow Otis, who’s traumatized after days on set accompanied by his father, a former rodeo clown. LaBeouf actually plays the character inspired by his father, giving Honey Boy even more psychological layers. is is fascinating, cinematic therapy from a singular perspective.

While not quite introducing heartthrob Brad Pitt to the world Neil Jordan’s cemented his position on the marquees with the best of them. Here, he plays centuries-old vampire Louis de Pointe du Lac, reincarnated as a New Orleans vampire by Tom Cruise’s Lestat de Lioncourt after a bloody attack. Few vampire epics hold a candle to the lm’s scrumptious period details, but is best remembered for the star-making turn of a then-10- year-old Kirsten Dunst as a child vampire.

David Fincher’s sleek adaptation of Stieg Larsson’s smash Swedish novel announced the steely, o -kilter talents of Rooney Mara to the world: Her antisocial hacker Lisbeth Salander earned Mara a Best Actress Oscar nomination in a movie undoubtedly too cool for the Academy, but one that’s now certainly the best of all the Larsson cinematic envisionings. Mara’s performance is a feat of muscular, balletic cunning, making her more than a match for Daniel Craig’s maverick journalist Mikael Blomkvist. It’s a hopeless movie, as indicated by the lm’s de ating nal shot where love, most certainly, doesn’t win.

“Kiss me, my girl, before I’m sick.” “All your rules and your clothes and your money, everything is a game!” “Were you sent here to ruin my evening, or possibly my entire life?” “Don’t pick a ght with me. You certainly won’t come out alive. I’ll go right through you, and it’ll be you who ends up on the oor.” I’m quoting these straight from my memory, and because no words do better justice to one of the most swooningly romantic and twisted love stories ever than those of the writer and director himself, Paul omas Anderson. Coming On January 16.

Following in the footsteps of Palm Springs, e Map of Tiny Perfect (2021) things is a rom-com exploring the lives of its protagonists through a time loop. Katheryn Newton and Kyle Allen star as Margaret and Mark, two teens repeating the same day over and over again. eir meet cute involves saving someone from being knocked into a pool by a beach ball. Charming and heartfelt, this is solid if not totally perfect viewing.

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