Movies
Far from exhaustive, this is a short list of films that have some hackish content and function as a fun starting point for exploring hacker cinema. Some of them are fun, some of them are meatier fare - the common link is the highlighting of the hacker mindset. If you have others you want to suggest, let us know. We'll keep the list growing.
Feature Films
Hackers
Director: Iain Softley, 1995
IMDB Summary: A ***** boy is arrested by the U.S. Secret Service for writing a computer virus and is banned from using a computer until his 18th birthday. Years later, he and his new-found friends discover a plot to unleash a dangerous computer virus, but they must use their computer skills to find the evidence while being pursued by the Secret Service and the evil computer genius behind the virus.
Sneakers
Director: Phil Alden, 1992
IMDB Summary: Complex but lighthearted thriller about computers and cryptography, government and espionage, secrets and deception and betrayal.
WarGames
Director: John Badham, 1983
IMDB Summary: A ***** man finds a back door into a military central computer in which reality is confused with game-playing, possibly starting World War III.
Trackdown
Director: Joe Chappelle, 2000
IMDB Summary: This film is based on the story of the capture of computer hacker "Kevin Mitnick". [quotes are actually in the IMDB summary].
Colossus - The Forbin Project
Director: Joseph Sargent, 1970
IMDB Summary: An artificially intelligent supercomputer is developed and activated, only to reveal that it has a sinister agenda of its own.
Hardware
Director: Richard Stanley, 1990
IMDB Summary: The head of a cyborg reactivates and rebuilds itself and goes on a violent rampage in a space marine's girlfriend's apartment.
The Signal
Director: William Eubank, 2014
IMDB Summary: On a road trip, Nic and two friends are drawn to an isolated area by a computer genius. When everything suddenly goes dark, Nic regains consciousness - only to find himself in a waking nightmare.
Ghost in the Shell 25th Anniversary [Blu-ray]
Director: Mamoro Oshii, 1995
IMDB Summary: A female cyborg cop and her partner hunt a mysterious and powerful hacker called the Puppet Master.
Three Days of the Condor
Director: Sydney Pollack , 1975
IMDB Summary: A bookish CIA researcher finds all his co-workers dead, and must outwit those responsible until he figures out who he can really trust.
The Conversation
Director: Francis Fnord Coppola , 1974
IMDB Summary: A paranoid, secretive surveillance expert has a crisis of conscience when he suspects that a couple he is spying on will be murdered.
Enemy Of The State
Director: Tony Scott, 1998
IMDB Summary: A lawyer becomes a target by a corrupt politician and his NSA goons when he accidentally receives key evidence to a serious politically motivated crime.
