Do you love tech? Do you love movies? Bingo, there’s a strong chance you’ll love this article that I poured my heart into writing, too. Fingers crossed!
Let me share something with you that most people find hard to believe: it wasn’t Steve Jobs or Bill Gates who inspired me to get into tech; it was movies and growing up in the 90s.
The 90s were a period of major technological progress. That, paired with watching timeless classics like The Terminator, The Thirteenth Floor, Blade Runner, The Net, oh, and how can I ever forget, The Matrix, really stirred my passion for technology as well as sci-fi movies.
Over the years, I’ve watched many films based on tech, although some failed to get the recognition they deserved, and I took that personally. Don’t worry, my babies, I’ll make you famous.
So, without subjecting you to more of my cheesiness, let’s explore 3 hidden gems of movies that techies must watch.
Surrogates
The movie is a murder mystery wrapped perfectly in the blanket of sci-fi. It features one of my favorite stars, Bruce Willis, in the lead. Let me just take a moment to express my happiness and say, YIPPEE-KI-YAY MOTHA! Got you, didn’t I?
The film literally answers the question, What would the world be like if robots did all the work for us?
In the film, people use humanoid robots known as surrogates to live out their day-to-day lives. And I’m not just talking about helping people with their morning coffee, but going to work in their place. Bruce plays Tom Greer, an FBI detective who lost his son, who is estranged from his wife, and as if that wasn’t enough pain for a lifetime, he has to solve a series of murders.
But these murders are not what you’re thinking. He has to solve a range of murders where the surrogates were murdered, and the people controlling them died because of that, something that had never happened before. From there, we see Tom channeling the detective skills of his doppleganger, John McClane.
Tau
Tau is a sci-fi thriller that shows us what a modern-day evil genius would look like, and of course, he’d also be into tech. The film stars young talents, Maika Monroe and Ed Skrein, as well as Gary Oldman in a voice role. It is a Netflix original, so you can catch it on the platform anytime you like. Just make sure you have a fast and reliable internet connection so that your streaming experience is uninterrupted. If you’re looking for one, I’d recommend reaching out to the Spectrum customer service. Overall, Spectrum is a good choice for entertainment enthusiasts as it offers customizable plans, including options for streaming and traditional cable.
The film revolves around a petty thief, played by Maika, who is kidnapped and taken hostage by a man named Alex. Alex is a tech entrepreneur who plans to use her as a human guinea pig and collect data for an AI project. During her time there, she discovers some disturbing things about Alex’s past and befriends the AI system, Tau, which he uses to monitor her. The film details how she uses her friendship with the AI system to plan her escape.
As a techie, I liked many things about this movie, the first was how it emphasizes the importance of ethics when working with technologies like artificial intelligence, something I’m all for. The second was how it highlighted the potential of technology as a positive force, and how humans misuse it for their personal gain. These factors and the level of intense and emotional moments made it worth while.
Source Code
Man, I don’t think that there is any role that Jake Gyllenhaal can’t play, the dude is talented as….you know. I mean, we’ve seen the guy kill it at playing a psychopath (Nightcrawler), a detective (Prisoners), even a fighter (Southpaw). With Source Code, you might enjoy another level of his range, this time as a member of the US Army who is caught up in a dangerous terrorist situation and must race against time to save people.
In the film, Jake Gyllenhaal plays U.S. Army pilot Captain Colter Stevens, who wakes up on a train with a fuzzy memory and an identity different from what he remembers. He and everyone else on board suddenly lose their lives to a bomb blast. Stevens then wakes up again and learns that the attack has already happened, and there is more to come if he can’t find the bomber. He is sent back in time to the last 8 minutes before the bombing in a reconstruction of the past known as the source code.
The movie shares a similar concept to the comedy Groundhog Day, with the main character reliving the same events until he finds something missing. However, unlike Groundhog Day, things get much more intense, thrilling, mysterious, and deadly in this one.
Each minute had me hooked, and I kept trying to help Jake through the screen, but for some reason, he couldn’t hear me. You know the feeling!
Tech Movies – A Wild and Entertaining Ride
Maybe it’s just me, but I often feel that tech-related movies have some of the most engaging and mind-bending plots imaginable. And the films I mentioned do make a pretty strong case for this argument.
With their ability to make us question reality, while also inspiring innovation and imagination, these films can take techies on a wild and entertaining ride.
