Movies

This page provides a list of technology, science fiction, and cyberpunk-related movies, documentaries, and biographies.

Fiction

Anime

Note: Anime (TV) series moved to TV Series/Anime

Akira

Tetsuo's iconic motorcycle shot

Akira is a 1988 Japanese animated science fiction action film directed by Katsuhiro Otomo. It was written by Otomo and Izo Hashimoto and based on Otomo's manga of the same name, focusing mainly on the first half of the story. The film depicts a dystopian version of Tokyo in the year 2019, with cyberpunk tones. The plot focuses on teenage biker Tetsuo Shima and his psychic powers, and the leader of his biker gang, Shotaro Kaneda. Several parties, including Kaneda, resistance terrorist Kei, Colonel Shikishima of the JSDF and a trio of espers, attempt to prevent Tetsuo from releasing the imprisoned psychic Akira. While most of the character designs and settings were adapted from the original manga, the restructured plot of the movie differs considerably from the print version, pruning much of the last half of the manga.

Cowboy Bebop: The Movie

Cowboy Bebop: The Movie, known in Japan as Cowboy Bebop: Knockin' on Heaven's Door (Japanese: カウボーイビバップ 天国の扉 Hepburn: Kaubōi Bibappu: Tengoku no Tobira), is a 2001 Japanese animated space Western action film based on the 1998 anime series Cowboy Bebop created by Hajime Yatate. Multiple staff from the original series worked on the film, including director Shinichirō Watanabe, writer Keiko Nobumoto, character designer Toshihiro Kawamoto, and animation director Hiroshi Osaka, and composer Yoko Kanno. The original English and Japanese voice cast also reprised their roles.

Cowboy Bebop: The Movie is set between episodes 22 and 23 of the original series. The plot centers on a mysterious terrorist planning to destroy the human population on Mars using an unknown pathogen. The bounty hunter crew of the spaceship Bebop work to find the terrorist and discover the source of the pathogen before the attack can take place.

The film was conceived by Watanabe as an extension of his work on the television series, which he treated as a series of miniature films. So as not to alienate fans of the series, a large amount of aesthetic material was incorporated, while also adjusting it to make it accessible to newcomers. Increased budget and production facilities enabled the use of filming styles associated with live-action films and a higher animation quality than the series. Arabic thematic elements were incorporated to contrast against the series, which entailed Watanabe traveling to Morocco for research. The Arabic atmosphere was also used in Kanno's music.

The film was produced by studios Sunrise, which had previously developed the original series, Bones, a later studio founded by former Sunrise staff, and Bandai Visual. Cowboy Bebop: The Movie was released to theaters in Japan on September 1, 2001 and in the United States on August 11, 2002. It went on to gross over $3 million worldwide, and when released on DVD, it ranked high on Japanese and US charts. The film received generally positive reviews from mainstream and anime critics and was nominated for the Online Film Critics Society Award for Best Animated Film.

Ghost in the Shell

Ghost in the Shell

Ghost in the Shell, known in Japan as Mobile Armored Riot Police: Ghost In The Shell (攻殻機動隊 GHOST IN THE SHELL Kōkaku Kidōtai Gōsuto In Za Sheru?), is a 1995 anime science fiction film based on manga of the same title by Masamune Shirow. The film was written by Kazunori Itō, directed by Mamoru Oshii, animated by Production I.G, and starred the voices of Atsuko Tanaka, Akio Ōtsuka and Iemasa Kayumi.

Ghost in the Shell follows the hunt of the public-security agency Section 9 for a mysterious hacker known as the Puppet Master. With the assistance of her team, Motoko Kusanagi tracks and finds their suspect, only to be drawn into a complex sequence of political intrigue and a cover-up as to the identity and goals of the Puppet Master.

The overarching philosophical themes of the film include self-identity in a technologically-advanced world. The music, composed by Kenji Kawai, included an ancient Japanese language in a wedding song that serves as a key piece of music leading up to the climax of the movie. Widely considered one of the greatest anime films of all time, Ghost in the Shell received universal acclaim from critics, who praised its visuals, which at the time were the most effective synthesis of traditional cel animation and CG animation. It has served as inspiration for filmmakers such as The Wachowskis.

In 2004, Oshii directed Innocence, billed as a separate work and not a true sequel to Ghost in the Shell. In 2008, Oshii released an updated version of the original film, titled Ghost in the Shell 2.0 that featured new audio and updated 3D computer graphics.

Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence

Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence, known in Japan as Mobile Armored Riot Police: Innocence (攻殻機動隊 イノセンス Kōkaku Kidōtai Inosensu?), is a 2004 anime/computer-animated sci-fi sequel to the 1995 film Ghost in the Shell. Released in Japan on March 6, 2004, and in the US on September 17, 2004, Innocence had a production budget of approximately $20 million (approx. 2 billion yen). To raise the sum, Production I.G studio's president, Mitsuhisa Ishikawa, asked Studio Ghibli's president, Toshio Suzuki, to co-produce.

With a story loosely connected to the manga by Masamune Shirow, the film was written and directed by Ghost in the Shell director Mamoru Oshii. The film was honored best sci-fi film at the 2004 Nihon SF Taisho Awards and was in competition at the 2004 Cannes Film Festival. The soundtrack for the film was released under the name Innocence O.S.T. and a related novel called Innocence: After the Long Goodbye was released on February 29, 2004. This film makes many allusions and references to other famous works, such as The Future Eve. The foreign DVD release of the film faced many issues ranging from licensing to audio.

The series centers on the members of an elite cybernetic law enforcement unit known as Public Security Section 9 as they investigate cyber-crime and terrorism cases; these cases often are connected to their pursuit of an elite "Super Class A" hacker and corporate terrorist known as "The Laughing Man." A series of associated short comic animations, titled Tachikomatic Days, aired after each episode. These shorts star the Tachikoma "think-tanks" from the main series, and they typically relate directly to the story of the preceding Stand Alone Complex episode.

The first season was also adapted into a feature-length OVA titled The Laughing Man, which was released in 2005 and two manga series in 2009. The series had also received video game spin-offs for the PS2, PSP, and mobile phones. 2nd GIG was also later adapted into a feature-length OVA entitled Individual Eleven, which was released in 2006; Solid State Society, a TV-film sequel to the Stand Alone Complex series, was also released in that year.

Metropolis

The iconic shot looking up, like New York City's "concrete jungle"

Metropolis (メトロポリス Metoroporisu?) is a 2001 anime film loosely based on the 1949 Metropolis manga created by Osamu Tezuka, itself inspired by the 1927 German silent film of the same name, though the two do not share plot elements. The anime, however, does draw aspects of its storyline directly from the 1927 film. The anime had an all-star production team, including renowned anime director Rintaro, Akira creator Katsuhiro Otomo as script writer, and animation by Madhouse with conceptual support from Tezuka Productions.

Interstella 5555: The 5tory of the 5ecret 5tar 5ystem

Interstella 5555: The 5tory of the 5ecret 5tar 5ystem (インターステラ5555 Intāsutera Fō Faibu, "Four Five") was Daft Punk's first major, and most famous music video work. The entire movie is a French/Japanese animated Anime story of a interstellar pop band's abduction and their eventual rescue. While there is no dialog, and minimal sound effects, it is filled with the music of Daft Punk much in the same way that the movie Pink Floyd's The Wall is done. It incorporates futurism, science fiction, and has cyberpunk overtones.

Perfect Blue

Perfect Blue is a film by director Satoshi Kon. His first film, it features the story of retired pop-singer-turned-actress Mima who suffers from internet stalking, and eventually an identity crisis. Every move she makes and action she does is recorded on a website dedicated to her called "Mima's Room." The film takes place in the late 90s, so the technology is based on the technology from that time. So we see an old Macintosh running html dial up web pages. Aaah...good times...Beyond that, this is a psycho-drama that is well worth your time.

Summer Wars

The virtual world

Summer Wars (Japanese: サマーウォーズ Hepburn: Samā Wōzu?) is a 2009 Japanese animated science fiction film directed by Mamoru Hosoda, animated by Madhouse and distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures. The film's voice cast includes Ryunosuke Kamiki, Nanami Sakuraba, Mitsuki Tanimura, Sumiko Fuji and Ayumu Saitō. The film tells the story of Kenji Koiso, a timid eleventh-grade math genius who is taken to Ueda by twelfth-grade student Natsuki Shinohara to celebrate her great-grandmother's 90th birthday. However, he is falsely implicated in the hacking of a virtual world by a sadistic artificial intelligence named Love Machine. Kenji must repair the damage done to it and find a way to stop the rogue computer program from causing any further damage.

After producing The Girl Who Leapt Through Time, Madhouse was asked to produce something new. Hosoda and writer Satoko Okudera conceived a story about a social network and a stranger's connection with a family. The real-life city of Ueda was chosen as the setting for Summer Wars, as part of the territory was once governed by the Sanada clan and was close to Hosoda's birthplace in Toyama. Hosoda used the clan as the basis for the Jinnouchi family after visiting his then-fiancé's home in Ueda.

Production of Summer Wars commenced in 2006. Art director Youji Takeshige incorporated Japanese houses into his background designs. Hosoda also insisted that 80 family members were to be included as main characters. The project was first announced at the 2008 Tokyo International Anime Fair and the first trailer of the film was released in April 2009. Audience interest was fueled primarily through word of mouth and Internet publicity. A manga adaptation of the film was written by Iqura Sugimoto and began its serialization in July 2009.

Summer Wars premiered in Japan on August 1, 2009. It grossed over US$1 million in its opening weekend in 127 theaters and ranked No. 7 at the box office. The film was well received by critics and the general audience and was financially successful, earning $18 million worldwide. It won several awards such as the 2010 Japan Academy Prize for Animation of the Year, the 2010 Japan Media Arts Festival's Animation Division Grand Prize, the Anaheim International Film Festival's Audience Award for Best Animated Feature and was nominated for the 2009 Golden Leopard award at the Locarno International Film Festival.

Biography

Pirates of Silicon Valley (1999)

Probably the best movie about the Microsoft vs. Apple war and the tech boom in the 80s-90s. Plus it's pretty fucking entertaining.

Also the worst direct-to-video movie about tech ever.

Micro Men (2009)

Light-hearted dramatization of the battle between the ZX Spectrum and BBC Micro for the British home computer market in the early 80s. Features Alexander Armstrong as Sir Clive Sinclair and Martin Freeman as Chris Curry.

The Social Network (2010)

Largely fabricated history of facebook. Great movie, but definitely not a doco.

The Fifth Estate (2013)

Story of WikiLeaks and Assange through the filter of Hollywood. Pretty bland.

Jobs (2013)

Written by a man with only one imdb credit, no wikipedia article and no web presence (who is probably an Alan Smithee), Ashton Kutcher plays Ashton Kutcher: Steve Jobs Man. Did you know that Steve Jobs was a visionary and could also be a bit of a jerk? Then you've seen this movie already.

Snowden (2016)

Directed by Oliver Stone, dramatises the events around Edward Snowden's leaks.

Crime/Drama/Thriller

Videodrome (1983)

James Woods runs a smalltime cable tv station full of sex and violence. In his quest to find more fucked up shit to broadcast he pirates a show called Videodrome. As he investigates the show he falls down a rabbit hole of increasingly fucked up shit. Directed by David Cronenberg.

Hard to describe without spoiling. Very relatable main character for any /b/tard.

WarGames (1983)

This movie convinced Ronald Reagan to make law against this movie happening. The movie is a work of fiction, however, and sadly the law still applies. It makes little sense.

Stars Ferris Beuller and the goth girl from The Breakfast Club. Kid hacks into nuclear war and plays against an AI.

Sneakers (1992)

Heist movie with a cryptographic maguffin. Well worth it.

Hackers (1995)

Classic tech nerd movie and the source of many, many references. Stars Sick Boy from Trainspotting as a magic hacker, Angelina Jolie (pre facial reconstruction) as the antagonist, and a she-he and rollerblades. Required viewing.

Strange Days (1995)

On the eve of a dystopian Y2K, "playback" technology exists which can record someone's experience and be played back in virtual reality for third parties. An underground producer of pornographic and criminal playbacks is on the trail of a twisted murderer and must protect his girl while avoiding corrupt cops.

Stars Lord Voldemort, the bad guy from The Crow, Juliette Lewis's tits, Tom Sizemore and others. Co-written by James Cameron.

The Net (1995)

If you're an FSFfag, this movie shows the dangers of non-free software :^)

Sandra Bullock learns what smileys are. She also stumbles upon an international conspiracy attempting to play shadow-government using a Trojan Horse Security Suite that even the FBI uses. Cringey but classic.

Virtuosity (1995)

Evil AI Russel Crowe escapes from virtual reality and into a T-1000esque body. Cyberpoliceman Denzel Washington must stop his rampage. Not a terrible movie, but not great either.

23 (1998)

From IMDB: The movie's plot is based on the true story of a group of young computer hackers from Hannover, Germany. In the late 1980s the orphaned Karl Koch invests his inheritance in a flat and a home computer. At first he dials up to bulletin boards to discuss conspiracy theories inspired by his favorite novel, R.A. Wilson's "Illuminatus", but soon he and his friend David start breaking into government and military computers. Pepe, one of Karl's rather criminal acquaintances senses that there is money in computer cracking - he travels to east Berlin and tries to contact the KGB.

Track Down aka Takedown (2000)

Entertaining but innacurate movie about the hunt for Mitnick.

Tom Clancy's NetForce (1999)

Hilariously terrible movie about the cyberpolice. Full of nonsensical technobabble. You're probably better off watching Everything is Terrible's 3 minute version than sitting through the entire thing.

Swordfish (2001)

John Travolta plays a wonderful crime boss who forces this computer hacker to hack into bank accounts and stuff. P great.

Untraceable (2008)

Techsploitation movie to scare your parents.

Surrogates (2009)

In a world where people spend their lives jacked into idealized android "surrogates" of themselves, while their true bodies lie quietly at home (think Second Life irl), a human anti-android faction acquires a weapon which both destroys androids and simultaneously murders their human operators. Bruce Willis is a cop tasked with finding the murderers and their weapon but finds himself part of a much wider story.

A complex, fast moving plot with plenty of interesting character motivations. Well worth a look.

Source Code (2011)

Donnie Darko is stuck in groundhog day, trying to find a mad bomber on a train. A technological subplot is also slowly revealed.

Comedy

Weird Science (1985)

Two young men attempt to make a beautiful, sex crazed woman out of their computer, a doll, a modem, illegal government software, and electricity. It goes horribly right!

Negativland: No Other Possibility (1989)

Negativland made a feature presentation direct-to-video. It is odd, bizarre, and often-times pornographic. It lampoons conventional television, the media, and MTV.

Clerks (1994)

Kevin Smith's first film. Shot entirely in Black and White on VHS at the convince store (and video rental store) he worked at, it shows a day in the life of two clerks. Includes intense discussion about wage-cucking, Star Wars, anti-smoking advocates and their agenda, chicks with dicks, pornography and its industry, and the expiration dates on milk.

Galaxy Quest (1999)

Staring several former A-List actors, the film parodies both Star Trek and Star Wars franchises. The film involves out-of-work actors involved in the fictional television show Galaxy Quest who are contacted by an alien race who think the show was historical footage. They begrudgingly help them fight a war against an evil galactic tyrant.

Fanboys (2009)

A comedic film about Star Wars fans in 1998 on their quest to see the Star Wars prequel films. They fight Star Trek fans, one of them finds out their ERP-partner they fell in love with was a 12 year old girl, and in one scene they break into the actual mansion owned by George Lucas.

iSteve (2013)

The first biopic that came out after Steve Job's death, this movie is a hilarious production from the website Funny or Die. This is also their first Feature-Length production!

Pornographic

HaXXXor: Volume 1: No Longer Floppy (2003)

Girls remove clothing and masturbate while providing brief tutorials on topics such as network sniffing and dumpster diving.

HaXXXor Volume 2: Fear of an 8-bit Planet (2004)

More girls remove clothing and masturbate while providing brief tutorials on topics such as counting in binary and p2p filesharing.

Romance

S1m0ne (2002)

A computer simulated woman with no brain becomes the best actress in the entire world, controlled 100% by a no-name Hollywood director (played by Al Pacino). It's filled with standard romantic comedy non-jokes.

The Room (2003)

"What a story, mark!"

Her (2013)

Joaquin Pheonix has a moustache in the near future and falls in love with an AI lady voiced by Scarlett Johansson. The AI improves upon itself but can it still love his moustache? (Actually a really good movie).

Sci-Fi + Action/Adventure/Drama

Plan 9 from Outer Space (1959)

Considered one of the worst movies made, it is the most famous of Ed Wood's works. The name of the Plan 9 operating system is inspired by this film.

2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)

This is a Kubrick movie, so you know it'll be good. When it was released it was hailed for its amazing Special Effects which were unrivaled in its time. It is rather long, however, but is still required viewing.

Colossus: The Forbin Project (1970)

America creates a massive computer network AI to control the nuclear arsenal. Russia creates the same AI with stolen plans. The two computers connect, gain sentience, share a mind, and take over the world. It has many similarities with the film War Games, but the two are unconnected.

The Man who Fell to Earth (1972)

One of the best films by David Bowie, and perhaps one of the top 100 films of the Hollywood Silver Age, David Bowie stars as an Alien who has come to Earth to try to find a new home for his people. It explores themes of loneliness, public hysteria, government overreach, and contemporary society. It was the first film to be made out of the novel of the same name, and the only good one. The second was a cheesy made-for-tv movie that completely missed the point, and ends with a family-friendly neither good nor bad end. Disgusting.

The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975)

A musical film made bad on purpose, it lampoons the terrible b-movies of yesteryear. Stars a young Tim Curry as a crossdressing alien transvestite (from Transsexual Transylvania, a planet in outer space) named Dr. Frank-N-Furter, as well as Susan Sarandon as Janet, and Barry Bostwick as Brad, her husband.

Stalker (1979)

The movie where the game S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl got it's inspiration from. Based on the book "Roadside Picnic", it's about a strange and forbidden place called the "Zone" where the laws of physics don't apply, and where there's a room that fullfills the deepest desire of one. Great watch, like most other Tarkovsky movies.

Blade Runner (1982)

One of the earliest Cyberpunk movies.

Harrison Ford hunts down some rogue cyborgs who question their questionable programming. Must see.

TRON (1982)

This movie is almost a romanticized view of the connection between programmer and program.

2010: The Year we Made Contact (1984)

The sequel to 2001: A Space Odyssey, but not a Kubrick production. "My God. It's full of Stars!"

The Terminator (1984)

The Governator at his best.

A cyborg is sent back in time to kill the mother of the leader of the Human Resistance. A human soldier is also sent back in time to protect the mother.

Short Circuit (1986)

"Number 5 is... Alive!"

An AI robot breaks it's programming and acts as comedy relief.

Max Headroom: 20 Minutes into the Future (1986)

Excellent cyberpunk movie. TV show version was bad though. I got letters from fan belt saying i'm differential!

R.O.T.O.R. (1989)

R.O.T.O.R. was a terrible movie that is only good to laugh at for the bad acting, and the obvious rip-off of both Terminator and RoboCop. The plot line is simple: The US Government is working on a robot to replace the conventional police force. It is somehow accidentally activated and put on-duty. It murders a woman for speeding, and a large man-hunt ensues. It's the kind of b-movie you've never heard of and can be seen on a weekday afternoon when you're half-baked watching Comet TV.

The Lawnmower Man (1992)

Pierce Brosnan is a professor who makes a literal retard called Jobe super smart via 1990s VR tech. No-Longer-Retard guy creates cybergeddon. Despite being billed as a Stephen King picture, it bares no similarities to the Stephen King story of the same name. Stephen King actually got upset at this. Also, 90's VR so it's trippy as fuck! Definitely a movie you should watch while on LSD.

Johnny Mnemonic (1995)

Keanu Reeves has 320 whole gigabytes of data in his brain and has to avoid the Yakuza trying to get it before it makes his head explode. Henry Rollins shows up to yell about society. ("Information overload!") Dolph Lundgren is a transhuman cyborg-Jesus. The Japanese release of the film includes some extended scenes and a better musical score.

Lawnmower Man 2: Beyond Cyberspace (1996)

Lawnmower Man (now played by Max Headroom) is hired to build a superchip and create the cyberscape for a global virtual reality. He goes crazy again, and Last Action Hero Kid from the first movie, along with his hacker crew (including Harvey the hacking dog) must get the superchip before lawnmowerman hacks the world and becomes a cybergod. Really. A failed sequel, it doesn't make sense because The Lawnmower Man basically died in the first film.

Bicentennial Man (1999)

Robin Williams plays a robot who is under The Three Laws of Robotics. He gains sentience and begins to seek out becoming a human. He develops the full range of human emotions, and falls in love with his owner's daughter. Eventually, he leaves the house and re-meets his owner's daughter 60 years later. Thanks to a man he befriends in the robotics industry, he slowly becomes human through augments. Fundamentally, it is a film about a robot trying to find other robots like himself.

eXistenZ (1999)

Jennifer Jason Leigh is a 1337 games programmer for games beyond VR that connect directly into your spine. Layers upon layers of reality ensue.

The Matrix (1999)

First one was pretty good. Second one was... less good. Third one was...

A random anon breaks out of virtual reality (our reality) and learns how to hack it and disrupt our robot overlords. Stars Keanu Reaves in "Not Bill and Ted so I'm a plank of wood" mode, yet isn't bad. Required viewing.

The Thirteenth Floor (1999)

The creator of a matrixesque 1930s simulator is murdered and his programmer employee enters the simulation to investigate. Starts off pretty slow but picks up at the end.

The Animatrix (2003)

Several animated short stories set within the Matrix universe. Includes the backstory of man vs the machine and the kid that Neo "saves" between Matrix 1 and 2.

Primer (2004)

Super Geniuses talk shop for approximately fourteen hours without a single reference for the audience to connect to.

I Robot (2004)

Will Smith in the year 2030, robots become commonplace and slaves to humans. The film serves as a critique to The Three Laws of Robotics, a long-standing and respected part of Science Fiction. The title of the film is a reference to a work by the creator of the Three Laws, I, Robot by Isaac Asimov. Despite the name, it is an original work.

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (2005)

From the Douglas Adams's book, one of the best sci-fi comedy movies. You should also read the book series, listen to the radio show, and watch the BBC Mini-Series from the 80's if you like HHG2tG

Iron Man (2008)

"I am Iron Man! Has he lost his mind? Can he see or is he blind? Who the fuck cares, he's Iron Man!"

TRON: Legacy (2010)

Remake/continuation of the other TRON.

Transcendence (2014)

One of the worst movies ever made. Johnny Depp plays Johnny Depp: Quiet Computer Man, whose brain is uploaded to become an AI which improves upon itself to become omnipotent. Then nothing happens. Far, far shallower than an old Star Trek episode, far, far less exciting than 90s vr schlock. About half the runtime is establishing shots.

Chappie (2015)

A feature film created by and staring the South African Zef band Die Antword, it is a sci-fi drama about a cyberpunk dystopia. After a steep rise in crime, the government of South Africa creates Paramilitary Robots to control the population. The creator of these robots creates a more sophisticated robot software that emulates human intellegence. He is kidnapped by a gang (played by Die Antword) and force him to install his new robot software onto a new robot, they name Chappie. The film eventually turns into a psychodrama. It is best to view the film as a Die Antword film, rather than a feature sci-fi film.

Blade Runner 2049 (2017)

Set over thirty years after the first film. Source of many memes over on /tv/. Good watch.

Short Videos

Konqi's Khristmas Special (2018)

A brief, wholesome free software tale starring the KDE and GNU mascots.

Non-Fiction

Documentary

Hackers: Wizards of the Electronic Age (1984)

Short and sweet talks with various programmers, including Woz and Stallman.

The KGB, the Computer and Me (1990)

Follows an eccentric astronomer trying to track down an early hacker in the late 80s. Low budget, but good fun. By the long-running television series Nova, it is a reenactment of the narrative book The CooKoo's Egg by Clifford Stoll. it also details the first known example of a honeypot being implemented.

Hyperland (1990)

Douglas Adams imagines a wikibinge. Features a short interview with Ted Nelson (who coined the term "Hypertext") and a NASA VR headset. Stars Tom Baker as a personification of a web browser. Mostly confusing and boring.

Sonic Outlaws (1995)

A documentary about the Media Industry, Copyright Infringement, Ham Radio Jamming, Cellphone Phreaking, and the American Legal System.

Spin (1995)

A film taken from recorded Sattelite Uplink footage showing the "Spin Doctors" of the 1992 Election. You get an unauthorized behind-the-scenes look at The Gores, The Clintons, The Bushes, and various other candidates for the 1992 election. It was published by Brian Springer, who made the film out of a previously released rough-cut of unedited footage with subtitles. This film is in the public domain, and can be viewed here

The Triumph of the Nerds (1996)

Very dated doco by a 1990s computer nerd about the rise of computers.

Code Rush (2000)

Follows Netscape developers as they open source their browser code into Mozilla and are bought out by AOL.

Freedom Downtime (2001)

Doco about Kevin Mitnick's life and incarceration. Features plenty of hacker royalty.

The Code (2001)

The Secret History of Hacking (2001)

Covers Captain Crunch and the blind phone phreakers, Woz and the Homebrew Computer Club and Mitnick on the run.

Revolution OS (2001)

Stallman, Linus, etc.

Startup.com (2001)

Two unbearable douchebags raise ludicrous amounts of money for a product they can't deliver on. Is it crowdfunding? No! It's the Dot-com bubble! One of the douches is now in prison for (unrelated) accounting fraud. Pretty boring film.

In the Realm of the Hackers (2003)

Follows the late 80s hacker scene in Melbourne, Australia, training grounds of Julian "Mendax" Assange.

Once Upon Atari (2003)

History of Atari told by original Atari devs. If you don't know, they were all crazy dudes on drugs and awesome as fuck.

Tetris: From Russia With Love (2004)

Follows the creation of Tetris in communist Russia and the shitfight to import it into America/Europe.

BBS: The Documentary (2005)

History of BBS boards (pre internet computer networks) which covers a surprising amount of modern day problems with fuckwits ruining the internet.

Tilt, The Battle to Save Pinball (2006)

Great history of pinball machines from mechanical to mech/rom and even into 3d video bullshit. If you like pinball, you must watch this.

Steal This Film Parts 1 and 2 (2006-7)

Part 1 is basically a cheersquad for The Pirate Bay, with interviews from anakata, brokep and TiAMO (Svartholm, Sunde and Neij).

Part 2 is a much more interesting look at the history of intellectual property and the now-broken model of control that the MPAA and friends are trying to continue. Brief comments from Aaron Swartz.

Chasing Ghosts: Beyond the Arcade (2007)

Interviews with champions of classic arcade games and Twin Galaxies founder Walter Day. Lots of glorious geek personalities and good fun.

The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters (2007)

Follows oldschool arcade game champions who hold alltime highscores. Some drama with Billy Mitchell (champion who had commercial success) vs Steve Wiebe (loveable underdog). Drama is a bit forced, but still a great doco if you're a MAME head.

Good Copy Bad Copy (2007)

Doco about copyright law. Has interesting parts about piracy culture in Brazil and Nigeria. Still pretty dry.

Hackers Are People Too (2008)

Short look at the hacker ethos, mostly made up of impromptu interviews at various security conferences.

RiP!: A Remix Manifesto (2008)

Doco discussion about the right to remix existing media. Not bad, but if you're on this wiki you are probably already across the issues about copyright in 2008.

The Truth According to Wikipedia (2008)

Questions the reliability of Wikipedia and user contributed content in general. While some decent points are made, most of the criticisers will probably end up on the wrong side of history.

Hackers Wanted (2009)

Fairly balanced doco about hackers and crime/terrorism. Focuses on Adrian Lamo, who went on to snitch on Chelsea (formerly Bradley) Manning.

Get Lamp (2010)

A history of Text Adventures from the physical cave system that inspired Adventure to modern Interactive Fiction.

All Watched Over by Machines of Loving Grace (2011)

Three part documentary by Adam Curtis on how the (relative) simplicity and rationality of computer systems have clouded our view of how the world operates and how we operate within it. Quite heavy viewing with heaps of politics and philosophy involved.

Ecstacy of Order: The Tetris Masters (2011)

Doco about the elite players of Tetris. Revolves around a big tournament to determine the ultimate Tetris master. Required viewing if you like Tetris.

Demoscene - The Art Of The Algorithms (2011)

The Space Invaders - In Search of Lost Time (2012)

Doco about neckbeards who hoard original arcade machines/arcade owners. Well worth it if you own/wish to own an arcade cabinet.

We Are Legion: The Story of the Hacktivists (2012)

History of Anonymous, 4chan, Project Chanology and hacktivism. Interviews with Barrett Brown and other anons.

DEFCON: The Documentary (2013)

The history and experience of DEFCON. Can be found for free on the DEFCON site

Downloaded (2013)

The story of Napster (the first mass P2P filesharing tech) and the legal feeding frenzy that followed.

Terms and Conditions May Apply (2013)

Doco about copyright problems. Decent, but pretty dull.

TPB AFK: The Pirate Bay Away from Keyboard (2013)

Doco about the original Pirate Bay, featuring Gottfrid "anakata" Svartholm, Peter Sunde and Fredrik Neij. Follows the copy movement, pirate bay raids, legal troubles and some juicy shots of TPB servers. Well worth it.

We Steal Secrets: The Story of WikiLeaks (2013)

About the inception of WikiLeaks and ensuing media shitstorm. More sympathetic to Manning than Assange, but not the worst criticism made of WikiLeaks. Focuses less on the impact of the leaks and more on people behind them. The title is a quote from the ex NSA/CIA director.

Web Junkie (2013)

Follows a group of miserable chinese anons accused of "internet addiction" and incarcerated in military juristiction hospitals.

Une contre-histoire de l'Internet (The Internet's Alternative History) (2013)

Documentary by French-German TV network ARTE about Internet history, sharing, surveillance and hackerspaces with a European politics spin. Featuring many big names like Assange, Perry Barlow, Cerf, Falkvinge, Moglen, Schneier, Stallman, both tech-related Zimmermanns, etc. Plagued with infantilizing references to normalfag memes, but otherwise entertaining. Subtitles here.

The Internet's Own Boy: The Story of Aaron Swartz (2014)

All about Aaron Schwartz's long fight with Copyright law, and his suicide before trial

Citizenfour (2014)

Laura Poitras' doco on Snowden. Lots of Snowden time. Lots of footage from when the shit was hitting the fan. Required viewing unless you're just some anime faggot.

Digital Amnesia (2014)

Short doco on ArchiveTeam who are similar to the Internet Archive Project (archive.org). Philosophy and technical challenges of recording our internet.

Atari Game Over (2014)

Brief history of Atari and the video game crash. Focuses on digging up E.T. Cartridges in the famous landfill (they find them, and more).

From Bedrooms to Billions (2014)

The history of the British gaming industry and the technology that shaped it, including the creation of software publishers and magazines.

Focuses mainly on the pre-console era of the ZX Spectrum and BBC Micro. Interviews with just about everyone (and everyone's horrible teeth).

The Hacker Wars (2014)

Covers early 2010s hacktivism and Anonymous, including weev, Jeremy Hammond, Barrett Brown, HBGary, Stratfor, LulzSec, Sabu and more. Lots of fun.

Deep Web (2015)

Follows the takedown of the underground drug market The Silk Road and prosecution of it's creator Ross "Dread Pirate Roberts" Ulbricht. While it's highly sympathetic to Ulbricht, it does cover broader topics such as privacy, anonymity, government prosecution methods and the war on drugs.

It's also directed by Bill S. Preston Esq. and narrated by Ted "Theodore" Logan who together are Wyld Stallynz.

Lo and Behold: Reveries of the Connected World (2016)

Werner Herzog casually jaunting through tech. Segments on the first internet message, modern AI and space travel featuring Elon Musk. Not alot for a hardened tech enthusiast, but plenty for everyone else.

The Great Hack (2019)

Netflix film about the Cambridge Analytica scandal and how social media and data collection can influence elections. Interesting topic and has a few good clips but it is a boring film.

The Social Dilemma (2020)

Netflix film about how spooky social medias are with interviews from former social media devs. Can be cringe sometimes but it's good to show to your ignorant friends and family.

See also

• /g/ related Books
• /g/ related Music
• /g/ related Video games
• /g/ related TV Series