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Post by Spike Del Rey on Jun 3, 2022 14:32:04 GMT
Released today in 1983, this was running in the cinema I managed and I'll bet I watched it twenty times at least. Charming, suspenseful, really tapped into the Cold War paranoia but in a more entertaining way than some of the other movies of the era. Of course its pretty simplistic view as to how easy it would be for an average schlub to hack into a DOD computer might be a little naive (or is it, based on some of the work from Anonymous), and Matthew Broderick's character is basically a douchebag (just like Ferris was a couple of years later), but the movie is still solid fun. Dabney Coleman and Barry Corbin were terrific in their supporting roles, bickering and squabbling about which method of handling the nukes was better. And that War Room still is a sight to behold. 7/10
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Post by kolchak92 on Jun 3, 2022 14:58:55 GMT
Saw if for the first time recently. I liked it way more than I thought I would.
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Post by politicidal on Jun 3, 2022 16:59:17 GMT
Solid direction from John Badham. Whatever happened to him anyway? It seems like he's delegated to television now.
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Post by TheGoodMan19 on Jun 4, 2022 2:20:51 GMT
I remember seeing Matt Broderick's bedroom with all that computer equipment and thinking "Wow, that's really strange. Who would ever be able to have a computer that could connect with other computers. And have your own printer that could print anything you had from the computer in your own home. Never happen to the grand majority of us and certainly never to me."
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Post by phantomparticle on Jun 4, 2022 2:48:40 GMT
Fun movie. I clicked onto it on a cable channel some time ago and now I almost have to watch it every time it's broadcast.
Broderick is one of the more charismatic and entertaining actors working today, specializing in somewhat nerdy characters who don't come off as totally obnoxious. I particularly like his work in The Freshman, although his forays into musicals (The Producers, The Music Man) don't quite measure up. Kudos for the effort, however.
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Post by Rey Kahuka on Jun 4, 2022 19:15:24 GMT
It's impressive that they were able to make such an enjoyable thriller out of such a simplistic plot revolving around an anti-war message. Saw it again a few years ago and while the technology is laughable, it's still fun to watch. The final sequence in the war room remains a spectacle, as well.
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Post by wmcclain on Jun 4, 2022 20:21:30 GMT
WarGames (1983), directed by John Badham. A high school hacker looking for unreleased computer games mistakenly finds a backdoor into North American missile defense. He starts a game of "Global Thermonuclear War" which becomes pretty tense pretty quickly. Realizing his mistake he tries to shut it down, but the computer takes its games seriously. Unstoppable countdown to WW3... It's slickly written, moves along nicely and is still a lot of fun, if rather light. Given recent history, the notion that military computers can be hacked by kids is more believable now than it was at the time. The Cold War still had years to run when this wry teen-romance entry in the gut-wrenching-threat-of-nuclear-war genre was made, which is pretty bold. I'm not sure they ever got credit for that. Adding a more adult, emotional dimension: the grief and cynicism of Dr Falken, with the war computer as a surrogate for his lost son. The second climax in the war room when the computer plays hundreds of nuclear war simulations, looking for a solution, is really stunning. I always thought those big screens were done as post-production opticals, but no: each screen had a film projector behind it. Second film for both Matthew Broderick and Ally Sheedy. I always like seeing John Wood (Dr Falken) and Barry Corbin (General Beringer). Misc notes: - Apple and IBM had begun mass-market home PCs by the time this film was made, but the kid has older generation gear: that brief silver age when cheap computers were kit-based and you needed considerable skills to get them working.
- See his acoustic coupler? Nobody misses those. Likewise for the 8" floppies: their drives sounded like a piano rolling down the stairs.
- An office gag we used to do: point your finger and say, "Turn the key, sir! That's not the procedure! Turn the key, sir!"
- The kid gives the computer a voice, but we continue to hear it even when we are away from his gear. Maybe we are supposed to understand this is imaginary, not audible to the characters. The writers said "The audience won't care".
- The voice is an electric Dr Falken, a nice touch.
- Sparks flying out of stressed computers is a bit of 1960s dumbness.
Available on Blu-ray. A pleasant commentary track with the director and two writers gives production details and good insight into the overall design of the screenplay. Made in 1998 it is a bit of a time capsule itself: their comments on dated technology reference their own now-dated technology. 
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Post by politicidal on Jun 4, 2022 22:10:44 GMT
Also Ally Sheedy should had definitely...you know.
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Post by kolchak92 on Jun 4, 2022 22:46:10 GMT
Fun movie. I clicked onto it on a cable channel some time ago and now I almost have to watch it every time it's broadcast. Broderick is one of the more charismatic and entertaining actors working today, specializing in somewhat nerdy characters who don't come off as totally obnoxious. I particularly like his work in The Freshman, although his forays into musicals ( The Producers, The Music Man) don't quite measure up. Kudos for the effort, however. To me he always comes off as sort of a poor man's Michael J. Fox.
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