Computers in Movies

Have you noticed anything weird about computers when they appear in movies? Have a look and you will remember seeing most of them in a movie.

1. Word processors never display a cursor.
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2. You never have to use the space-bar when typing long sentences.
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3. All monitors display inch-high letters.
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4. High-tech computers, such as those used by NASA, the CIA, or some such governmental institution, will have easy-to-understand graphical interfaces.
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5. Those that don't will have incredibly powerful text-based command shells that can correctly understand and execute commands typed in plain English.
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6. Corollary: You can gain access to any information you want by simply typing "ACCESS ALL OF THE SECRET FILES" on any keyboard.
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7. Likewise, you can infect a computer with a destructive virus by simply typing "UPLOAD VIRUS." (See "Fortress")
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8. All computers are connected. You can access the information on the villain's desktop computer, even if it's turned off.
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9. Powerful computers beep whenever you press a key or whenever the screen changes. Some computers also slow down the output on the screen so that it doesn't go faster than you can read. The *really* advanced ones also emulate the sound of a dot-matrix printer.
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10. All computer panels have thousands of volts and flash pots just underneath the surface. Malfunctions are indicated by a bright flash, a puff of smoke, a shower of sparks, and an explosion that forces you backward.
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11. People typing away on a computer will turn it off without saving the data.
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12. A hacker can get into the most sensitive computer in the world before intermission and guess the secret password in two tries.
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13. Any PERMISSION DENIED has an OVERRIDE function. (See "Demolition Man" and countless others)
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14. Complex calculations and loading of huge amounts of data will be accomplished in under three seconds. Movie modems transmit data at a speed of two gigabytes per second.
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15. When the power plant/missile site/whatever overheats, all the control panels will explode, as will the entire building.
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16. If you display a file on the screen and someone deletes the file, it also disappears from the screen. (e.g., "Clear and Present Danger")
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17. If a disk has got encrypted files, you are automatically asked for a password when you try to access it.
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18. No matter what kind of computer disk it is, it'll be readable by any system you put it into. All application software is usable by all computer platforms.
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19. The more high-tech the equipment, the more buttons it has ("Aliens"). However, everyone must have been highly trained, because the buttons aren't labeled.
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20. Most computers, no matter how small, have reality-defying three-dimensional, real-time, photo-realistic animated graphics capability.
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21. Laptops, for some strange reason, always seem to have amazing real-time video phone capabilities and the performance of a CRAY Y-MP.
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22. Whenever a character looks at a VDU, the image is so bright that it projects itself onto his/her face. (See "Alien," "2001")
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Everything is true. Now we see what producers do to sell their things called "films" or "tech thriller" and some guys (cyberfreaks) like films like that ("hacker" 1995, and many other).

lol, those are good.... most I know what you are talking about too.

What about these three:

• When copying data, all raw data be send to the screen until the copy is completed.
• When brute-force cracking passwords, the password will be guessed one character at a time.
• When a computer is infected by a virus, it always seems to 'eat' the screen.

lol.. good stuff

also i saw this once in a movie. the character is a hacker. he types some thing in and then the computer says "YOU HAVE HACKED THE SYSTEM" or something like that.

Yeah, they think that PCs speak English or an other language we (people) speak.

LOL. Definetely the GUI part.

...hasn't this been posted before...?

If you've ever seen sword fish you begin to ask your self why that one computer has 10 monitors that all display some kind of wacky GUI that looks like a funky 3d winamp plug-in.

Just once I would like to see a hacker character sit down and say "what the hell is this os and where’s the mouse".

Totally, I mean, yeah the whole flatscreens in a circle was kinda cool but realistic? I like what cwk9 sais, winamp plugin! :D

What I get a kick out of is that all OS's are compatible! Mac, *nix, Dows, Whatever else...

Also about Swordfish, yeah, he cracked the CIA website in 60 seconds (the scene was cool but...)

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A hacker can get into the most sensitive computer in the world before intermission and guess the secret password in two tries.

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Hehe, this is a classic. How come this never works when I try to hack into the NSA's web servers. I just don't understand it ;).

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Originally posted here by [WebCarnage]
...hasn't this been posted before...?

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yea it was but I cant find the origional post yet.

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Originally posted here by tyger_claw
Totally, I mean, yeah the whole flatscreens in a circle was kinda cool but realistic? I like what cwk9 sais, winamp plugin! :D

What I get a kick out of is that all OS's are compatible! Mac, *nix, Dows, Whatever else...

Also about Swordfish, yeah, he cracked the CIA website in 60 seconds (the scene was cool but...)

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It was just the DOD website. I also like how they can type over 1000 words a minute, all on the center row. Or when they get an "ACCESS DENIED" flashingin big letters.

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Have you noticed anything weird about computers when they appear in movies? Have a look and you will remember seeing most of them in a movie

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Have you seen the movies hackers? They should have changed the title to L@/\/\£®'$ instead that movie was lame. Anti-trust was a pretty good movie. Kool thread!



:drink: ::shootem:

I know what you mean. Movies take a lot of "artistic license" with reality. I read this in Reader's Digest one time. I'm quoting from memory.

All bombs will have the detonation time conveniently displayed on an LED counter.
A scantily clad woman will always go into the basement to investigate a noise.
It isn't necessary for a German Army officer to actually speak German as long as he speaks with a German accent.

Wish I could remember the rest of them, but you get the idea.

hehe some more
you can connect to the internet with out wires at about 1 gig a sec and download whole databases in 20 seconds

macs the most other computer friendly os well back in the day could connect to aliean computers independence day

all things are connected to a computer so if you want to turn your next door neigbours sprinkler on just hack their computer
RiOtEr

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Originally posted here by [WebCarnage]
...hasn't this been posted before...?

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Your not insane, it's been posted before. Well, actually, I am insane, but that doesn't change the fact that squirrels CAN be painted purple.

Ever notice that all that is required to hack is to type really fast? Anything higher than 100 wpm and you can get into the CIA.

I like how RiOtEr reminded me about ID4!

That was totally *****ed up! How could a MacOS connect to an Alien OS?!? WTF?

Another thing I found funny was in Universal Soldier: Return, where "Squid" could hack into a goverment complex computer for hours without getting detected, especially when a "Super Computer" was monitoring it's own ports/communications? (Sure, he did kill him later in human form)

Also, remember the movie, The Net, with Sandra Bullock? Wasn't it cool how that virus trashed the files in a GUI way? (As well as all the other stuff those corp guys hacked...)

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Originally posted here by ii-monk
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11. People typing away on a computer will turn it off without saving the data.
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you forgot to mention that even tho' the data wasn't saved when someone goes back to that file it is as it was when the person turned the computer off

Of course in the movies a dialup account never drops or dissconnects. Nor do you get a busy signal. Also have you noticed that one can run a laptop and get access to any system without a modem or LAN connection. Even when they use a cell phone they get T-1 speed. I want one of those h4X0r laptops...... They are so 31337......... :-)

Hmmm,

The computer knows the current location and actions of the criminal on the other side of the city.. but didn't know that some one was lurking to take out its monitors...

funny that.. you destroy the computer by wrecking the monitor.. oh and all the data is lost

yes just one of those ID4 lappies would be nice..lol

Cheers

If you are going to cut and paste from a website post your sources.

haha just like in Secret Agent man where a hacker accessed and downloaded the whole database in few mins with a connection speed of 5Terrabites/sec.. hahaha

or the bit where the hacker can pull out limitless records of a certain person..

and the hacker can gain root access few seconds after saying "wait i need a root access for this.. gimme a sec"


haha

hahah how bout in swordfish where da d00d was cracking the DoD database.. where he opened a new window and entered bunch of login names and passwords to make a semi brute force attack.. then pressed enter..

Producers want to impress stupid people (who thinks that hardware is what a hacker need) by showing them good hardware, but in fact a hacker or a cracker will be impressed by "good" and "strong" security of a computer.

the only movie i have seen with a realistic hack is war games.Good post still laughung lol

Have you seen "Hackers 2: Takedown"? It's the real story how e-police with the help of a Japanese hacker arrest Mitnick. They (the people who made the film) made more reallistic the film, because "Hackers" was a really bad film.

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It's the real story how e-police with the help of a Japanese hacker arrest Mitnick.

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Thats the funniest thing I have ever heard. The movie was so bad, and off base , that they never released it in the US. They new that the production company would never hear the end of it. The entire thing was one sided (written by TS and that news reporter guy). Do they tell you that TS (your "japanese hacker") and the news reporter broke at least 3 different federal laws while trying to track down Kevin Mitnick?

Did you ever read the book that the movie was based on? Do you really care that TS was out sking while his computer was broken into? Does it matter that he had dinner with a female before going to the Well? The book was obviously written by a reporter to sell books. It pretty much made Mitnick out to be evil.

I don't defend Mitnick at all. He broke the law, and did his time. But the book made him look worse then a murderer while making TS look like a hero. Yet they are the EXACT same. Actually, if you look at their histories, TS is worse.

Try this one :

You can copy a full-length 3D presentation with all technical specs onto a single 3.5" disk.

I would like to see a movie about The Cuckoo's Egg. And no damn 'super-fly-graphic-intensive-unnamed-OS' The book was true, so should the movie. :) Like that'll happen, but i can always hope.

also sometimes the computer talks out the commands the user enter like the whole room (in the movie) has surround sound system hooked up to the computer.

I think the most ridiculous is graphical interfaces.

They create one interface by film (or serie also) and with all interfaces I ask how these "professionals" can use a 2-buttons-mailer!

In another theme, code-screens in Matrix seem to be very decorative but not very usefull.
In fact, in films, screens are essentially decorative.

/me goes to crack a DoD website that has an easy to use Interface, Oh! And I cant forget the gun to my head and the prostitute in my lap.... Lets go!

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Originally posted here by souleman


Thats the funniest thing I have ever heard. The movie was so bad, and off base , that they never released it in the US. They new that the production company would never hear the end of it. The entire thing was one sided (written by TS and that news reporter guy). Do they tell you that TS (your "japanese hacker") and the news reporter broke at least 3 different federal laws while trying to track down Kevin Mitnick?

Did you ever read the book that the movie was based on? Do you really care that TS was out sking while his computer was broken into? Does it matter that he had dinner with a female before going to the Well? The book was obviously written by a reporter to sell books. It pretty much made Mitnick out to be evil.

I don't defend Mitnick at all. He broke the law, and did his time. But the book made him look worse then a murderer while making TS look like a hero. Yet they are the EXACT same. Actually, if you look at their histories, TS is worse.

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Hey, i didn't say that Mitnick or TS is hero.

Something else I got a kick out of was in the movie "Along came a spider"

As if the webcam would zoom like it did, as well as have such as connection....
On top of the fact that a CIA person would pick up, like in what, 2 minutes, that the two kids were sending messages hidden in images AND that the "teacher" had a keyboard logger on....

That's it.... let's all get together, make a movie about something computers and make IT REAL!

How do we stop the evil robots from enslaving the human race in "The Matrix"? Let's sit around in front of a computer with 4 moniters, no interface, no keyboard, no mouse, and a completely incomprehensible "code" trikleing down the screen in tech green on cyber black!
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Never underestimate the power of stupid people in large numbers.

Where did they even get all that computer equipment in Matrix? Did they disassemble a bot and made it from it's parts?

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Originally posted here by TechnologyBudda
How do we stop the evil robots from enslaving the human race in "The Matrix"? Let's sit around in front of a computer with 4 moniters, no interface, no keyboard, no mouse, and a completely incomprehensible "code" trikleing down the screen in tech green on cyber black!
__________________________________________
Never underestimate the power of stupid people in large numbers.

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well it does have two keyboards. I saw the blond and the brunnet it is not that hard ;)

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Originally posted here by tyger_claw
Where did they even get all that computer equipment in Matrix? Did they disassemble a bot and made it from it's parts?

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or if the agents are so smart why dont they just hack into Zyons mainframe? Instead of trying to get the password out of Morpheus? Just install windows and there you go. ;)

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Originally posted here by cwk9
If you've ever seen sword fish you begin to ask your self why that one computer has 10 monitors that all display some kind of wacky GUI that looks like a funky 3d winamp plug-in.

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swordfish was awesome. i love the part, where he's in that room with the 30 different monitors with that "dna" lookin thing. I thought that was cool as hell =)