Computers in Movies

[ii-monk]

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).

[Tuskin]

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

[Guus]

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.

[xmaddness]

lol.. good stuff

[blackh0le]

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.

[ii-monk]

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

[jethro]

LOL. Definetely the GUI part.

[[WebCarnage]]

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

[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.

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".

[tyger_claw]

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

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...)