More Than 20 Years of the Web on the Big Screen

Carl Bialik from WSJ writes "WSJ.com has compiled clips from a dozen movies over the past 23 years that depict the internet, with varying degrees of accuracy. Among the selections: WarGames, Sneakers, .com for Murder, and Mr. & Mrs. Smith. The Matrix Reloaded used real Linux code, while Mission: Impossible had the improbable email addresses Job@Book of Job and Max@Job 3:14. In a related article, WSJ.com reviews some of the more-absurd Hollywood conventions when it comes to the web. Harry Knowles, of Ain't It Cool News, says, 'The thing that always gets me is watching people send emails. You click "send" and the entire document begins to fold into an envelope and disappear into the screen. I tend to send around 300 to 400 emails a day, and that would drive me insane.'"

Comments

Wow

[koreaman]

I can't believe that list of inaccurate depictions left off Independence Day. No, you can't write a computer virus on your Mac and upload it to alien ships on the fly. And even if you could, it probably wouldn't show a pretty blue progress bar that said "uploading virus" while you did it.

Honestly, that's the worst depiction of computers in film that I've ever seen

Re:Wow

[Rob T Firefly]

No, you can't write a computer virus on your Mac and upload it to alien ships on the fly.

Maybe you can't...

Re:Wow

[mgblst]

To be fair, the film screws up so badly in all areas, it would be weird if they got the computer stuff right.

How did Jeff Goldblum's character figure out the alien signal?
How did they know how to fly the alien ship?
All of the characters in this film are stereotypical.
The President of the United States of America flies a fighter plane against alien ships.
The town drunk is a hero for no reason.
I could come up with more, but like a child who had been molestered by her uncle, I don't like thinking about it too much.

Possibly the most idiotic film of the past 30 years.

Re:Wow

[mwvdlee]

It's a movie about a friggin' alien invasion, yet you complain about the computer stuff being unrealistic?

Visual Incremental Password Decryption

[4of12]

My favorite: the odometer/slot machine password cracking software, whirring the last few places as you hear the Bad Guy® coming down the hall...

Re:Accurate or not

[amliebsch]

Jason had some of the best lines

For someone who claims to love the movie, I'd think you'd know it was Joshua, not Jason! Nerd card SUSPENDED!

Chloe O'Brien - Master H4Xx0r!

[a_nonamiss]

First off, I love the show 24, but when I watch it, I have to shut my computer nerd brain off.

CHLOE: Jack, I'm going to open a socket to CTU so you can use your phone to upload the data from the thumb drive.
JACK: I can't upload it. Something's wrong!
CHLOE: It looks like the terrorists are trying to overload the router with IP addresses.
JACK: Can you find out where it's coming from?
CHLOE: I can't Jack, they're using a level 4 encryption algorhythm. It'll take me a few hours to decipher it.
JACK: Maybe you can use some of the bandwidth from the FBI servers to help break the encryption!
CHLOE: That might work, but I'll need level 5 network access from the FBI. I'll call you back!

It's a damn good thing that show has other good qualities...

not only the web

[kunzy]

Oh, this is a *Unix* system. I know all about this. --Jurassic Parc

Re:Accurate or not

[stunt_penguin]

The main thing that they got wrong in that scene was the fact that he actually impressed an attactive young female with his hacking skills, rather than eliciting a blank stare, a yawn or a breakup.

So unlike real life.