WEDNESDAY REWATCH: WARGAMES STILL PLAYS 35 YEARS LATER
What other movies showcase dated technology, but stand the test of time in other ways?
( May 30, 2018; SYFY WIRE )
WarGames turns 35 this year, and much of the technology at the heart of it likely looks just as alien to certain moviegoers seeing it for the first time today as it did to moviegoers in 1983. Home computing was still in relative infancy at the time, and the concept of hacking in any form likely seemed like pure science fiction to adults in the theater who grew up on typewriters and phone lines that were only used for speaking. Now, show a kid with an iPad and a smart watch the same film, and they might be just as mystified by the clunky monitors and massive floppy disks Matthew Broderick wields in his quest to play a game of Global Thermonuclear War.
As dated as its tech looks and feels, though, WarGames has stood the test of time, not just as an amusing Cold War artifact but as a solid, straightforward thriller that made two of the '80s biggest teen icons -- Broderick and Ally Sheedy -- into stars. WarGames was famously plausible and prescient enough that President Reagan himself began looking into cybersecurity policy after seeing it, and more than three decades later it's a film that still has a surprising impact in the age of North Korean nuclear fears.
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What was the one with "Number 5 is alive"? I don't remember it well enough to know if it fits the bill, but I keep thinking that I want to go back and watch it again to see how it stood up against time. I have a feeling that it would still be a compelling story. Not sure, but that might've also had Ally Sheedy in it.
Another one - not a movie, but @cmp2020 and I watched the original Twilight Zone series on Netflix while under house arrest for COVID lockdown during the last year. Some of the science and technology was ridiculously outdated or unrealistic, but the themes in many episodes are just as relevant now as they were 60 years ago. Another striking thing about the series was the vocabulary that they used. We had to reach for the dictionary more than a few times.
Back when we still used DVDs, I think we got the original series of Twilight Zone in a box set. Good to know it's available for streaming. Loved it!
It's all available except for season 4. Not sure why that one's missing. Maybe it was destroyed in the warehouse fire that I seem to remember destroying a bunch of studio master recordings a few years back...
Oh! Wasn't that called Short Circuit? I think that's the robot I think of when I see references to Wall-E. I hardly remember it, but I do remember enjoying that movie multiple time! From what I recall, the general design between those two robots is similar. I don't how accurate my recollection is, though.
Yep. Short Circuit. I looked it up later. And I was right that Ally Sheedy was in it. Also Steve Guttenberg (which brings up another SciFi movie that stands the test of time, Cocoon - although you can't really say that the technology is outdated like in War Games).
Unfortunately, Short Circuit is not available from Netflix or my cable provider - not even as a rental. Maybe Amazon Prime. Haven't checked there, yet.
On the opposite note, we watched 2001 a few years ago, and that was a big (BIG) disappointment, compared to what I thought I remembered.
Should we go through this as a series of posts?
I'd need to watch the movies again to remember them well enough to write about, but yeah, that would be a good topic. I have a couple ideas along these lines. It's all about finding/making the time... We should talk about it offline.