Image via Complex Original
One of the best places for discovery, learning, and entertainment, film is argubly the most important and innovative visual medium to date. The Internet and the tech world is quickly taking over in prominence, but there's a small niche where the two blend seamlessly, and these are movies about the tech world itself. In this crossover, here are 10 films about the tech world that are worth discovering, some mainstream, some obscure, and exactly what you can take away from them, from both a film and tech perspective.
Year Released: 1999
Actors: Noah Wyle, John DiMaggio, Anthony Michael Hall
Starring Noah Wyle and Anthony Michael Hall as young tech entrepreneurs Steve Jobs and Bill Gates respectively, The Pirates of Silicon Valley focuses on the pairs' lives up to 1997, as the two become rivals in the up-and-coming Silicon Valley. While not a totally brilliant film by any means, it's one of the honest and most ruthless portrayals of how the two tech giants rose to power, and is definitely worth checking out for anyone who has any interest in how the pair got their start.
Year Released: 2010
Actors: Jesse Eisenberg, Andrew Garfield, Justin Timberlake, Armie Hammer
Perhaps the most modern film of our generation, The Social Network, starring Jesse Eisenberg as everyone's favorite tech innovator Mark Zuckerberg, is not exactly an accurate reflection of Facebook's founding, but rather uses Zuckerberg's life as a metaphor to tell a story about communication, or lack thereof, in the modern age. While Zuckerberg may not exactly be the asshole that Eisenberg so expertly portrays, a solid script by Aaron Sorkin, great directing by David Fincher, and a wonderful score by Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross tells a somewhat fictionalized tale of the rise of one the greatest tech companies of the modern age.
Year Released: 2009
Actors: Josh Harris (documentary)
We Live In Public is a profile documentary that follows Internet pioneer Josh Harris, who was a former dot-com boom millionaire that lost his fortune during Web 2.0. After achieving success in Silicon Valley, Harris became interested in controversial human experiments, which tested the effects of media and technology on the development and personal branding of identity. Partially as a result, Harris lost his fortune, and the film profiles the rise and fall of this once great media giant.
Year Released: 2011
Actors: None (documentary)
Twitter has long been called the pulse of the planet, and #140 Characters: A Documentary, a short doc about the impact of Twitter, shows how the social media service has changed the lives of four ordinary people. For those interested in Twitter's impact on a more intimate scale, this would definitely be the film to check out.
Year Released: 2008
Actors: Stephen Payne
A 2008 short film about British polymath Charles Babbage, Babbage is an captivating and nuanced look at the man who is considered the "father of the computer." The film shows Babbage at a dinner party, where guests discuss Babbage's life and work. Babbage then reveals that these are just fragmented memories and many of the guests never actually met, which is an interesting twist. For anyone interested in just how far we've come since the Babbage days, this would definitely be the short film to watch.
Year Released: 1996
Actors: Steve Jobs, Steve Wonziak, Bill Gates, Steve Ballmer (documentary)
Triumph of the Nerds is a PBS documentry that explores the development and various innovations to the personal computer in the United States from World War II to 1995, and is a play on the 1984 comedy, Revenge of the Nerds. The film features important interviews with tech giants such as Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak, Bill Gates, and Steve Ballmer talking about their roles in creating accidental empires in the tech world. Additionally, director Mark Stephens released the full interview with Jobs after his death, under the name Steve Jobs: The Lost Interview, which is a fascinating look at Jobs after he was booted from Apple and before he was reinstated in the company.
Year Released: 2010
Actors: Tommy Pallotta (documentary)
Created by the team behind the A Scanner Darkly film, Collapsus.com is a new experience in transmedia storytelling that combines a special blend of animation, fiction and documentary, and doesn't quite fit into any of those categories neatly. The film is about the imminent energy transition from fossil fuel to alternative energy sources, and is vaguely cyberpunk in nature, which makes it something that should be on any tech geeks list.
Year Released: 2004
Actors: Leonardo DiCaprio, Cate Blanchett
A brilliant Martin Scorsese-directed biopic of prolific inventor and innovator Howard Hughes, The Aviator gives a powerful and nuanced performance from Leonardo DiCaprio as Howard Hughes and goes deep into his psyche both as an innovator and increasingly neurotic man. Giving a balanced portrayal of the man behind the legend, this is one film about tech innovation you won't want to miss.
Year Released: 2013
Actors: Ashton Kutcher, Josh Gad, Luke Haas, JK Simmons
Ashton Kutcher's somewhat controversial portrayal of Steve Jobs has gotten mixed reviews so far in this biopic film, but it definitely is one of the most important films about the tech world to date. Taking Steve Jobs from his days as a college dropout to his days as Apple's homecoming innovator, Jobs takes a thorough look at the recently deceased tech mogul's life, giving a nuanced, if somewhat simplified view of his career.
Year Released: 2001
Actors: Richard Stallman, Michael Tiemann, Linus Torvalds (documentary)
A true technophiles film, Revolution OS is a 2001 documentary film that traces the history of Linux and the free software movement. The film features interviews from prominent hackers and innovators such as Michael Tiemann, Richard Stallman and Linus Torvalds. A film for anyone interested in digital rights and the open source movement, this is one that you may want to check out.
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