Skip to main content

Maybe a Matthew Broderick Throwback Series?

By graphics_girl
Last Friday night while scanning Netflix for a throwback from my list to rewatch, I found a great 80s classic with Matthew Broderick. BEFORE his memorable role as Ferris Bueller, he starred as a computer genius named David in War Games.


War Games takes place in the 80s during the Cold War. After a failed launch exercise (featuring Mr. Blonde, Michael Madsen) the US government is convinced that they should give control of the nuclear program to a computer. That is, until it's hacked by a high school kid. When David (Broderick) successfully accesses this super-computer, he's trying to get into the computer of a software company to play their latest game before it's released. He unknowingly begins a showdown between the US and Russia that could lead to World War III if he doesn't help stop it. 

 I am not going to go into what happens....just in case you haven't seen it or it's been a while for you. (I'd like to know what you guys think....in the future do you want a lot of the details or just a quick overview? I'm torn.)

 I was bit surprised that I still liked this movie after all these years...and my boys really enjoyed it too! I honestly thought they'd be bored by the old tech. If you watch this, do yourself a favor and skip the opening AND closing credits. The music is really painful.

 My favorite things???

  • David playing Galaga at the beginning (I loved that game!) his dial up connection, 5 inch floppy disk and dot matrix printer...brother, remember our computer class at Kent when we were kids?! Oh, back in the day.
  • You need to hack a pay phone? Find a pop tab! Have neither? Hope you have a cellphone!
  • And, Ally Sheedy's leg warmers. Yes, I forgot to mention that Ally Sheedy is also in this movie.


 Memorable lines from the movie? 
My favorites were given to the computer. "Would you like to play a game?" And "Strange game. The only winning move is not to play. How about a nice game of chess?" And finally, "Mr. McKittrick, after very careful consideration sir, I've come to the conclusion that your new defense system sucks."

 Overall, Friday was a pretty fun night.
-Graphics Girl

 Don't forget to let us know in the comments if you'd rather have more detail in these summaries or you want to avoid the spoilers in case it's been a while for you.

Comments

  1. @AGeekCalledBobNovember 21, 2013 at 9:33 AM

    Back then, Hacking involved logic, brute force password breakers and random number dialers. Now it's someone leaving their facebook page logged in. How did I get in this handbasket.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The World's End Review

By
Graphics Girl and I went to the movies a few days ago. I was feeling awful physically, so she decided that we needed a comedy and I didn't protest since it was written by Edgar Wright and Simon Pegg. The gang's back together in The World's End. Simon Pegg, Nick Frost, Martin Freeman, Paddy Considine, and Eddie Marsan are five guys who, with the encouragement of their once fearless leader, Gary King, (Pegg) have decided to go back to their hometown and do the pub crawl that they had tried back in 1990. Gary hasn't grown up at all over the years, but when things get hairy and the boys have a run in with some robots, they decide to follow his lead anyway and attempt to finish the crawl which culminates at The World's End. This movie is brilliantly done. The story plays like a comedy, but has elements of action, sci-fi, and thriller films. Once you start to realize how much your stomach hurts from laughter, they throw in a touching moment or a well choreographed fi...
Post a Comment
Read more

Heroes in a Half Shell

By graphics_girl
A couple weeks ago, before stuff started showing up on the internet about the new Michael Bay movie, I decided to watch the original Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie with my boys. So, here's the jist of the story. Four tiny turtles begin a huge transformation after coming in contact with a mysterious green ooze. A rat who was once the pet of a great ninja master "adopts" them and teaches them the way of the ninja. While the turtles are studying in the sewers, there is a crime wave blanketing the city above. Robberies are on the rise and TV reporter April O'Neil finds herself a one of the latest victims. Unexpectedly, the streetlamp goes out....and when it goes back on, she's sitting next to a tied up pile of her attackers! Leave it to a reporter to get to the bottom of the story! April finds that behind this crime ring is the Foot Clan, led by the evil Shredder and he's not happy that she's onto him and he sends his henchmen to take care of ...
Post a Comment
Read more

I'm Gonna Hack You In Two With A Hatchet

By
No, this week's TBT is not a horror flick. This just happens to be one of the most hilarious lines from a little known made for tv movie called Camp Cucamonga. For some reason, it's always been a family favorite. We were all able to get together this past weekend to celebrate my mother's birthday and there were several references, including part of the rap from the movie. Yup...that's just the kind of family we are.   The movie was released for television in September of 1990 basically just to display a plethora of popular television actors of the time, but ended up being a quality product despite some of the cheese. The title was briefly changed to How I Spent My Summer, but now can be found again under the original title. The all-star cast included Candace Cameron (Full House) and Jaleel White (Family Matters), which covered our TGIF days. Then we have Josh Saviano and Danica McKellar from The Wonder Years. We also get to see heartthrob Chad Allen from My Two Da...
Post a Comment
Read more