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Filmy o softwaru
Movies are meant to entertain, and a certain level of “suspension of disbelief” is required to make these enjoyable. Otherwise, how are we to believe James Bond can always outwit the villain; that a radioactive spider can give you superpowers; or that Richard Pryor could play a software engineer?
The latter example is no joke. In the largely forgotten Superman III, the foul-mouthed comedian did play a software engineer turned hacker, who somehow managed to turn the Man of Steel into an anti-hero. It was the early 1980s before most people really understood the concept of computer programming, but in recent years the bar has been raised in how software engineers are depicted on TV.
“Most if not all films about software engineers include errors,” said technology industry analyst Charles King of Pund-IT. “It’s worth keeping in mind that the entertainment value of movies depends on character development more than technical accuracy.”
“This is especially true of today’s big-budget films,” said Dan Chmielewski of Madison Alexander PR, who works with many clients involved in the cybersecurity world. “Hollywood’s views of security technology are massive failures. TV actually does a much better job with shows such as Mr. Robot and Silicon Valley.”
With that in mind, here is a rundown of the top 9 software engineer movies to see:
1. Válečné hry (1983)
This could be considered the granddaddy of “hacker” films, as it involves high school underachiever David – played by Matthew Broderick before he became Ferris Bueller – who accidentally breaks into NORAD’s mainframe computer. While we could ask why NORAD could be accessed so readily via a dial-up modem, we won’t. Instead, we’ll enjoy this one as the first mass-consumer, visual representation of dial-up, remote computer access. The film’s plot worried lawmakers enough that it contributed to the creation of the first U.S. federal Internet policy, the Counterfeit Access Device and Computer Fraud and Abuse Act of 1984.
Coding Error: David finds the most recent password to his school’s computer network, but manages to forget it is case-sensitive while entering it on his computer.
2. Blackhat (2015)
With Michael Mann (director of teplo) at the helm and starring Chris Hemsworth, this film has a bit more action than the average software engineer might experience in a lifetime, but it gets many of the key details involving black hat hacking right. Hemsworth plays a black hatter who finds his way out of a 15-year prison sentence by helping track down the malware he wrote before it can wreak havoc on a nuclear reactor.
Chyba kódování: The Yubico authentication token is used as a biometric key, and in one scene the main character is seen running an old kernel from 2006.
3. Dívka s dračím tetováním (2011)
This psychological crime thriller (based on the novel of the same name) is wrapped in a murder mystery. The lead/title character is not one we’d want to mess with online or in person. She is an antisocial investigator and hacker, who uses her computer and research skills, along with her cunning to solve a decades-old disappearance and presumed murder.
Chyba kódování: While searching crime records by entering SQL queries the results don’t match the query. Likewise, while the story takes place in 2006, the Macbook Pros seen onscreen weren’t introduced until 2008
4. Tenisky (1992)
Robert Redford as a security specialist isn’t the most far-fetched part of this film, but the idea of “sneakers” seeking to obtain a “box” that could allow the NSA to spy on other agencies makes for a great caper film. For bonus points the film’s press kit was actually accompanied by a floppy disc that included a custom program to explain the movie – parts of which were quasi-encrypted.
Coding Error: The opening scene may be set in 1969 but the display terminal shows IBM VGA 40-column text, which was so 1987.
5. Sociální síť (2010)
If you ever wondered how Mark Zuckerberg came up with the idea for Facebook, just watch this movie. It shows Zuckerberg as a student at Harvard, who created the social network and made friends and plenty of enemies along the way. The film highlights the hard work that goes into writing software code, but it also highlights how the right idea can be worth billions!
Coding Error: “When watching Sociální síť, is it more important that the Mark Zuckerberg character uses an incorrect email domain (@harvard.edu, rather than @fas.harvard.edu) or that actor Jesse Eisenberg provides an insightful portrayal of a person whose actions continue to impact the lives of billions of people?” asked Pund-IT’s King. “I prefer the latter.”
6. Hra napodobování (2014)
Set in World War II even before mainframes were a thing, the film shows the work that goes into developing the world’s earlier computers.
“Though not about software engineering, let’s give a shout-out to Imitační hra,” said Jim Purtilo, associate professor of computer science at the University of Maryland. “Without the spectacular science of Alan Turing (depicted in the movie), there would be no software engineering as we know it today. All software engineers working with government projects will recognize the pitfalls of cost analysis, requirements capture, and design tradeoffs.
Coding Errors: The film downplays the fact that Polish cryptographers and cryptanalysts had broken the German Enigma messages since 1932 – but that would ruin the point of the movie!
7. Pátý stav (2013)
Benedict Cumberbatch makes this list twice – once as Alan Turning in the aforementioned Kód Enigmy, and again as Wikileaks founder and editor-in-chief Julian Assange. This film highlighted the development of the website devoted to releasing information that was being withheld from the public while retaining anonymity for its sources.
Coding Errors: Julian has a Macbook that turns on with a Windows sound, while a chat program somehow recognizes the user despite it being on another person’s laptop. Now that’s some smart code!
8. Piráti ze Silicon Valley (1993)
There have been several recent films made about Apple founder Steve Jobs, but none are as good as this made-for-TV (TNT) movie, which also highlights the rivalry between Jobs and Microsoft founder Bill Gates. Based on the 1984 book Oheň v údolí: Výroba osobního počítače, it reminds us that “good artists copy; great artists steal!” Jobs reportedly didn’t like the film or screenplay but was impressed by the performance of Noah Wyle, who played him.
Coding Errors: Some computers – notably the IBM PC XT and AT – weren’t available at the time depicted.
9. Nepřítel státu (1999)
This one was made two years before the events of 9/11 and the passage of the Patriot Act, and long before Edward Snowden’s revelations about the NSA’s PRISM surveillance program. Will Smith also shows that he’s better as an everyman than an action hero.
Coding Error: Even now, it is impossible to obtain a 3D image of a shopping bag from a single camera feed, and some of the details on global positioning satellites are wrong. However, “this is a good example of the use or capability of technology,” said Purtilo. “The biggest error was in how fast data from each of the many surveillance points could be integrated, at least at the time.” Today, this could be spot on!
Software Developer Movies and Series
While programmers don’t get represented in films more than say lawyers or cops, they are still depicted on the big screen more than you’d imagine. Think about it. Every crime show has some hacker character helping the cops break into a victim’s phone or security system. That’s what programmers do, right? I know, software developers don’t always get the best representation. But that’s not to say there aren’t some badass characters in the mix.
Through my vigorous research (watching a bunch of stuff), I’ve found a catalogue of movies and series that feature a programmer, software developer or hacker as a protagonist and/or central figure. To make the cut of being considered a ‘software developer movie,’ the programmer has to be front and centre – no goofy side characters. And it makes sense to include hackers in this one – because without them, we don’t have any action movies, which would be a huge problem. Let’s get into this!
Filmy o programátorech
The Matrix
Hodnocení IMDb: 8.7/10
Director: Wachowski bros
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A computer hacker discovers the shocking truth of the ‘real world’ and his destined role in a rebellion against its controllers.
10 Best Developer Movies And Series
Last year we put together a list of the best hacking movies, and obviously, the next logical step from there was to catalog the coolest movies and series about developers. So, after putting in hours and hours of screentime watching all of these so-called ‘developer films’ from the last two decades, I’m pretty confident I’ve got a solid list of movies that will meet most of your expectations (I hope ).
The criteria to meet this list was pretty straightforward, the movie (or series) had to feature a programmer as the protagonist (or antagonist), not a supporting character like those used to hack the mainframe (looking at you Mission Impossible). Without taking any more of your time, here are my top 10 picks for the best developer movies and series that I’ve seen.
1. Sociální síť (2010)
Projekt Social Network, more like the un-social network if you ask me… I can’t wait to live in a pod and eat bugs in the Metaverse. But that has nothing to do with this film, which, is actually really, really good. Directed by David Fincher and written by Aaron Sorkin (who’s a legend), it tells the story of Facebook from the perspective of its founders, Mark Zuckerberg, Eduardo Saverin, and Sean Parker.
Whatever your feelings are towards the tech giant and its great track record of user privacy, I think you’ll appreciate this film since it’s not a glorification of Zuckerberg but really a story about friendship and betrayal. And the story is made even better with a great ensemble of actors including Jesse Eisenberg, Andrew Garfield, Justin Timberlake, and Armie Hammer — Hammer plays the Vanwinkle twins and, fun fact likes to jíst lidi.
The dialogue is great, the soundtrack is thrilling, and the coolest thing is that all these guys are still around today. The Winklevoss twins are into crypto, Zuck is testifying before congress, and Sean Parker serves on the board of Spotify.
2. Matrix 4 (2021)
Yeah, just kidding this is film trash.
3. Tron: Legacy (2010)
I only recently (yesterday) found out that Tron: Legacy is a sequel. How did I not know that? I always assumed it was the Disney spin-off of the Tron arcade game I used to play in high school whenever the teacher gave us access to the computers.
This one is pure nostalgia, bright lights, and animation — but I think it’s still a fun movie. It’s about Sam Flynn (played by Garrett Hedlund), the son of the tech genius and software engineer from the first movie, Kevin Flynn (Jeff Bridges). Sam is pulled into his father’s video-game-like world in search of his long-lost father and is immediately thrown into digital combat scenarios and motocross racing as he discovers the hidden secrets of his father’s past.
4. The Fifth Estate (2013)
The reviews on this one are mixed, but I enjoyed the film mostly because it’s still relevant and Julian Assange is still making headlines and pissing off politicians even from his prison cell. Pátý majetek takes you back to the founding of Wikileaks, the now-infamous website that publishes news leaks and classified media provided by anonymous sources. As you’ll see in the movie, it began with two programmers on laptops in Berlin and ends with the subsequent arrest of Assange, which I guess is still an ongoing thing.
This is not a spoiler but if you pay close attention you’ll see the characters constantly drinking Klubový kamarád (a terrible drink but typical Berlin), which I thought was a really funny easter egg.
The film is partly based on a book written by the co-founder of Wikileaks who seems to have had a falling out with Assange, so keep that in mind as you watch it. Either way, this whole movie revolves around the moral grey zone of privacy and political ethics, very similar to what we saw with Edward Snowden and the NSA files.
Assange was a programmer, and his partner in crime Daniel Domscheit-Berg was also a programmer. So of course, you’ll see a lot of programming and get some insights into the technology underpinning Wikileaks and its anonymous activities. Regardless of your opinions on the whole Wikileaks situation, I think we can all agree there’s something pretty cool about a small group of programmers and hackers exposing governments for what they really are.
5. Ex Machina (2014)
Ex Machina is focused on AI and the kinds of things Elon Musk has been warning us about for years. The movie ’s not specifically about programming but it is about a program (AI) and a programmer, and their interactions.
A programmer from a huge tech company wins a competition and gets to spend a week with the CEO of the tech company. He’s taken out to this retreat in Alaska (basically in the middle of nowhere) to meet his reclusive boss, only to find out that he’s not there to chill but participate in a strange experiment with the world’s first AI (similar to what Google’s doing with DeepMind…). This AI takes the form of a beautiful robot girl (Google, take notes) and I’m sure you can imagine what happens next…
6. Kancelářské prostory (1999)
Office Space is awesome and, even though it’s two decades old, the základní zprávu is still relevant to a lot of people today. And it’s been meme’d to hell, so if you haven’t seen the movie you’ve probably seen one of those, ‘if you could just go ahead and do that, that’d be grrrrreat,’ memes.
This one’s about a programmer who hates his boring office job and one day just decides not to work anymore. Not quit or anything just not show up for work or give a f**k. It’s a really funny movie and if you’ve ever worked in a corporate environment, you’ll appreciate the humour and characters even more. Useless managers, annoying watercooler jargon, cringe department birthday gatherings — it covers everything that’s wrong with that soul-sucking suit and tie environment.
7. Silicon Valley (2014–2019)
Silicon Valley je HBO original comedy series, about a group of programmers in Silicon Valley starting a tech company based around a new compression technology. It’s like the Teorie velkého třesku if it was created for adults that understand nuance and don’t need a laugh track to cue them in on jokes written for an audience with the collective IQ of a chimpanzee.
It’s also HBO and created by Mike Judge (Office Space a Král kopce), so they can get away with dark humour, sexual innuendo, and the f-word (if that’s still a taboo these days) — which makes the show far more entertaining in my opinion. But it’s obviously not everyone’s cup of tea…
Anyway, there are six seasons to binge so if you have some time on your hands and want to sit back and laugh at characters with huge personalities talking about programming and startups, plus experience the exaggerated tech cliques of Silicon Valley companies like Google and Facebook, then this is the show for you! ALWAYS BLUE.
8. Pan Robot (2015-2019)
Anarchist hackers. Need I say more? Mr. Robot was kind of an underground series when it first launched, I didn’t know many people who knew about it since it didn’t have big stars in it (Rami Malek was hardly known back then). Since then it’s obviously gained notoriety and won a bunch of awards. Even though it doesn’t share the same budget as other series it’s really well written and quite original and thought-provoking.
I found it had a Matrix vibe in the first season. You’ve got a cyber security engineer, Elliot (Rami Malek), who’s pulled from his corporate world into the shadowy underground of exposing corporate corruption with a team of anarchist hackers all the while dealing with delusions and paranoia which overlap to create a mixed reality. I think you’ll also love how the VP of Engineering is portrayed, similar to a lot of managers I know.
9. Snowden (2016)
I’m not a big bio-pic guy, so Snowden was never on my radar, but I forced myself to sit through it this week just because it kept popping up and had some pretty high reviews. Surprisingly, I actually enjoyed it. The lead-up story (his professional and personal life) was just as interesting as what we know now about the NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden.
Snowden was directed by Oliver Stone, who also did Rota a Wall Street, and it features a bit of Nicolas Cage’s bombastic acting which we’ve all grown to love. You’ll find similarities between this movie and Pátý majetek because they deal with similar topics like digital privacy and government overreach. But because Snowden comes from a very different background compared to Assange, it’s more focused on a personal moral dilemma as opposed to ethics and journalistic integrity.
I also didn’t know that Edward Snowden was 29 when he blew the lid on the US government. I can barely expose my ex-wife for cheating on me let alone the entire industrial-military complex.
10. The IT Crowd (2006-2013)
IT Crowd is a classic which you’ve probably seen, but I’m still adding it to this list for anyone that might have missed this British sitcom. Obviously, the IT helpdesk isn’t the same as programming, don’t worry I’m well aware you haters! I’ve added it for two reasons, firstly, it adds some comedic relief to this otherwise serious catalog of movies, and secondly, it rounds out this list to a nice even ten.
IT Crowd is a British sitcom about two tech geeks working for Reynholm Industries. They get a new supervisor who doesn’t come from a tech background and together they get into a bunch of hilarious situations. Maybe you’ve seen Projekt Mocný Boosh or Toast z Londýna, it’s got a lot of familiar faces and similar situational humour, which is a breath of fresh air compared to comedies these days.
These developer movies and series aren’t listed in any particular order, they’re just in my top ten. I’ll let you decide which one’s the greatest of all time (if that even exists). And if I missed a really good one or you just completely disagree with my opinion, you can call me out, I’m sure there’s plenty of room to expand this list.
What’s that? You’re looking for some wise, meaningful developer entertainment that’s based in tento universe? Well, you can check out some of Honeypot’s developer documentaries nebo to list of documentaries we put together. Or maybe you want to re-live the thrill of the first Matrix? Not this cold soup we’ve recently been delivered (Matrix 4), but something is a little more hackerish? Then check out the Nejlepší filmy o hackerech sledovat.
Hope you enjoy the flix ✌️
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