WarGames

Wanna play Global Thermonuclear War?

It was with much interest to me to revisit this early 80s hacker piece armed with the knowledge of just how the advent of change in the computer world had evolved. With that in mind the film could quite easily be classed as a bit clunky due to the now almost Neanderthal toys, games and computers used in the movie, but casting aside the nostalgia feelings I had with it, it still hits the spot as both a poignant piece of interest, and a damn good thriller as well.

Matthew Broderick is David Lightman, a young computer gamer geek who is something of a whizz kid on the PC. He can change his school grades and hack into various sites he shouldn't be even looking at. During one eventful sitting he hacks in...

Ally Sheedy, whatever happened to her. When I was a little kid, I mean REALLY little she was one of the few stars I could name...and then she disappeared save for a couple memorable appearances in Psych. It's a shame.

Anyway, my fiance is a Millennial and I've been trying to introduce her and her friends to some classic films. This one was a fail. They sat through it, but really only to mock the technology. Mocking things that are old for being old is kind of one of their favorite things.

So, despite that, the film made ripples in congress and the only other film that I recall doing that was JFK. It rewrote laws.

And, it was extremely entertaining in the process, despite the fact that Matthew looked like more of a push-over than a ...

When the young computer whizz-kid David (Matthew Broderick) is showing off to his girlfriend Jennifer (Ally Sheedy) about how he can improve her grades and book them on a first class trip to Paris, he inadvertently dials a telephone number that wants to play a game. A game of thermonuclear war! Next day, the news is full of stories about the mobilisation of American defence capabilities and his phone rings again. Its the computer, it wants to play and hes just a little terrified. Not so afraid as he is about to get, though, when the FBI turn up and next thing he is in a top secret facility trying to explain to boffin McKittrick just how he accidentally tapped into a computer system that now seems to be trying to start WWIII - and nobody kno...