Top 10 movies that deserve a tech Oscar

4. 2001: A Space Odyssey
Regarded as one of the most iconic movies of all time, 2001 is packed with technology from start to finish, from space shuttles to HAL 9000, the intelligent computer who develops a psychosis, with tragic consequences for most of the crew of the spaceship Discovery.

The vision of the near future created by writer Arthur C Clarke and film maker Stanley Kubrick is striking for many things that it predicted, including orbiting space stations and video phone calls, but is off the mark in other areas.

As Clarke himself remarked, the exploration of the outer solar system happened within a decade of the film being made, not the next century, yet we still don't have a permanently manned outpost on the moon or artificially intelligent computers.

Nevertheless, the film broke new ground in special effects technology, including the remarkable zero gravity scenes, and dealt with some epic themes, including the origin of the human species itself.

Finally, the alien black monoliths featured in the film are possibly the ultimate piece of technology, described by Clarke as 'cosmic Swiss army knives', serving as guardian, communication tool and interstellar travel gateway all rolled into a featureless enigmatic artefact.

3. War Games
Released in 1983, War Games was a movie which was in many ways ahead of its time.

Starring a young Matthew Broderick and Ally Sheedy, the film tells the story of a budding young hacker who, while on the quest for unreleased video games, unknowingly breaches a supercomputer tasked with managing the US nuclear arsenal. After triggering a strategic exercise that threatens to turn into nuclear war, our heroes must figure out a way to divert Armageddon.

The real beauty of this movie is that, 30 years on, it is still a frighteningly believable tale on the perils of automation and over-reliance on technology. We are still working to understand the concepts of machine learning and large-scale data analysis suggested in the film.

War Games also deserves credit for its authenticity and attention to detail. While the technology is understandably dated, Broderick's portrayal of a budding young hacker is far more believable and likeable than more contemporary portrayals, like those seen in Hackers and Swordfish.