The INQUIRER's Top 10 Tech Movies Reloaded

EXCELLENT AS it was, especially considering it only took an hour or so of deep contemplation, our piece last week listing The INQUIRER's Top 10 Tech Movies provoked what in some circles might be referred to as a storm of controversy, nay, a hornets' nest or even a brouhaha.

The tone of the responses: 'superb effort, Marty, but you missed this one and that one'. Not having seen most of the films in question, I am posting the pick of the responses to create an alternative top 10. The readers' cut, if you will.

10. Hackers. Nominated by a bunch of you and featuring an "evil computer genius" and his plans to unleash a virus that puts the kybosh on the universe. Actually, quite a good tactic if you wanted to bring the West too a halt. Not that you would want to, naturally.

John wrote: "The geek terms tossed around were funny, if inaccurate and unbelievable. The laptops with cool custom graphics and the acid trip-like effects while they were hacking only added to the effect." Nate called Hackers “the one with all the kids dropping buzzwords like 28.8kbps modem and RISC”.

9. Dark Star. Schlomo calls this "wacky, but you'll love phenomenological argument with the computer".

8. Colossus: The Forbin Project. Crap title but good movie, according to many of you. Peter Coffee says it deserves to be hailed as an "icon".

7. Independence Day. Remco likes it that "computer nerd Jeff Goldblum is able to destroy an entire alien fleet with ... an Apple!"

6. The Man in the White Suit. Good shout by mscott who said it deals "with technology in an entertaining and intelligent manner". Too true, and Alec Guinness is the greatest actor ever. Brilliant, unique classic about a man who invents the perfect product - and, like Sinclair with the C5, gets a nasty response from an ungrateful world.

5. Lawnmower Man. Igor calls this "some sort of modernized Frankenstein". I call it "some kind of waste of a tenner".

4. The Matrix trilogy. To me, it was like eating nothing but digestive biscuits for a month but Setab13 said it was "so good it made Keanu Reeves seem interesting". That's saying something. Keanu's "acting" expressions can be counted on the fingers of one finger.

3. Mission Impossible. Remco again: "A three-line email takes up almost the entire screen (a problem in many more movies, if I remember correctly)."

2. Electric Dreams. Scott calls this "kitschy, weird, and actually a little fun, if horribly dated to 1984". You're right, Scott, it was actually a bit disturbing, wasn't it?

1. AntiTrust. Paul-Robert calls this "the best Hollywood tech film ever".

Best of the rest:

The Race for the Double Helix. Crap title but some of you liked this one.

Serenity. Another Peter Coffee pick.

Sneakers. Thomas "couldn't believe" I omitted this yarn, whatever it is. Try www.imdb.com if you want to check out these movies for yourselves this sunny summer weekend. µ