Frank Ahrens has some movies that he thinks are great tech flicks. He's right. But there are some movies that are not directly sci-fi that indulge some pretty cool tech. I'm thinking dystopic future visions as well as oddball technology and fright flicks that don't roll off the top of your head when thinking tech. He's already got Brazil and Blade Runner. Who could miss them, but I think you'll agree that these are very worthy candidates as well.
Buckaroo Banzai
This is an all time classic grunge tech film. The Overthruster has got to be the ultimate, must-have, tech item every pursued on the silver screen. The shell shaped space ships with liquid bath rotating seats were a perfect example of bizarre alien grunge tech.
12 Monkeys
Some basic time travel and inter-spacial communication devices made this one pretty cool. A dysfunctional future with strange tech if there ever was one.
Saw
The greatest tech thriller since 'The Abominable Dr. Phibes'. Saw pushed the level of evil genius to the extreme. So much so that I can't really bear to watch the sequels, although I'm tempted.
Existenz
Ultimate creep-out technology. Organic biological neurotransmission of twisted fantasies. Way better than Brainstorm, which actually was fairly pioneering. You'd also want to see Strange Days as the second best example of this brain swapping genre.
The Cube
Instead of gadgets that you hold in your hand to wreak havoc, The Cube was an entire environment of nasty tech gadgetry.
OK that's the dark side. Oh yeah, let's not forget Lawrence Fishburne in Event Horizon. But on the other side of the universe, there are some fairly cool lighter and more traditional high tech films, just to balance this out.
My dark horse favorite is the pathetic but beautiful Lost in Space. I think it's the last movie where I actually enjoyed the slow motion beauty shot of a space ship. For cool gadgets and tech in a futuristic setting, few movies outdo The Island, which wins hands down for the coolest high speed chase in future vehicles. Add to these to the glamour of Spielberg's A.I. and the just slightly ahead of our time vision of I Robot and you have a great set. But it wouldn't be quite complete without one of the coolest tech visions of all, which is the world of Spielberg's Minority Report. That one was probably the most comprehensive and detailed future vision ever.
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