What an awesome movie! I know, not really obscure or underrated (Or is it? To be honest, I have no idea what anyone else is thinking at any given time. It did get nominated for several Oscars, but maybe people were just more chill in general back then. Or maybe this didn't yet fall into the 'sci-fi' genre. I've heard of it. I've seen it several times. I've definitely talked about it with people. You've probably seen it [it's fucking classic!]. So....obscure? underrated? or just under-appreciated?) I mean, come on, it's awesome, right? Let's think of all the great things about it: a) 80's computers! b) 1983! c) shirtless (and hairless) boy-man Matthew Broderick! d) a computer that can learn! e) hacking! f) computers taking control of military systems! g) Ally Sheedy (That chick from Short Circuit I & II and The Breakfast Club [yes, she's the dandruff-appreciating freak])! h) LED's flashing in bold patterns for no apparent reason! i) Seattle skyline! j) Colorado skyline! k) Washington scenery in general! l) the potential for WWIII (is that a good thing?)! m) 80's graphics of tiny missiles, warheads and submarines! n) Pterodactyl airplanes! o) the classic theme of the next great extinction (Humans have outworn their welcome and their planet! The bees will soon take control!) And the list continues! Widely touted as one of the first and most prominent cyberthriller/hacker films, WarGames lives on in the nerd world. If you appreciate this movie (as you rightfully should) and would like to explore the timeless (at least in the last centuries) concept of human and machine conflict, including, but not limited to, the evolution of the artificial thinking machine, hacking, and the psychological and physical merge between man and machine to form the next great species, and you're sick of watching the Terminator movies (not that they're not awesome and everything) then I invited you to engage in these other fantastic films: Virtuosity (Denzel and Russell Crowe; the story of evolving artificial int
elligence; the best scene is when Crowe terrorizes rando 80s/90s club-goers with guns and then records their screams to create an inspiring musical piece: terror-opera!), Hackers (is an explanation even necessary?: it's brilliant! And Matthew Lilliard is in it!), 2001: A Space Odyssey (duh!), Macross Plus (a Japanese anime with a demented A.I. pop-star [and you thought they couldn't get any more finnicky...]), The Lawnmower Man (man uses machine to increase human intelligence and then attempts to enter and dominate the system and everything it controls) and, of course, Ghost in the Shell and Ghost in the Shell II: Innocence (fantastic anime with a blend of CGI and hand-drawn frames; a Kurzweil-esque version of the merge). Wowzah. That should keep you busy for sure. And that's just a few. Don't even get me started on the clone/robot/science in-the-wrong list. But don't worry, there are probably a few more years to prepare before computers start evolving, thinking freely and deciding to eliminate the human race ('it's for your own good!' they'll say).....................Final Judgment, "God gave us computers for a reason!/Long live WarGames!"
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