In defense of Swordfish: Halle Berry. That is all.
Nathan T. Wild Ralph Brown Community Centre Inc. -----Original Message----- From: Mark Jenkins <[email protected]> Sender: [email protected]: Mon, 28 Jan 2013 19:04:16 To: <[email protected]> Reply-To: [email protected] Subject: [SkullSpace-Discuss] In defense of Swordfish Ian wrote: > 2. The hacker movie you despise, why? > > Swordfish On balance, I find Swordfish to be okay (not great) as a film and not terrible. Some of the bad hacking crap is offset by what I consider to be a really good hacking scene later in the movie http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rjGbvpr_dB8 (This isn't the notorious crypto break with human distraction earlier in the film) Once your get past the dramatization, ridiculous GUI and ridiculous rig there's lots of good stuff there: * A dead drop * A great retro computing reference, complete with tape drive * Long basement tunnel cabling run * Re-use of old code * Adaptation of old code for current circumstances required, can't just use the old stuff * Distractions removed, non-hackers out of the room * Late night setting * Frustration when things aren't going well, but not quiting * Waiting for compiling/linking/testing http://xkcd.com/303/, with uncertainty while you wait for them to complete to your satisfaction * Incremental and modular development, with joy/celebration as each unit of progress is completed * Realization that you've forgotten many little details that you used to know when you've been away from something for awhile * Taking a break (and coming back inspired) * Talking to yourself while working http://justseventhings.com/2009/01/25/why-talking-to-yourself-might-be-the-highest-form-of-intelligence/ * Despite being involved in rather serious business, Stanly manges to have fun and be playful while working on this (yes, its over the top) Is this perhaps hinting at a more general spirit playful cleverness being present? http://stallman.org/articles/on-hacking.html * Serious amount of time elapse (hours) for work to get done (unlike earlier bad scene under pressure) * Exhaustion (sleep and mental) when done * Bad personal health habits (smoking, excessive drinking?) What other film has this many good elements all in one scene? _______________________________________________ SkullSpace Discuss Mailing List Help: http://www.skullspace.ca/wiki/index.php/Mailing_List#Discuss Archive: https://groups.google.com/group/skullspace-discuss-archive/ _______________________________________________ SkullSpace Discuss Mailing List Help: http://www.skullspace.ca/wiki/index.php/Mailing_List#Discuss Archive: https://groups.google.com/group/skullspace-discuss-archive/
