Computers in Movies

Sometimes I wonder if anyone in Hollywood actually uses a computer. 30 years in to the PC revolution and computers in movies still do all kinds of ridiculous things that make us laugh.

Some examples:

1. Computers boot up instantaneously – zero wait time.
2. Everything is wireless – there are no wires anywhere.
3. Laptop batteries never run out.
4. When someone gets an email a pleasant female voice says “You’ve got mail” accompanied by some cute animation.
5. A wrong password produces a huge blinking “ACCESS DENIED” message.
6. Any “ACCESS DENIED” message has an “OVERRIDE” function.
7. You can gain access to any information you want by simply typing “ACCESS ALL SECRET FILES”.
8. Likewise, you can infect a computer with a destructive virus by simply typing “UPLOAD VIRUS”.
9. All computers are connected – the CIA’s, the villain’s, grandma’s computer, the Swiss banks, etc.
10. Text chatters as it spills across the screen.
11. Computer monitors never show cursors.
12. Fonts are huge.
13. People typing away on a computer will turn it off without saving the data.
14. No matter how stressed they are, the heroes or heroines are able to compute away merrily without making a single mistake.
15. Sophisticated scientists wearing white coats working in high tech labs full of blinking lights are able to “enhance” an image by zooming a 640×480 pixel image about 50 times without losing resolution.

Realism in movies huh?