This article was originally published on .cult by Eli McGarvie. .cult is a Berlin-based community platform for developers. We write about all things career-related, make original documentaries, and share heaps of other untold developer stories from around the world.
Last year we put together a list of the best hacking movies, and obviously, the next logical step from there was to catalog the coolest movies and series about developers. So, after putting in hours and hours of screentime watching all of these so-called ‘developer films’ from the last two decades, I’m pretty confident I’ve got a solid list of movies that will meet most of your expectations (I hope).
The criteria to meet this list was pretty straightforward, the movie (or series) had to feature a programmer as the protagonist (or antagonist), not a supporting character like those used to hack the mainframe (looking at you Mission Impossible).
Without taking any more of your time, here are my top 10 picks for the best developer movies and series that I’ve seen.
1. The Social Network (2010)
I only recently (yesterday) found out that Tron: Legacy is a sequel. How did I not know that? I always assumed it was the Disney spin-off of the Tron arcade game I used to play in high school whenever the teacher gave us access to the computers.
This one is pure nostalgia, bright lights, and animation — but I think it’s still a fun movie. It’s about Sam Flynn (played by Garrett Hedlund), the son of the tech genius and software engineer from the first movie, Kevin Flynn (Jeff Bridges). Sam is pulled into his father’s video-game-like world in search of his long-lost father and is immediately thrown into digital combat scenarios and motocross racing as he discovers the hidden secrets of his father’s past.
4. The Fifth Estate (2013)
Ex Machina is focused on AI and the kinds of things Elon Musk has been warning us about for years. The movie’s not specifically about programming but it is about a program (AI) and a programmer, and their interactions.
A programmer from a huge tech company wins a competition and gets to spend a week with the CEO of the tech company. He’s taken out to this retreat in Alaska (basically in the middle of nowhere) to meet his reclusive boss, only to find out that he’s not there to chill but participate in a strange experiment with the world’s first AI (similar to what Google’s doing with DeepMind…). This AI takes the form of a beautiful robot girl (Google, take notes) and I’m sure you can imagine what happens next…
6. Office Space (1999)
Silicon Valley is an HBO original comedy series, about a group of programmers in Silicon Valley starting a tech company based around a new compression technology. It’s like the Big Bang Theory if it was created for adults that understand nuance and don’t need a laugh track to cue them in on jokes written for an audience with the collective IQ of a chimpanzee.
It’s also HBO and created by Mike Judge (Office Space and King of The Hill), so they can get away with dark humour, sexual innuendo, and the f-word (if that’s still a taboo these days) — which makes the show far more entertaining in my opinion. But it’s obviously not everyone’s cup of tea…
Anyway, there are six seasons to binge so if you have some time on your hands and want to sit back and laugh at characters with huge personalities talking about programming and startups, plus experience the exaggerated tech cliques of Silicon Valley companies like Google and Facebook, then this is the show for you! ALWAYS BLUE.
8. Mr. Robot (2015-2019)
I’m not a big bio-pic guy, so Snowden was never on my radar, but I forced myself to sit through it this week just because it kept popping up and had some pretty high reviews. Surprisingly, I actually enjoyed it. The lead-up story (his professional and personal life) was just as interesting as what we know now about the NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden.
Snowden was directed by Oliver Stone, who also did Platoon and Wall Street, and it features a bit of Nicolas Cage’s bombastic acting which we’ve all grown to love. You’ll find similarities between this movie and The Fifth Estate because they deal with similar topics like digital privacy and government overreach. But because Snowden comes from a very different background compared to Assange, it’s more focused on a personal moral dilemma as opposed to ethics and journalistic integrity.
I also didn’t know that Edward Snowden was 29 when he blew the lid on the US government. I can barely expose my ex-wife for cheating on me let alone the entire industrial-military complex.
10. The IT Crowd (2006-2013)
The IT Crowd is a classic which you’ve probably seen, but I’m still adding it to this list for anyone that might have missed this British sitcom. Obviously, the IT helpdesk isn’t the same as programming, don’t worry I’m well aware you haters! I’ve added it for two reasons, firstly, it adds some comedic relief to this otherwise serious catalog of movies, and secondly, it rounds out this list to a nice even ten.
The IT Crowd is a British sitcom about two tech geeks working for Reynholm Industries. They get a new supervisor who doesn’t come from a tech background and together they get into a bunch of hilarious situations. Maybe you’ve seen The Mighty Boosh or Toast of London, it’s got a lot of familiar faces and similar situational humour, which is a breath of fresh air compared to comedies these days.
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These developer movies and series aren’t listed in any particular order, they’re just in my top ten. I’ll let you decide which one’s the greatest of all time (if that even exists). And if I missed a really good one or you just completely disagree with my opinion, you can call me out, I’m sure there’s plenty of room to expand this list.
What’s that? You’re looking for some wise, meaningful developer entertainment that’s based in this universe? Well, you can check out some of Honeypot’s developer documentaries or this list of documentaries we put together. Or maybe you want to re-live the thrill of the first Matrix? Not this cold soup we’ve recently been delivered (Matrix 4), but something is a little more hackerish? Then check out the Best Hacker Movies to watch.
Hope you enjoy the flix ✌️