Thursday Movie Pick # 98: The Internet

Let’s face it, film and TV generally do not understand how computers or the internet works. Hacking is not done by some super smart computer guy typing away manically on a keyboard but by the gullible, unaware and sometimes downright stupid idiot handing over, willingly or unwillingly, their personal details. Some films are made with such breath-taking ignorance that it's astonishing that the script was accepted in the first place. Some films, such as The Net starring Sandra Bullock, are more outdated than the type writer, it’s an indication of how far we have advanced over the course of a decade. - Check out - http://wanderingthroughtheshelves.blogspot.co.uk/

The first film selected does, to an extent, have an understanding of how people use computers. Disconnect is a film about three interlinking stories that all revolve around the internet, from sex chat rooms, to online bullying and identity theft caused by a virus (a computer one not a common cold) and neglect of online safety. The film is a tad melodramatic in places, but each story is well written and powerfully acted. 

In what was a much darker film than his previous directorial effort, Run Fatboy Run, David Schwimmer’s 2010 film about an online predator grooming and seducing a young teenage girl is a powerful one and it tells a story about the whole family unit is shaken by such a devastating event.

I actually saw this film as a free preview screener a month or so ago and I really enjoyed it. It’s about an unpopular girl who befriends a popular girl (we know because she has hundreds of friends and literally thousands of photos) on Facebook but when the unpopular girl starts acting strange she is promptly unfriended (also a decent film). This releases a massive wave of anger which results in the release of an evil spirit that wishes to make the popular girl truly alone.