It’s hard to say exactly when the idea of doing WarGames as a livetweet first came into being, as the evolution of #Bond_age_ as a livetweeting event has been an ongoing process for a while. Twittering as we do, discussions of how to change things up a bit pop up every once and a while. I’m positive it was well over a year ago, though. A discussion of the spy genre eventually led us into a discussion of the teen spy films of the 80s. You know the story: an innocent teen somehow gets caught up in the spy lifestyle of fast cars, gorgeous women, and beating the bad guys. If you’re wondering, “just how many of those movies could there be?”, off the top of my head, I can name: Target; Gotcha!; The Manhattan Project; Cloak and Dagger; and TAG: The Assassination Game. I’m sure there are a few more I could come up with if I started digging, but who has time for that?
But I digress.
WarGames, you’ll note, is not in the list of films I mentioned above. That’s because it, unlike most of the other movies above, didn’t really follow the spy lifestyle. WarGames instead focused on a young man, David, played by Matthew Broderick, who had far too much time on his hands. He spent most of his time playing video games and, when that got boring, hacked his way into a military computer. Needless to say, no one really appreciates his efforts, especially when he realizes that he’s started the countdown to nuclear war. He eventually finds himself on the run, bringing along his girlfriend, Jennifer (Ally Sheedy), as he desperately tries to find a way to put the genie back into the bottle.
There is one other truly remarkable thing about WarGames that other movies of the genre probably can’t say; it’s Oscar nominated. Also BAFTA nominated, Saturn and Hugo Award nominated. Granted, it didn’t win very many awards out of those nominations, but I think there’s no shame in that. It’s a neat little film, and I’m quite happy to make it the first #Bond_age_Choice program selection.
Shall we play a game?