Cyberspace Movies in 1995: Silicon Valley Meets Hollywood
March 14, 2025
Three big budget movies were released in 1995 that had internet themes: the Keanu Reeves flick Johnny Mnemonic in May, The Net with Sandra Bullock in July, and Hackers in September. (Two other 1995 movies had a virtual reality premise: Virtuosity, starring Denzel Washington and Russell Crowe, and Kathryn Bigelow’s Strange Days.)
The cyberspace movies all reflected the growing importance of the internet in our culture, although reviewers tended to see the computer plots as a gimmick. Roger Ebert’s 3-star review of The Net noted that it “dresses up its plot with a trendy front end, by using the Internet as a hook.” But he praised Bullock’s performance, despite the flimsy story. Ebert also gave Hackers three stars, saying it was “smart and entertaining […] as long as you don’t take the computer stuff very seriously.”
Source: Cyberspace Movies in 1995: Silicon Valley Meets Hollywood | Cybercultural
How was the internet perceived culturally in the early days of the Web? Richard McManus looks at three internet themed movies of the mid 1990s, as the Web became part of mainstream consciousness.
