I think WarGames really should be on the list. It's old, yes, but it did influence a lot of us that were in that first generation of kids growing up with computers at home (though not many homes). It definitely captures a moment of time worth thinking about.

My two bits. (I very much agree with Tron.)

Definitely. It was one of my early influences for looking into both AI and information security.

Sneakers is such a great movie, particularly the scene using sounds heard to track the route of a vehicle: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KuIheGaiFLM

Obviously watch the whole movie, but the clip gives the gist of the high quality of the script.

Blackhat should probably be on there for being about only one to get hacking right in recent times.

"Because the screenwriter loosely based the character around her husband. Who was her husband? Alan Kay. Tron's protagonist is Alan Kay."

Had no clue his wife wrote it or portrayed him. That's neat! Brings in some irony given Tron character is fighting the slavery of MCP but Kay told me here on HN he loved Burroughs B5000. Also implied its lead creator, Bob Barton, was a genius and revolutionary overturning all the bad software, hardware, and engineering that came before it in one fell swoop. As in, the movie could've just as easily had MCP as the hero. ;)

I'm very pleased to see a comment repping Sneakers on the top of the pile. A highly underrated true hacker classic!

Ghost in the Shell rather than Patlabor?

I've never seen Patlabor. Sounds like I should.

And Sneakers, asides from the magic, encryption-breaking MacGuffin, is some of the most realistic hacking in movies. What's the preferred tactic of these tech geniuses? Basic social engineering. Sure, they know a lot of other tricks, but why figure out a clever way through the badge system if a cake and some birthday balloons will work just as well?

Patlabor is fun, and has some cool hacker-relevant stuff, but isn't a great and serious movie like Ghost in the Shell. I do recommend watching it, but with suitable expectations!

For reference:

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0531381/bio