Antitrust (2001)

A computer programmer's dream job at a hot Portland-based firm turns nightmarish when he discovers his boss has a secret and ruthless means of dispatching anti-trust problems.

Director:

Peter Howitt

Writer:

Howard Franklin

Stars:

Ryan Phillippe, Tim Robbins, Rachael Leigh Cook

2 wins & 3 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Ryan Phillippe	...	Milo Hoffman
Rachael Leigh Cook	...	Lisa Calighan
Claire Forlani	...	Alice Poulson
Tim Robbins	...	Gary Winston
Douglas McFerran	...	Bob Shrot
Richard Roundtree	...	Lyle Barton
Tygh Runyan	...	Larry Banks
Yee Jee Tso	...	Teddy Chin
Nate Dushku	...	Brian Bissel
Ned Bellamy	...	Phil Grimes
Tyler Labine	...	Redmond
Scott Bellis	...	Randy
David Lovgren	...	Danny
Zahf Paroo	...	Desi (as Zahf Hajee)
Jonathon Young	...	Stinky

Storyline

This movie is the fictional story of computer programming genius Milo Hoffman after graduating from Stanford and getting out into the competitive world of computer software. In his contemplation of where to begin his career, he is contacted by Gary Winston whose character is loosely based on Bill Gates. Winston is the CEO of a company called NURV, and they are on the brink of completing the global communication's system, Synapse. They need Hoffman to help them meet their launch date, so after much thought and with the full support of his girlfriend Alice, he accepts the job. Tragedy soon after strikes and Milo becomes suspicious of the company he has been wrapped up in. He learns that trusting anyone could be a mistake, and that nothing is as it seems.

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Plot Keywords:

startup company | job | computer | communications | genius | 

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Taglines:

A good idea can get you millions. A great Idea can get you killed.

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Genres:

Action | Crime | Drama | Thriller

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG-13 for some violence and brief language

Details

Official Sites:

MGM

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

12 January 2001 (USA)

Also Known As:

Antitrust

Filming Locations:

Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada

Box Office

Budget:

$30,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$5,486,209, 14 January 2001, Wide Release

Gross USA:

$10,965,209, 4 February 2001

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$6,867,516, 31 December 2001

Company Credits

Production Co:

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM), Hyde Park Entertainment, Industry Entertainment

Technical Specs

Runtime:

105 min

Sound Mix:

DTS SDDS Dolby SR

Color:

Color (DeLuxe)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

During the sequence where we are shown the "open source" developers that are monitored by NURV you can clearly see one of them wearing a red hat which looks exactly like the one that the company Red Hat uses as their logo. Red Hat is a GNU/Linux distribution.

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Goofs

Scene with Milo & Lisa talking about how they are going to go public with the news about Gary. During the exchange one of the cuts to Milo his eyeglasses move independent of his head. (Milo's head, eyes, brows, don't move but his glasses shift quickly back and worth.) Not as easily seen on a computer but a larger screen it's clearly a mediocre CGI application. Apparently actor (Ryan P) didn't have the glasses on during one of the takes but it wasn't identified until later and it was only a line (one of the cuts from Lisa to Milo where it occurs). I just thought it was ODD when I saw the glasses wobble on their own.

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Quotes

Gary Winston: Are we making CHEMICAL WEAPONS? KIDDIE PORN? Are we STRIP-MINING? NO! Why are they after me?

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Crazy Credits

Closing disclaimer: Stanford University has not endorsed this motion picture and no filming took place on the Stanford campus. There are a number of other entities and persons with names which may be the same or similar to those used in this motion picture. However, this motion picture is entirely fictional and (except for minor incidental references) is not intended to depict or refer to any other existing entities or persons and any such references are purely coincidental.

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Alternate Versions

The R1 DVD contains all the deleted scenes mentioned above, except for the "Sleeping with the enemy" sex scene.

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Connections

Features The Tonight Show with Jay Leno (1992)

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Soundtracks

Pigeon Farm
Written by John Wozniak
Performed by Marcy Playground
Courtesy of Capitol Records
under license from EMI-Capitol Music Special Markets

User Reviews

For once, it looks real

For once, a movie about computers where computers look real. The display on the monitors isn't just some 3D animation that seems to serve no purpose. You can recognize interfaces, or at least can imagine that on a real computer monitor. The code on screen looks real (it's either C++ or Java or some kind of C derivative), even though it probably doesn't do what they pretend it does; they don't show it long enough to figure out what it's suppose to do anyway.

Just some things I noticed: All IPs are 10.x.x.x, which is a range reserved for local networks, it should not be accessible remotely, thus would not be usable for a global system such as Synapse. But that is probably done on purpose, just like they do for phone numbers in the movies, all starting in 555-XXXX.

The networks seem to be freaking fast. In particular, for the data transmitted through the satellites with just about zero latency.

The CD burner is quite fast, it can burn a CD in just 20 seconds.

The server which Synapse is being distributed from seems to be very effective, taking millions of hits within hours. In particular, considering that they have never seen that many hits.

Beside the technical details presented, good movie, good action, good plot twists.