Cinema classics: five of the best science and technology films

Cinema did not emerge from a eureka moment, but rather through the incremental innovations of pioneers such as the Lumiere brothers, Etienne-Jules Marey and Thomas Edison. So it is unsurprising that filmmakers regularly return to science and technology for inspiration. For every The Social Network, however, there is a Hackers; likewise, rare accomplishments such as 2001: A Space Odyssey tend to be followed by a flurry of ill-advised imitators. Liam Burke looks at some of the greatest triumphs of cinema’s fertile engagement with science and technology.