A movie looks hopelessly dated 20 years hence
If there is a lot of computer stuff in it.
shareI say, deal with it. Sam Spade didn't even have a phone in his pocket. Period piece is a perfectly acceptable thing for a film to become after a bit of time passes. The question is: does it have anything else to offer? if it does, then "dated" is not a useful criticism.
shareA better example of dated technology must be The Net, the Sandra Bullock thriller about her identity being erased using computers.
The difference is, back then not that many people had computers or knew how to use them. So there was a general acceptance of what they were shown in movies.
But as computers, laptops, tablets etc have become commonplace, affordable and almost everyone has one, such movies seem quaint looking at them now.
Plus...we are able to access information to find out how accurate such moves were via Google etc, but back then we couldn't. That's why I tend to be a little forgiving when it comes to such older movies.