The Net (1995): The Internet, According to 1995

In 1995, Hollywood was extremely confident it understood the internet — and The Net is the proof.

This week on Rewind or Die, we revisit the Sandra Bullock techno-thriller that assumed one wrong click could erase your entire identity, that “the system” knew everything, and that ordering a pizza online was basically science fiction. It’s a movie where computers are omnipotent, paperwork is fate, and the internet feels less like a tool and more like an all-knowing authority with opinions.

We break down how The Net reflects real mid-’90s fears about technology, why it plays like a paranoid thriller instead of sci-fi, and how it accidentally captured the anxiety of a world just starting to hand control over to machines. Along the way, we talk about Sandra Bullock holding the whole movie together, why the film became a cable staple, how Hollywood imagined “computer people,” and why this version of the internet feels both hilarious and weirdly familiar now.

It’s a deep dive into one of the most revealing time capsules of the decade — a movie that didn’t predict the internet accurately, but did predict how nervous we’d all be about it.

🎧 Plus: confused authority figures, overconfident systems, Dennis Miller energy, dial-up vibes, and the moment movies decided the internet had a personality.