Movies whose central conflict could be solved in 5 minutes in 2020

not looking for like, pre-modern technology movies, but maybe from the invention of the automobile onward. movies whose central conflict would be a simple snap of the fingers solution in 2020.

example - After Hours, main issue is dude goes into the city in NY and his only 20 dollars flies out the window of his cab, so he spends the entire movie trying to get back home. today = he could flag one Uber ride, and he'd never even need to carry $20.

others?

I was going to say "They Live," but there are two problems to be solved - alien invasion *and* getting Keith David to see the aliens - and only one takes five minutes.

Seems like there must be a host of movies whose central problem could be solved with googling.

certainly Google would have saved all that time looking for the Maltese Falcon

could've checked the seller rating too

"How many Falcons do you want? I see 12 right now on eBay."

It's A Wonderful Life would be different in the age of electronic payments but on the other hand it would be just as easy to handwave up a different crisis

Home Alone, of course

IDK it's harder if anything to bury a body these days and get away with it

yeah in Home Alone they could order a sitter for Kevin online, Shipt all his food to him, and then the babysitter is brutally massacred by Pesci and Stern trying to stop the robbery and Kevin stabs both in retaliation

Kevin would have a gun ofc in 2020

Promising straw dogs update mebbe

Not sure about 5 minutes but the whole "is it terrorists or not" part of Die Hard would be truncated by every hostage posting photos of the "terrorists" to Twitter and the Internet id'ing Hans Grüber in about 15-20 minutes.

Also, Grüber googles that Holly Gennaro = Holly McClain.

The Breakfast Club, but they all just sit there staring at their phones for two hours.

imagine all the dorks swarming on the town where ET lands

Cells phones specifically would fix/alter/thwart countless plot conflicts. It'd be nice to think of some sort of other problem. Like (maybe not a movie) but Tiny Tim would have a GoFundMe set up for him in seconds and end Christmas a rich boy. Or Charlie Bucket.

Technology doesn't fix the central problem of a lazy grandfather who won't get out of bed to help his family but will jump up and dance around the room at the chance to tour a chocolate factory.

well he could buy cocaine online

social services should have been all over the Buckets even when it was set

Gotta be at least a few movies where antibiotics end the story in five minutes.

example - After Hours, main issue is dude goes into the city in NY and his only 20 dollars flies out the window of his cab

Always wondered why, even in 1985, he only brought $20 when he knew he was gonna take two cab rides between midtown and Soho, plus meet up with a girl he likes

Seven Samurai

the bandits and the town both get drone bombed

if the Zodiac killer happened today, there'd be amateur video of the taxi cab murder posted to social media, face recognition software probably wouldn't get a hit from bad angles, but security cameras on the street would probably get a clearer photo.

so Zodiac

https://www.buzzfeed.com/allisonwild/mom-hello-im-home-alone

i don't wanna hyperfocus on 'cell phones' only tho. there's more than that.

like Wag the Dog coulda spread its war with Albania conspiracy theory more surreptitiously using Twitter bots and right-wing talking heads, and the CIA's attempts to tell the public that this was 'fake news' would fall on deaf ears and the President would get past his terrible scandal and get 4 more years.

(which yea i know he did anyway, but it'd take less effort)

was going to say "They Live," but there are two problems to be solved - alien invasion *and* getting Keith David to see the aliens - and only one takes five minutes.

it takes longer than five minutes in the movie, and 2015-2020 has proved that tens of millions of Keith Davids will never put on the glasses, no matter how long you punch them.

L'Appartement /Wicker Park is the epitome of this (iirc, which I might not)

re: Die Hard: tbf they would just add one of those shots/montages of the bad guys gathering up everyone's cell phones in a big sack

White House Down is basically Die Hard with cellphones, and they made it work. Channing Tatum's kid starts streaming footage of the bad guys, it makes the news, and that's how the bad guys figure out who she is.

Adventures in Babysitting. Elizabeth Shue would just call an Uber for her friend.

All sorts of war movies would be replaced by drone attacks and high altitude bombing.