"Virus” has an interesting premise and a good cast (although Jamie Lee Curtis reportedly said that it was the worst movie she ever acted in) but it deteriorates into a biomechanical rip-off of “Alien.” A Russian tracking ship is in communication with the Mir space station that is about to download data when a non-dimensional or other dimensional alien spacecraft passes through it and the tracking ship ends up with an alien presence in its electronics. The ultimate computer virus but the film sinks south very quickly.

And speaking of computer viruses, I guess I’m forced to mention the absolutely idiotic “Independence Day” (1996). Basically an updating of H. G. Wells’ The War of the Worlds complete with computer viruses as the new microbes, this film features the greatest leap in computer compatibility. The under-achieving genius that works as the cable guy writes a virus program on an Apple Macintosh PowerBook and infects an alien computer and saves the day. That he couldn’t write a virus program on a Macintosh that could infect a PC running Windows or big iron running Unix is beside the point. The most amazing cross-platform hack since Proteus knocked up Julie Christie in "Demonseed."