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Some things I liked some I did not.

I am only giving this movie a 1 for the great cast, though I can't imagine what any of them were thinking. This movie was horrible

A film of deceptively outspoken contemporary relevance, this is cinema at its most alert, alarming and alive.

Yes, absolutely, there is fun to be had, as well as many, many things to go boom, all amid an atmospheric urban jungle.

Micro Men is an interesting look at this early British microcomputer industry, but the viewer must always keep in mind that these events occurred in Britain's isolated, self-important microcosm, and had virtually no relevance to the real microcomputer industry as a whole. As with all British-produced programs dealing with computer history, Micro Men is hilariously Brit-centric, to the point of being fantasy. This self-delusion can even be seen in the IMDb summary for Micro Men, which refers to "Clive Sinclair, British inventor of the pocket calculator". Not only did Sinclair not invent the pocket calculator, but he didn't even invent his *own* pocket calculator, which used an American-made Texas Instruments single-chip calculator, similar to the chips used in many early TI hand-held and desktop calculators. Sinclair literally only invented the box that held the TI chip. This of course will set the tone for Britain's entire microcomputer industry -- inferior repackaging of technology from the United States and claiming it as their own, and then further exacerbating the delusion by making false claims of being 'first', 'best', 'most important', etc. Britain has an extensive history of grotesquely overstating their relevance in the computer industry, which stretches all the way back to World War II, and Micro Men is no exception to this behavior.After watching Micro Men, you're left with the utterly erroneous impression that Sinclair and Acorn were on the verge of dominating the home computer industry, yet somehow let it slip through their fingers. Of course, the movie never really tells you *what* they did wrong, as that would require a direct confrontation of the fact that they were five years late to the party, and showed up with hardware which was vastly inferior to what was being produced in the United States and other countries. As England slowly escaped the early 1980s economic recession, Sinclair's $99 doorstops became progressively less appealing. Meanwhile, the computer and video game crash in the United States dragged American offerings down into the price range of Acorn's products, stripping Acorn of their only significant advantage.When Sinclair and Acorn attempted to escape the economically protective confines of Great Britain, they were met with much-deserved scorn and ridicule. Quite simply, neither company ever had a chance of survival in an environment of global competition.

Micro Men is an enjoyable docu-drama about the early days of the home computer revolution. As I was there at the time reading computing magazines avidly and typing out the printed programmes which never worked because of typos, this was avid viewing.Its Sinclair versus Acorn. Although you would never from this film would realise Clive Sinclair was better known as Uncle Clive, the genial, nerdy 1970s whiz kid who built cheap home computers with dead flesh keyboards. The Acorn boys on the other hand built more stylish computers with proper keyboards and they even got the contract for the BBC computer.In this drama, Clive Sinclair (Alexander Armstrong) is seen as a bad tempered bully (he was never regarded as such a person at the time, although he was later revealed to be a bit of ladies man, loved a flutter at the Vegas casinos and voted Tory.) Chris Curry of Acorn (Martin Freeman) is the more lovable one. The nice, genial one with his more business headed Austrian partner.The early 1980s when British companies led the world of home computing although Microsoft had plans for a uniform operating system. Pitching Acorn v Sinclair helped with archive footage is a great history lesson and drama. Unfortunately, both companies were also left picking up the pieces afterwards as Microsoft surpassed them a few years later.

What could have been an interesting docu-drama about the birth of the UK computer industry, instead turned into something unintentionally farcical.In its efforts to create drama the film pitches Clive Sinclair as a cut-throat rogue, battling against one-time colleague Chris Curry (played by Martin Freeman). Freeman seems to be settling into being typecast into roles where he plays lovable harmless, guy next door types, and this film fits his role well.Unfortunately, Alexander Armstrong struggles to make a convincing Clive Sinclair, no doubt hindered by the terrible prosthetic bald head/wig and ridiculous accent. Its possible the prosthetics may have prevented him from turning his head and his performance seems terribly stiff throughout. The viewer is left with an unfair impression that Sinclair was a humourless, uncharismatic maniac - flying off the handle at the slightest upset.A lot of the comedy in the film (at least the intentional comedy) seems to come from situations which are unfortunately completely unbelievable. Clive screaming down the phone and then launching it (cordless apparently) through a door for example, or the ridiculous attempts to stall the BBC before the boffins at Acorn realise that the key issue preventing a computer from working is a huge wire that needs cutting in two.Its a shame that the film hides the technical breakthroughs that were made in that period with mumbo-jumbo references to computer chips, and reduces the creativeness of these industry leaders to simply picking the right advertising poster to use.

I watched this single piece drama last night on BBC4 and thoroughly enjoyed it from start to finish.All the actors did a fine job and convinced - despite Mr Armstrong's (Sinclair) rather obvious makeover for the role. The mixture of archive footage and new filming hit a balance that was enjoyable.The programme addresses the beginnings of the Home Computer industry in the UK and the roles & rivalries of Sinclair and Acorn in those early days. For those of us of a certain age it was extremely nostalgic stuff (even though I ended up getting a CBM 64)! A mixture of reality, light comedy and invention (some scenes were 'invented' according to the titles) kept me engrossed and actually rather disappointed that it had finished so soon; I think a 2 part show would have kept me interested.Some of the most fascinating stuff for me was a reminder of some of the side issues, for instance the UK general public's initial reaction to the technology - those of us who bought them were considered 'hobbyists' at the time. However, on reflection possibly the most important side- effect was the fact that a public organisation like the BBC was allowed to pursue the making of its own branded model in an attempt to raise the nation's computer literacy above other's. The BBC model B sold widely in schools, this combined with the home market growth must surely have contributed enormously to the strength of the UK programming industry (of which I was part) in the formative years. Whilst never rivalling IBM and HP in the end (as poignantly if somewhat mawkishly shown in the final scenes) this era and the people involved, must be considered as a time which generated huge revenue for the UK as well as a great platform for the public to get to grips with computers. Our programmers are still regarded as some of the world's most creative, despite financial difficulties; and this period ensured that as a nation we are not only regarded for older, but venerable, media such as the pop music & individual greatness in film & drama.Highly entertaining as a drama, thought provoking if you care about the beginnings of the industry; I was entertained and amused throughout. Recommended.