Despite a slightly lukewarm 6.9 rating on IMDB, many consider it to be one of Cruise’s finest movies, especially from his earlier roles, and certainly a tour de force from Pollock.
For the uninitiated, The Firm tells the story of a contemporary law practice based in Memphis, TN, which appears to be a perfectly honest organization and beacon of respectability. But in reality, the place is a hive of criminality effectively owned and operated by local mobsters.
Cruise joins the firm as a fresh law school graduate to find out too late that once you’re in, the only way out is in a wooden box or to turn state’s evidence to the FBI, who are always chasing after the firm’s top bosses. Clearly, neither option is good for one’s longevity prospects.
When Cruise (playing the role of fresh-faced lawyer Mitch McDeere) discovers the truth, he plans a strategy to leave the firm with his reputation intact, while bringing down the criminals in charge. Thus begins the twisty roller-coaster plot.
At one point, the firm’s head of internal security (Bill DeVasher – played by Wilford Brimley) suspects that McDeere might be a whistle-blower waiting to happen and raises his concerns with Avery Tolar (Gene Hackman), a corrupt partner in the organization:
“DeVasher: He ought to be kept on a short leash.
Tolar: Why? You’ve got nothing to be suspicious about.
DeVasher: I get paid to be suspicious, especially when I’ve got nothing to be suspicious about…”
Looking after security
And here we neatly splice the concept of online security into the mix, by reminding anyone streaming movies online that just because you’re not doing anything you shouldn’t, doesn’t mean that internet baddies aren’t out to get you.
Whenever you’re using the internet to access entertainment platforms, check your socials or download your emails, it’s a good idea, like DeVasher, to assume that hackers and cyber-criminals are always waiting to compromise your online security. In short, expect the unexpected!
One way to avoid this is to use a virtual private network (VPN). A VPN not only safeguards online security, but it also allows users to unblock Netflix when wanting to watch the platform despite geographical restrictions.
It’s a simple concept that works well. When using a VPN, its software installed on any given device ensures that the user connects to an encrypted server belonging to the VPN provider before connecting to the online service requested.
In effect, a VPN adds an intermediary connection, which is both encrypted and location-cloaked, so the analytics software at the target online service cannot ascertain who is connected, nor where they’re located for that session.
The advantages are several. Not least, most amateur hackers and online mischief makers, out to clone your socials or steal your account passwords, tend to target ‘low hanging fruit’. Such people are those whose passwords might be their date of birth or even worse “password”. But if you use a VPN, hackers don’t know who or where you are, so they’ll just keep trawling the web for an easier target.
Streaming all over the world
For movie fans, the first significant advantage of this VPN encryption is the ability for a VPN server’s internet protocol (IP) address to appear to be located in any part of the world.
So if you’re on vacation in, say, Great Britain, and you want to log on to your favorite Netflix show back home stateside, that content (often for copyright reasons) may well not be available in the UK.
But simply click a couple of links on a VPN client and you can effectively appear to be in, perhaps, Louisiana rather than London, England – and hey presto, Netflix is unlocked within a couple of clicks.
The same applies on the flip side of that coin. If you are interested in watching ‘BritBox’ content (often good old-fashioned 1970s UK-based “cor blimey guvna” cop shows) you might find that access is blocked from the BBC iPlayer platform for anyone outside the United Kingdom. But again, using a VPN, you can appear to be in Britain rather than the USA, and stream away, often for free, to your heart’s content.
Saving money on streaming, travel and accommodation
Not only does location cloaking using a VPN enable enhanced security, but it also allows you to save money while streaming or online shopping.
For example, you might be a huge Bollywood fan – accessing South Asian movies online. Doing so from the USA might be perfectly legal but paying in $USD rather than Rupees is going to be a lot more expensive.
By using a VPN, you can create an account in India for a streaming platform and you can almost guarantee that the subscription will be way cheaper than if you were paying the fees intended for US residents.
Even better, if you wanted to take a vacation to India to visit relatives and catch up on the Bollywood scene, you could use a VPN to appear as if you were in the country already. But why might you want to do that?
Because you need to use cunning! The artificial intelligence (AI) analytics on giant accommodation and flight reseller portals is very clever indeed. If a person attempts to purchase a flight from the USA to India, but the AI detects that they’re already in the destination country, it can be programmed to assume that the purchaser is an Indian resident buying a ticket on behalf of a relative in the USA.
The chances are that someone living in Chennai is less wealthy than their relative living in, say, Chesapeake Bay. Consequently, the flight selling portal will offer a more affordable price for an Air India seat on an airplane if the ticket is purchased domestically rather than from overseas.
The same applies to hotel rooms – booking a hotel in Cannes for the film festival is likely to cost a lot more than if your VPN places your location as already in France. As an added bonus, whenever you pay for accommodation in a domestic currency, credit card companies usually offer a better exchange rate than the portal itself. If your VPN indicates your IP address as in France, paying in Euros rather than Dollars is a better option.
The final credits roll.
In summary, if you’re a gamer, a movie fan or even use social media regularly, there’s no reason not to take advantage of a VPN to help safeguard your online security, save money on streaming fees and even sidestep geographical restrictions entirely.
But remember a note of caution. Accessing geographically restricted copyrighted content may be illegal, especially if you’re using a VPN to simply access content for free rather than reduce subscription charges. It’s unlikely that the FBI are going to send a SWAT team to your house for watching Bollywood films at discounted rates, but as that famous conversation between Gene Hackman and Tom Cruise went:
“Tolar: Do you think I’m talking about breaking the law?
McDeere: No, I’m just trying to figure out how far you want it bent.
Tolar: “As far as you can without breaking it …”
And that’s a wrap.”
”Avid film fans reading the above title might already have twigged the line of dialogue paraphrased from ‘The Firm’ (1993) – a legal thriller directed by Sydney Pollack starring Tom Cruise, Jeanne Tripplehorn, Gene Hackman and Ed Harris.
Despite a slightly lukewarm 6.9 rating on IMDB, many consider it to be one of Cruise’s finest movies, especially from his earlier roles, and certainly a tour de force from Pollock.
For the uninitiated, The Firm tells the story of a contemporary law practice based in Memphis, TN, which appears to be a perfectly honest organization and beacon of respectability. But in reality, the place is a hive of criminality effectively owned and operated by local mobsters.
Cruise joins the firm as a fresh law school graduate to find out too late that once you’re in, the only way out is in a wooden box or to turn state’s evidence to the FBI, who are always chasing after the firm’s top bosses. Clearly, neither option is good for one’s longevity prospects.
When Cruise (playing the role of fresh-faced lawyer Mitch McDeere) discovers the truth, he plans a strategy to leave the firm with his reputation intact, while bringing down the criminals in charge. Thus begins the twisty roller-coaster plot.
At one point, the firm’s head of internal security (Bill DeVasher – played by Wilford Brimley) suspects that McDeere might be a whistle-blower waiting to happen and raises his concerns with Avery Tolar (Gene Hackman), a corrupt partner in the organization:
“DeVasher: He ought to be kept on a short leash.
Tolar: Why? You’ve got nothing to be suspicious about.
DeVasher: I get paid to be suspicious, especially when I’ve got nothing to be suspicious about…”
Looking after security
And here we neatly splice the concept of online security into the mix, by reminding anyone streaming movies online that just because you’re not doing anything you shouldn’t, doesn’t mean that internet baddies aren’t out to get you.
Whenever you’re using the internet to access entertainment platforms, check your socials or download your emails, it’s a good idea, like DeVasher, to assume that hackers and cyber-criminals are always waiting to compromise your online security. In short, expect the unexpected!
One way to avoid this is to use a virtual private network (VPN). A VPN not only safeguards online security, but it also allows users to unblock Netflix when wanting to watch the platform despite geographical restrictions.
It’s a simple concept that works well. When using a VPN, its software installed on any given device ensures that the user connects to an encrypted server belonging to the VPN provider before connecting to the online service requested.
In effect, a VPN adds an intermediary connection, which is both encrypted and location-cloaked, so the analytics software at the target online service cannot ascertain who is connected, nor where they’re located for that session.
The advantages are several. Not least, most amateur hackers and online mischief makers, out to clone your socials or steal your account passwords, tend to target ‘low hanging fruit’. Such people are those whose passwords might be their date of birth or even worse “password”. But if you use a VPN, hackers don’t know who or where you are, so they’ll just keep trawling the web for an easier target.
Streaming all over the world
For movie fans, the first significant advantage of this VPN encryption is the ability for a VPN server’s internet protocol (IP) address to appear to be located in any part of the world.
So if you’re on vacation in, say, Great Britain, and you want to log on to your favorite Netflix show back home stateside, that content (often for copyright reasons) may well not be available in the UK.
But simply click a couple of links on a VPN client and you can effectively appear to be in, perhaps, Louisiana rather than London, England – and hey presto, Netflix is unlocked within a couple of clicks.
The same applies on the flip side of that coin. If you are interested in watching ‘BritBox’ content (often good old-fashioned 1970s UK-based “cor blimey guvna” cop shows) you might find that access is blocked from the BBC iPlayer platform for anyone outside the United Kingdom. But again, using a VPN, you can appear to be in Britain rather than the USA, and stream away, often for free, to your heart’s content.
Saving money on streaming, travel and accommodation
Not only does location cloaking using a VPN enable enhanced security, but it also allows you to save money while streaming or online shopping.
For example, you might be a huge Bollywood fan – accessing South Asian movies online. Doing so from the USA might be perfectly legal but paying in $USD rather than Rupees is going to be a lot more expensive.
By using a VPN, you can create an account in India for a streaming platform and you can almost guarantee that the subscription will be way cheaper than if you were paying the fees intended for US residents.
Even better, if you wanted to take a vacation to India to visit relatives and catch up on the Bollywood scene, you could use a VPN to appear as if you were in the country already. But why might you want to do that?
Because you need to use cunning! The artificial intelligence (AI) analytics on giant accommodation and flight reseller portals is very clever indeed. If a person attempts to purchase a flight from the USA to India, but the AI detects that they’re already in the destination country, it can be programmed to assume that the purchaser is an Indian resident buying a ticket on behalf of a relative in the USA.
The chances are that someone living in Chennai is less wealthy than their relative living in, say, Chesapeake Bay. Consequently, the flight selling portal will offer a more affordable price for an Air India seat on an airplane if the ticket is purchased domestically rather than from overseas.
The same applies to hotel rooms – booking a hotel in Cannes for the film festival is likely to cost a lot more than if your VPN places your location as already in France. As an added bonus, whenever you pay for accommodation in a domestic currency, credit card companies usually offer a better exchange rate than the portal itself. If your VPN indicates your IP address as in France, paying in Euros rather than Dollars is a better option.
The final credits roll.
In summary, if you’re a gamer, a movie fan or even use social media regularly, there’s no reason not to take advantage of a VPN to help safeguard your online security, save money on streaming fees and even sidestep geographical restrictions entirely.
But remember a note of caution. Accessing geographically restricted copyrighted content may be illegal, especially if you’re using a VPN to simply access content for free rather than reduce subscription charges. It’s unlikely that the FBI are going to send a SWAT team to your house for watching Bollywood films at discounted rates, but as that famous conversation between Gene Hackman and Tom Cruise went:
“Tolar: Do you think I’m talking about breaking the law?
McDeere: No, I’m just trying to figure out how far you want it bent.
Tolar: “As far as you can without breaking it …”
And that’s a wrap.”