Futuristic tech in retro movies: Prescient, predictive or phony?

The Matrix Reloaded, from 2003, used futuristic tech. There's more to futuristic tech in Hollywood than just what is seen in Star Trek or Star Wars, although techies do love a good transponder or tractor beam. Virtual stimulation, mind manipulation and fantastical technology are frequently highlighted in films of the previous decades. The "good" movies involved more than a tired trope of a storyline; those movies were thought provoking, and standouts, at films' release. Were filmmakers offering up what they believed to be a likely view of tech's potential or making it up whole cloth?