Recently in Video Games Killed the Movie Star Category

Wreck-It Ralph: Ready Player One

by Ethan Alter November 2, 2012 10:01 AM
Wreck-It Ralph: Ready Player One

Disney's new videogame themed animated feature Wreck-It Ralph may ostensibly be for kids, but the viewers who will probably enjoy it most are those who were children 30 years ago. At least, that was my experience when I saw the movie with my 5-year-old son; although he mostly enjoyed the misadventures of the title character (voiced to perfection by John C. Reilly), the designated bad guy in an 8-bit Donkey Kong-like arcade game called Fix-It Felix, Jr., it was my inner child -- the one who grew up playing those vintage '80s games -- that was really doing cartwheels. Throughout this delightful cartoon romp, director Rich Moore (making his feature debut after years of working on some of the past animated TV shows around, including The Simpsons and Futurama) pays homage to that formative era of gaming with such affection and wit, it'll make you want to get rid of your Wii and order an old-school, first-generation NES (or, if you're really splurging, a refurbished coin-operated arcade game) off eBay.

Scott Pilgrim vs. Old-School Video Games: A Reference Guide

by Meghan Ross August 16, 2010 3:12 PM
Scott Pilgrim vs. Old-School Video Games: A Reference Guide

It's clear by now that Scott Pilgrim vs. the World (a movie based on a comic book series that is inspired by video games and now has its own video game) is a typical nerd's wet dream. I wouldn't be exaggerating by saying that for some people, it's become a means of coping with the fact that there's about another 11 months until the next San Diego Comic-Con. One geektastic aspect of the movie is the obvious (and some not-so-obvious) references to video games, particularly some of our favorite classic 8-bit, pixilated and side-scrolling games of the '90s. In celebration of our nostalgia, here's some of our favorite gaming moments from the film.

The Tooth Fairy: What The Rock Should Be Doing Instead

by Zach Oat January 21, 2010 3:02 PM
The Tooth Fairy: What The Rock Should Be Doing Instead

Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson started out on his transition from the world of wrestling to the world of movies in the way that you'd expect any beefy athlete to: playing a bad guy in a mummy movie. Perfect. His action follow-ups the Scorpion King, The Rundown and Walking Tall showed he could carry a lead role, but lately he's been in a slew of flicks that are a little more kid-friendly, from The Game Plan (tough football player saddled with a precious kid he didn't know he had) to Disney's Race to Witch Mountain (cranky cab driver saddled with two alien runaways) to the forthcoming Tooth Fairy (tough hockey player gets stuck being a tooth fairy). We understand that Johnson wants to show his range, but the family fare is killing us. Since we still sorta like the guy and want to see him back in top form, we've got some suggestions for future career moves he should make.

Trailers Without Pity: Gamer

by Zach Oat July 21, 2009 8:53 AM
Trailers Without Pity: Gamer

In a world where prisons are overcrowded, and reality shows have gone too far, and men are made slaves for our amusement, and Michael C. Hall is extremely creepy... there are these two guys named Omar and Pablo who have a show where they talk about movie trailers. That show is called "Trailers Without Pity," and this week they're talking about the trailer for Gamer, starring Gerard Butler, Kyra Sedgwick and Michael C. Hall. In it, a kid is able to remote-control convict Butler through a kill-or-be-killed real-life video game, until Butler decides that he wants out to see his family. See what Omar and Pablo think of all this below, or click here!

10 Early Video Games That Would Make Better Movies Than Asteroids

Apparently, the problem with movies based on video games isn't that they're never given the script attention and directorial skill that they deserve. No, apparently, the video games are just too new. Old video games have more nostalgic appeal, so more people will go to see them, right? That must be the thinking behind this latest bit of news, that Lorenzo Di Bonaventura will be producing an Asteroids movie, based on the video game about a ship that sits in the middle of the screen and blows up big asteroids, forming smaller and smaller asteroids. Considering that there were two big, competing asteroid movies about a decade ago, and two competing TV-movies about it this year, was it really worth the four-studio bidding war? Hell, is the word "asteroids" even copyrighted? Since we can't imagine what the film will bring to the table that we haven't seen already, we've come up with a list of classic video games that we're much more interested to see on the big screen.

I Want My DVD: Tuesday, June 30, 2009

by Zach Oat June 30, 2009 4:18 PM
I Want My DVD: Tuesday, June 30, 2009

I don't know if it's simply the cyclical nature of the DVD market or something more sinister at work, but there are more exciting TV shows coming out today than there are movies, including two of my favorite shows of all time. The first one is pictured at left. Can you guess which the other one is? (Hint: It's British, and it's about nerds.) Good luck!

Max Payne is Better Than It Has Any Right to Be

by Zach Oat March 13, 2009 12:18 PM
Max Payne is Better Than It Has Any Right to Be

The Mark Wahlberg video-game adaptation Max Payne recently came out on DVD, and consider me one of the 18% who think the movie was pretty damn good. I'm not a gamer, so I can't compare it to the source material, but I enjoyed the hell out of it, and that goes a long way with a movie like this. I'm not saying it's Oscar-worthy or anything, but if there was an Oscar given out to video game movies starring overrated actors, this one would totally deserve it, because it has so many things working against it, and I still thought it was a blast. Because I'm 13 years old, apparently. See the five obstacles it faced -- and surpassed -- after the jump.

Street Fighter: The Legendary Box Office Failure of Chun-Li

by Zach Oat February 26, 2009 3:57 PM
Street Fighter: The Legendary Box Office Failure of Chun-Li

It's finally here -- Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun Li comes out this weekend, and we cannot imagine a more poorly put-together movie. First of all, it stars Kristin Kreuk, and we can only imagine that they chose her because she was the only actress with Asian heritage who was willing to take the role. But on top of that, it appears as if every single element of this movie was designed for failure. Yes, we realize it's a movie based on a video game, and the last time they made it into a movie it starred Jean-Claude Van Damme, but still, doesn't anybody even try to make a good movie anymore? Even Super Mario Bros. with Dennis Hopper and Jon Leguizamo had high production values. Here's our list of the seven things that will make Street Fighter a legendary failure.

Why is Street Fighter So Ashamed of Kristin Kreuk?

by Zach Oat January 7, 2009 1:29 PM
Why is Street Fighter So Ashamed of Kristin Kreuk?

Let me start off by saying that I am not a big fan of Smallville. It's done some interesting things lately by bringing in more superheroes and supervillains from the comics, but before this season, I hadn't watched in years. So I am not some kind of Kreukaholic. I think Kristin Kreuk is pretty, and has a pleasant speaking voice, and I would like to see her in other roles, but that's about it. So when I found out that she was cast as Chun Li in the new Street Fighter movie, I was excited, since I love that game. Little did I know that the studio would later decide that they had made some kind of mistake.

Chun-Li Kicks Her Way Into Street Fighter Trailer, Much to Her Confusion The official Japanese website for Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li has released a trailer. Starring as the street-fighting heroine of the title is Kristin Kreuk, best known as Smallville's Lana Lang. Kreuk is unlikely to ever win an acting award for playing young Clark Kent's girlfriend, unless the Golden Globes comes up with a category for being able to cry copious tears while not letting a single drop of snot fall from one's nose. But here she seems to be called on to do little more than look slightly determined, or slightly upset, or ever so slightly confused, as if she didn't even realize she was supposed to be in this movie. If you go by the theory that trailers usually play up a main character's big moments, then Chun-Li's "legend" seems a bit... lacking. If not for the title, it would almost seem that Michael Clarke Duncan's Balrog is the star.

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