Movies By Cho: Pixels
Now Showing: Pixels
Starring: Adam Sandler, Josh Gad, Peter Dinklage, Michelle Monaghan, Kevin James
Scene after the Credits: No
Would I see this again: Yes
Notable Previews: The Secret Life of Pets
Bottom Line: Silly, fun flick with '80s nostalgia
Wow. I've heard so much hate for this movie, including "worst movie of the year". Then I realized that all the complaints I was hearing was centered on Adam Sandler hate and stupid things like: "Kevin James as PRESIDENT? REALLY?!" I can't believe the amount of anti-Sandler sentiment there is out there. I've only seen maybe 3 of his movies prior to this, and while I've never gushed about how great they are, I've certainly never hated them. For me, Will Ferrell is the guy who bugs me. He's okay in supporting roles, but when he's the lead I lose interest because he just pounds a joke into the ground. But even then, I don't hate him like these anti-Sandler people do.
Anyway, turns out "Pixels" is a fairly decent movie. Love Peter Dinklage's voice in this. He plays a scummy, too-cool-for-school gamer named Eddie. (self-declared as "Fire Blaster") Also like Michelle Monaghan's "Violet" character. Sandler plays a Vince Vaughn-type character, which I guess is also a standard Sandler character.
The movie starts in 1982 (to the tune of Cheap Trick's "Surrender") where Sandler & Dinklage particpate in a video game "world championship" tournament that comes down to a tie-breaker Donkey Kong game. A video of the tournament (along with other popular media of the era) is put on a NASA probe later that year and launched into space.
Jump to present day. Aliens have found the probe, were somehow able to view the video, and interpreted it as a challenge to war. They accept, and come to Earth to fight; attacking Anderson Air Force Base on Guam in a surprise attack. It's only after that successful attack they they then communicate with Earth that they accept the challenge, and since Earth already lost the first "life" (battle), if we lose 2 more, then the Earth will be destroyed. (most arcade games gave you 3 lives per game, not counting bonus lives earned during play)
Enter Sandler & his friend Gad, who just happen to have been childhood friends of Kevin James, who is now President of the USA. They, along with Michelle Monaghan's character, who is a Lt Colonel in a military Research & Development lab, join forces to teach an elite military force to fight the aliens via old-school video games. They also get the President to track down Eddie (Dinklage) and recruit him as well.
Mixed in with all this we get 2(3?) romantic subplots, and tons of nostalgic video game memories for me. At times, during the climatic battle, there's so many video game characters on screen it's hard to identify them all. You've got the obvious one from the trailer: Galaga, Centipede, Pac-Man, & Donkey Kong, but there's also Arkanoid, Paperboy, Frogger, Q-bert, Duck Hunter, Mario, and many many more!
If you're looking for some goofy fun, and you're an old fart gamer like me, you'll probably enjoy this movie. Don't know about you young punks that never played any of these games.
Starring: Adam Sandler, Josh Gad, Peter Dinklage, Michelle Monaghan, Kevin James
Scene after the Credits: No
Would I see this again: Yes
Notable Previews: The Secret Life of Pets
Bottom Line: Silly, fun flick with '80s nostalgia
Wow. I've heard so much hate for this movie, including "worst movie of the year". Then I realized that all the complaints I was hearing was centered on Adam Sandler hate and stupid things like: "Kevin James as PRESIDENT? REALLY?!" I can't believe the amount of anti-Sandler sentiment there is out there. I've only seen maybe 3 of his movies prior to this, and while I've never gushed about how great they are, I've certainly never hated them. For me, Will Ferrell is the guy who bugs me. He's okay in supporting roles, but when he's the lead I lose interest because he just pounds a joke into the ground. But even then, I don't hate him like these anti-Sandler people do.
Anyway, turns out "Pixels" is a fairly decent movie. Love Peter Dinklage's voice in this. He plays a scummy, too-cool-for-school gamer named Eddie. (self-declared as "Fire Blaster") Also like Michelle Monaghan's "Violet" character. Sandler plays a Vince Vaughn-type character, which I guess is also a standard Sandler character.
The movie starts in 1982 (to the tune of Cheap Trick's "Surrender") where Sandler & Dinklage particpate in a video game "world championship" tournament that comes down to a tie-breaker Donkey Kong game. A video of the tournament (along with other popular media of the era) is put on a NASA probe later that year and launched into space.
Jump to present day. Aliens have found the probe, were somehow able to view the video, and interpreted it as a challenge to war. They accept, and come to Earth to fight; attacking Anderson Air Force Base on Guam in a surprise attack. It's only after that successful attack they they then communicate with Earth that they accept the challenge, and since Earth already lost the first "life" (battle), if we lose 2 more, then the Earth will be destroyed. (most arcade games gave you 3 lives per game, not counting bonus lives earned during play)
Enter Sandler & his friend Gad, who just happen to have been childhood friends of Kevin James, who is now President of the USA. They, along with Michelle Monaghan's character, who is a Lt Colonel in a military Research & Development lab, join forces to teach an elite military force to fight the aliens via old-school video games. They also get the President to track down Eddie (Dinklage) and recruit him as well.
Mixed in with all this we get 2(3?) romantic subplots, and tons of nostalgic video game memories for me. At times, during the climatic battle, there's so many video game characters on screen it's hard to identify them all. You've got the obvious one from the trailer: Galaga, Centipede, Pac-Man, & Donkey Kong, but there's also Arkanoid, Paperboy, Frogger, Q-bert, Duck Hunter, Mario, and many many more!
If you're looking for some goofy fun, and you're an old fart gamer like me, you'll probably enjoy this movie. Don't know about you young punks that never played any of these games.