Wednesday 14 December 2016

Thursday Movie Picks: Video/Arcade/Board Game Movies


Don't forget to check out where it all started over at Wandering Through the Shelves.

Tron Legacy
This has got to count as an arcade game film, as they are all in an arcade game. Having never seen the whole of Tron, I think I saw half then fell asleep as I can’t remember the ending, I wasn’t really hyped for Tron Legacy but everyone else was. This was the film that helped Olivia Wilde and was meant to boost Garret Hedlund and just made everyone love Jeff Bridges even more. The world within the arcade game was all fancy electric colours with a soundtrack by The Chemical Brothers with Michael Sheen prancing around in a tight outfit. The story is a little hazy with something about Clu becoming Flynn’s sort of son as he abandoned his real son. There was also something about a massacre and lots of computer programmes died? Actually I mostly remember the race and the ‘don’t cross the streams’ rule and then the escape plan. It was an ok film.

Clue
Real name Cluedo but for some weird and pointless reason the game is called Clue in US, why? Just keep it as Cluedo that what the inventor called it. Anyway, the film is bizarre with an amazing cast including Tim Curry, Christopher Lloyd and the marvellous Madeline Kahn. The film has three possible endings and upon release each cinema was given a different which I thought was a genius idea. Six strangers are invited to a mysterious dinner party hosted by Mr Boddy. Each guest is given an alias to protect their identities. Then it is revealed that they are all being blackmailed by Mr Boddy. The guests are given an envelope with a weapon inside it and challenged to kill the butler who knows all their secrets too. You can guess what happens next, it’s a game but it’s more of a murder mystery.

Prince of Persia
As I don’t play computer games when it is announced that yet another game is being brought to the big screen, I don’t get all excited unless the story is good. Some friends have said they play the game because of the stories but then what I don’t get is why they all fail at the box office then? Unlike Prince of Persia which did pretty well despite being a total white wash. I liked this one and happily watched it a few times on Netflix. Prince Dastan adopted son of the king leads a siege against a holy city under the impression they are hording weapons. But in fact his evil uncle wants the sacred dagger that can alter time in his favour. Dastan is framed for his father’s murder is forced to flee. He teams up the guardian of the dagger, Princess of Alamut, Tamina in order to preserve the sands of time and stop his uncle. To me, it doesn’t feel like a game adaptation, it was just a Disney action film. I did happen to like the Jake Gyllenhaal and Gemma Arterton team, it worked splendidly.