Slashdot Mirror
Remember The Wizard?
trotski writes "I remember when I saw The Wizard as a kid, I thought it was the perfect movie. X-entertainment has released a review through the eyes of geek of this classic. Few movies have ever dwelled in pits of infamy quite so deep as The Wizard, Nintendo's 100-minute video game commercial that vaguely masqueraded as a real movie. The Wizard should've been able to keep kids well into their late teens interested, but the entire thing goes down the tubes once you hear the villainous cool kid's pickup line: "I love the Power Glove. It's so bad." The site includes video clips of this and other great moments in the movie."
There's also a
just-the-facts plot review of this timeless classic, at the Onion.
i saw it with my parents and they bought my SMB3 on the way home because they liked the movie so much. Few people ever did as much for the quality of my life as that movie did
lysergically yours
Who didn't have a crush on the red head girl from that movie?
Compare it to videos that exist in their own right, rather than just to sell toys. Examples include Power Rangers, Transformers, Pokemon...
You can't judge a book by the way it wears its hair.
i saw this movie just to see pictures of the (yet-unreleased) super mario brothers 3. dude, that was probably the most anticipated game of my entire life (and amazingly, it didn't disappoint. still up there among my favorite games ever).
btw, the powerglove was a piece of crap. i think i still have mine in a closet somewhere. completely unuseable.
I saw the movie, but I was more excited about the trailer for the Teenafe mutant ninja turtle movie trailer in the previews.
"Go into the hall of mirrors and have a bloody hard look at yourself" - HG Nelson
If you live here in the states, you may know it as "the movie" the USA network played from 1994 well through 1997 between the hours of 8 and 10 eastern time.
slashdot: where everyone yells sarcastic metaphors to themselves to understand the issue
The best geek movie from when I was a kid was Time Bandits. Does anyone else remember this? I just bought it on DVD the other day and watched it for the first time in years. It was awesome!
I swear my first thought was the Michael Jackson/Diana Ross take on The Wizard of Oz. But then I remembered that was The Wiz.
They just don't make movies like they used to... with child stars strung out on drugs pushed by their studios.
For every complex problem there is an answer that is clear, simple, and wrong. -- H L Mencken
Everyone I've talked to about this movie agrees that they went to see it to see what SMB3 looked like. The movie came out a bit before the game hit stores, and it was the first time most people got to check it out.
I know I sure did. Who cares about the story line? It was all about getting to the end and seeing that game start up and then checking out the first few levels.
"There's a video clip of this following the review, and it's worth every byte of my bandwidth."
we'll see about that...
remember the wizard?
no.
Why is it that most... ok, ALL, video game- based movies are bad?
Take Joysticks, for example. As anyone that has seen this movie can tell you, it's one of the WORST movies EVER made. But as a "period piece" (it came out in 1983), it's pretty cool. The arcade scenes pretty much make up for the horrible acting and lame plot (local rich guy wants to shut down the local arcade... yawn). Plus, there's a bit of T&A in it and it stars Joe Don Baker. w00t!
More info about this atrocity here.
"You're getting brutal, Sark. Brutal and needlessly sadistic."
"Thank you, Master Control"
-Sark and the MCP
Cory(Fred Savage) to Lucas in a vain attempt to save face after the awesome power glove is revealed, "Keep your power gloves off my girl."
X-Entertainment has been covering this movie for years. I wonder what's so different this time around. This has got to be at least the third time I've seen them write an article on it.
"Sufferin' succotash."
man. that movie rock'd... i was a preteen and man mario 3 was SOOOO cool... hahahah.. remember those dinosaurs in the movie? i was driving from la to las vegas and saw them!! (either that or i was driving from l.a. to palm springs and saw them... anyway... they are much smaller now that i am an adult...
that movie rocked so much... remember the dad played link all night... hahah... that's what my dad did... i used to wake up and he would be bleary eyed having played legend of zelda all night long...
the good old days!!!
they don't make em like that anymore!!! even doom doesn't compare to the awesome time i had with legend of zelda and final fantasy...
Merchindising, Merchindising, Merchindising. Where the real money from the movie is made.
"Go get me a drink, dork-lips!"
last time i saw this movie i was with a bunch of friends during the winter a few years ago. i lived in my first apartment and we didn't have heat 'cause it was too expensive.
anyhow, there was this space heater next to the tv whose alarm would go off if it was moved. we decided to use this as the "shameless promotion alarm/dork alarm." you know, since a dork is a whale's penis.
when the screen came up at the end of the movie with Super Mario 3, we nearly kicked it across the room:)
But I was in graduate school then. Not much time for or interest in Nintendo.
I think I may have seen it on the shelves of video stores.....
For a minute there, I thought we were talking about wizards... go back to your nintendos...
"That man touched my breast!!!!"
I'm going into advertising for a career...but you can be DAMN sure that I'm going to be warning anybody I can about the perils of oversaturating yet another form of media.
Buy Steampunk Clothing Online!
You guys just cant handle Lucas, Power Glove and all 97 games.
I love the power glove...its so bad.
now ebaying for some vision street wear
... the "Close Encounters" tune that the Power Glove played? doo dee doo doh daaaaaaaaa
"Derp de derp."
I saved up to buy a Power Glove but on the day that I went to buy one Toys R Us was all out...so I bought Legos with my money instead. That was a much better investment.
So where's the link to the bit torrent of the movie... err trailer..?
We used the PowerGlove quite a bit in a VR class during undergrad. Great cheap interface.
Did anyone ever actually get that damn thing to work? My brothers and I must have rented it along with Mike Tyson's Punch Out about a half dozen times. We never once got it to work.
My brother and I still point off into the distance and say that when questioned on where we're going.
I don't need to be made to look evil. I can do that on my own. - Christopher Walken
Thinking that it was complete bull. I mean yes I can go through the game now the same way that he did in the movie, but I mean really who plays a game for the first time and thinks hmmm if i duck down here for 3 seconds and run like heck i might be able to warp. . .
http://www.spymac.com/gallery/showphoto.php?photo= 6035&slideshow=1
http://www.nesplayer.com/wizard/after.htm
So, was it?
/me pets his Space Balls lunchbox.
As you can see, the guy wrecked many many times into traffic. I remember playing rad racer in that Nintendo championships and not wrecking at all, having practiced the game like two times before :P
How massive wipeouts made it into a movie, even a shitty movie is funny.
God spoke to me
Fred plays Corey, a smooth hipster with a baseball cap and a will to dream.
Didn't his younger brother play exactly that same person in Boy Meets World?
... the Mattel and Mars Bar Quick Energy Chocobot Hour.
"You can count on us Mr. President. Major Nuggut, Gooey, Cocco, put down those entertaining Mattel products."
...when George Lucas will release a 20th anniversary edition with all the videogame sequences updated to feature Nintendo256 titles.
(and maybe, just maybe, re-add the deleted scene where someone touches Haley's breasts).
Of course, shrewd viewers will know he's just building back up the Wizard fan-base for the Colecovision/Atari 2600 Prequels.
be classified as thinly disguised commercials for products and happy meals?
That movie was the bomb. It had Fred Savage in it, he rawks. He needs to be more famous. Nintendo Power subscriptions were too expensive, parents had to buy them, they suck, I want more metroid, where is luigi, and toad? Toad was the bomb for a shroom. Do you think if you ate Toad you'd get some mad cool hallucinations?
Taken from the website:
"There's a video clip of this following the review, and it's worth every byte of my bandwidth."
Insert Slashdotting anal rape joke here.
in girum imus nocte et consumimur igni
"Some old guy or a ten-year-old who ate, drank, and slept Nintendo?"
Anyone else remember the add that ran on tv during the time the wizard came out? The one for Super Mario Bros. 3 that said "Eat SMB3..... Drink SMB3.... Sleep SMB3" this goes to show how affective this type of marketing was on our generation.
shut the fuck up dude, nobody cares about your stupid comment and it was lame, you should go get a job, I hate how you used the subject and the body as one sentence, that is pathetic
A friend and I came up with the idea after watching Minority Report and turning the power glove into some kind of control device for a computer like Tom Cruise had. Neither of us being THAT in depth technically, we blew it off as not being possible and kept it to just being "something cool."
.. ?
For you electronics "Wizards" here just how possible is it to hook up a power glove to a computer and use it as a mouse or joystick type device for playing Quake or sol.exe
----------
Check out my blackbox styles
Thanks for lowering my consumer expectations.
When I saw this movie as a kid (which I enjoyed at the time), I bought the PowerGlove shortly after. After less than an hour attempting to get it to work, it went into the closet. Aside form the 2 or 3 times I've broken it out in worthless attempts at playing with it, it's stayed there for the last 10 years, until I realized its worth $50 on eBay, and out the door it went.
This was the first time that several things happened:
1) I bought something that was of horrible quality, thinking it would be of excellent quality
2) I spent a lot of money (+/- $100?) on something that was really "throw-away"
3) I realized that I was a sucker to marketing
4) My expectations of items that I purchase were lowered forever
You've only begun to redeem yourself. The good games you've given me over the last 7 or so years have been working away at your debt. The way I see it, you still owe me four Mario's, three Zelda's and a Metroid. Otherwise, we may find out how much a childs innocence is worth in court!!
P.S. As a favor, I expect to see Mario set on fire much more in the next Mario.
Vision street wear? Oh man, you must have been one of those skaters/stoners. Ya D00d, grind them ugly sticks!
Life is not for the lazy.
...photos of her.
These shots are from the premiere of Donnie Darko, and apparently she was dating Jake Gyllenhaal at the time.
"Hey, honey! It's called 'smiling,' why don't you look into it?"
they'll make a movie about SCO starring Fred Savage as Darl McBride and call it The Jizzard?
I'm 23 now, so when The Wizard came out I was still under the rules of the parents, and the rule handed down from my mother was, "You are NOT seeing this movie. I will not take you, you will NOT see it with your friends, understood?" As a child influenced by the pop-culture and of course being a big Nintendo fan, I was devestated, plus I never really understood why I wasn't allowed to see the movie. All I knew is that my parents told me that I'd one day understand why they wouldn't let me see it.
I finally saw it when the movie made it to TV a few years later, but still being a young teenager I just enjoyed those video game references. After seeing it a few more times here and there on cable did I realize why I wasn't allowed to see it. This movie has got to be the single worst movie ever made. Now obviously this is a movie straight out of the mass-marketing, greed, product-placement superextraveganza we call the 1980's, so we can't blame Nintendo for trying with that aspect, but we can blame them for this...
Here's what had to have been going through the minds of the screenwriters:
Screenwriter 1: "Hey, let's create a 100 minute long commercial and here's the kicker, this kid, 'The Wizard', will play a new unreleased videogame."
Screenwriter 2: "Great! But let's make the kid on the brink of mental destruction because he watched his twin sister drown a few years before. Then we'll have his brother kidnap him, take him cross-country to california where they meet up with a girl, and they'll force the kid to play video games for money!"
Screenwriter 1: "Outstanding! While we're at it, let's have the girl, who hasn't even come close to puberty shout 'He touched my breasts!' It'll be great because she has no breasts and she's a little girl! The moviegoers will love it!"
Screenwriter 2: "Aren't we just the worst screenwriters in history?"
Screenwriter 1: "And how!"
I really don't blame my parents at all now. I really can't fathom the minds behind this movie (with the exception of the product placement part). I mean, they made this kid be in a state of mental destruction because he watched his sister die, he's kidnapped and FORCED to play video games, and nobody seems to care that he just wants to go see some dinosaur park in California which has some special meaning because of some past trip there with his now dead sister.
Not to flame anybody here but how can anyone really call this movie good? Walking commercial? Yes it is, but good movie? Hell no.
/obvious Coneheads refference
Yeah, he's right. That IS the same Dinosaur Pee-Wee got laid in.
All kidding aside, I remember waiting dilligently for this to come out on VHS as a kid. My parents hardly ever took me to the movies. When it did, and I finally saw it, I wasn't really all that impressed. By then, SMB3 was already out, and I had already whomped it's digital ass. But it was still a fun movie none-the-less.
Oh well. Nostalgia sure is fun, isn't it...
Blog Prophyts - Right On, Man
Who didn't have a crush on the red head girl from that movie?
She was...a girl...who liked...VIDEO GAMES!!
Oh my god, I think we just struck gold!
Why is it that most... ok, ALL, video game- based movies are bad?
See, there're rules for these things:
* Movies based on video games will suck.
* Movies based on Saturday Night Live characters or skits will suck.
* Remakes of classic movies will suck, but lots of people will go to see them anyway because they don't remember the originals.
* Sequels to movies where a majority of the original characters do not return will suck.
* If these characters are not played by the original actors, the movie will suck.
It's not the filmmakers' fault, those are just the rules. They look up the type of movie thay want to make. If it's there, the suck flag gets set.
On Topic:
If you want a serious answer, I think it's because unless you use animation, you can't reproduce the action of the game, so you have to rely on making it a conventional action movie. Since it's going to be nothing like the game, and since the plot of the game will be much less interesting by itself, it will, by necessity, suck.
Java: the bastard demon spawn of C++ and Ada
Of course I remember the Wizard -- that show ruled when I was a kid. Watching ol' Don Herbert showing those kids science experiments was way more fun than any dumb old video game console -- and still would be now... :-)
DO NOT LEAVE IT IS NOT REAL
1989 was the year I turned 21- I remember nothing from that year-- and after reading about 'the wizard' I'm much happier for this fact!
Creationists are a lot like zombies. Slow, but powerful and numerous. And they all want to eat our brains.
"Halp, Mr. Wizard!"
"Dwizzle, dwazzle, dwawzzle dwome. Time for this one to go home!"
Amazingly enough, it is possible to mod a Power Glove to work with a PC. Check This Out, as well as this page. That should get you started. I know there's a driver for it somewhere, it was featured in a /. story sometime in the last 1.5 years...
Blog Prophyts - Right On, Man
What videogame enthusiast didn't like *Cloak and Dagger* or *D.A.R.R.Y.L.*? Those were full-on Atari commercials...
"Right now, somewhere in this world, Scott Baio is plowing a woman he doesn't love," - Peter Griffin, *Family Guy*
There was only one R. Data Analyzing Robotic Youth Lifeform. Sorry to be picky. And yeah, those movies kicked ass. Dabney Coleman was the shit in C&D.
Nobody. The Wiz!!!
I'd say disney's reign of shit started after old Walt died. Nothing but remakes, rehashes, and stolen stories. Even as a kid I was disgusted with a lot of the "new" crap they put out.
Does anyone here remember the Nintendo World Championships in 1990? Or did anyone take part in it? I think it's pretty funny that the kid who won in the Wizard movie was from Utah (just like the Real Championships). E-mail me if you took part in it. It would be great to have a reunion or something. jeffhansen.com
Ouch. Looks like somebody forgot to take his "I'm a spiteful old fuck who has nothing constructive to say so I'll just spout useless crap" pills this morning. Good Christ, son! If you're gonna put somebody down, at least do it in a way that doesn't make you look retarded in the process. My $.02 are better than your $.02!
Down the tubes? You've gotta be kidding me. As far as classic quotes go, "I love the Power Glove" is right up there with "Do you want to play a game?"
Crack, right?
I begged and was able to get my parents to buy SMB3 for me when I was in the 3rd grade. I can't remember the exact price but I think it was ~$80 (US) or am I wrong?
....Mike Jittlov, the Wizard of Speed and Time.
If we're going to spend some time contemplating the deep philisophical meaning of the Fred Savage Nintendo Movie, then maybe we can set aside a few minutes to consider this fantastic film.
Over time, I've consistently held The Wizard of Speed and Time to be my number one film, trumping all others by a long shot. Certainly if your primary source of entertainment is a little box with a keyboard, then you can appreciate more than anyone the amount of work and care that this film shows in scene after scene. Jittlov is, basically, a master animator, and this story of a man trying to tell his dreams through filmmaking is both inspiring and entertaining.
For most people, the response to my mentioning this film is "Well, of course." but if you haven't heard of this film before, trust me, you're in for a treat. Mike Jittlov is a great guy personally, and a fantastic filmmaker professionally, and the more people who know about this incredible piece of work and bring it into their lives, the better.
Due to the usual vagaries of the film production business, Mike sees little or no financial reward from the versions of the film currently out there, so don't pay too much thinking it'll get back to him. But see this film. I risk breaking its back with the accolades I and others heap on it.
Not sure why no one has mentioned this yet, but X-Entertainment, an excellent and funny source of 80s and 90s pop culture (among other things) did a review of this movie 10 days ago, including video clips of various scenes (including the "I love the Power Glove" quote). Tons of pictures, and funny comments throughout (just ignore the constant overexagerations - Matt seems to like using them).
Anyway, an excellent review of a movie I thoroughly loved as a kid. I watched it a few weeks ago on a local TV station, and was happy to remember how utterly engrossed I was when this originally came out. Sure, I had already played Super Mario Brothers 3 before seeing the film (which made me almost angry when I had already played the big secret game in the movie), but it didn't matter - just hearing and seeing references to games I loved (TMNT, SMB, Double Dragon, etc.) was more than enough to make me happy. I only wish I could watch a movie in the same way today.
Califfooorrnia! (I still quote that kid to this day, for some gods-aweful reason)
(P.S. I found this in my google search for a sound file of the above mentioned kid - which I never did find. It's about the Nintendo World Championships in 1990... An odd look back in the past).
This is news?
Seeing that movie was just about as exciting as watching other kids play nintendo games, which was pretty exciting since all I had was an Atari 2600. I didn't buy anything as a result. It was fun to watch though. I guess I must have been 7 years old at the time (I'm a little bit drunk).
I don't think I've seen the movie since then. I suppose it was more or less tossed after it had served its purpose.
Man, that guy was great! I used to watch him every day after school on Nickelodeon. My favorite episode is the one when he blew up the balloon filled with hyrdrogen, teaching us that hydrogen, when combined with oxygen, makes heat and water! Of course, I'll never forget when he showed us how to mesure the heights of trees by walking 100 meters (he was Canadian, wasn't he?) away and mesuring the angle between the ground and treetop and using the Pythagorian theorem. Wow, that stuff rocked!
Mr. Wizard, I still remember you!!!!
I remember when I saw The Wizard as a kid, I thought it was the perfect movie.
When I was a kid I actually thought "The Powers of Matthew Star" was a good TV show.
While The Wizard was a movie that I enjoyed as a kid, there was another movie under a very similar name that rented once by accident. I *think* it was called "Wizard", but I forget and the video store has since gone out of business. It was an animated cartoon - more american style than japanese (I'd bet on it but I don't know much about early anime) - that took place in a futuristic world. But the world also seemed to take place in a time of castles, evil villans, and fantastic monsters (well, at least I think).
If anybody knows the name of the show I'm thinking of, please reply and give any other information you can think of (names of authors, publishers, etc, would be nice).
That sounds like something that Michael Jackson would say...
If so, I guess that's the kind of glove he likes wearing nowadays.
/^[A-Z0-9._%+-]+@[A-Z0-9.-]+\.[A-Z]{2,4}$/i
But, you keep on with your video game girl...less competition ;)
Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from a rigged demo
--Andy Finkel (J. Klass?)
not just for its 80s feel, but for its bizarre moments above all.
... Spanky?
-for example, the kids hitch a ride with a giant black trucker named Spanky
-the kids surreptitiously ride in the back of a farmer's truck and then get beaten up by the farmers. their money is stolen. CMON WHO DOES THAT?!?!? the kids are like 10 years old.
-fred savage's character dons a monster mask and tries to scare the girl as a little practical joke. she stares at him incredulously for a couple of seconds. then she hits him square in the face, bare knuckles style, knocking him out cold for the entire night! WTF!!
-sam, the kids' dad, is supposed to continue the journey but he's caught up in playing zelda. the elder son, nick, gets his attention: (lifted from imdb)
[Sam is playing Zelda II The Adventures Of Link]
Nick: Pop I think we got it.
Sam: Wait a second. I'm on the sixth palace of Hyrule. Yeah, Got past the river devil.
Nick: Right.
[Turns off the Nintendo]
Sam: What the hell are you doing? I had the magic key. I got the cross. I was closing in on the barbarian!
Nick: You're losing it pop.
-the girl utters a memorably idiotic line:
Haley: She packed it in. She was a showgirl. Great legs. I got her legs, what do you think?
-calllifoooornia!
it's surreal. hilarious. as un-timeless as movies get.
rent it today for a laugh. and remember, quoting The Wizard out loud definitely makes you cool.
Wow, this brings me back.
Somehow I was able to find myself at the theater watching this movie with my folks pretty soon after it came out. I would have given my left nut to play SMB 3 at the time, I believe. My dad had this freakish system of trying to get me to play less nintendo: Unlike normal parents, who would simply say 'Play for an hour, and no more,' or similar, my dad had me scrupulously record exactly how much time I spent playing each day.
That's it - I think he expected me to look at old pages and put the game away in self-loathing. Yeah right. Final Fantasy and Faxanadu definitely won it over self-loathing.
Most amusing facet of reading The Wizard review: watching the clip in the casino, where the girl (I think she was the precise median of little geek boys' dream girls) screams and points and says about the breasts... I remember that at that point in the theater my mother holds her hand to her mouth in a sort of gasp and says (loudly), I shit you not, "Brilliant!"
I cannot, cannot stop laughing remembering that. I wonder if I had a similar reaction in '89.
Not only was Time Bandits a better movie, but do you remember the Randall character, played by David Rappaport? He also played in "The Wizard". No, not the movie. The 1980's series where he did loads more to influence my life than anyone in the movie.
The funny part was that the bad kid kept it in a stainless steel foam padded briefcase. The power glove ruined alternative interfaces forever. The hand is the most natural interface humans have, but show anybody a glove control, and "power glove" is the first thing out of their mouth before the laughing starts.
People who think they know everything really piss off those of us that actually do.
I think the Segway needs more gyros to be G.W.B. compatible?
Maybe he should stick to horses?
Don't you remember "Yo, Noid" and "Cool Spot" on the NES? Kool Aid Man on the Atari 2600? Nowadays the blatant ad games are confined to the likes of Flash Web thingies, but that doesn't prevent the occasional Chiquita banana or Sobe drink from making its way into bigger, commercialized games.
N4st0r, trixx0r h0bb1tz0rz! Th3y st0l3 0ur pr3c10uzz!
doesn't mean it doesn't suck. Spider-man (the movie) sucked, blew and then sucked again. Having said that, I wasn't too disappointed with the X-men movies.
THE WIZ!!!! hah ha ha ha.....now I will go back to playing a game with the akward power glove.
I am the Alpha and the Omega-3
The real reason, I think, why they didn't want you to see the movie is cuz they didn't want you pestering them for a Power Glove and a copy of Super Mario Brothers 3 the instant it came out. As for it being less appealing now than when you were a child, duh! Most things that are appealing to kids turn adults off! Have any fond memories of the Guyver? One of my friends saw it when he was like 13 and insisted that we watch it. Biiiig mistake.
Lastly, I hope you aren't that cynical and nitpicky about movie screenwriting, or else there might only be 4 or 5 movies out there that you could stand.
Except in America they make 20 * 90minute commercials strictly designed to sell merchandise to children and then call it a cartoon.
yeah now mod me down
The short form of The Wizard of Speed and Time, which I've seen probably a hundred times, is one of the greatest triumphs of spirit and will ever created by an independent artist. Truly a great work. The longer version of the film, which I only have seen once, was also pretty darn amazing.
...Nothing interesting here. Just move along...
I bave been trying to get this on DVD for a couple of years. Has anyone heard any news on it?
(Sponsored by cheeseSource for President 2012)
Some day, I'll teach you how to make links...
When you're ready...
After The Wizard, when they finally released Super Mario 3, there was a frenzy, at least where I was from. It was going for about $75 at one point, and it was pretty difficult to find. It was an enjoyable game, but I'm so jaded about advertising now that, were The Wizard to happen again today, I would think it was the most disgusting thing ever.
I won't take my stepkids to see any movies geared towards children because they are all just elaborate marketing schemes. Harry Potter for example... the kids wanted nothing but Harry Potter crap for Christmas, even though they had neither seen the movies or read the books.
Advertisers are pretty savvy when they can fool people into confusing advertising with entertainment. I think we're moving toward a culture where there is no distinction.
Fred Savage used to be such a hunk, when I was 10. Did anyone see him on that Law and Order Criminal Intent episode? He was so creepy.
"On the other hand, the early worm gets eaten."
Never saw it. Never wanted to. Grow up.
The Powerglove was bad.
The ______ Agenda
ROTFLMAO That is funny I forgot about that part!!!
Remember this horrid ripoff? Think E.T. with massive, in-your-face product placement and a truly revolting little alien central character.
The.Wizard.1989.SVCD.VHSRip.Read.Nfo-FLAiR_
if the marketing group at microsoft sees this- 'Xbox, the movie' could be next
ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh...............
Creationists are a lot like zombies. Slow, but powerful and numerous. And they all want to eat our brains.
You know there are things from your childhood that you have fond memories of until you really think about it... or in this case watch it. All I had to do was watch the clip of the end and it burried the needle on the revolt-o-meter. I think I liked this movie... a long long time ago. Too bad my revolt-o-meter is broken now.
I'd venture that Resident Evil was a pretty kick-ass flick, especially for any Romero fans.
Ok, so it stands on its own as being the only movie based on a video game that doesn't suck (some may claim Mortal Kombat, but come on now: as a movie it's pretty bad, we just liked the fight scenes and awesome techno soundtrack).
Just for fun, let's see just how bad it gets:
Super Mario Brothers
Street Fighter (Raul Julia is rolling in his grave over this one)
Tomb Raider (and they're making a SEQUEL!!?!??)
Of course, if you include Joysticks, you HAVE to include Tron - one of the most innovative movies of all time. And hey, the critics hated it, yet the DVD was a best seller for a while.
Endless arguments over trivial contradictions in books written by ignorant savages to explain thunder in the dark.
But do you rember the mini issue of nintendo power that you got if you went to see the film, for some reason I seem to recall it had something about Metal Gear 2 in it, but I can't rember much else. It was called Pocket Power, here is a pic that may spark some memories http://forestbug.tripod.com/collect.html
The only thing I'm high on is love...Love for my Son and Daughters. Yes, a little LSD is all I need.-Marge Simpson
Wow, that clip of the power glove douche was the funniest thing I've ever seen. I have an entire bookstore full of people giggling their heads off about it. I hope to throw at least 100 people into hysterics today
Wise men say, "Forgiveness is divine, but never pay full price for late pizza."
Having parents that lame must have been a real disaster.
MSBPodcast.com The opinions expressed here are my own. If you don't like 'em... Think up your own stuff.
Actually I don't remember most of the '80's. I suppose I could, if I wanted to make the effort, but all indications are that I'd be better off if I didn't.
I'm trying to teach myself to set people on fire with my mind... Is it hot in here?
As if there wasn't enough marketing, I remember getting a special mini issue of Nintendo Power when I saw the movie in the theatre. I believe it was called Nintendo Power Source. That little bonus was more rewarding than the film itself.
V O T E F O R M O G
haley knew about warp whistles, even how to obtain it having never played the game
Considering that the warp whistles made the same noise as the whistle from The Legend of Zelda...
The plot point that ticks me off is that in retail SMB3, warping in and of itself doesn't give you points.
Will I retire or break 10K?
Nintendo's "Power Pad" dance pad may have been built poorly.
But that doesn't mean other companies can't make a good dance pad.
Will I retire or break 10K?
dabney coleman was the sh*t in cease and desist?
Not "cease and desist". Read a couple comments above yours: "What videogame enthusiast didn't like *Cloak and Dagger*"
More Angelina Jolie, preferably nakkid!
What about Video-Power and Johnny Arcade?
Where is Johnny these days?
Does anyone have his review of Sherlock Holmes for SegaCD?
Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose.
Prior to Pokemon, TV shows and movies based on video games were often very different from the games, despite video games' rising popularity. It was almost as if it was taboo to put the game's inherent style, usually anime-inspired, on the screen.
The show "Captain N" greatly distorted the characters and their worlds (for example, they Disneyfied the son of Dracula from "Castlevania 3", turning him from a quiet pretty-boy in expensive suits into a California skateboard dude). The Super Mario TV shows (three different series) pretty closely resembled the Mario games, but the Super Mario Bros. movie did not. From the gamers' point of view, "The Wizard" was more about the players than the games. Until the late 1990s, Japanese game box covers didn't resemble the game. Not because the technology was too low, but because the game was anime style while the box art was Americanized.
The Mortal Kombat movie stayed close to the game, I think, because it was already a very American game and had no anime styling to amputate. Same for the Earthworm Jim TV show. The Mega Man TV show in the mid-90s was so-so. It was an American-written and American-acted, Japanese animated show based on a Japanese game.
Once Nintendo pushed Pokemon on USA, then anime, at least for kids, came out of the closet. If a Japanese video game was popular enough to warrant a TV show or movie, the Japanese themselves would make it and it would be shown in USA, at least in dubbed form. The one exception was the Final Fantasy movie. Although made by the same Japanese company that made the games, they made their movie staff half American and made the movie a clone of Aliens, as if they were afraid of the game's anime-styled sword-and-sorcery origins. As a result, the movie not only bombed in USA, but it did even worse in Japan, where Final Fantasy titles usually make most of their income.
So Japanese game companies are no longer hiding the anime-styled origins of their games, and I think that's good for everyone.
p.s.-- I'm hesitant to admit that I've never seen this movie. Moderators, do your worst... :-/
The Little Mermaid and Alladin were awesome. But other than that I can't think of any Disney movies in the last twenty years worth watching...
http://www.suntimes.com/ebert/ebert_reviews/1989/1 2/387649.html
NO NO NO You mean the Space Balls Licensed Flame Thrower!!! Every kids favorite!
unless you use animation, you can't reproduce the action of the game
I can suggest a simpler answer. It's not really the representation that matters (after all Matrix is a video-game inspired movie and it was well received), but rather, the target audience.
Usually videogames movies are either:
1 - Very close to the original game
2 - Try to carry the game story to a "generic audience"
3 - Main famous actor/director wants the script changed
Now, 1 and 2 may make a good movie IF you consider the point of view from the target audience. Examples of 1 are Wing Commander or Resident Evil. Example of 2 is Final Fantasy. In both cases, it doesn't need to suck.
But of course 3 produces the worst of its kind (Street Fighter, Mortal Kombat Annihilation, etc). The audience "1" feels cheated because the movie is not relevant to the game, and audience "2" just finds that the movie (as a stand-alone product) plainly sucks.
The ENIAC Demo Competition
I was 10 when this movie came out and I remember HATING it! I distinctly remember my brother and I mocking it the whole way home. How does this piece of marketing trash deserve an iota of respect?
The thing is, I loved nintendo back then. I also loved terrible movies. I think if I can credit this movie with anything, it would be: the beginning of my cynicism.
"Question with boldness even the existence of a god." - Thomas Jefferson
Let's see you thought this movie was cool - so you were a moron as a kid. Your nickname shows you support the failed idealogy of Marxism, so I guess you're still a moron.
PowerGlove /= crap;
Runtime Error: Divide by zero.
09
Actually in plural from, you bought lego, not legos. Yeah, lame but true.
The first and only time I played pokemon I thought, "Damn! This is just a Magic Candle ripofff!"
Five minutes later, I was bored out of my mind and reaching for my 80286 DOS laptop with Magic Candle in autoexec.bat
You can't judge a book by the way it wears its hair.
Wasn't there a Stephen King novel set there?
N4st0r, trixx0r h0bb1tz0rz! Th3y st0l3 0ur pr3c10uzz!
CLITORIS CHOPPERS. Hi there you fucking Islamic career clerics, doctors of death, Waffen Schutzstaffel doctor Josef Mengele is a patron saint compared to you fucking ragheads. You suck. You aide and abet terror and death. You are partially responsible for the deaths of other fellow men. For this fratricide you shall pay dearly. Your soul is black with the stains of inaction, ineptitude and sympathies to those who walk the dark side. Your foul life is full of sins, not religious, just heinous, your karma is low, you don't confess, and you aren't in prison where you belong. You are your own dark, kept secret. I see through you, the worthless academic, the pseudo intellectual, the unproven unpublished un patented WASTE OF FUCKING FLESH. You are a drain on society, you are a member of the 1st world but pretend to not be. I hate you, you are a stained man.
Hi clitoris chopper, ISLAM supports clitoris carving. You are Islamic, and of course are a fucking animal. I hate you you pull-start camel jockey lover. Towelheads, Camel Jockies, Sand Niggers, Ackmids, Abeebs, Carpet Flyers, Dune Coons, Rag Heads, Sand Scratchers, Habeebs, Abba-Dabbas, Camel-Humpers, Demi-niggers, Fig-Gobblers, Hucka-luckas (hucka hlacka ghalcka ghugh), Lefties (If you steal, you lose the right hand so, since they are thieves...) Ocnods, Pull-Start-ables (imagine pull starting Ossama's dirty rag like a Briggs and Stratton), Roach-Ranchers (habibs cant kill roaches by a tenant of Is-slum), Sand Moolies.
Shut up all you dirty fucking Islamic pigfucking swinehundts and the pigs, the communist fuckin Islamic terrorist supporter.
Take your fucking Koran and cram it up your ass. The sooner the earth sees Islam leave it, the better off it will be. Your Koran is Goat Piss.
I hope if there is a God and a Hell, you have to drink the liquidy shit from a Pig's ass, and Jewish Rabbis defecate on you.
I hate the stupid ISLAM fucks who read into the trash they come up with. Saddam Hussein [who needs to take a dirt nap] is higher on my sanity list than fucking Muslim "clerics." In fact, I like Saddam more than most of the other Arab leaders because he is secular. We should fucking nuke the Saudis and Mecca and Medina and turn it into rubble, then tell Saddam to remove the heads of all the buttfucking "royalty" in the area.
I want to wipe my ass with Mohammad's shroud. I want to grind his body up into bone meal and fertilize my garden with it.
Our tortured dead scream out in HORROR, asking for vengeance:
Nuke their countries to hell.
Nuke them again.
Death to Islam.
I piss on Mecca. I wipe my ass with the Koran. I shit upon Mohammed. I wipe the cum for a freshly fucked pussy with Mohammed's shroud then throw it in the pig sty so it can mire in pig shit as it decomposes.
So what did a Muslim do to YOU that so pisses you off?
Only a terrorist loving slimy dirty Islamic bastard would have to ask that question.
Hell friends.