Thursday Movie Picks: Video/Arcade/Board Game Movies
Last week we had toys, now we move to video games! Wandering Through The Shelves asks us to chose three movies based on arcade and/or board games. This was kind of hard, because I can't say that I like many of these movies. So I decided to go with one good, one so bad it's good, and the other flat out terrible. Here we go. Semper fi, motherfuckers.
1) Silent Hill
Let's start with the Good. Silent Hill got off to a bad start for me (the little girl screaming 'SILENT HILL!' was awful) but it quickly picked up the pace to become one of the creepiest things I've ever seen.
2) Mortal Kombat
I thought this movie was pretty awesome as a kid, but really it's so bad. But I'd say it falls under the category of "so bad it's good." It's been years since I've seen it though.
3) House of the Dead
Okay, so that's not a gif from the movie. But watching paint dry would be more interesting. If there was ever a film I should've walked out of but didn't, it was this one. I can't believe I sat through this entire thing. I'm getting a headache just thinking about it now.
Honorable mention: Jumanji, which I expect to see a lot so I didn't go with it. Loved that film as a kid.
It was a hard week for me too. I ended up picking two movies I hated and one I liked. It was Jumanji so I'm happy to see you mentioned it.
ReplyDeleteThis isn't really a category where a lot of good movies come from it. lol
DeleteOf these I've only seen your honorable, Jumanji which was fun in a silly way. None of the other three seem like my kind of movie. Thanks for the warning on that last.
ReplyDeleteI have to say board game adaptations aren’t my strong suit and as happened last week I had to cheat on my last, but my second pick is a film I love and can’t help but stop and watch whenever I run across it. My first film’s inclusion should not be construed in any way as a recommendation!
Battleship (2012)-What lunkhead came up with the script for this exercise in inanity? Obviously written by someone who has never played the board game which is all about strategy and should have led to a film along the lines of “They Were Expendable” or “The Cruel Sea”. What the hell are aliens and extraterrestrial flying objects doing in a movie called Battleship? Really quite stupid.
Clue (1985)-It’s a dark and stormy night when Mr. Boddy welcomes six guests-Mrs. Peacock (Eileen Brennan), Miss Scarlet (Lesley Ann Warren), Mr. Green (Michael McKean), Professor Plum (Christopher Lloyd), Mrs. White (Madeline Kahn) and Col. Mustard (Martin Mull)-who he has been blackmailing. They’re a colorful lot in more ways than their names and when Mr. Boddy is murdered they set about trying to figure out which one of them did it while the bodies pile up. The best board game adaptation out there, not a high bar admittedly but this is a fun film with Madeline Kahn an absolute scream as Mrs. White.
Mazes & Monsters (1982)-Five college friends all are devout Mazes & Monster players. To have more freedom in their play they move the board game to a local cavern where one of them, Robbie Wheeling (Tom Hanks), begins to slip away from reality and into the fantasy of the game. This TV event movie was Hanks first lead, based on a Rona Jaffe bestseller which itself was based on actual events.
Clue is pretty popular this week, but I've never seen it. I've only seen parts of Battleship from your picks, and it was awful.
DeleteClue is definitely worth your time. The cast is full of familiar faces that all really give it everything they've got so you end up having a good time along with them.
DeleteYour impression is absolutely on the nose. It is a dreadful film, probably one of the worst I've ever seen.
Yeah, Silent Hill is SUPER creepy and intriguing, but is so inept at the level of plot and dialogue that I can't recommend it to people in the way I want to. LOVE Radha Mitchell and Alice Krige's performances, though.
ReplyDeleteThe only thing I like about Mortal Kombat is the score LOL.
Mortal Kombat is so bad, but man did I love that as a kid.
DeleteMortal Kombat is quite fun in a cheesy way. I haven't seen the other films.
ReplyDeleteDefinitely. It's very campy.
DeleteSilent Hill is so bad. M.Brown's review of it may be the greatest thing in human history :P
ReplyDeleteI didn't realize you hated it too! lol. I thought M.Brown was the only one
DeleteI haven't seen any of these and probably won't. Jumanji is around but I think Clue was more popular
ReplyDeleteClue definitely won this week. I didn't even think of that movie when I wrote this post like 4 months ago. lol
DeleteSilent Hill? F--k that movie! I'd take one of those shitty Resident Evil movies any day...and they blow dogs for quarters.
ReplyDeleteMortal Kombat also sucks, but in the best possible way. I looooove that piece of shit.
I saw two minutes of House of the Dead and I almost wished my life had ended immediately after that. I mean...there's no way to come back from seeing something that terrible. No way.
(great post!)
I knew you were going to say that about Silent Hill lol. I'm still shocked I sat through House of the Dead. I'm just glad I didn't pay for that movie ticket.
DeleteBrilliant use of that gif. Hahahahahah! Haven't seen House of the Dead. Doesn't sound like I will.
ReplyDeleteI liked Silent Hill, too, so you're not completely alone on that island. I went with the MK sequel for just being terrible. The first is bad in a fun way. Great call on that.
Yeah, don't even see House of the Dead. It's the worst. lol
DeleteNot see these bit I did want to see Silent Hill because of Sean Bean until I found it was horror.
ReplyDeleteSean Bean is in the movie for maybe 5 minutes. His character was only added because the studio was like "where are all the men?"
DeleteHaha yeah...other than the monsters. I actually didn't even realise that until you mentioned it.
DeleteYep! Just that Pyramid guy, I think.
Delete