After watching Warcraft: The Beginning last week, I started thinking about other movies based on video games. I thought Warcraft wasn’t too bad (as far as these adaptations go) and thought it may actually be one of the better ones.
For this, I worked off the list of video game movie adaptations at Wikipedia. It turns out that I’ve seen hardly any (Warcraft, Silent Hill, Lara Croft: Tomb Raider & Alone In The Dark). That’s it! And, wow – other than Warcraft, those movies are absolute shit. In fact, Alone In The Dark was so bad that a bunch of us bloggers watched it at the same time while trashing it in the Comments section for Shitfest at The IPC (you can check that post out HERE – it was good fun!). Therefore, I can now officially declare that Warcraft: The Beginning is the best film based on a video game that I’ve seen!
So what the heck is this top ten all about? At the above Wikipedia link, there’s another section entitled “Films With Plots Centered On Video Games“. Yes! There are some great movies in this section! Why is it that movies in which video games play a big part are often so good but it seems that no one can turn an actual video game into a decent movie?
I admit to being lazy this time & working only off the Wikipedia list but their lists are never complete. If you can think of other video game based movies, let me know. As always, though, my Top Tens only contain movies that I’ve actually seen. I’m hoping that once Steven Spielberg’s adaptation of Ernest Cline’s awesome Ready Player One comes out that it’ll be a very high addition to this list. I can’t even begin to describe how excited I am for that one – I absolutely loved that book & Spielberg is the perfect choice to be directing it! 🙂
Okay – here are My Top Ten Movies With Plots Centered On Video Games (counting down to my favorite):
10. Pixels
Ugh! What a huge disappointment this was but I have to see more video game movies before I can knock this off the list…
9. Nightmares (segment: The Bishop Of Battle)
8. Scott Pilgrim Vs The World
7. TRON: Legacy
6. Summer Wars
5. The Last Starfighter
3. TRON
2. eXistenZ
1. WarGames
A Few I Haven’t Seen But Want To Mention:
– Angry Birds
I have somehow so far avoided having the kid drag me to this one. 🙂
– Arcade & Brainscan
For years I was slightly obsessed with finding a mid-90’s movie I saw part of in which teens were being killed inside a video game. Some kind people on this blog informed me that it sounded like Brainscan. Thank you, kind people! But I’m now thinking it may actually be the movie Arcade. Hmm! I have to track both these movies down to know for sure…
– The FP
Speaking of movie obsessions, I’ve been somewhat obsessed with wanting to watch this 2011 movie ever since I heard about it. Here’s the synopsis from IMDB:
In a post apocalyptic future, two rival gangs fight for control of Frazier Park by playing “Beat Beat Revelation”, a deadly version of Dance, Dance, Revolution(TM).
Are you shitting me?! That sounds like the best bad movie EVER! But I don’t think it became some big cult classic so maybe it’s not as goodbad as it sounds. But I still badly want to see it.
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yeah, I haven’t seen many on ur list, but I LOVE ur #1 and 3-5.
I read Ready Player One last month and absolutely LOVE it, so I also cant wait for the film despite there being no chance in hell that it’ll be better than the book even with Spielberg directing.
The adaptation of Armada (Cline’s second novel that was also amazing) would also be on my wishlist, but the same goes for that adaptation
I could’ve predicted those. ; ) Watch number two! I think, if Spielberg gets the rights to as much as possible from the book, it COULD manage to be even better.
Let’s hope and pray. .. do u really think id like #2? Or is this another way to get me to watch crap? 😉
It’s not crap. It’s great, like all Cronenberg. You’d hate it, yes. : )
Prob. So does that mean I should try anyway?
Nope
LOVE Scott Pilgrim an Wreck it Ralph. Those are great.
Yep! They’re great. I especially love Wreck-It Ralph. Wish all animated kids’ films were so good! : )
When I saw the title of this post I was amazed you’d managed to find 10 game-to-film adaptations that could even vaguely be described as “good”… and you didn’t, obviously, so there’s that opinion reinforced!
I haven’t seen most of these (though Blu-rays of Scott Pilgrim, Summer Wars, and the TRONs are all sat here waiting to be got round to), but I will say that, while Pixels wasn’t all it could have been, I actually enjoyed it more than Wreck-It Ralph. Gasp! Not a fan of that Disney.
eXistenZ is good though. I nearly put that in my 100 Favourites.
Ha! Yeah… Movies made of video games really suck! Oh, you need to watch TRON. : ) But, noooooo! I LOVE Wreck-It Ralph! A million times more than Pixels. At least Wreck-It Ralph knows Q*bert doesn’t talk. Lol. That annoyed me SO much. Yay, though! eXistenZ is great! : )
Arcade is a fun “so bad it’s good” movie released by the Full Moon studio, which released a lot of my favorite “so bad it’s good” movies. It stars John De Lancy and Seth Green, and well worth checking out.
Oh, I really want to see it! I do THINK it’s the one I caught maybe 20 or so minutes of in the mid-90s on TV & I’ve wanted to know what the heck that movie was ever since. : )
I’ve seen Tron and Scott Pilgrim vs. The World. SPTW is definitely a strange movie, but I really enjoyed it!
Yeah, I liked Scott Pilgrim – it was a fun film. And TRON, of course! Wow – you’ve not seen any of the rest, though? : )
I actually had a great deal of fun watching Pixels despite disliking one of the actors. (I like him as a person, a human being, but not as an actor. And I hated the dialogue for a couple scenes.) Of course, I’m 46. I remember going to the arcades and playing those games in that setting. It is like the first Hot Tub Time Machine film. I think you have to have been there at that age at that time to really get it. It doesn’t work on any other level. I also liked Scott Pilgrim VS the world even though I actually don’t like the actor playing Scott Pilgrim. I found the movie satisfying on other levels. I loved Tron and Tron Legacy and I STILL really want to see wreck-it Ralph. A couple I never heard of and the single image doesn’t really trip my trigger and I have no desire to go see them. But I have to admit I was never a big fan of Wargames. I would probably have to watch it again to try to pinpoint why. I always have a low expectation of movies based on games. I never expect greatness. I just hope for a certain level of ‘fun’.
Very true – it helps to be the right sort of age to appreciate these things. I played video games in arcades in the Eighties as well. ; ) Yeah, the TRON films are great & I love Wreck-It Ralph. You might like that one! I really like WarGames but, overall, it’s not on the same level as other favorites of mine from the 80s.
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Love the list, especially WarGames! It took me a month of subconscious thinking to figure out something you forgot. What about Cloak and Dagger? That’s one of my favorite ’80s kids movies, and it all hinges on an old game cartridge.
Thanks! WarGames is a classic. : ) I know of Cloak & Dagger & have always been curious about it but never saw it…
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