Just in case you have been living off the grid lately, check out the latest teaser trailer for The Super Mario Bros. movie! It’s a bit Game of Thrones-ish, which isn’t a bad thing.
Are you excited? We sure are! WAHOO!
source: GameSpot
Movie
GoldenEra – A Documentary about GoldenEye for the N64 will screen at the Astor for 1 night only!
For all Nintendo 64 GoldenEye 007 fans in Melbourne, mark yourself busy, as Melbourne produced documentary, GoldenEra, will be screening at the prestigious Astor Theatre on the 10th of September for one night only!
Just in case you have been living off the grid, GoldenEra is a documentary film about one of the most influential video games of all time – Goldeneye 007. Celebrating its 25th anniversary, GoldenEye 007 on the Nintendo 64 holds a special place in history and defined a generation of gamers. Made in the mid 90s at the birth of the 3D era, GoldenEye sold over 8 million copies, making a huge cultural impact on a generation of gamers due to its innovative mechanics and beloved multiplayer features.
The game was made by an inexperienced group of graduates from countryside England and went on to be a system seller for the Nintendo 64, outselling 1st party titles like Zelda. Most notably Goldeneye would set the stage for the FPS genre to dominate the gaming industry, ushering in a new era of console gaming.
This film celebrates a watershed moment in gaming history and explores the creative process behind the game, the culture in which innovation thrived, and the team from countryside England whose ambition, innovation and ingenuity resulted in countless hours of joy for players around the world.
Get your tickets now before they sell out!
A Rare 1990 ATARI STe Computer Promo Film
If you were in the market for an Atari STE and were stumped on how to use, then this 28 minute promo film from 1990 may help!
The cheese factor is off the scale in this video, but we couldn’t look away, as there were some things we actually learned or were reminded of that we had forgotten about our 16-bit Atari!
Watch it, as you may learn something new too (or at least rejog your memory) 😉
source: Computer History Archives Project
A Video Game or Pinball Machine Based On Miller’s ‘Furiosa’?
By: D.C. Cutler, U.S.A.
This summer, legendary director George Miller, at 77-years-old, has been working on “Furiosa,” his fifth film that takes place in the “Mad Max” movie universe.
Will we get a pinball machine or an epic video game when the film is released in 2024? When Miller’s masterpiece “Mad Max: Fury Road” was release in 2015, a video game was released along with the hit film. Was Avalanche Studio’s “Mad Max” any good? I found parts of the game fun, but other parts extremely boring. The graphics were amazing, and the driving gameplay was the game’s highlight. What’s not fun about vehicular combat, “Mad Max” style?
I watched “Mad Max: Fury Road” again the other night, and as I was watching it, I asked myself, “How the hell did George Miller not win the Academy Award for Best Director for this iconic film?” It’s easily one of the most visually stunning motion pictures I’ve ever seen. There’s really not that much story; the film is a big chase, and then, a chase back from where they just came from.
image sources: Flickering Myth – Cinema Solace on Twitter – Films Newsfeed
Charlize Theron’s performance as Imperator Furiosa was phenomenal. Anya Taylor-Joy will play a younger Furiosa in the 2024 film. I’m okay with the casting change, because Anya Taylor-Joy has been terrific in so many recent films and the Netflix miniseries “The Queen’s Gambit.” I hope Charlize has a cameo; or perhaps the Oscar winning actress narrates the film?
George Miller is one of the greatest filmmakers who’s ever peered through a viewfinder and yelled “Action!’” When I was little, I must’ve watched “Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior,” an action film that influenced a generation, five times in a row when I first watched it. “The Road Warrior” and “Fury Road” are masterpieces. You can say the same for 1995’s “Babe” and his segment of 1983’s “The Twilight Zone; The Movie,” “Nightmare at 20,000 Feet.” “Nightmare” is a remake of an episode of the original “The Twilight Zone” series, written by the great Richard Matheson. Playing the frightened passenger, John Lithgow gets the slight edge over William Shatner in acting. The segment in which a gremlin is on the wing of a commercial airliner during a thunderstorm, is still terrifying and suspenseful.
One of Miller’s great gifts as a director: he always knows where to put the camera when the tension is palpable. There are shots from “The Road Warrior” that I still don’t know how he captured. His signature chase sequences seem chaotic, but Miller has meticulously crafted them so well using storyboards and models, they become beautiful, choreographed anarchy.
If we get a pinball machine out of Miller’s “Furiosa,” I’ll be satisfied, but a video game…Miller will surely create an immersive world to play in.
The Homebrew Mad Max pinball machine is awesome. A commercial Furiosa pinball machine would be even better!
Nintendo’s ‘Top Gun’: Landing Trouble
By: D.C. Cutler, U.S.A.
Only a few more days until I watch “Top Gun: Maverick” in an IMAX theatre, and I’m so excited to finally see it. I’ve been wanting to watch the Tom Cruise sequel since I saw the trailer almost two years ago.
I have a lot of fond memories of playing the 1987 Nintendo game “Top Gun.” When I was little, I loved the movie, so I asked for the flight simulation game on my birthday. My father played the game more than I did when I first got it. He enjoyed showing me how many times he could effortlessly land his F-14 fighter plane on the U.S. aircraft carrier. I had a difficult time landing my F-14 at first. I couldn’t get the timing and steadiness right as I approached the aircraft carrier.
When I would hear one of the film’s iconic songs, like “Take My Breath Away” or “Danger Zone,” I would get anxious and frustrated. The songs made me think about my inability to land my jet on the large carrier.
Coming into land
Then my brother started playing “Top Gun” when I wasn’t playing it. He landed on the aircraft carrier with no problem within about three tries. It floored me. I thought, how was I so bad at landing? I kept trying, and I kept crashing like an amateur. I even started to wonder if I was playing on a harder mode than my family. Or that my brother and father had some sort of cheat code that they found somewhere or through someone they knew.
All my gamer friends at school would make fun of me because I was unable to land my F-14 on the aircraft carrier. I would come home from school or baseball practice and try to land, again and again. I got so discouraged; I didn’t play “Top Gun” for a week. I just let the game cartridge sit in the corner of my room, on my dresser. It was basically my way of ignoring the game.
Landed!
Then, one weekend morning, I got up early and I slide “Top Gun” into my NES. I took a few deep breaths and anxiously played the game until I got to the aircraft carrier. I kept my controller steady, and I kept hitting all the right buttons. If I could’ve nervously started biting my fingernails, I would have, but my hands were busy. My F-14 steadied out and I landed like it was a piece of cake. I called my friends and told them, waking most of them up from a deep sleep.
After I successfully landed my jet on the aircraft carrier, it became rather simple. The trick: I wasn’t thinking about failure so much.
image source: mobygames
No Excellent Planet of the Apes Video Game
By: D.C. Cutler, U.S.A.
The “Planet of the Apes” films are up there with my absolute favourite movie franchise. The Matt Reeves films are masterpieces. Reeves has this little movie out in theatres called “The Batman.” You may have heard of it.
The first “Planet of the Apes” film, released in 1968, starring Charlton Heston, is easily one of the top five, greatest science fiction films ever made. The movies makeup, created by the legendary artist John Chambers, is still revolutionary. And the 1968 film has one of the greatest endings in film history. The final shot and line by Heston is still chilling.
image source: Steam
When it comes to video games, unlike the exceptional films, there is only one moderately entertaining “Planet of the Apes” game, and it’s The Imaginati Studios’ “Planet of the Apes: Last Frontier.” Released on Playstation 4 in 2017, “Last Frontier” had amazing graphics and single and multiplayer interactive action. The game was released quietly and disappeared with little fanfare. “Planet of the Apes,” the 2001 action-adventure video game, was the first game in the franchise. It was released as a tie-in to the 2001 film, directed by Tim Burton. The game was as mediocre as the over produced film.
It feels like the “Planet of the Apes” property is being underused now. It’s a large world for games, television shows, and films. Disney now owns the successful franchise, and Disney has so much on their plate now with Star Wars and Marvel. However, they’re big enough to focus on a “Planet of the Apes” project and balance all the other entertainment plates they have spinning; and I left out Pixar.
I have a pitch for a “Planet of the Apes” film: It takes place shortly after the event of “War of the Planet of the Apes.” After a large aerial dogfight in the Pacific Ocean, a veteran APE soldier is stranded on a remote island atoll. He soon discovers a MAN, a crusty fighter pilot who has crashed his plane. Not communicating verbally, the two enemies initially provoke each other and refuse to cooperate. But when they begin to face famine, dehydration, and exhaustion, they are forced to put aside their differences and depend on one another for survival.
I want another “Planet of the Apes” film. And hopefully it can produce a great video game. The world created by author Pierre Boulle is a fascinating, rich one.
It’s Going To Be An 8-Bit Christmas!
If you think you have had enough of video games related movies, then you may want to look away. For those that lap up these types of nostalgia-inducing films, 8-Bit Christmas starting Neil Patrick Harris as a father looking back fondly at the late ’80s Christmas where he desperately did everything he possibly could to get an NES, will be right up your alley! Since we can relate to this tale (we also wanted a NES for Christmas in 1988, alas we didn’t get one then), we are definitely keen on giving this a watch and getting right into the Christmas spirit!
Check out the trailer below to see if 8-Bit Christmas will be on your viewing list his festive season.
source: Warner Bros. Pictures
The Lost Arcade on SBS On Demand
If you missed watching The Lost Arcade, don’t fret, you can now catch it on SBS On Demand. For those of you outside of Australia, you can catch The Lost Arcade on a myriad of streaming services.
Kurt Vincent’s The Lost Arcade is an intimate story of a once-ubiquitous cultural phenomenon on the edge of extinction, especially in New York City, which once had video arcades by the dozen. These arcades were as much social hubs to meet up and hang out as they were public arenas for gamers to demonstrate their skills. But by 2011, only a handful remained, most of them corporate affairs, leaving the legendary Chinatown Fair on Mott Street as the last hold-out of old-school arcade culture. Opened in the early 1940’s, Chinatown Fair, famous for its dancing and tic tac toe playing chickens, survived turf wars between rival gangs, increases in rent, and the rise of the home gaming systems to become an institution and haven for kids from all five boroughs.
A documentary portrait of the Chinatown Fair and its denizens, The Lost Arcade chronicles the evolution of arcades, while celebrating the camaraderie and history of a pop culture phenomenon.
You better hurry Australian peeps, as you have 29 days left (from today) to watch this on SBS On Demand. After that, you’ll have to watch it via a paid streaming service.
Sources: SBS On Demand & The Lost Arcade
What if Ready Player One was made by a Gamer?
By: D.C. Cutler, U.S.A.
Steven Spielberg, the legendary director of Ready Player One, has let it be known that he is not a gamer. But what if a gamer was given the chance to adapt Ernest Cline’s science fiction bestseller?
Spielberg’s ambitious film was entertaining and visually stunning at times, but there was something about the story, especially the virtual reality scenes, that felt detached and not cohesive. Cline’s book was heavy on the 1980s nostalgia (perhaps, a little too heavy); nevertheless, you really felt like you were in a fantastical universe.
What made the novel so good was the power of escapism for our young hero, Wade Watts. The film didn’t capture that heightened sense of stepping away from the real world into a new, immersive virtual world, like the book accomplished so brilliantly.
If a gamer had made “Ready Player One,” the OASIS would’ve felt more authentic. Don’t get me wrong, “Ready Player One” captures the virtual reality experience better than any film in recent cinema history; VR is not an easy plot device to pull off on screen. I just didn’t feel totally immersed in the world Spielberg and his digital wizards created. Cline put it on the page brilliantly.
A gamer knows what it’s like to be another virtual being. That innocent escapism is one of the reasons so many people play video games; especially first-person shooter games. Maybe a gamer’s eye could’ve presented a more engrossing and cohesive virtual world. Spielberg’s virtual world, unlike Cline’s, felt banal and, at moments, enclosed.
The film was fun, although, Spielberg could’ve consulted with some seasoned gamers to create a more unreserved, virtual world experience. But, for 71, Spielberg can still direct an action sequence with more skill and precision than most directors half his age.
image source: Teaser Trailer
Sponsored Video: ‘Warcraft: The Beginning’ – In Cinemas June 16
We are very excited that the release of Warcraft: The Beginning is almost upon us – just a few more sleeps, because it’s in cinemas on June 16!
Sponsored post