Welcome to today’s installment of everyone’s favorite podcast… The Audio Edition (well… it’s my mom’s favorite)
Today Doug and I spend most of our time talking about Pee Wee Herman. Yeah I know it sounds dumb… but i’ts one of my favorite conversations we’ve had on the show ever! We also talk about updates on the Halo Movie project, a Castlevania Movie project to be helmed by Paul Anderson, how bad the Resident Evil movies are and a few things more.
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John-
I have to disagree with you on your point that all video games do not lend themselves to full length stories. I firmly believe the writers and directors of video game projects are squarely at fault for any failure- not the source material (ex.- ZOMBIES. Danny Boyle made a great “28 Days” while PWA made a crap “Resident Evil”). When you boil any film down to it’s plot- there’s not much originality or variation at play. It’s how the writers, directors and actors bring life to characters and ideas that make the story engaging.
For example– Star Wars is a simple retelling of age-old plot points: 1) A protagonist is confronted with adventure 2) The reluctant hero grows to the task 3) Protagonist finds success and glory. Film after film follows this basic formula– yet some succeed and others fail. Why does “Star Wars” have a life of its own while a “Battle Beyond the Stars”, “Riddick” or “Kingdom of Heaven” go down in flames? Why is “Aliens” better than “Doom”- in spite of the same plot? Simple: execution. In video game movies to date, not enough is fleshed out or invested in filling credibility via traditional means of exploring character and story.
What it boils down to is video games being placed at a perspective disadvantage from the outset by simply being “video games”. The generic definition of the medium leads to the central problem in the way the source material is approached: instead of viewing the material as interesting stories and characters, the studios approach them as kids stuff and spectacle– expecting a quick buck made from a built in fan base instead of trying to nurture the project as they do with ideas that don’t have built in fans.
In that respect, the video game plot ideas are short-changed– not because the ideas are not translatable- but because the powers that be failed to invest in the translation.
Well, you obviously haven’t played “Poopchute Moon: Death’s Dingleberries Unleashed,” because that story rocks and could be an Oscar-winner as well as a kick-ass video game movie.
Hey Matlot,
I’m thinking you must be a relative new reader of the movie blog… because for some time now I’ve been writting articles on the closer and closer merger of the Video game and movie industries. However…
While I agree that more and more action/Fantasy movies will have game adaptations… I still maintain that while they will enjoy (or suffer from) a symbyotic relationship, the two will still remain extremely distinctive mediums.
Game makers do not know how to make decent movies. Movie studios do not know how to make games. So the two rely on each other more and more because of the growing synergy between the mediums. But there is a massive logic jump to go from that statement to “A-List directors will need to do video games to remain A-List”.
Directors (like anyone else) are about money… but more than anyone else they are also about the glory (directors are the most egotistical bunch of people I’ve ever worked with… but they need to be in order to do their jobs).
Video game movies fail. Pure and simple. No Video game film has garnered any critical success from either fans or critics. Why? Because video games do not lend themselves to full length stories. It’s just that simple… and they’re nothing wrong with that.
Until 3 or 4 GOOD video game movies come out that revolutionize how the genre is done… your statement of A-List directors seems pretty damn far fethched.
But hey… stranger things have happened. Who knows!
Good conversation.
~John
John, we all know how you feel about video game movies, you continue to insist that an A list director will never direct a movie from said genre. I think that you are failing to see the bigger picture; pretty soon the divisions between video games and film will become increasingly blurred. It is entirely likely that any action film worth the label will have to be accompanied by a game. Indeed, peering further into the future, it is entirely conceivable that the film and the game will become inter-changable.
We are just witnessing the embryonic stages of this development. I am absolutely convinced that, sometime very soon, an A-list director will take the helm of a video game movie – they are going to have to, to remain A-list.
Well, anyone “presenting” on a show called Blue Peter, should be, in my opinion, be watched with a wary eye.
darren, he wasn’t in public though. he was in an adult movie theatre. what did they expect he’d be doing? what about everyone else there? and how can it be alleged? either he was or he wasn’t, it’s not hard to see is it?
secondly, i never knew it was illegal…
nd thirdly, his show may hve been over, but the fact remins that he was a beloved children’s tv preseenter who they ll love, nd he was caught doing nughty things. that is a big deal. if you work with children you have to be squeeky clean.
eg here in the uk, richard bacon, a presenter on “blue peter” was caught doing cocaine, or being on it while presenting i believe. he got axed by the bbc almost the very next day.
Exposing your penis in some circles is considered community service.
Oh my oh my where to begin.
1) Let’s start with Anderson and Castlevania. I wasn’t a big AvP fan, because there was no story, little characterization, and a complete disregard for “the rules” from previous Alien and Predator franchises. I liked “Resident Evil 2” better than “Resident 1”, but not by much. To see where these films went wrong, see “28 Days Later” or any of the Romero films, which either a) comment/critique on an aspect of society or b) depict characters as three dimensional.
While Andersen did not helm the second Evil, he wrote and produced it. There was this character played by Mike Epps, cracking jokes while death and despair is all around him. Within 24 hours of the ‘outbreak’ characters can easily kill others who change into zombies. I repeat “within 24 hours”. Not within 28 Days. 24 hours.
Why can’t we simply get a Duke Nukem movie? Or whatever happened to :”Spy Hunter” or “Hitman”? These video games involve a character or two who could be the focus of fairly decent VG to film movies. I wasn’t a hug fan of ‘Tomb Raider’, but as the years go by, and we see the next Uwe Boll or Paul WS Andersen movie (WS is needed in his name, as there is a more talented director with the name Paul Anderson- “Punch Drunk Love”)
2)Halo.
It depends on how soon they can get a director and cast together. Seems to me they want to allow a certain amount of prep time. Also, I think that using Jackson’s studios and some FX crew, that could keep some of the budget low. Do I think it will be in theatres in summer 2007? No. I’ll agree with you guys. Christmas 2007.
But now comes to subject #3, and here is where I strongly disagree with both of you.
3) Pee Wee Herman/Paul Reubens.
While the scandal may have helped him ‘escape’ the Pee Wee persona (do you think he would have gotten ‘Blow’ if he still were Pee Wee?) the fact remains is that…at the time of the scandal, it was a big deal in 1991. That goes double for the 2002 incident where, even though he turned himself in, he was charged with a misdemendor of being in possession of child pornography. The charges of child porn had been dropped in 2004, in exchange for a plea to a misdemeanor obscenity charge and a $100 fine. He has two years left to go on his probation. He also must register as a sex offender and cannot be unsupervised around children.
In ’91, he was booked on indecent exposure. I’ll grant you that the press was all over it more than they should have, but y’know, he creates and acts a character that would appeal to young children. A scandal such as this would have a ripple effect, and…well, at the time, “Pee Wee’s Playhouse” had run its course after five seasons. Even Rubens himself thought the character and the show was pretty much done before the incident.
http://www.eonline.com/News/Items/0,1,5107,00.html
Rubens as Pee Wee (despite a cameo on the MTV movie awards a few years back I think) is over and out. Done with. Rubens needs to get his act together.
And Doug, a person doing some business in the commode is one thing; said person is in a private area meant for that purpose. It is another thing when the person holds out his wang in public for all to see.
-Sealer out.
the reason why they have PWA doing Castlevania is that he’s been the most sucessful director of video game movies so far. His video game movies have been sucessful financially and they’re kick-ass too.
And, as far as trusting greed goes.. I don’t trust in greed when it comes to the movie business. Greed runs Hollywood. If greed is the best way to run a movie business, then all the movies that are created should be great and fantastic. There shouldn’t be any bad movies at all, and all of them should be hits. But, that is not true. Bad movies are created all the time. Why is that?
Movies are ultimately an art form but a very expensive so the financiers have control over artistic decisions. You disagree that Anderson is a bad choice, well too bad. Most of his video game movies have been profitable. In fact, Mortal Kombat was the first hit video game movie. And it makes good sense to hire Anderson to direct this movie.
John,
Wikipedia says this..
“On July 26, 1991, Reubens was arrested in Sarasota, Florida, for allegedly masturbating in an adult movie theater. The news media went into a frenzy and the scandal marked the near-death of the character “Pee-wee Herman.” Although the series Pee-wee’s Playhouse had already ended by that time, CBS reacted by dropping its reruns from their lineup.”
and Doug,
“Reubens was arrested again in 2002 in connection with an investigation involving child pornography, which coincided with an unrelated child pornography case involving actor Jeffrey Jones.”
well, they could get halo out quickly if they decide to go to make a sucky film :)
i’m almost 100% sure that they’ll tie in a game to come out thesme time as the film. afterall, the film is in all likelyhood a promo for the game.
lol. castlevania. all i can think of is that nintendo cartoon… captain n? i quite liked resident evil 1. i really don’t know why though, coz there was nothing great about it. might just be coz i like milla jovovich… never saw 2 though.
out of paul anderson and uwe boll, i’d definately go with anderson. didn’t he also do event horizon?
i quite liked mystery men. very underrated comic adaptation.
you said it doug! normally i’d say he could’ve got away with it. however the fact that he’s a children’s tv presenter, and was caught red handed is what killed him. it doesn’t mter what you do, as long as you don’t get caught.
i imagine the network were pretty much forced to make a pre-emptive strike and axe him due to the public outrage. if they didn’t pull him, then they’d get done for supporting a “pervert” and lose ratings, which is the number1 concern.
can he do a pee-wee herman show? they sound like great ideas, but who owns the rights? they should make it a late night spin off show and put it on adult swim… it would be perfect.
that has to be the shortest edition you’ve made yet :(