Hello everyone, just a little random rundown on some upcoming movies which are based on Video Games:


1. Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time



Based on: Prince of Persia Series (Sands of Time in particular) - THUMBS UP
Starring: Jake Gyllenhall, Alfred Molina, Ben Kingsley - THUMBS UP
Directed by: Mike Newall (Harry Potter) - THUMBS ?
Trailer: Not available
Story: The Prince and some busty Persian Sexbomb have to stop the bearded Wizard from unleashing a vicious sandstorm upon the world - THUMBS ?
Think: Pirates of theCaribbean, Indiana Jones, The Mummy- THUMBS UP
My 5 cent: If he plays his cards right, Jake Gyllenhall might me in for the megastar treatment just like Johnny Depp when he took over the role in another of Disney's recent megaromps that is POTC. The movie is a Brucknheimer production and he rarely misses to land a blockbuster. Gyllenhall is a fine lead and Newall will turn this into an easily digestible family package (popcorn not included).
Hype Rating: 3/4 Thumbs - A sure hit of fine, not great quality

2. Halo (Cancelled)


Based on:Halo Series-
Starring: not a living soul
Directed by: nobody
Trailer: Not available
Story: There is a planet with evil aliens on it, nuf said -
Think: Starship Trooper
My 5 cent: I did not like the Halo video game and I am glad this rubbish project got cancelled. Rumours have it that Peter Jackson himself had been attached to this project at some point (as producer) and he tried to get Guillermo Del Toro to direct it. Ha,there is a career destroyer right there. Sci-Fi is as out as ever. Maybe the latest Star Trash franchise can change something about that, who knows. This project has been lost in the abyss.
Rating: n.a.

3. Castlevania (production rumoured to be inactive)



Based on:Castlevania Series - Thumbs UP
Starring: unknown
Directed by: Unknown
Trailer: Not available
Story: Well, there has to be a castle in it, and a vania of course (d'oh)
Think: Van Helsing - Thumbs DOWN
My 5 cent: The setting of the game is definetly interesting and I am expecting a sort of Matrix with really cool vampires and some sort of megasexy male lead. We will have to wait and see for he director. This movie could actually be turned into something good. Maybe some good stylization and/or story, who knows. Unfortunately, the screenwriter attached to the movie is an ass-gravy summoner, being responsible for pukemovies such as Death Race and Resident Evil 4 (or was it Resident Evil17 ?). You can expect this illiterate moron to throw in everything he has ever heard about (as he cannot read). According to news related to the film, Dracula will make an experience (who would have though of that ? Dracula in a vampire movie, OMG !) and the film will be set in "many" time periods. Oh yeah, just throw in the odd period here and there, you'll never know
Rating: 0 - Still a mystery to us puny peasants

4. World of Warcraft


Based on:World of Warcraft - Thumbs UP
Starring: unknown
Directed by: Unknown
Trailer: Not available
Story: The story behind the Warcraft universe has been carefully developed and took a high quality turn with Warcraft 3. There is enough material there to make an epic story out of it - Thumbs UP
Think: Lord of the Rings Trilogy Thumbs UP
My 5 cent: This is actually a pretty tough one to imagine. The world of Warcraft is so huge and diverse, you could make hundreds movies out of it. And while the game itself is shallow and crap, the world behind it and the "epic" storyline is interesting. The question is what the producers will go for with this franchise. The movie could be story, suspense, atmosphere and dialogue heavy such as the Lord of the Rings or an fantasy action romp with all the races in a big heap of slashing mess. There is a lot of potential there. An the audience as well of course. Blizzard turned **** into gold with the WOW pc game, maybe they can do the same with a movie franchise. Also, there are many celebrities known to play the game and there might be a rich array of choices for the producers to choose their leads from.
Rating:3 - A sure hit, but will it be of good quality ? The potential is there

5. Splinter Cell




Based on:Splinter Cell Series - Thumbs UP
Starring: unknown
Directed by: Unknown
Trailer: Here - Thumbs Down
Story: Unknown at this point, but I will very likely something ridiculous such as dearming a nuclear bomb that has been hidden in Bejing by Koreans who are in love with some Russian maniac.
Think: The Bourne Identity - Thumbs UP
My 5 cent: While I do like the Splinter Cell games for the slow pace and subtle action, I am afraid the movie franchise will turn up the heat a bit and make the movie far movie action heavy than the game. Furthermore, it is really hard to find a charismatic action lead. The producers of Bournce Conspiravy struck gold with Matt Damon who is both a good physical acter but amazing character actor as well. As soon as you put some dumb monkey into the sneaky suit, the movie will go down the drain. Rating:1 - This will probably fail or not even get produced. The problem of finding a good male lead and a good screenplay (unless you let Tom Clancy do it or base it on a book by Robert Ludlum). Judging by the trailer, the folks at Paramount have got no idea what they are doing.

6 & 7. TEKKEN / KING OF FIGHTERS



Based on:Tekkenseries/ KOF Series- Thumbs DOWN
Starring: A bunch of No-Names - Thumbs DOWN
Directed by: Someone who did not manage to land a real deal - Thumbs DOWN
Trailer: Just play the game
Story: A high-octane action movie about a young man who discovers he holds a great power and must battle a team of elite fighters who will stop at nothing in order to get it from him (TEKKEN)
King of Fighters plot unknown, but probably something based on Shakespeare. Thumbs DOWN
Think: Street Fighter - Thumbs DOWN
My 5 cent:Why do people make movies ouf of games that virtuallhave not story and a bunch of twodimensional (not literally) characters ? Anyway, if you decide for some strange reason to makea movie of a fighing came, the simplest thing to do would be to topicalize the "tournament" of the movie instead of creating some rubbish plot. Think of the movie Bloodsport, that worked fine.
Rating:-5: This movie will take a plunge into the depths of obscurity and slumber in Dante's circle of Hell reserved for bad movies. Good Riddance.

8. American McGee's Alice

Based on:Lewis Carrol's children novel Alice in Wonderland and the Disney Movie of the same name
Starring: Not known at this point. Sarah Michelle Gellar was attached to this once, but is no longer (thank god)
Directed by: Unknown, but Wes Craven seems to be involved somehow (as producer maybe)- Thumbs DOWN (Wes Craven has not made a good movie in years)
Trailer: Not available
Story: The story of young girl who runs after a rabbit in some sort of haste (probably urging to do what rabbits do) and finds herself thrown into a fantasy world full of dope-ridden critters and murderous fat ladies. Thumbs UP
Think: Disney's Alice in Wonderland
My 5 cent:The novel is amazing and you should read it. Disney toned it down and made it into a family movie (yet is still quite bizarre).The novel simpyl screams for a reimagination by some visionary acter (TimBurton anyone). But as it seems, nobody is interested in doing it. Maryling Manson was attached to the project somehow and while I do not know about his movie making talent he is certainly something to look at and would make this movie interesting at least. Thumbs UP
Rating:2: While the original and novel offer enough to make a masterpiece out of this, unfortunately as masterpiece requires a master to do it and there is no master anywhere near that production.

9. Bioshock



Based on:Bioshock (d'oh) - Thumbs UP
Starring: Only rumours floating around the web at this point
Directed by: Gore Verbinski (The man behind Pirates of the Carribean) - Thumbs UP
Trailer: Not available
Story: A plane-crash survivor discovers an underwater utopia of sinister origins - Thumbs UP
Think:
My 5 cent:A great gamewith great story that could easily be made into a great movie.Casting Gore Verbinski as a director is like invitingBruce Campbell into your cottage, a sure thing.Yet, the story and feel of the game / story is a bit more darker and grim than Pirates of the Carribean for example might not be suitable for such a large family audience (unless toned down). So let's hope they decide to go with the grit and make a good one out of this.Thumbs UP
Rating: 4, Out of all the movies I have listed so far, this is the only one I am looking forward to, great story, good director, huge potential there

10. Broken Sword: Shadow of the Templars



Based on:Broken Sword - Shadow of the Templars- Thumbs UP
Starring: Unknwon
Directed by: Unknown
Trailer: Not available
Story: Opening in the city of Paris, George Stobbart is enjoying his autumn vacation when he narrowly escapes an explosion outside a café. Following the clues left behind by the killer, who is dressed as a clown, George discovers there is something much larger and more dangerous going on that stretches back in time as far as the Knights Templar. Enlisting the help of a French journalist, Nicole Collard, they follow an intricate manuscript which points them in the direction of various locations around the world. Thumbs UP
Think: Hard to say at this point, could be something awful like National Treasure or something really interesting like The Ninth Gate or even a blockbuster like Da Vince Code
My 5 cent:I do like the game very much and from what I heard, Charles Cecil, the creator of the game is involved in the making of the movie so it should stay pretty close to the game and not become a hollywoodized bloated action behemoth. With the recent success of paranoia-templar novels such The Da Vinci Cdoe and Angels & Demons, there might even be a fair audience for this sort of film.
Rating: 2, The story is solid and the movie should be filmable, but without a pulling cast there will not be enough there to attracht the mainstream audience

10. City of Heroes (City of Villains ?)



Based on:City of Heroes MMOG - Thumbs DOWN
Starring: Unknwon
Directed by: Unknown, but produced by the idiot behind Transformers - Thumbs DOWN
Trailer: Not available
Story: A city full of heroes amd villains who get into fights in the que at Starbucks - Thumbs DOWN
Think: X-Men, Fantastic Four
My 5 cent:There are some great Superhero movies out there (Batman, The Shadow, Spiderman) and some terrible (Wolverine, X-Men, Fantastic Four, Hulk, Superman etc.) Yet, all of the are based on real comic books. This movie is not actually based on any comic book heroes and one might wonder how the movie will translate the in-game setting of thousands of heroes into a movie. The game has virtually no story, atmosphere, coherent world or good visuals so that will be tough for a movie to get anything out of. Thumbs DOWN
Rating: -4, Not a chance


Rumour has it we will have to suffer from the following video games being turned into waste of celluloid:

1. The Sims - Now that is story that need to be told ! I always wanted to see someone sitting on a loo for 3 hours.
2. Area 51 - Another stroke of genius - pit some Marines (USA !) vs. evil grey aliens with big eyes on their quest to travel the universe to find fitting glasses.
3. Metroid - Guess who will be stucking his rocket launcher into some space pie ? The movie will be produced by the guys behind American Pie.
4. Street Fighter - A new movie adaption of the successful beat em up series. Will they be able to top Jean Claude Van Damme's academy award winning performance ?
(UPDATE, this movie has actually been released already, OOPS, look here)