Movies and Computer Games (1 Viewer)

[Uncle Morgy]

Uwe Boll, a film director with a name that's reminicient of a sheep dish, speaks out against, well, us in this European interview.

He does manage to bring up a point, though. Valid or not, it's something that I've been wondering about ever since Dungeons and Dragons made it's big screen debut. He mentioned that "The reality is that a lot of the videogame companies are quite sloppy - they are happy to sell the licence, but then they don't give a sh** about it, and this is not the right approach." Granted, this may be true about the movies which have currently been released about video games....

But when was the last time you saw a good adaptation of a video game? Mr. Boll, as foul-mouthed and rather angsty as he is, seems to have either:

A- cornered the market on releasing Video-game based movies,

B- is the only person willing to step up to the plate and take a stab at this rather testy field, Or

C- Telling us the truth. With, perhaps, his own ulterior motives for doing what he does. (IE, he knows the companies don't care about the movie, so he figures it's a quick way for him to make a dirty little action film and some cash).

Looking at his IMDB resume, it does seem like companies are handing him their movie liescenses as if it was candy. Why aren't other directors takind advantage of the seemingly liberal whims of the Video Game companies? I'd like to see the next Peter Jackson come along, pick up one of these liscenes from what it seems like the very earth we stand on, and create an actual blockbuster of a film. Right now, it seems we're at our worst for adaptations. We could get worse, I suppose, but I'd really like to see us get better.

 

[Gaston]

I would say it's A,B, and C.

Ewe Boll's type of film falls under the same category as the low production 50's beach party films, or the dime-a-dozen horror films of the early 60's, or the blacksploitation films of the 1970's.

Fortunately, Mr. Boll has not perverted any liscenses dear to my heart, and as such I see his accomplishments humorous at best. I must assume that he is making these studios a decent amount of money or else they wouldn't be asking him back so often (he's probably huge in Germany).

Ewe Boll strikes me as a modern day Ed Wood, no one knows how he became such a well known director, and he'll cetainly be parodied some day. I'm sure that his apparent lack of polish (read: effort) in his films is a combination of the studio not caring and him not caring. It's easy to rant and rave about the cast/crew/funding that you receive, but these things can all be overcome through dedication to a project.

For example, the original Clerks cost $56,000 ($28,000 was spent on music liscenses) to make, was filmed at night at the convenience store (director) Kevin Smith worked at, and has grossed millions of dollars over the past decade (with a ten year anniversary edition coming out soon).


The list of smal budget movies that made it big is a long one. Just to name a few here: Blair Witch, Star Wars Episode IV, and 21 Grams. I agree, Peter Jackson is da man, and I'm really pleased to see him taking the Executive Producer chair for Halo. Maybe gamers will finally be getting something they'll enjoy.