 Welcome to the Adam does movies podcast. I'm of course Adam today. We're talking movies as always Specifically the topic on this episode is gonna be on video game adaptations movies from video games Also, you know, we might splash movies from books Although I think it's fair to say that a large swath of movies that come out are based on a book or a play Or a short story or something that Bob's been working off in his garage for five years And he finally got it off the shelf and into the hands of a studio exec regardless There's an excuse that I've noticed coming up a lot because of the popularization of video games turned into movies and that is You're not a fan of the game. So the movie's not for you. It's such a cheap cop-out lame-ass excuse for when a movie based on a video game that you like just isn't very good I bring it up now again because this is a topic. I've covered a couple times in the past mainly from the book side of things But I bring it up now because video games have been on the rise both popularity In terms of like the PlayStation Xbox Nintendo switch all that stuff PC gaming, of course to Video games becoming movies like every year we get more and more of them and the quality is actually getting better I think overall there have been gems I grew up with that I thought were pretty good like Mortal Kombat which came out in the 90s. It's Absolute 90s schlock, but I think it's done very well For what it is. I also think that you can appreciate the movie if you're not even a fan of Mortal Kombat now You got to be a fan of like the Ninja Turtles three ninjas kind of slap sticky action humor movies If you're not a fan of that you're not gonna like Mortal Kombat because it's it's got a lot of that in spades But that's an example of a movie that both stands on its own It gets the story across even if it's absolute nonsense And it pays a ton of service to the video game and its fans You got newer movies like Mario. It's complete nostalgia bait You know every single frame of that film has something that a video game fan can appreciate. Oh my god There's Toadstool. Oh look at there's a the one-up block from the first game Now I'm just kind of talking out of my ass even though I've played all of these Mario games. Oh, there's the one-up block from Mario 1 I'm off the cuff. It's gonna be rough But yeah, you'll see things the cheap cheaps jumping in the air the little fish things You'll see things like that King Boo off during the ceremony and you'll go okay. That's from that game I love that they added that in but they're really just Easter eggs. They're they're not really big parts of the film That that's where the story comes in and that's where you put a competent script together I just saw Five Nights at Freddy's with my kids. We're not I mean, I'm familiar with the games. I've never played them I think there's seven or eight or nine of them at this point. They're very popular My son knows more about the story. He read the comics. I think that companion with the games he's played some of the iterations via Roadblocks or roadblocks, whatever the fuck that's called that's stupid ass app. He likes that stuff He's never outright played Five Nights at Freddy's my daughter doesn't care about it But the movie looked good It looked really fun. It looked like he was gonna be a little creepy. The trailers were great You have these Chuck E cheese-esque animatronics coming to life terrorizing the rundown pizza place All right, there's a guy working the night shift. There's other people there a chaos ensues Well, it turns out the movie is very convoluted The story is absolutely insane. There's kids souls trapped inside these machines it's just absolute bonkers and I said so much in my review I said listen if you're a fan of this game because now when you review movies or review anything It seems like you have to have 45 caveats so you don't hurt people's feelings or at least so you set the set the table for them Because apparently people just don't know how to communicate with one another or understand where someone's coming from. I Went into the movie expecting a good movie. I didn't go into it expecting fan service to the video game Audience only and nothing else and that's what it was but even in that sense Was that good fan service for you because this story was ass This was terrible and if that's a companion to the game that actually turns me off from wanting to ever play the game I was honestly hoping to be pulled in Sucked in and given an excuse to actually try it out because I am a gamer. I played a ton of games but it didn't do that and Even though I did have the caveat by stating I haven't played this I wanted to go in and get some laughs and some scares as it was presented If you are a fan of Five Nights and Freddy's or at Freddy's whatever the fuck it's called You don't need to listen to me. You already made up your own mind. You're going to this movie day one You're probably gonna have a good time. Whatever. That's your prerogative But don't throw it at me when I'm trying to review this from the standpoint of a movie on a movie channel and The comments were gold as always and I wanted to say to myself, you know what? They're probably like seven year olds, but then I looked and Five Nights of Freddy's has been around for almost a decade So these people are at least ten and I don't think they were playing it when they were one So sadly these people are probably in their late teens early 20s, which is just pathetic based on some of the stuff They said to me Insulting not only my intelligence, but my kids my wife like it's just just pathetic and And sad especially when you're dying on the hill of Five Nights at Freddy's how embarrassing Regardless of all that the takeaway that 90% of them said was it's all about the lore It's about the rich lore really the rich lore is what we're going with on this dumb movie. That's sad I feel sad for you Who says that about movies? I don't like the twilight films, but even the book readers weren't coming out going It's all about the rich lore. It's about the lore Maybe some did but for the most part it was it was a little bit more like well Yeah, it's it's teen crap and I like the love story and all that stuff fair enough. You do you that's fine But don't give me some bullshit. I didn't understand it because of the complexities of the lore of the rich vibrant story line I on my TV if you're watching the stream I have what is this free guy with Ryan Reynolds? Funny enough. It's not even based on a video game, but it is a video game movie It's got callbacks to Grand Theft Auto and to Fortnite and to a million other little gems It's okay. I didn't love free guy. I thought it was fine. A lot of people really enjoy it I can see why it's light-hearted. It's fun got a lot of action and again it tips It's had a lot it does however have a good story or at least an interesting different story and that's why um I think that's what people resonate with You look at something like ready player one. It's the same lines based on a book Book is chock full of nostalgia a lot of it based around gaming the movie went all in on this by Steven Spielberg I love ready player one. I can see it's false though. I get some hang ups I have some hang ups with it too, but for the most part. I think the movie is wonderful. It's action-packed It's got some cool characters got a lot of great callbacks to movies video games books It's got it all and so you can definitely do it right another one that I really love And again, these are three examples of video game movies that aren't based on video games is Wreck-It Ralph a film that is chock full of Characters from video games from Sonic the Hedgehog to Bowser from Mario Brothers To made-up versions of games kind of a halo-esque shooter in there You have a Mario Kart game Candy Crush not Candy Crush. What's it called Candy Rush? Sugar Rush sugar rush I got there. I figured it out on my own Which is a playoff of Mario Kart and then Mario Kart would later come out with a map. That's basically sugar rush So it's kind of this back-and-forth collaboration But I like this film a lot because they take a character from a video game as a bad guy They put him in a scenario where he doesn't want to be a bad guy And the rest of the movie is him trying to find himself while introducing a lot of these different gaming elements Very well done very well put together. The sequel is atrociously bad. I hate Ralph breaks the internet It does a disservice to the first film. It does a disservice to the message and the characters Ugly movie and that's how you do it wrong They took what worked and they quadrupled it and then forced in a bunch of Advertising I didn't feel like I was being advertised to in Wreck-It Ralph When Street Fighter characters showed up like Ryu and Ken It just looked like a tip of the hat to those characters They added to the story or when the Pac-Man ghosts fly by and Pac-Man's after them but when I got to Ralph breaks the internet and There was a Twitter area where they were tweeting at each other and Amazon had a space and Pinterest had a location. It felt like corporate garbage trying to get us to sign up for these products Just like the emoji movie was just 100 corporate trash Let's get back to the video games though and the movies that worked I just can't believe how dumb people are about this five nights in Freddy's thing. It's really wild You take something like Sonic the Hedgehog that came out not that long ago This is a great example of a movie and some people are saying that this was intentionally done for marketing purposes I don't buy it for a second Way too much money would be spent to do this and the animators have come out and since said that yeah We will work to the bone on this Jumping ahead of myself the point is Sonic comes out with the trailer for the live-action Sonic the Hedgehog That's kind of Scooby-Doo-Wish where Sonic's fake You got James Marsden in there playing a cop in a real world, but it's mixy. It's who frame Roger Rabbit in it kind of The trailer comes out Sonic looks like a nightmare. He looks like absolute shit It's creepy. He's got these weird legs with fur on them. None of the Aesthetic is pleasing. He doesn't match his game counterpart. He's 80 percent there But that 20 percent that's missing is wholly missing. It's really disturbing And so after a massive amount of blowback Of fans being in an uproar over this nightmare fuel The studio made the decision to go back and completely change it all They had a huge amount of this film done and they went back and ripped out the model of Sonic and replaced him with a different one That looked 99.9 percent like the game with a couple tweaks to make it more movie ready And Sonic looked great and the movie was good. It was a good time. Simple easy Bingo bingo bongo. We're all ready for a sequel Another time we're a sequel. I thought was a little too big for its britches. The movie goes on far too long It has some weird bride zilla storyline where Sonic's not even in the film for 10 minutes while she goes in this Complete wedding rage across the golf course. Just odd odd choices with that film But um, wait when you're able to both Marry the fans of the games with general audiences. You you wouldn't believe how well it can actually work out You don't need to pander to one or the other Focus on story first and the rest will come into the fold Another example of a movie working out Bad for everyone involved would be street fighter. Remember that little gem with john claud van dam I actually did a movie roast on my channel adam does movies I'm proud of it. I think it's hilarious, but I went through the entire movie talked about all the negatives, which spoiler. There's a lot They took all the iconic characters from the game Chun li, kami, rayu, ken, sagat, and bison every list goes on for a long time And the casting is actually pretty good for a lot of it But instead of having them be their iconic characters where they're you know, they're martial arts experts or their assassins Chun li's a reporter ballerog's a camera guy professional boxer ballerog's a camera guy sumu wrestler iyanda is the uh What he's like the editor is just insane. They just gave them these basic bitch positions in the real world Ken and rayu are like these low life smugglers of weapons. Just none of it worked out It was very corny And I the tone just wasn't there for anyone at least not at the time I think it is a cult following now Because it is fun. It's really fun to watch and laugh kind of at it more than with it But uh, regardless, there's some entertainment there for sure. Just not the kind i'm interested in I mentioned mario by illumination That's how you do it the right way beautiful graphics simple characters easy storyline to understand it hits every age group What didn't work was the mario brothers movie. They came out in the 90s The gritty live action film that was a disaster behind the scenes and the final product was even more so one bob haskins plays mario. You got john liguizamo is luigi It's it's it almost has to be seen to believe how bad the movie is has almost nothing to do with the video game The plots paper thin in the game to be fair, but what they came up with here is just absolute atrocious garbage Uh getting back to kind of the message of this podcast is I guess really twofold It's it's like threefold. It's a it's a truffle. It's a trifle. Don't be an asshole When people criticize something you like in the form of a different medium Oh, you love the five nights at freddy's games. That's great This movie should stand on its own though It can be a companion piece sure But you have to draw in an audience and tell them what's going on and make them understand and give them something that's digestible Making a movie that has all these weird. I guess callbacks to the game. That's the other thing is The comments make you seem like you're dumb for not liking the storyline, but the storyline wasn't complex It was just dumb It was just bad So that's one thing maybe understand that What you like might not be compatible with what other people like but stop and actually listen to what they're saying Instead of just throwing out insults or hurling, you know ignorant statements back Just just listen take a beat Second thing studios need to understand that you have to do more than just put out a movie with a game license Like need for speed Oh, it's got uh erin paul from breaking bad. This is a surefire hit. No That movie was terrible You got to put in some work with it Like they did actually with grand turismo a movie that I saw last year almost this year. I guess Blown away. I thought for sure. Oh my god much like rough breaks the internet I saw the trailers for it and I thought okay, so this is sony just Doing a two-hour advertisement for how great they are and grand turismo the game series This is the most pathetic thing ever. I watched the movie and it's damn good It actually had good characters a great story some fun lessons Based on true story plot that really resonated. I think with a lot of people It was definitely made with two I think two main focuses one Obviously sell some games Sell some playstations get the brand out there more but two Make a good movie It was refreshing It was very refreshing the third thing I'd point out. Don't be an asshole in the comments I understand that people have different opinions, especially when it comes to movies two Studios need to try with their products. They can't just slap a label And the third thing I would say about these video game movies Is don't be afraid To change some stuff But don't go so far away from the game that it's not even the same thing anymore You could look at something like x-men for instance the brine singer films early on and then they kind of continue the trend going forward Of introducing some of the fan favorites from the comics and the animated show wolverine cyclops storm gene gray beast professor x they'd come and go What he changed about them were the outfits at the time Yellow spandex didn't really translate well at least in the wardrobe department. They couldn't make that work So instead he went with a very bland very basic very much Early 2000s look the black leather the the matrix look From the the late 90s it trans it transferred for a couple years the leather was in And so he went with that and I think for the time it came out It didn't hurt the picture It also didn't kill me it did it did kill some fans that wolverine was tall I thought Hugh jackman embodied the role very well Yeah, wolverine's a short stocky dude with a hotheaded temper, but jackman really made it his own So yes, you can take creative license You'll get something like tomb raider with angelina joly They didn't really take any creative license angelina joly's a smoke show That was one of the requirements for tomb raider maker look great laura croft looks great angelina knocks it out of the park So there are some good case studies to be had for the most part though these games Usually get it very wrong these game movies They they cast a character that looks nothing like their counterpart set them in a Area that has nothing to do with the game The storyline is just completely all over the place Or they just pander so hard to their audience on social media before the movie even comes out That they've made up their mind about the film. Yes, this movie was made for me And not for regular moviegoers. So i'm going to alienate them I'm going to make them feel dumb or i'm going to make them feel Less worthy to go watch this you should want more people to go to the movie to celebrate what you like So that you get more of it Of course five nights at freddy's i think did pretty damn well because again It's based on a popular v8 video game franchise and the trailers looked really good that said I have a hard time believing a lot of the people will go back for a sequel I know if i wasn't a movie critic who goes out and sees everything to review it I would not go to a sequel for five nights at freddy's based on what i saw It didn't draw me in Great it's by the the same company the same studio that made megan. All right Megan was actually great and that was also pg 13 So that can't be an excuse either you can make it work with the rating You just have to put in the work and not get so lost in What fandom you're trying to appeal to? Make the good movie the fans will follow All right, I don't need to make this any longer than it needs to be hope you enjoyed the conversation Hope you got something out of it Where are you where are you at on this? I do you agree do you think? Hey, maybe if you make a movie it should stand on its own You shouldn't be required to have to read a book or play some of the video games to understand the movie It should be able to present itself the characters and everything it's trying to do as its own medium because that's what it is Or Do you think no adam you you should you should know all this stuff going in it's your job now To go I can't even get through it. No one should think that that's insane That's absolutely insane All right, thanks for watching leave a comment if you like the video if you have any thoughts on this Or if you've run into this In your own day to day with people debating Video game movies books, you know that come from movies Movies that come from books. I can't talk. It's it's getting late when I'm recording Let me know if you haven't please think about subscribing to the channel the podcast on spotify Apple podcasts and other podcasting services trying to grow them over there You're free to watch and listen on youtube, of course too. That's where I primarily post all my stuff But I am putting the live streams out on the podcast as well So you have more to listen to every single week when you're driving or you're doing ever whatever you're doing playing a video game Playing a video gaming listen to me. It's a win-win. All right. Thanks very much and hopefully I'll catch you next time. Take care