Pixels: Go See It, Spoilers Inside.
Pixels overview
Pixels got my attention when I first saw the trailer for the movie. Adam Sandler plays Sam Brenner, a very intelligent guy who didn’t tap into his potential. On the other hand Kevin James plays Will Cooper who becomes President of The United States. This wasn’t always the case back in the day, in the summer of 1982, when Arcade enthusiast Sam Brenner is invited to play in the Arcade World Championships.
The contest was to determine who would be the "Best Arcade Player in the World." People from Guinness Books of World Records were there along with NASA. You might ask why was NASA there??? Reason why? NASA was filming the competition for they could send highlights in a capsule up to space. This is where our story begins.
The movie has been given many bad reviews. Thankfully, I will not be giving 'Pixels' a bad review. The film had charming comedy. The likes of Sandler as the lead, with James who's not only the President but also Sandler's right hand man. In addition Josh Gad portrays Ludlow in the movie and is a guy who used to also be “A Top Arcade Player." Ludlow also still lives in his grandma’s house and is a conspiracy believer and has a slightly unhealthy obsession with Lady Lisa, a video game character from DojoQuest, (Ashley Benson plays her character later on in the movie.) So remember that capsule (from NASA) was sent to space, mentioned earlier? Well the Aliens from space took it as a treaty of war. Aliens didn't know what they saw so they declared war. And what they saw in the highlight videos of the 1982 competition, they went and recreated the classic arcade characters at life size and they took a shot at earth. They replicated a life size version of “Galaga”and they attacked an U.S. military base in Guam.
Meanwhile, Ludlow was hacking into the U.S Security base wall, for he could assure his friend at the base everything was going to be okay. Once Ludlow finds this out he ends up finding an old friend Sam Brenner. Ludlow secretly goes into Brenner's software installing van. Shockingly and subsequently Brenner realizes that a guy is in his van. So Brenner throws him out and then realizes it was Ludlow. Sam Brenner was cautious and comical by asking "How did you get into my van?" Brenner earlier in the film explained to a group of officials that the attack was "Galaga." The group thought Sam Brenner's idea was illogical. Ludlow had the proof though. Besides Brenner being criticized by a woman (A girl who Brenner was flirting with earlier in the movie played by Michelle Monaghan) and old generals. The old generals, one thought it was the work of Iran. The other said the attack had Moscow written all over it. Ludlow and Brenner meet in the Oval Office one day and show Will Cooper a video transmission from the aliens.
The voices of Ronald Reagan and Madonna were used to tell the humans, "It's best out of three winner takes Earth." The movie hits its climax when Will Cooper decides to bring in the nerds to save the world and not his own military. I don't want to spoil it so there you have your overview of "Pixels."
My Thoughts
It was tremendous using classic figures of eighties pop culture to show off the Alien’s messages instead of some cheesy Martian saying we will destroy your world with arcade games. So “Pixels” gets a couple of creativity points, the movie itself had such a backbone and creative plot and it was a movie without a loophole, which is very surprising. They explained the story so well. Even though you can argue that the film is super unrealistic it was one adventurous experience with laughter. I don’t want to give away the full movie. The reason why? I encourage you to go see “Pixels” and have a laugh! Also, who knew that PAC-MAN was a bad guy? Not even the creator of PAC-MAN could change him back to good! The group comes up with different solutions to fight off the Aliens.
Adam Sandler gets the hot chick like always. Kevin James saves the world from extraterrestrial forces. Josh Gad kisses Ashley Benson… Peter Dinklage gets Serena Williams and Martha Stewart in the Lincoln Bedroom at the White House. So the movie is very outlandish. The script was marvelous, the cast played their characters very convincing. It was a very original idea they really truly went full out.
My quote about the movie and I'll end all of my movie reviews with a quote like this summing up my thoughts:
"It was an action packed comedy film and delivered on all cylinders. Josh Gad stole the show for me playing the quirky conspiracy believer Ludlow. It was a nice nostalgic journey into classic arcade games that made the eighties."
Still can't believe PAC-MAN is a bad guy… Those darn aliens am I right?
Hope you enjoyed my review of "Pixels"
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