noiseredux's Monthly VG Movie: Once Upon Atari

[noiseredux]

NintendoLife 20th anniversary Making-Of feature:

http://www.nintendolife.com/news/2009/0 ... the_wizard

[noiseredux]

Just finishing up my viewing of The Wizard for the month, and still enjoyed every minute. I can only imagine it's a combo of these 2 factors:

1. Nostalgia

I vividly remember returning from the theater with friends, playing Tetris via GB link cable against my bud in his kitchen and all my friends teasing me about the fact it was obvious I had a crush on Haley. And us all talking about Super Mario Bros 3 and how awesome it was going to be.

2. Bad Movies

I guess I just love them. Another way to say this is I have "bad taste" in movies. But whatevs. I can acknowledge that something like say Lord of the Rings is a far better movie in execution, but I'd rather watch The Wizard pretty much any day of the week.

At any rate, I have at lest some confidence that some of you will enjoy my movie pick for January far more. Although I thought a lot of you were gonna like this one haha.

[Ack]

It's Double Dragon, isn't it?

[mjmjr25]

Spoiler, if interested:

second skin

[sevin0seven]

It's Double Dragon, isn't it?

or it could be the Swedish version of The Wizard: LIFE IN 8 BITS

[ExedExes]

The necro bump that keeps on giving!

[noiseredux]

well since tomorrow is January, I figured I'd announce the pick for January...

Now Playing:


Avalon



2001, 106 minutes, Rated R.

Trailer:

This month we’ll be watching the 2001 film, Avalon. I know that some of you are familiar with this one, but I’ll be seeing it for the first time myself. I picked Avalon because I thought it might tie-in (albeit loosely) with the Together Retro game this month, Phantasy Star Online. Whereas PSO is a futuristic MMO, this seemed like a pretty timely pick.

Though perhaps not a widely known film, Avalon seems to have achieved a bit of a cult following in the decade following its release, with fans generally attributing their admiration to the visual work, and slow-burning pacing that might seem to counter the more action-inspired storyline.

Because I haven’t watched the movie myself yet, I’ll have to grab the plot summary from its Netflix page: “Set in futuristic Europe, Avalon follows the contestants of a virtual-reality war game played for money and points. The game, however, is illegal, and players quickly become addicted -- but one can only leave the game by winning. The primary action of this technology-saturated sci-fi thriller focuses on the elimination of a player whose soul has become trapped in the game.”

Avalon was directed by Mamoru Oshii, who is perhaps best known for his anime works including the classic Ghost In The Shell (1995). The film stars Polish actress Matgorzata Foremniak in the role of Ash, who is currently a judge on the Polish edition of Got Talent.

You can stream Avalon via Netflix. It is also available to rent digitally through Google Play. DVD copies can be had rather cheap via Amazon or other second-hand sources.

[Ack]

I rented this one a few years back, just because I'd been curious after hearing who directed it. It's a strange one, but I ended up enjoying it. I suggest you guys check it out.

[Hobie-wan]

Avalon is awesome. However the US DVD release is GARBAGE.

I had downloaded a fansub back when the movie was brand new, and it was awesome. When I found an import DVD some time later, I snapped it up. It was probably one of my first 10 ebay purchases. Unfortunately it was my crash course introduction into bootlegs and the subtitles were better on the fansub. I kept it and just kept watch for an official US release.

Years later, it came while I was working at a store and we'd be getting a rental copy. I'd heard some troubling things about the release, so I waited to watch before buying. So the movie leaves a lot for you to think about and interpret yourself (like the ending), which some people don't like, but I thought was cool and make repeated viewings more interesting when you know more of the information for the earlier scenes. There are a lot of scenes that are very introspective with little to no sound at all. To me they were nice quiet beats that fit the movie well. On the US DVD, for the dub they made the completely boneheaded decision to give Ash internal monologues during these scenes full of exposition and explanation that they pulled out of their asses. Spoon feeding for the dumbfucks or people that don't want to put any thought into watching the movie is just asanine as is killing these introspective moments. It is similar to the stupid monologue bits added to some cuts of Blade Runner.

Furthermore, the only subtitle option on the DVD is subtitles for the hearing impaired. In and of itself, this would be a wonderful thing for those that need it, but remember those moments that are silent in the original language? Too bad if you're trying to watch it in the original language with subtitles. The movie has very little dialogue so I thought the DVD was messed up when there was suddenly a flurry of subtitles on the screen during one of these quiet moments. Then I flipped to the dub and realized what they'd done.

So, I think it is a very cool movie, I just hope you have the option to watch it in Polish with real subtitles so you can enjoy it properly. If Ash is riding home on the trolley after the game and she's talking to herself a lot, you're hosed.

[noiseredux]

interesting, Hobie. Thanks for the insight. I'm sure with the advent of the internet there's lots of ways to find the various versions. Depending on my level of laziness when I'm ready to watch I might seek out out the version you suggest, or just find it easier to fire up Netflix. But will be interesting for us all to compare/contrast the versions we've seen.