(Written for Filmoria)
In anticipation for the upcoming release of Pixels on 12th August, this week we take a look at some of the best video game moments in film.
From Scott Pilgrim playing a fictional version of Dance Dance Revolution, to Wreck-It Ralph leaving his own game to win a heroes medal of his own, when a scene involves going to the arcades or sees a character playing one of our favourite video games, we’re suddenly filled with a huge amount of nostalgia.
With Pixels being premised around games such as Pac-Man and Space Invaders invading Earth, we want to share 12 our favourite video game scenes in film of all time.
12. Paul Blart: Mall Cop – Guitar Hero
With Kevin James leading Pixels alongside Adam Sandler, here he is in Paul Blart: Mall Cop playing a bit of guitar hero. It’s such an addictive game, enough so that Blart doesn’t notice the robbery going on behind him.
11. The Beach – Running
Danny Boyle‘s The Beach has a number of great scenes, but let’s take the time to appreciate the one that sees Leonardo DiCaprio warp into game mode.
10. Back To The Future 2 – Wild Gunman
Back To The Future 2 is full of technology that’s yet to be invented (When will the hoverboard take over boring old scooters?!), but in the 80’s cafe Michael J. Fox has a nostalgic moment of his own, as he finds an old Wild Gunman game.
9. The Avengers – Galaga
It was a scene that made everybody point and whisper to each other during their first viewing of The Avengers, until Robert Downey Jr. pointed it out himself – “That man is playing Galaga!”
8. Shaun of The Dead – Roommate Troubles
We love Simon Pegg and Nick Frost, especially when they’re sat in their underwear on the sofa playing video games all afternoon, especially when it involves zombies.
7. Wargames – The Arcade
Matthew Broderick gets a bit carried away playing video games in Wargames, but we’ll allow him a bit of Galaga time when it’s not going to destroy the planet.
6. Grosse Point Blanke – Doom 2
Grosse Point Blanke has some great shoot out scenes, but the best one comes from this scene where a teen is too busy playing a shooting game in his local store to realise that the gunshots being fired around him are actually real.
5. Terminator 2 – Galeria
Where do you find a young John Carter? In the arcades, of course!
4. Toy Story – The Claw
Pizza Planet has to be the best fictional arcade rooms there is. Throughout the whole of the Toy Story franchise, these cute little aliens still believed that The Claw was their master. But it’s the master of us all really, isn’t it? Because nobody is lucky enough to pull anything out of these machines!
3. Scott Pilgrim vs. The World – Ninja Ninja Revolution
Sadly I can’t find a video of this clip, but it’s a scene that will get all of you up on your feet and tapping away to invisible squares on the floor. This scene in Scott Pilgrim vs. The World sees Michael Cera play “Ninja Ninja Revolution”, a fictitious game inspired by Konami’s dance machine, Dance Dance Revolution.
2. Scott Pilgrim vs. The World – Chaos Theatre
Another from Scott Pilgrim vs. The World, although to be honest I could include almost every scene from that film in this list, is one of the big fight scenes, as Cera “gets a life” and scores extra points.
1. Wreck-It Ralph – Bad-Anon
And for my number one spot, we go to Disney’s Wreck-It Ralph. Again, I almost just put the trailer up here and thought about typing “The whole of Wreck-It Ralph!”, but I thought it was better that I chose a clip. So my favourite scene goes to “Bad-Anon”, as a group of arcade game characters discuss their desires to be seen as the good guys for once.
And there we have it. Do you agree with our Top 12? Or do you have any of your favourite video games moments that we haven’t mentioned? Let us know in the comments below!
Based on French director Patrick Jean’s 2010 short film of the same name and directed by Chris Columbus, Pixels stars Adam Sandler, Kevin James, Josh Gad, Peter Dinklage, and Michelle Monaghan.
Here’s the official synopsis:
As kids in the 1980s, Sam Brenner (Adam Sandler), Will Cooper (Kevin James), Ludlow Lamonsoff (Josh Gad), and Eddie “The Fire Blaster” Plant (Peter Dinklage) saved the world thousands of times – at 25 cents a game in the video arcades. Now, they’re going to have to do it for real. In Pixels, when intergalactic aliens discover video feeds of classic arcade games and misinterpret them as a declaration of war, they attack the Earth, using the video games as the models for their assaults — and now-U.S. President Cooper must call on his old-school arcade friends to save the world from being destroyed by PAC-MAN, Donkey Kong, Galaga, Centipede, and Space Invaders. Joining them is Lt. Col. Violet Van Patten (Michelle Monaghan), a specialist supplying the arcaders with unique weapons to fight the aliens.
Pixels will be released on 12th August, 2015.
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