Pixels

Plot synopsis:
In the summer of 1982, a young Sam Brenner rides his bicycle to the home of his best friend Will Cooper to tell him the new arcade in town is open. They spend the whole day there, with Brenner dominating almost every game while Cooper excels at the crane machine and wins a Chewbacca mask. Seeing how awesome Brenner is at games, Cooper grabs a flyer for the arcade game world championships and says Brenner should bring his skills here.At the event, the MC (Dan Aykroyd) tells everyone that a time capsule will be launched into space containing elements of the present culture. Brenner and Cooper meet Ludlow Lamonsoff, a weird but brilliant kid who's in love with Lady Lisa, the main character of the game Dojo Quest. After Brenner gets through every game, he faces hotshot gamer Eddie Plant in Donkey Kong. Eddie mentions the pattern to the game, causing Brenner to lose focus and come in second place.In the present day, the adult Brenner (Adam Sandler) works for a company that installs software. Cooper (Kevin James) is the President of the United States, and he is frequently mocked in the media, most recently for failing to read properly during a kindergarten class and yelling at a little girl.In Guam, a military base picks up a threatening signal. Alien life forms based off the designs of Galaga attack. The soldiers try to fight back but are easily taken out. One soldier (Affion Crockett) gets taken by the aliens.Brenner goes to a home to do his job. He meets a lady named Violet Van Patten (Michelle Monaghan) and her son Matty (Matt Lintz), who tells Brenner that his mom is going through a divorce. While Brenner goes to work, he hears Violet crying in the closet. He comforts her by listening to her situation, and they share wine. He thinks they're having a moment, and he goes in for a kiss but gets shut down. He then gets a call from Cooper telling him to be at the White House soon.Brenner heads to the White House with Violet close by. To his surprise, he finds out she is a Lieutenant Colonel. Cooper brings Brenner into the Oval Office to show him the Galaga aliens attacking.Later, Brenner drives his van home to find Ludlow (Josh Gad) in there. Ludlow brings Brenner back to his home where he says that the aliens are sending creatures with classic video game designs to attack. Ludlow received a message using manipulated footage of 1980's icons like Ronald Reagan and Madonna to explain their plans: since they perceived the items in the time capsule as a declaration of war, they are using the video games as a challenge, giving the people of Earth three rounds to fight back or it's game over for everyone. They also show that the soldier they took was a "trophy". They show the video to Cooper and determine that the next attack will happen in India. Sure enough, the aliens attack the Taj Mahal, and they take an Indian man as a trophy as well.Brenner and Ludlow are brought in to "train" soldiers to fight back by showing them how to play these games, to which Admiral Porter (Brian Cox) objects. Violet shows Brenner and Ludlow that the pixels are taken down by strong light beams. Cooper is with his wife Jane (Jane Krakowski) at a bakery when his assistant comes in to tell him that the next attack will happen in London.Everyone heads to London to meet with Corporal Hill (Sean Bean). The soldiers brace for attack as the creatures from Centipede attack. Brenner tells the men to shoot for the head and anticipate the pattern, but they have no luck. Brenner and Ludlow take over with permission from Cooper, and they blast away at the Centipede. The final boss makes its way into town and nearly devours a boy until Brenner blasts it away for good.The aliens send a message using the Fantasy Island guys to congratulate Earth on their victory, and they give them the Duck Hunt dog as a trophy, but remind them that they (aliens) are leading 2-1. It is learned that the next attack will happen in New York City. Needing more help, Ludlow and Cooper agree that they need someone else to help them.Brenner, Cooper, and Violet go to a prison to find Eddie (Peter Dinklage), a bitter and hardened criminal who got busted for adding charges to phone bills. He still taunts Brenner and makes self-serving demands in exchange for his help, among them a private island for himself, never paying taxes again, and a meeting with Serena Williams and Martha Stewart. Cooper agrees to let him out of prison... but only with the 'no taxes' agreement.The team goes to New York to discover that the next boss is Pac-Man. Violet presents the guys with four cars based off the ghosts in Pac-Man, with the fourth car driven by the game's creator Toru Iwatani (Denis Akiyama). When the team gets downtown Manhattan where Pac-Man is chomping through everything, Iwatani tries to appeal to Pac-Man's good side by talking to him like a father. Unfortunately, this gets his hand chomped and pixelated. The remaining three chase after Pac-Man. He eats a power pellet, giving him ten seconds to be able to eat the ghosts, and he eats Ludlow's car as he jumps out.. Eddie hits the first Pac-Man after catching up to him quickly. The second one also gets taken out by Eddie. The third causes him to drive into the water. Brenner chases him near a parking garage where Pac-Man finds another power pellet. Brenner counts down and drives backward through a parking garage. At the last second, the power pellet wears off and gives Brenner a chance to defeat Pac-Man, and they're given Q*Bert as a trophy.The team has a ball held for them as thanks for their heroics. Brenner asks Violet to be his date, and she stuns him when she arrives in a green dress. Eddie brings Serena Williams (who only showed up because she was promised an island). After Brenner spends time with Violet, the aliens send another message saying the rules have been violated, and they will launch a full-scale attack momentarily. Marty finds Eddie and sees that his shades that were fished out of the water contain cheat codes, which allowed him to beat Pac-Man and also explains how he beat Brenner in Donkey Kong. Eddie flees, and Matty is taken by the aliens as Violet watches.Q*Bert tells the heroes that the aliens were peaceful until they felt threatened by the time capsule. They realize they have to go to the ship and stop the aliens.The aliens bring down more video games upon Washington DC, including Frogger and Defendor. Brenner, Violet, and Q*Bert gear up and are joined by Cooper while Ludlow stays behind to fight. One of the aliens takes the form of Lady Lisa (Ashley Benson), to Ludlow's joy. However, she still fights him until he says he only wants to love her. She drops her swords, and they kiss. Eddie comes to fight and apologizes for ditching the team.Brenner, Violet, Cooper and Q*Bert get brought up to the ship where Brenner faces his biggest challenge... Donkey Kong. The ape rolls barrels down as the heroes try to reach Matty and the other two captives. Matty tells Brenner that Eddie cheated all those years ago, making him realize he is the true DK champ. Brenner takes the hammer and smashes the barrels before hurling it at Donkey Kong, destroying him. This causes the rest of the video games to freeze and be brought back up to the ship. Unfortunately for Ludlow, that includes Lady Lisa.The team is recognized as heroes before the White House. Cooper announces he's made a peace treaty with the aliens. Eddie apologizes to Brenner for cheating and admits he's the best in the world. Ludlow misses Lisa until Q*Bert randomly morphs into her. Brenner and Violet become a couple. Eddie then gets a text from Serena to meet him in the bedroom, along with Martha Stewart, who made sandwiches. Eddie sneaks off with excitement. The aliens leave Earth, and Iwatani's hand is restored.One year later, Ludlow has married Lisa, and they're the proud parents of five Q*Berts.

Tags: good versus evil, psychedelic, satire, flashback

Review:
Okay, I am actually a little upset I listened to IMDb on this and didn't see it when it first came out.This is my ideal type of movie, a Sci-Fi - Comedy, that is family appropriate.This movie was very well made, graphics were great, and the story line and characters were fun to watch and kept you involved throughout the movie.Its one of the few movies I have seen this year that I actually re-watched and was still loving the movie.Yes, if you are hoping for a curse filled / sexually derogatory movie...
But the two who were just hilarious and almost made you cry because they were so funny was Peter Dinklage and Josh Gad. They were so funny and the stuff they said and did was totally laugh out loud funny.Surprisingly, the action in this movie was really good.
The PAC-MAN car chase, the Donkey Kong battle, and the video games attacking the city was great action and there were some cool new stunts I have never seen before and that was nice to see in a comedy film.If you love the old time video games, Happy Madison, good, laugh out loud comedy, and some cool and comical action then you will love this movie.
President Will Cooper (Kevin James) calls upon his best friend since childhood, former video game professional Sam Brenner (Adam Sandler), who is now a home theater installer and had a previous relationship with Cooper's wife (Jane Krakowski).
To combat the video game characters, Brenner decides to lead a team of retrogamers Eddie Plant (Peter Dinklage) and Ludlow Lamonsoff (Josh Gad) to defeat the aliens with technology similar to those used in games.Pixels is a great 2015 American science fiction comedy film all people must see.
However, after throwing down the toilet a whole 106 minutes of my life just to endure Pixels' exhaustingly diabolical 'acting', 'comedy wit', and story line (as well as the forewarned painful knowledge both Kevin James AND Adam Sandler are in this) I have came to conclusion that life is honestly just not worth living any more.
I am the target audience, I grew up in the 1980s and 1990s playing these games and I WANTED to love th hell out of this film, but this could be the worst movie of 2015.
Adam Sandler is clearly phoning it in, Kevin James is up to his usual antics, the clumsy fat guy, Josh Gad screams at the top of his lungs in every scene, and even the great Peter Dinklage is not good here, though Dinklage delivers the one laugh worthy moment in the film.I was disappointed when I discovered that Chris Columbus directed the movie, as he is usually really good.This is absolutely a 2/10 production, I'm not a hater, I wanted to love this movie so much, but the terrible execution from script to screen was too poor to even consider this as something that I could recommend in good faith.
When I 1st heard about Pixels, I was pumped & couldn't wait to see it.Now after finally watching it, Major, MAJOR disappointment.After seeing Kevin James was the president (Seriously?) the movie just went straight downhill from there.I just felt like as it went along, it just got more & more & more boring.The only good thing about Pixels was seeing all the old video game characters, remembering the old video games I use to play & the 1's I didn't recognize, trying to figure out what games they were from.God, this movie stunk.I can't think of enough bad things to say about it.If somebody told me to come up with 1 funny moment from the movie, I'd say the scene where the lady is in her closet, crying over husband, drinking wine from a sippy cup & Adam Sandler walks in.Other than that, nothing.If you're thinking of watching Pixels, I'd tell you to skip this movie & find something better to do with your time.
This is my first review and i really had to write it after just coming back from watching Pixels.I'm not going to really talk about the movie, the premise is simple, its just a show about the old arcade games attacking the world.
The people who slam this movie are going on and on about acting, the show being not funny, lame jokes, Adam Sandler trying to make moneyPlease..who makes movies not to earn money?
He still adds his classic jokes so I would recommend this movie if he makes you laugh.I grew up on those arcade games as a child and I loved how he portrayed it.
I understand why critics come down on Adam Sandler, when it comes to his comedies they are pretty much hit or miss, but to some more miss then hit.Gamers from the 1980's are called upon by the government when an alien invasion comes in the form of old video game characters, and half to try to defeat them like the game.
But will they save the day before it's too late?Like some of Adam Sandler comedies, this is not a great film, but it never tries to be, but it is entertaining, I did laugh a few, end enjoyed the effects.
Every single moment of this movie embarrassed me, there only a few redeeming qualities in this filth and that was the admittedly eye popping visuals in terms of the arcade games and the charming performance of Peter Dinklage from Game of Thrones, that is where the positives end for this waste of film.
This movie has no idea what it wants to be or who it's target audience is because it plays out like a typical Adam Sandler vehicle just with video games added in so he can cash in on gamer's nostalgia for arcade games.
None of the jokes were funny and were underwhelming, Josh Gad annoyed the crap out of me, there is absolutely no love put into this movie and is the very definition of a missed opportunity, there is so much that could have been done with the concept yet the potential was disposed of just so that Sandler can continue to steal our money with predictable idiotic humor that isn't even witty, sarcastic, clever, or self-referential or even a shred of respect for the classic games put on display.
That said, it doesn't really affect this fantastic movie in any way.Please ignore the critics reviews- perhaps they were terrible at the video games and hate to see them again :D?
I love Adam Sandler, and Peter Dinklage was by far the funniest character in the whole movie.
Without any doubt I think that the movie is the greatest tribute of all times, specially for people like me who grown up playing this games..
I'd say I felt personally victimized by 'Pixels' (and by Sandler's presence in the film industry in general) but Adam Sandler's incessant need to portray nerdy men as victims is far stronger than any discomfort I had watching this embarrassing excuse of a film where women are literally trophies & men that play video games and act like children are paraded as underdogs.
Ill be honest I really wanted to like this movie, as I'm a huge gamer myself, and I wanted Adam Sandler to be in something good again.
The script was terrible, the women characters are just there to stand and look pretty, Sandler was unfunny and looked like he just wanted a paycheck, everyone else seemed to be phoning it in, but Peter Dinklage was the only person who was funny the whole time and even that isn't saying much, as he only made me laugh twice.
It could have been good cause the Video game bosses were the only good part, but in the end its just another bad movie on Adam Sandlers resume.
It seems that a lot of people born in the 80's (the word for it is target audience) rank this really high because "Adam Sandler is funny and there's video game characters in it" Go see the movie, make your own assessment but really, I refuse to believe that anyone reviewing this as positive isn't underage or just plain stupid.
OK so I went to take my siblings to see this movie I wasn't expecting much due to bad reviews however when I sat down to watch it I was highly surprised in a good way well not really I love Adam sandler Kevin James and josh grad so no real shock I recommend that u take your family Its hilarious full of action good heart as well not a lot of adult content so perfect pick for any and everyone there is some language but nothing too extreme if u are a kid of the 80 s I definitely recommend it to you take a trip down memory lane and go see this fun and very funny movie Kevin James makes the perfect president in this movie and it proves just because the label nerd Is not accurate anyone can do anything they set their mind too if they Believe in them selfs.
I know this movie isn't good enough to be a sequel though because this was just a one time thing to show old video games coming to life to take over the world..
The story was funny uncomplicated but riddled with little innuendos and subtle jokes that will keep Adults laughing.The Idea that a Computer nerd could have a beer and pretzels friendship with the president of the USA cracked me up and I think a lot of people will enjoy the slapstick tongue in cheek humor used In this film.If you like Happy Gilmore, Billy Madison, here comes the boom.
If you like Adam Sandler, you WILL LOVE this movie!.
Kevin James does the same exact thing he does in every other movie he's in, Adam Sandler looks uninterested most of the time, Michelle Monoghan comes off as non believable at times, Josh Gad yells a lot and isn't that interesting, etc.
There are a few things I did like that keeps this a tiny bit better than other Adam Sandler films in my opinion (for whatever that's worth).
Pixels, however, is dreadful, and fully deserving of any critical mauling it has received.A promising premise—aliens attack Earth in the form of video games after mistaking a videotape of '80s arcade classics for a declaration of war—is developed as a series of lacklustre action scenes loaded with flashy CGI and not very funny humour.Sandler adopts his usual affable loser persona but can do little with the lousy material; also wasted are the talents of Brian Cox, Peter Dinklage and Sean Bean, while the lovely Ashley Benson, as sexy game character Lady Lisa, is there purely as eye candy (not that I'm complaining about that—she was sorely needed to take my mind off the terrible comedy).It's also hard to see who the film would appeal to: adults will find much of the humour childish and grating (the 'cute' digital Q-bert character had me cringing in embarrassment), while the many references to '80s pop culture (Max Headroom, Hall and Oates, most of the games) will be lost on the young.And is it even possible to use a cheat code on an arcade machine?
This Movie Is The Best I Hope There Is A Sequel The People Who Rated It 1 out of 10 Suck There Just Doing That Because Adam Sandler Is In It This Is The Best Movie Adam Sandler Did Please Make A Sequel If They Don't Do It Do Do It For Me This Is Better Than Any Adam Sandler Movie Except Hotel Transylvania 2 Please Make A Sequel For Pixels When I Watched It I Was So Surprised Of How Awesome It Was At The End I Said I Wanted A Sequel I Am A Video Gamer The Movie Is The Best Movie I Watched Ever So Just Please Make A Sequel My Favorite Scene Is Them Fighting Donkey Kong The Music Was Awesome Good Job On The Movie The Other People Who Don't Like The Movie You Don't Know Nothing If They Make A Sequel I Will Be So Happy.
I went to see this film today, and thought it wouldn't be that bad.Sure, Adam Sandler movies have been awful in the last couple of years but, I thought I would give this movie a shot.It was truly awful, it has the same quality of the past couple of Adam Sandler movies, which as I said is not a good thing.The movie is bad and not in a "so bad it's good" type of way.The acting is bad, and it felt like the actors didn't really care at all for the movie, and just wanted their money.Adam Sandler gives another Razzie-worthy performance, and the supporting actors are not great either.The direction is bad too,Chris Columbus was good in the early 2000s and 90s but for the past 5 years he has been awful.It feels like he's not even trying because he was successful with Harry Potter and Home Alone.The writing and humor was awful too,something I kinda expected.I didn't expect this movie to be hilarious, but with the fun video games storyline, I thought the humor wouldn't be that bad, oh so wrong I was.This is a terrible film and disgraces the video games image, don't go see this film until DVD or On Demand it's not worth seeing in the theater.1/10..
Spoken about regularly as one of 2015's worst films, Pixels is a dire comedy made by and starring a bunch of people that should know better and a film that thinks some good old fashioned gaming nostalgia will be enough to win us over despite the fact this 'comedy' is scarily bereft of laughs, charm and features a cast that looks like they would rather be somewhere else, spending the money they earnt here on a not well earned break.I can't recall from recent memory a film that feels so tired, so bored with itself, almost resigned to the fact that it's not fun and it doesn't help at all that in a recent career full of bad roles and lethargic performances, Pixels features Adam Sandler at his very worst.The Oxford dictionary better update their recent editions as tired and uninterested needs to place a picture of Sandler under those definitions.Sandler's avid old school arcade gamer Sam Brenner is truly one of the worst leading characters of modern film.
Possessing neither a comedic timing, an ounce of actual effort or any genuine hint of life, Sandler is but a zombie walking through this ugly looking cavalcade of ideas and uninteresting action scenes, scenes that are reminisce of someone playing a fun game but never sharing the controller as you sit back and watch.
Wasting not only the chance to merge gaming lore with big screen thrills but support from the likes of an unbelievably bad Peter Dinklage (Tyrion would be sorely disappointed) and the sad supporting turns from actors like Sean Bean and Brian Cox.Any movie that casts Kevin James as the American President was going to have a hard time succeeding but really there is no excuse for Pixels to be so downright boring and lacking in joy.
For those of you who might be averse to the presence of Adam Sandler and/or Kevin James, note that both are quite subdued in this film, especially since the real stars are the video game characters who are invading Earth.
Like most Adam Sandler movies there was some interesting casting.
Pixels revolves around four incredibly talented gaming nerds namely, Brenner(Adam Sandler), Cooper(Kevin James), Eddie(Peter Dinklage) & Ludlow(Josh Gad).
Adam Sandler, Kevin James , Josh Gad and Peter Dinklage they did one hell of amazing job to make such a comedy movie "saying comedy just for those who reviewed it as a bad sci-fi movie" oh relax it is a comedy of funny pixels attacking Earth not star wars.Overall ...
When I first read about the premise of the movie "Pixels" (PG-13, 1:45) – early 1980s video arcade games coming "to life" and attacking the earth – I thought that it was a really original and fun idea.
Then I learned that the movie starred Adam Sandler and Kevin James whose last few films haven't exactly been their best.
With the support of the President (and to the dismay of military leaders played by Brian Cox and Sean Bean), Sam and company link up with weapons designer Lt. Colonel Violet van Patten (Michelle Monaghan) to fight high energy light with high energy light.As the attacks unfold, the pixels (actually, voxels, because they're presented as three-dimensional cubes and the film is in 3-D) take the form of a different classic arcade game each time, announce their next attack via re-dubbed versions of early 1980s news and entertainment video clips, and commence to pixelate everything from ordinary objects to famous buildings to people, which is how they capture humans and transport them to their spaceship as war trophies."Pixels" both is and isn't your typical Adam Sandler movie.
There's some juvenile humor, but this script features better jokes than most of Sandler's recent comedies, while the sure hand of director Chris Columbus (director of two "Home Alone" movies, two "Harry Potter" movies and many others) maintains great pacing and keeps things very entertaining.The special effects are crude, but that's by design since the attackers take the form of decades old video game characters, which don't have nearly as many pixels as those in today's games.
Better than previous 80s video game movie adaptations like "Tron", "Pixels" is the most fun I've had at the movies in a long time!
I don't usually like Adam Sandler but loved this movie!.
I like this movie and remember me all the good times in the arcade!.
I like this movie and remember me all the good times in the arcade!.
I like this movie and remember me all the good times in the arcade!.
Again it's not the best of any Adam sandler movie I've seen but it's great entertainment for a night out.