Pixels - quick review (1 Viewer)

"Pixels" is pretty much aimed at the people who grew up playing video games at the arcade or pizza joints in the 1980s. Everything in this film requires the viewer to take it with a huge grain of salt, and I was okay with that. The marketing of the film is pretty solid in terms of setting viewer expectations, so you pretty much know what you'll get from it. And from that perspective, it was an interesting look back at simpler times, and it has a quiet commentary of today's video game offerings and when this form of entertainment was in its infancy back then.


So, with it being an Adam Sandler movie, expect some zingers between the cast to keep the harmonious antagonism to keep a level of relational tension. Josh Gad actually had a scene or two that had me laughing hard. Kevin James is almost too "4th wall-ish", but still had fun observations from the world about to end due to an alien invasion in the form of Earthly video game incarnations from the 1980s. Peter Dinklage chews up the scenery in most of his scenes.


I give it 2.5 stars, or a grade of C+ (if you fit the target demographic and played video games as a kid in the 1980s, you'll like it a little more).

Not work safe but hilarious.


"I hated this movie so much that I'm no longer cheering for Tyrion to make it out of Season 6 alive."

My condensed review:


Based on the 2010 short film by French filmmaker Patrick Jean, Pixels is a movie about what happens when aliens send over-sized versions of our most beloved 8-bit video game characters to devour Earth's largest cities, and the only person who can stop them is Adam Sandler. That's right, Sandler plays a former video game prodigy who's called back into action to defend our world from the likes of Pac-Man, Centipede and Donkey Kong. He's joined by Kevin James, Josh Gad, Peter Dinklage and Michelle Monaghan in this sci-fi comedy, which delivers a heaping serving of '80s nostalgia and shiny visual effects, but is plagued by a threadbare storyline and idiotic humor. The result isn't quite as horrible as some of the gems in Sandler's recent crop of movies, but when you look past the nostalgia it evokes, Pixels is really just a film about Adam Sandler saving the world. And there's just not much appeal in that.


Click here to read my full review.


Film rating: 2.5 out of 5

That guy needs to tell how he really felt about PIXELS. I'd go see it so I could comment on it, but I can't bring myself to spend 11.00 bucks on an Adam Sandler movie, especially one that looks as bad as this one does.

We took the 9yo twins to see it this weekend and all four of us had a great time. Its just a silly movie that we all had some good laughs at. There was some humor that went over our kids heads (adult and you had to have lived through the 80s), but there were plenty of jokes they got. Yes there are plot holes you can drive a truck through and its predictable, but the kids loved it and my wife and I enjoyed it as well. Is it an Oscar contender? No, but its not what its meant to be. Leave your brain and the door and enjoy it for what it is. I was also surprised at the PG-13 rating. There was some innuendo that went over our kids heads and bitch was used a couple of times, but that was it. Seemed like PG fare.

Lou Sytsma said:

Not work safe but hilarious.


"I hated this movie so much that I'm no longer cheering for Tyrion to make it out of Season 6 alive."

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What a great review. To quote the closing line: "If you paid to watch this movie...#$@# you too!"


Hilarious.

I found it dull and airless, except when they were fighting the alien video games.

Saw this over the weekend. Maybe our expectations were too low, but we really enjoyed it. Ghostbusters it ain't, but it is a decent piece of light entertainment.


I'm pretty much in agreement with Adam's post.

Am I the only one who got annoyed by the lazy chronology of the movie? It used way too many post-1982 icons - Madonna, Samantha Fox, Max Headroom.


Heck, even the Hall and Oates footage they featured was from post-1982!


I know, I know - it's a movie about video game characters come to life, so I shouldn't nitpick. Still bugs me, though, the same as it did with "Hot Tub Time Machine"!

Yavin said:

My condensed review:


Based on the 2010 short film by French filmmaker Patrick Jean

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I've been wondering if that French short film is based on the 2002 Futurama episode "Anthology of Interest II"?

Colin Jacobson said:

Heck, even the Hall and Oates footage they featured was from post-1982!

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I noticed that Hall & Oates were credited as "themselves," and was wondering if maybe their scene was actual new footage.

Aaron Silverman said:

I noticed that Hall & Oates were credited as "themselves," and was wondering if maybe their scene was actual new footage.

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No - I'm 99% sure the actual video footage was from 1984 or 1985. It's much easier to manipulate old footage than to shoto H&O now and make then look 30 years younger!


I think they simply added their own voices, whereas someone impersonated others like Madonna and Reagan.


Matt Frewer also did Max Headroom, but it appears he and H&O are the only ones who provided their actual voices...

I just saw it on cable and liked it a lot. Fun. Yeah, I noticed the timeline errors--I think Sam Fox was more late '80s--but the '80s are my era, and this helped me be nostalgic for a couple of hours.

I'd read somewhere there was a vulgar Q-Bert sex joke, and I was not looking forward to it, but it just turned out to be silly and tame.