Rampage Is Totally Bananas And More Often Than Not, That's A Good Thing

Yes, as you've heard ad nauseum at this point, Rampage is indeed the best video game movie of all-time. That's akin to saying something is the best post-1991 Terminator sequel in that the bar of quality to clear is so low it's comical, but yes, Rampage is indeed the new champion among video game movies. Unfortunately, it doesn't achieve this distinction by proving that video game movies can be great cinema like Spider-Man did for comic book movies back in 2002, but it does manage to be far better than the rest of its brethren by simply being goofy fun and good Lord is this movie ever goofy, sometimes to an utterly bizarre degree.

Even By The Low Standards of Video Game Movies, Lara Croft: Tomb Raider Is A Boring Bust

Today, Alicia Vikander's new take on the character of Lara Croft debuts in theaters nationwide. I won't be able to see that new Tomb Raider movie for a few days, but for now, I can offer my two cents on the very first time Lara Croft came to the big screen back in June 2001. To this day, this feature, entitled Lara Croft: Tomb Raider, is still the biggest video game movie of all-time domestically and it's hard to say if anything in the near future will be able to usurp it for that title. Even in among the dismal pantheon of video game movies, Lara Croft: Tomb Raider is a particularly tedious motion picture that manages to make Prince of Persia: Sands of Time look like some kind of masterpiece by comparison.

Well, Add Assassin's Creed To The Ever Increasing Pile Of Underwhelming Video Game Movies

2016 was actually a pretty strong year for cinema as a whole, but good Lord, it was an outright disaster when it came to video game movies, a subgenre that just can't catch a break. The Angry Birds Movie may have made coin at the box office (a rare occurrence for a video game movie) but it was absolute garbage while Warcraft was a shockingly low-quality and borderline incoherent effort from a director as good as Duncan Jones. I didn't even see that Ratchet & Clank movie that came and went in a flash in April 2016, but word-of-mouth on it was dismal and I've encountered people who actually saw it who scarcely can believe it actually came out as recently as just this past Spring.

The Angry Birds Movie Is A Dream Come True For Marketers And Tedious For Everyone Else

One day, we'll get a good video game movie. Hell, we've gotten multiple high-quality movies using video game iconography like Scott Pilgrim vs. The World and Wreck-It Ralph. But as for direct film adaptations of video games? We're still not there yet. The Angry Birds Movie does nothing to reverse this trend, though its flaws aren't so much related to the failings of other video game movies as they are about this movie clearly trying to imitate conventional tropes of major American computer-animated family movies without understanding how to make these storytelling staples work in a remotely successful manner.

Dwayne Johnson And San Andreas Director Prepare For A Rampage

Remember when I talked about how video game movies were about to hit the big time next year with 2016 releases like Assassin Creed, Ratchet & Clank and Warcraft? Well, it looks like another big time video game can be added to the slate, with this one, an adaptation of the game Rampage, being planned for 2017. That year will also bring a new Laura Croft movie from MGM and Warner Bros. and I doubt these two will wind up being the only video game movies in 2017.

Adam Sandler Fights Pac-Man In Trailer For Pixels

In 2016, a number of video game movies (such as Assassin's Creed and Uncharted) will attempt to reverse the poor track record such films have had both critically and financially. Until then, this summer's Pixels will similarly try to bring some success to video game cinema, as well as Adam Sandler's troubled film career (which has seen some low points in recent years, to say the least). Catch the trailer for Pixels below.

A Tetris Movie Is Actually Happening And I Have An Idea For The Films Plot

Video games haven't exactly had the bets success being translated into film, but over the next few years, a resurgence of video game features will try to get more high-quality features in that particular genre created. The likes of Assassins Creed, Angry Birds and World of Warcraft will be brought to the big screen, and now Tetris can be added to the slate of upcoming films based on video games.