Pixels

Pixels is a stupid movie. But thanks to its digitized characters, it wasn't a complete loss. Press start or read on to find out more.

In 1982, Sam Brenner and Will Cooper were Kings of their local Arcade. That all ended when Sam lost to the smug Eddie Plant in the Video Game World Championship. Years later, Sam (Adam Sandler) installs cable while Will (Kevin James) is the President of the United States (Why? I don't know.). They're both stuck in their lives. And then Aliens - who resemble characters from 80's Arcade standards such as Pac-Man, Galaga and Donkey Kong - attack!

Why? The Video Game World Championship was taped for a NASA Probe. The Aliens who picked it up thought the game footage was a declaration of war. So they attack Earth with video game characters. They'll leave Earth alone or destroy it depending on which side wins three rounds first.

So Sam has to lead a team to beat the Space Invaders. Also on the team are Will, Plant (Peter Dinklage), conspiracy theorist Ludlow Lamonsoff (Josh Gad) and weapons developer Col. Violet van Patten (Michelle Monaghan).

The story has its roots in the much-simpler 2010 Internet short created by Patrick Jean. The feature's closest analogue to the short is the climactic assault by the Video Game horde on Washington DC. Let's see how they did expanding the story.

Much of the humor comes from its stupid characters. It's some times legitimately funny, like the increasingly preposterous suggestions coming from the straight-faced Army guys in the War Room. Some other bits of humor just came off flat. Is Ludlow's occasional obnoxiousness supposed to be charming? The resolution to his crush on Lady Lisa (Ashley Benson), an in-universe game character, was just odd.

The plot revolves around a Space Probe which contained images of Earthly culture. It was shot into space in 1982, yet the Aliens reference later pop culture items in their invasion. That includes Duck Hunt (1984), Paperboy (1985) and Max Headroom (1987-1988). The anachronisms were my biggest gripe about this movie.

My biggest delight with the movie was the visual effects. You can see each pixel in each digital character as if they were literally taken from their games. They're convincingly integrated with the real imagery shot by cinematographer Amir Mokri. The centerpiece of the film was the fast and furious car chase against Pac-Man on the streets of New York. The final fight against Donkey Kong mixed a real-life game level with a digital backdrop. These battles are well-worth the wait.

Pixels functions because of its sci-fi action. Whether you enjoy the rest of the film or not depends on how you appreciate its brand of humor. Overall, it's a decent cinematic matinee. If it peeks interest in these old video games, or inspires people to make exceptional movies based on them, then this film will do something good.

Ant-Man

Ant-Man co-founded the Avengers with the likes of Thor, Iron Man and the Hulk in the comics, but he took longer to get on-screen. Don't let his name turn you off. His movie is what Marvel does best when it doesn't throw everything on the screen.

Scott Lang (Paul Rudd) went to prison for robbing his dishonest employers. All Scott wants to do post-prison is to see his daughter, Cassie, again. But his ex-wife won't let him unless he goes straight. Since no employer will keep him, Scott teams with his buddies to rob some guy's house. All they get is an old suit, which as Scott finds out, shrinks its wearer.

The "some guy" is Dr. Hank Pym (Michael Douglas), the former superhero Ant-Man. Pym wanted Scott to steal the suit as rehearsal for an ultimate plan. Darren Cross (Corey Stoll), Pym's former protegee, created the size-changing Yellowjacket suit for evil purposes. Pym wants Scott to become the new Ant-Man and steal the Yellowjacket before it's used for evil. Scott reluctantly agrees and spends the movie bonding with Pym, his daughter Hope (Evangeline Lilly) and their specialized Ants.

'Nuff said? Not yet.

The screenplay is credited to Rudd, Adam McKay, Joe Cornish and Edgar Wright. Wright, the originally-planned director, abruptly left in pre-production, making way for Peyton Reed. The final product is a bit goofy, but it also knows how to be serious. Scott is a likable anti-hero whose quest for redemption is believable. His buddies, especially Luis (Michael Pena), are enjoyable comic relief. Cross is a truly psychotic villain who gets worse as the story goes on. And Pym makes for a good mentor for Scott.

There's plenty of visual flair in this Marvel adventure. All the size-changing allows for some fun gags and exciting action scenes. The environments tiny Scott must navigate make the ordinary extraordinary. The best digital effect, on the basis that I didn't realize it was a digital effect until later, was de-aging Michael Douglas for the 1988 opening scene. It looked like a good makeup job; now, I know it's a great digital makeup job.

Ant-Man is a well-plotted heist movie. The build-up lets us spend time with some good characters, the pay-off is exciting and the aftermath is satisfying. Anyone not convinced that Ant-Man means quality superhero might think otherwise once they see what the film lets him do.

As usual, the end-credit scenes set up the future of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The second one is meant to set up the next film, Captain America: Civil War.

Minions

Those little yellow Minions of Despicable Me have a movie of their own now. It's called Minions. What more can I say? A little more than one paragraph.

Minions (all voiced by co-director Pierre Coffin) have always followed the meanest characters around. But they have a nasty habit of accidentally killing them. Once they cost Napoleon Waterloo, the Minions head off to Antarctica. They live in security for the next century or so; but by 1968, their lack of Boss bums them out. So Minions Kevin, Stuart and Bob set off to find their next Master.

The three Minions discover Villain-Con, a secret convention for villains. They get hired by pioneering super-villainess Scarlet Overkill (Sandra Bullock). Overkill wants the Minions to help her steal Queen Elizabeth's Crown. The Minions agree to help and drive her crazy in the process.

Whether you like the movie or not mainly depends on if you like the Minions. They're still the childish, gibberish-speaking creatures from the Despicable Me movies. However, the main Minions have distinct personalities: responsible one, impulsive one and good one. It's very useful for telling them apart.

The animation is nice and colorful. When Scarlet gets mad, the animators make her almost feral. Even though the Minions are near-indistinguishable, each Minion has a variation of that basic design. The background villains have their own unique designs. Either way, the character designers worked extra-hard on this film. The animated environments are great representations of the 1960's.

There's something for almost everyone. The Minions' antics will certainly entertain the kids. The adults will get a lot of the sight and historical gags thrown about. The soundtrack is made of Heitor Pereira's score and some old standards; those old standards are catchy when the Minions sing them.

Minions is harmless matinee fare and nothing more. There's nothing wrong with that; it's a simple story that speeds along at 91 minutes. Look elsewhere if you want an emotionally-resonant film.

Terminator Genisys

While Conan the Barbarian made Arnold Schwarzenegger famous, The Terminator made him a star. And after a one-film absence, he's back in Terminator Genisys, the first of the franchise in 3D.

The evil computer network Skynet nuked humanity in 1997. By 2029, its Terminator robots fight John Connor's (Jason Clarke) resistance movement. The humans finally kill Skynet, but not before it sends a Terminator back in time to 1984 to kill John's mother Sarah. John's lieutenant Kyle Reese (Jai Courtney) follows the Terminator back in time.

Kyle finds himself in a past that doesn't need him. Sarah (Emilia Clarke) already knows about Skynet, Terminators and the human resistance that hates them, and saves him from another Terminator. Her "Pops" (Arnold) is a reprogrammed Terminator that saved her before. And they now plan to save humanity from Judgment Day... not at 1997, but 2017. There, Skynet unveils its newest and most surprising Terminator to-date.

Arnold's return should please some fans. He once again spouts his catchphrases and awkwardly passes for human. It was good for a few laughs, but overall, it was average stuff. It's like I've seen a lot of this before. On the plus side, the makeup team convincingly packs on the years and wounds.

The visual effects department was mostly good. The more-robotic Terminators are mostly CGI, but they are convincingly integrated with real actors. The new Terminator was a pretty nifty nanomachine monster; its best effects were its use of super-speed. The film even recreates Arnold's introduction from The Terminator with a body double and some stock-footage. That was the only bit where the cracks in the effects showed.

What I mostly remember from the last installment, Terminator Salvation, is that I saw it. Compared to that, Terminator Genisys is an improvement. The identity of the new Terminator throws the story for a surprising loop. His connection to Kyle Reese, common knowledge from The Terminator, is amusing when Reese learns it. And most of all, JK Simmons' detective character provides some good enthusiasm. That's a lot more in this movie's corner.

I didn't hate Terminator Genisys, but I wasn't blown away by its spectacle. It's a decent matinee at best. And it's a conflicting movie.