Being a child of the 1980s, and (admittedly) a nerd, it’s safe to say arcade games like Pac-Man and Donkey Kong have a very soft place in my heart. People forget how iconic video games used to be, and how they really were a part of our popular culture. The new comedy PIXELS imagines our 1982 technology being misinterpreted by aliens, and coming back to haunt us in the present, with spectacular results. Directed by Chris Columbus (who gave us HOME ALONE and the first two HARRY POTTER films), the new movie stars Adam Sandler, Kevin James, Michelle Monaghan, Josh Gad and Peter Dinklage. Check out the newest trailer, which gives you an idea of how out there this is going to be. I can’t wait. With all the disposable Sandler comedies in recent years, the comedian desperately needs something to remind folks he can still deliver… will this be it?
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.