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Hollywood certainly hasn’t given us much evidence that video games can be properly adapted to film. However, this they have given us two great movies that are heavily inspired by games. The first, Inception, is dissected by Kotaku, and the second is, of course, Scott Pilgrim vs The World, which Ars discusses.

Underneath the surface of the love interest story, ‘Scott Pilgrim’ is really a movie about two intertwined things. One, as Ars mentions, is the story about a boy who’s lost his filter separating reality from the reality of video games. Second, the film, and of course the comic before it, are an investigation of that twist: what if your life was a video game? What would be your challenges, goals, achievements, points, levels?

The film also weaves together a fanatic music pallet designed by Nigel Godrich. I was extremely impressed by the degree to which the filmmakers used music, which is a large part of the story since Scott is in a band (wonderfully named ‘The Sex Bomb-ombs‘), as an expository device and integral part of the film. They could have taken the easy way out and simply alluded to most of the music but instead they harnessed the opportunity to really expand on the comic in the audio space.

It’s often said that adapted works aren’t as good as the original book/comic/video game/whatever. I haven’t read the original Scott Pilgrim comic, but if more movies were adapted with this kind of creative yet reverent approach, that would be a thing of the past.

Scott Pilgrim vs. The World – 5 out of 5

The official adaptation of the designer board game Carcassonne has landed on the iTunes App store. The TUAW Review does a nice job of summing up what’s so wonderful about this game itself as well as the strengths & weaknesses of the iOS adaptation.

I think the developers, TheCodingMonkeys, have really knocked the Carcassonne App out of the park. It’s one of the best examples of gaming on iOS yet. I especially appreciate the ability to play several multiplayer games at once and have the app notify me when it’s my turn to play on any one of them. This enables real pick-up/put-down gameplay that’s perfect for the iPhone on the go. But even if you don’t play with people, the CPU players are pretty good and can present quite a challenge (if you want them to).  Furthermore, despite the fact that it’s only optimized for the iPhone right now, I’ve found the game to be very playable when pixel doubled on the iPad.

The game is on sale for just $4.99 which is a steal for something with this kind of functionality and replayability. That price goes up to $9.99 when the iPad upgrade, which will be free to existing owners, goes live later this year. If you do pick it up, be sure to send me a friend request so we can play some games and remember, “Sharing is Caring.”

Kick-Ass more than lives up to its namesake.

5 out of 5

The new Sherlock Holmes movie is not anything like you’ve seen Sherlock before. However, if you’re willing to accept the re-imagining, it ends up being an excellent show. There were some fun action sequences and great imagery of industrial era London.

For all the attention put into the action, Holmes doesn’t loose his exceptional powers of inductive reasoning, which he uses throughout the film. To the critics and naysayers complaining that this isn’t Holmes like they’ve read in the books or seen Jeremy Brett portray, isn’t that the core of the character? Remember how Batman Begins broke down Bruce Wayne to his fundamentals and pieced him together as something different and yet familiar? That’s what Guy Ritchie and co were trying to do, and, in my opinion, they have succeeded.

Verdict: 4.0 out of 5.0

PS: Once scene which played prominently in the trailer seemed to be missing from the movie. In it, Irene Adler, wearing a corset and stockings, attempts to stab Holmes with her hair pin. He defects the blow, they struggle, and then she knees him in the testicles instead. At least, that’s how I pieced together bits from this trailer.

Why don’t we see this in the film? It looks like a fun scene, I mean, look at his face! I guess we have some BD extras to look forward to.

Avatar is the most immersive moviegoing experience I’ve ever experienced. It simply must be seen in 3D to witness it as imagined by Cameron and his team. You may have heard the story before but you’ve never seen it like this.

BTW, Giovanni Ribisi is such a douche in this film that I can’t help loving him.

Verdict: 4.5 out of 5.0