 Paramount Pictures, 2022. To say that the first "Sonic the Hedgehog" film is the best video game movie of all-time might seem slight...after all, movies based on video games have not exactly had a great track record (only five of the 49 video game films ranked on RottenTomatoes have a "Fresh" rating, and even those are questionable choices). But it actually was a surprisingly delightful film, made even more saleable with the pitch-perfect casting choice of Jim Carrey as the evil Dr. Robotnik.
We all went into the first Sonic film with the lowest of low expectations...not just because it was another video game movie, but there was the whole backlash over how the original version of Sonic was rendered (when an image was released, fans revolted, and Paramount Pictures went back and redesigned Sonic as the version we have now). But it not only was a - dare I say - GOOD family adventure, with some heart to boot, it was a tremendous box office success, grossing nearly 320 million bucks worldwide and setting up the inevitable sequel, which we are getting now. Sadly, all momentum that the first film created comes to a screeching, disappointing halt in "Sonic the Hedgehog 2." Instead of feeling like a real box office underdog - "the little hedgehog that could" - the sequel comes in full of itself, with an unearned confidence, and dying on the hill that somehow "more is more." At an incredibly baffling 2 hours and 2 minutes, a bevy of new, uninteresting characters and a some unfathomably lame subplots, "Sonic the Hedgehog 2" carries the weight of the franchise on its shoulders, and is crushed beneath the burden.
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15 awesome video games that should be made into movies (complete with acting recommendations)9/14/2016  There have been very few good movies based on video games, but there is still a treasure-trove of great video games out there that are just waiting to be made into movies. A handful of video game movies are set for future release, but what great video games have still not made the leap to the big-screen but deserve to?
Let's take a look at some awesome video games - in no particular order - that Hollywood should consider making into movies, with some casting and production advice thrown in to help spur them along:  Goldeneye: 007, Rare/Nintendo, 1997. With tons of upcoming movies based on video games headed our way, we wanted to take a moment to recognize a handful of video games that flipped the expectation of "video game first, movie later."
As several movies often draw inspiration from a number of other mediums (like video games, comic books, or just regular books...remember those?), there are in fact a handful of great video games that were actually movies first...a rarity indeed. But alas, video games inspired by movies have not always had the best track-record. And have trust (here's looking at you E.T.: The Video Game), more often than not, a video game based on a movie just plain sucks. So which movies have overcome this stigma and have produced high-quality, memorable video games? Let's take a look: |
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tom santilli movie reviews
Tom Santilli is a professional film critic, TV personality, host and
the Executive Producer of Movie Show Plus.
He also is the featured film critic appearing on WXYZ Channel 7 Action News in Detroit,
and appeared weekly on FOX-2 in Detroit from 2016-2020.
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