Review Score:

Max Payne 2008

Max Payne is a 2008 noir  action film loosely based on the 2001 video game of the same name by Remedy Entertainment. It was written by Beau Thorne and was directed by John Moore. The film stars Mark Wahlberg in the title role as Max Payne, Mila Kunis as Mona Sax, Chris “Ludacris” Bridges as Jim Bravura and Beau Bridges as BB Hensley. The film revolves around revenge, centering on a policeman’s journey through New York City’s criminal underworld, as he investigates the deaths of his wife and child.

Filming took place between March and May 2008. Extensive visual effects were used in many scenes throughout the film. Max Payne was released on October 16, 2008 in Australia, one day prior to the United States release date. Reviews were mostly negative, and some critics cited the film’s numerous differences from the video game on which it is based. Despite the negative reviews, the film was able to take the top spot in the box office in its opening weekend and gross more than $100 million worldwide. Max Payne was released for home video on January 20, 2009.

Far Cry 2008

Far Cry is a German film adapted from the video game of the same name. The film is directed by Uwe Boll  and stars Til Schweiger. Jack Carver, a former member of Germany’s Special Forces, takes the journalist Valerie Cardinal to visit her uncle Max, on an island, where he works in a military complex. As the pair arrives, minions of Doctor Krieger capture Valerie. Jack does not care about her until his boat explodes. After his boat is destroyed, Jack finds out the true purpose of the facilities on the island: The creation of genetically modified soldiers.

In the Name of the King 2008

In the Name of the King: A Dungeon Siege Tale is a 2008  fantasy film inspired by the Dungeon Siege video game series, which was directed by Uwe Boll. It was produced by Brightlight Pictures and distributed by Freestyle Releasing and Vivendi Entertainment in the United States and Canada. 20th Century Fox took distribution overseas. The MPAA granted the film a “PG-13″ for “intense battle sequences”. In the Name of the King was released in the United States on January 11, 2008.

Hitman 2007

Hitman is a 2007  film based on the same-titled video game series. The film was directed by Xavier Gens and stars Timothy Olyphant and Dougray Scott. Hitman was released on November 21, 2007. A sequel, under the working title of Hitman 2, is currently in pre-production. The film opens with a montage showing a group of bald children receiving tattoos of bar codes and receiving training in firearms and hand-to-hand combat. Interpol agent Mike Whittier discovers Agent 47 in his study, where the two talk briefly. The scene flashes back three months, as 47 is completing a hit in Niger. He receives a communication from his Agency contact, Diana, and is told he is to kill his next target, Russian President Mikhail Belicoff, publicly. 47 completes his mission as ordered.

Resident Evil: Extinction 2007

Resident Evil: Extinction is a 2007 science fiction action  horror film. It is the third installment in the series of film adaptations based on the Capcom survival horror series Resident Evil. The film follows the heroine Alice, along with a group of survivors from Raccoon City, as they attempt to travel across the Mojave desert wilderness to Alaska and escape a zombie apocalypse.  The film was directed by Russell Mulcahy and produced by Paul W. S. Anderson. The film was released in the United States on September 21, 2007 and was commercially successful, grossing $147,717,833 worldwide. However, it received many negative reviews from critics. The film was released on DVD and Blu-ray in North America on January 1, 2008.

Alone in the Dark 2005

Alone in the Dark is a 2005 Brightlight Pictures horror film very loosely based on Infogrames’ popular video game series of the same name. It is directed by Uwe Boll, and stars Christian Slater as supernatural detective Edward Carnby. The film’s tagline is Evil Awakens. Originally, the film version of Alone in the Dark  was to be released with Alone in the Dark 5, the fifth title in the series; however, the creators of Alone in the Dark, Eden Games, delayed the game and reworked it entirely from scratch. This appears to be one of the causes for the public backlash from gamers on how the film version of Alone in the Dark appeared to deviate from the Alone in the Dark game franchise save for the fact that the film was in some ways a sequel to Alone in the Dark: The New Nightmare. Uwe Boll stated his disappointment on the region 1 DVD commentary but also said that Atari had face shots of Christian Slater for the newest game – Alone in the Dark 5, which was released on June 26 2008.

Doom 2005

Doom is a 2005  science fiction horror film, loosely based on the popular Doom series of video games created by id Software. It was directed by Andrzej Bartkowiak. On February 7, 2006, the Unrated DVD version of Doom was released. The unrated DVD has a running time of 1 hour 53 minutes, 8 minutes longer than the rated release.[citation needed] Doom was released on Blu-ray Disc on February 10, 2009.

After option deals with Universal Pictures and Columbia Pictures lapsed,  id Software signed a deal with Warner Bros. with the stipulation that the movie be greenlit within 12 months.  Warner Bros. lost the rights, which were subsequently given back to Universal Pictures who started production in 2004. In an interview with executive producer John Wells, he stated that a second film would be put into production if the first was a success at the box office. Ticket sales for the opening weekend totaled more than US$15.3 million, but promptly dropped to $4.2 million in its second weekend.

Lara Croft Tomb Raider 2001

Lara Croft: Tomb Raider is a 2001 adventure film adapted from the Tomb Raider video game series. Directed by Simon West and starring Angelina Jolie as Lara Croft, it was released in U.S. theaters on June 15, 2001. A sequel, Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life, was released in 2003. The film opens with Croft in an Egyptian  tomb, seeking a diamond at one end of a chamber. As she approaches she is attacked by a large robot. After an intense chase and battle, she disables it by ripping out its motivational circuits. She takes the diamond, which is revealed to be a memory card labeled ‘Lara’s Party Mix,’ and inserts it into a laptop computer inside the robot, whereupon it plays music. Now it is revealed that the scene took place in a practice arena in Croft’s home, and that her assistant, Bryce, programmed the robot, to challenge her in combat.

Mortal Kombat 1995

Mortal Kombat is a 1995  action film directed by Paul W. S. Anderson that was based on Mortal Kombat series of fighting games. The movie was filmed in Los Angeles and on location in Thailand. A sequel, Mortal Kombat: Annihilation, was released in 1997. Once every generation, there is a martial arts tournament known as Mortal Kombat, which was designed by the Elder Gods to limit invasions between realms. If Outworld wins it ten consecutive times, the Emperor of Outworld known as Shao Kahn will be able to invade and conquer Earthrealm. Liu Kang and his comrades, movie star Johnny Cage and Special Forces agent Sonya Blade, were handpicked by Raiden, the God of Lightning and Earthrealm’s defender, to overcome their powerful adversaries in order to prevent Outworld from winning their tenth straight Mortal Kombat tournament and condemning Earthrealm to eternal damnation.

Upcoming releases:

Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time 2010

Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time is an upcoming 2010  action/adventure fantasy film written by Jordan Mechner, Boaz Yakin, Doug Miro, and Carlo Bernard, directed by Mike Newell, and produced by Jerry Bruckheimer. The film is based on the 2003 video game of the same name, developed and released by Ubisoft Montreal. The film stars Jake Gyllenhaal as Prince Dastan, Gemma Arterton as Tamina, Ben Kingsley as Nizam, and Alfred Molina as Sheik Amar. Currently, it is the second film under the Walt Disney Pictures banner to receive a PG-13  rating by the MPAA (the first being Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl, not counting its film sequels) for intense sequences of violence and action. Despite the film being primarily based on The Sands of Time, elements from Warrior Within and The Two Thrones are also incorporated.

READ THE REST