(Photo by Paramount/Courtesy Everett Collection)
It was in 1993 that Hollywood realized the dream of putting a video game movie up on the big screen with Super Mario Bros., and setting the stage for a long legacy of questionable choices, troubled productions, and gamers’ pixel tears left in their wake. But like the kid who just has to pump in one more quarter to reach for that high score, the studios keep on trying (while the fans just keep on hoping), and we’re celebrating that sort of sheer tenacity with this guide to the best video game movies (and plenty of the worst) ranked by Tomatometer!
Here, you will find the near-decent (Rampage, Resident Evil), the should’ve-been-goods (Assassin’s Creed, Warcraft), the ridiculous-but-we-love-thems (Mortal Kombat, Silent Hill), and the ones made by Uwe Boll, who deserves his own category (Alone in the Dark, House of the Dead). We’re using a 20-review minimum cutoff for inclusion from theatrical releases only, because it’s not just enough to make a questionable movie, critics need to witness the aftermath, too.
And in May 2019, Detective Pikachu officially broke the video game curse! Fitting that Nintendo, whose Super Mario Bros. movie started all this trouble, would be the one to end it. And in another surprise 2019 development, the second Angry Birds movie has slingshot the naysayers by racking up plenty of critical praise, toppling Pikachu mere months after its release.
Then in 2020, when it didn’t seem it had a chili dog’s chance in hell, Sonic the Hedgehog to general critics enthusiasm, marking three Fresh video game movies in two years. And then, in 2021, Werewolves Within went Certified Fresh, establishing it as by-far the best-reviewed video game movie! The latest, Uncharted, dives back to familiar territory for this genre. See all the high scores (and lots and lots of the lows) with our guide to 48 video game movies, ranked worst to best! —Alex Vo
Ratchet & Clank: Recently re-imagined for your PlayStation 4, now appearing on the big screen for the first time. The movie invites viewers back to see the origin team-up of the duo (one a robot, the other a bobcat-ish thing, probably a descendant of prolific serial killer Bubsy), which inspires this week’s 24 Frames gallery: a history of video games-based movies by Tomatometer!
No awards season would be complete without the Golden Raspberry Awards (AKA The Razzies), awarded each year to the very worst movies to hit Hollywood. This year’s winners will be announced on Oscar weekend; could multiple-nominee The Love Guru take home top honors? See the full list of nominees below.
This year, a few standout films and filmmakers nabbed multiple nominations, making for really good odds come February 21, when the Golden Raspberry winners will be announced. Leading the pack is Disaster Movie (2 percent on the Tomatometer), which managed to earn six nominations; The Hottie & the Nottie (5 percent), up for honors in five categories; and Uwe Boll’s In the Name of the King: A Dungeon Siege Tale, which also earned the Teutonic Terror a Worst Career Achievement Razzie.
The complete list of nominees:
Worst Picture Nominations
Disaster Movie & Meet the Spartans (double nominee from the same writer-directors)
In the Name of the King: A Dungeon Siege Tale
Worst Actor Nominations
Larry the Cable Guy, Witless Protection
Mike Myers, The Love Guru
Al Pacino, 88 Minutes & Righteous Kill
Mark Wahlberg, The Happening & Max Payne
Worst Actress Nominations
Jessica Alba, The Eye & The Love Guru
The cast of The Women (Annette Bening, Eva Mendes, Debra Messing, Jada Pinkett-Smith, and Meg Ryan)
Cameron Diaz, What Happens in Vegas
Paris Hilton, The Hottie & The Nottie
Kate Hudson, Fool’s Gold & My Best Friend’s Girl
Worst Supporting Actor Nominations
Uwe Boll (as himself), Uwe Boll’s Postal
Ben Kingsley, The Love Guru & War, Inc. & The Wackness
Burt Reynolds, Deal & In the Name of the King: A Dungeon Siege Tale
Verne Troyer, The Love Guru & Uwe Boll’s Postal
Worst Supporting Actress Nominations
Carmen Electra, Disaster Movie & Meet the Spartans
Paris Hilton, Repo! The Genetic Opera
Kim Kardashian, Disaster Movie
Jenny McCarthy, Witless Protection
Leelee Sobieski, 88 Minutes & In the Name of the King: A Dungeon Siege Tale
Worst Screen Couple Nominations
Uwe Boll and any Actor, Camera, or Screenplay
Cameron Diaz and Ashton Kutcher, What Happens in Vegas
Paris Hilton and either Christine Lakin or Joel David Moore, The Hottie and the Nottie
Larry the Cable Guy and Jenny McCarthy, Witless Protection
Eddie Murphy and Eddie Murphy, Meet Dave
Worst Prequel, Remake, Rip-Off, or Sequel Nominations
The Day the Earth Blowed Up Real Good
Disaster Movie and Meet the Spartans
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
Worst Director Nominations
Uwe Boll, 1968: Tunnel Rats, In the Name of the King: A Dungeon Siege Tale and Uwe Boll’s Postal
Jason Friedberg and Aaron Seltzer, Disaster Movie and Meet the Spartans
Tom Putnam, The Hottie & the Nottie
Marco Schnabel, The Love Guru
M. Night Shyamalan, The Happening
Worst Screenplay Nominations
Disaster Movie and Meet the Spartans
The Happening
The Hottie and the Nottie
In the Name of the King: A Dungeon Siege Tale
The Love Guru
Worst Career Achievement
Uwe Boll
It’s a good week to catch up on your favorite shows before the new TV season begins (Heroes Season Two) and a good week to satisfy your curiosity for a certain guilty pleasure (Uwe Boll‘s Postal). Read on for exclusive clips from Heroes Season Two and Postal, and find out what new releases you should be looking for this week on DVD, including Redbelt, What Happens in Vegas, Son of Rambow, and more!
NBC’s Heroes was a pop culture phenomenon from the get-go, a riveting comic book come to life that followed a host of heroes — and villains — as they gradually developed their powers. Season 2, on DVD this week, continues the epic story as the line between good and evil becomes blurred, new characters emerge, and the fate of the world once more lies in the hands of Peter Petrelli.
We’ve snagged an exclusive clip from the Heroes Season Two DVD release, in which cast member Zachary Quinto (who will also appear as Spock in next year’s Star Trek) sheds light into the motivations of the show’s preeminent villain: the all-powerful sociopath (we think he’s just misunderstood) Sylar.
But wait, there’s more! We’ve got another exclusive bonus clip for you from another of this week’s most anticipated — and notorious — titles: Postal, from director-businessman-pugilist Uwe Boll. (Get an intriguing rare glimpse into the mind of Boll in our interview here.) Postal, adapted from the video game of the same name, offers an irreverent, bawdy, and violent satire of American society and politics made the only way Uwe Boll could have done it: with a star-crossed romance between George W. and Osama bin Laden, full frontal Dave Foley, Verne Troyer as himself, and a cameo by none other than…Uwe Boll!
As a treat for our readers, we exclusively bring you a sneak peek at the full “Raging Boll” bonus feature from the DVD release of Postal. Watch and see why Uwe earned his pugilistic nickname, as he enters the ring to go head-to-head with Something Awful critic Richard “Lowtax” Kyanka!
Click on for this week’s exciting new releases, including What Happens in Vegas, Redbelt and more!
If only this movie had stayed in Vegas. The unholy union of pretty boy Ashton Kutcher and bubbly blonde Cameron Diaz was a summer event destined for boffo box office returns, released smack dab in the middle of wedding season as the chick-friendly alternative to muscular blockbusters like Iron Man and Indiana Jones. And, thanks to their combined powers of evil — vapid good looks and daffy charm, the movie-star equivalent of a smile and nod — Ashton and Cameron raked in a whopping $211 million in worldwide returns. Bonus Features: A single-disc and an extended “Jackpot” edition are available, which begs the question: is it worth the gamble? You’ll find extra features galore on both DVD releases, though seven deleted and extended scenes are only available on Blu-ray. Shockingly, it would seem Uwe Boll‘s projections for Postal, his latest video game adaptation, is far from Fresh. Congrats are nevertheless in order, since Uwe Boll’s comically violent, self-referential political satire is, at nine percent on the Tomatometer — his highest-rated film since debuting with 2002’s Blackwoods (11%). So celebrate his career upswing (and satisfy your own morbid curiosity, dear reader) as Postal debuts on DVD this week. Bonus Features: Uwe Boll is a smart man. And he knows what we want. The media-savvy filmmaker includes a feature commentary on Postal‘s DVD release, footage of his infamous “Raging Boll” boxing matches, a clip of Verne Troyer as Indiana Jones, and more. Showing their support for what Boll hath wrought from their video game, the makers of Postal have included the complete PC game Postal 2 in the release (creator Vince Desi also cameos in the film as himself). **Reminder: Buying Postal on DVD is exactly what Uwe Boll wants you to do. If you watch it, he wins…and we all lose.
If you did a double take when you heard of Redbelt, join the club. A Mixed Martial Arts movie written and directed by…David Mamet?? Chiwetel Ejiofor, Tim Allen, and Randy Couture star in the favorably-reviewed morality play, written with less of Mamet’s signature talkiness. Watch it in a double feature with the other MMA drama of 2008, Never Back Down. Bonus Features: Featurettes on the making-of process and Mixed Martial Arts put the focus on the fighting, as do “Fighter Profiles” and an interview with UFC President Dana White. The crown jewel of Redbelt‘s DVD release is its feature-length commentary, which presents the unlikeliest of duos together, at long last: David Mamet and Randy Couture. Ever daydream as a child and find yourself smack dab in the middle of your favorite movie? Young Will (Bill Milner) does just that, as a chance viewing of Rambo: First Blood inspires him to let his imagination fly, leading him and his friends to make their own sequel for a local filmmaker’s competition. It’s a throwback to the sounds, sights, and great action flicks of the ’80s (and ladies, catch Gossip Girl‘s Ed Westwick in a supporting role). If you see one new release this week, make it this gem of a film, which is Certified Fresh to boot. Bonus Features: Director Garth Jennings and producer Nick Goldsmith (the filmmaking team known as Hammer & Tongs, who also made 2005’s The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy) and their tremendously poised young actors Bill Milner and Will Poulter provide a commentary and look at the making of the film, including peeks inside their production offices, parked on barges on a London canal.
The most interesting discovery in Morgan Spurlock‘s latest documentary isn’t whether or not he actually finds Osama bin Laden (guess what — he doesn’t) but what he learns along the way. As with his Oscar-nominated Super Size Me, Where in the World relies a bit too heavily on gimmicks (such as a faux-video game showdown between a pixilated Spurlock and bin Laden), but unearths common ground between Americans and the people of nations halfway around the world. Bonus Features: Additional interviews with political figures and an animated history of Afghanistan bolster Spurlock’s cross-cultural debate.
As one half of the duo Cheech & Chong, Tommy Chong became one of the biggest pro-cannabis celebrities in Hollywood; in 2003, that fame also made him one of the biggest targets in a $12 million DEA sting, one of the biggest “enemies” in the War on Drugs. Director Josh Gilbert’s involving documentary follows the actor-comedian as he grapples with the government, pleads guilty, and is sentenced to nine months in prison for financing a glass pipe company owned by his son — a conviction pursued and intentionally made harsher because of Chong’s famous onscreen persona. (Last May, 10,000 copies of A/K/A Tommy Chong DVDs were seized by federal agents under the direction of U.S. Attorney Mary Beth Buchanan, the same prosecutor who spearheaded Tommy Chong’s case.) Bonus Features: Chong appears with former partner Cheech Marin for an interview (the duo reunited for a road show following Chong’s incarceration) and sits down to discuss his case with his family in an additional featurette. Having aired only eleven episodes during its second season (thanks, writers’ strike!), Heroes didn’t have the chance to show us what it really had in store for Peter Petrelli, Claire Bennett, Hiro Nakamura and the rest of the super gang…until now. Snag Heroes Season Two on DVD to hear insightful episode commentaries and deleted scenes — but most importantly, learn of the Season Two that might have been. Think plague, contamination, and large-scale action set pieces — elements that might have saved Heroes from its perceived sophomore slump. Bonus Features: Watch the alternate ending and a featurette that delves deeper into the original story arcs planned for Season Two, plus deleted scenes, faux documentaries, and a sneak peek at Season Three! Vincent Chase (Adrian Grenier) and Co. go on location for a film about a Columbian drug lord, then take it all the way to the Cannes Film Festival in the Emmy-nominated fourth season of HBO’s Entourage. Watch for guest stars like Anna Faris, M. Night Shyamalan, Snoop Dogg, and Kanye West. Bonus Features: Three episode commentaries and the fake trailer for Vincent’s film, Medellin, should prove entertaining, but core fans will really love a panel filmed during the U.S. Comedy Arts Festival, featuring Entourage‘s cast and crew as interviewed by critic Elvis Mitchell. It always seems to happen this way; your favorite movie comes out in a special edition DVD, only to be upgraded years later with yet another, more special, collector’s edition! If you can come to terms with this inevitability, you’ll do a celebratory skeleton dance for the latest home video release of The Nightmare Before Christmas, which has been digitally restored (read: more vivid colors, previously unnoticeable visual details) and is available in a 2-disc Collector’s Edition, an Ultimate Collector’s Edition that comes with a talking Jack Skellington bust, and on Blu-ray. Bonus Features: The limited run Ultimate Collector’s Edition Skellington bust will be a must-have item for diehard fans, something the goth kids won’t be able to pick up at Hot Topic. Otherwise, a host of new featurettes accompany previously released DVD extras, including a tour of Disneyland’s Nightmare-themed Haunted Mansion, a newly recorded commentary track combining the memories of Tim Burton, director Henry Selick, and composer Danny Elfman, and the reading of Burton’s original Nightmare poem read by Christopher Lee, animated in 2-D with Burton’s early concept art. Want another glimpse of this super-special, hand-painted Jack Skellington bust that doubles as a DVD set and comes with optional Sandy Claws dress-up gear? Disney’s put together a nifty stop-motion demo of their own to show you what it will be like to have Jack sitting on your mantle this Christmas. Watch below.
Tomatometer: 27%
Tomatometer: 9%
Tomatometer: 71%
Tomatometer:
75%
Where in the World is Osama bin Laden?
Tomatometer: 36%
Tomatometer: 70%
Tomatometer: N/A
Tomatometer: N/A
Tim Burton’s The Nightmare Before Christmas 2-Disc Collector’s Edition
Tomatometer: N/A
To read previous installments of RT on DVD, check out our column archives here. ‘Til next week, happy renting!
It’s time to share our exclusive interview with the one, the only, Uwe Boll! Read on for our candid chat about his latest flick, Postal, how he almost cast Kevin Costner, the challenges of distributing a film that features Nazis, Dave Foley‘s genitalia, Osama bin Laden, and Verne Troyer, and much, much more.
Uwe Boll knows he’s a tough sell in America; shortly after we interviewed him, distributors reduced his blisteringly raunchy, ultra-violent political satire, Postal, from a nationwide release to a limited theatrical run. Considering his rather genius business model (explained by Uwe below), however, we think he’ll be just fine. Read on for our chat with the German mastermind behind such films as Alone in the Dark, BloodRayne, and Dungeon Siege: In the Name of the King, and learn why he self-distributes, how he adapts video games, what he really thinks of Michael Bay, Eli Roth, and George Clooney, and why he doesn’t mind those Ed Wood comparisons.
You’re known for nabbing some big name stars for your films, and for Postal you got Dave Foley and J.K. Simmons. Who’s the biggest star you weren’t able to get in the past?
Uwe Boll: I wanted Kevin Costner for In the Name of the King and I met him before we hired Jason Statham. His manager, she wanted him to do it because she felt like he needed a movie like this again, like Robin Hood, more epic. But he felt like he didn’t want to do it, and then he did Mr. Brooks. He pitched to me Mr. Brooks — and I was surprised how good the movie was, to be honest. When I read it, Mr. Brooks, with his alter ego, the other guy, I said “What the f*** is that? You want to play a double part?” He was thinking in the beginning of playing two parts, and it was good that he cast William Hurt to do the other part, and I actually liked the movie.
Wait — Costner pitched Mr. Brooks to you?
UB: Yeah. He was looking for co-financing and everything, and said “Let’s do this movie together!”
So you might have co-produced Mr. Brooks?
UB: No, no! I said, look, I cannot do it — I’m doing Dungeon Siege right now.
Back to Postal. Has it been tough to sell Postal because it’s such a dark political comedy?
UB: Yes. First of all, humor is not translating everywhere. Let’s say Taiwan, Thailand, India — they see Postal and they think, “What is that?” It’s too crazy, it’s too ruthless, and over the top, so it’s against some religious things. For example in France, I couldn’t show it because of Islam. They were actually scared that the people will, like, throw stones in the theaters and everything so they couldn’t release it.
The jokes in Postal target American culture and politics very acutely…I wonder if that aspect would play well in other countries.
UB: That’s the thing; a lot of times, U. S. comedies are not running really good and strong outside of US because the humor is tough to translate. And if you see what are the biggest local hits in France, or Germany, it’s always German comedies or France comedies — like The Visitors with Jean Reno in France. It’s a piece of sh**. If we see the movie we think “What the f***, this is not funny at all!” but it sold more tickets than Harry Potter. And this is the kind of phenomenon what you have locally in movies.
How did Postal play in Germany, your home country?
UB: We got only 20 screens. But we were running three months, so we were kind of happy with the performance but you cannot really make a lot of box office, because three of the four big exhibitors banned us. But it’s the same here in the U.S. We have to fight for every screen, basically, that we can get. It’s not easy. In Germany you have four big multiplex chains; only UCI, owned by Australians, played us. All the German-owned multiplex theaters didn’t play us. It’s a little similar, it looks like, here. Maybe Regal plays us, and AMC maybe. But Cinemark, Mann Theatres, whatever, not interested. I think it’s kind of a political decision from these guys.
Well, it is very extreme material. Do you think the world, or even America, is ready for Nazi and al-Qaeda jokes?
UB: Yeah, I hope so. The thing is, I think as a director or a writer or whatever, you have to have a vision. And you have to be maybe sometimes too early, somewhere.
How did you decide Postal would be your first comedy?
UB: I think the video game, in a way, is funny. Because you can play Postal without violence if you want; you can wait forever in a line, for example, and then at one point you can cash in your paycheck or whatever. Or you can use a cat as a silencer. It’s so absurd! I told [Postal game creator] Vince Desi from the beginning on, we have to make it as a comedy — it’s the only way to tell that story that works. And they were really against it. They had more of a rampage movie in mind; like, they wanted to do a Taxi Driver kind of a guy what flips out and kills everybody, and I felt this would be totally wrong. But you can play bin Laden, you can play Bush, and the whole setup — where he lives with his 500 pound wife in a trailer park and everything — it’s funny. It’s not serious. You think that people get real emotions so you have to do it as a spoof; you have to do it like a Naked Gun-meets-Blues Brothers kind of action movie.
And then later when I actually finished the writing, and I started shooting, then slowly I convinced [Vince] and now he loves the movie. And he’s also in the movie, trying to kill me! When he was on set he had a blast, and now he’s a big fan. It’s the only video game company ever who supports the movie so much.
Next: Vince Desi and how Uwe makes money…
It is fun to see Vince Desi in the movie, because it plays on your reputation developing video games into movies — against the wishes of diehard fans. Is this the best relationship you’ve had with the creator of a video game you’ve adapted so far? UB: Absolutely. It’s their baby, and they basically are all the way on my side. They don’t dump me if I have a bad review, they stay on my side, and they promote the shit out of the movie. They are really helping, and it’s not easy to get support on a movie like this. Was the case different with movies like Alone in the Dark and Dungeon Siege? UB: On Dungeon Siege, I have to say we developed a long time, that script — over a year, we had three different writers, and [game creator] Chris Taylor, he was really happy. They were also very nice and supportive. But they didn’t show as much [support] as Vince Desi. They came to one screening, and this was it. But they didn’t organize a party where they played, and Vince is doing all that — wherever he is, whatever video game convention he’s at, he supports the movie. We opened Rotten Tomatoes to some of our readers to ask you questions, so here goes. lavatory love machine asks, “Why is it that on your videogame movie adaptation you only take the game’s concept and characters to use them on an original story instead of using the one from the game?” UB: I think that you have to see it project by project. Alone in the Dark was supposed to come out, the game together with the movie — Atari was developing it in LA: Alone in the Dark 5. So if they would make that, and finished it, there would be a game and the movie together. But I was in the end alone with the movie because they closed down LA; Atari was on the edge of almost bankruptcy. And now, after all those years, this year Alone in the Dark Part 5 is coming out. Way too late, yeah? But we produced Alone in the Dark 2 based now on that new game. So I don’t take the blame alone, let’s say. Because when I did the movie, it was supposed to be together with the video game. With BloodRayne, I went totally away from the concept in the beginning because I thought I wanted to do it as a trilogy. So I said, let’s start in the 1700s Transylvania Romanian mountains and everything, like a period piece vampire movie, to show where she comes from. And then we jump into the Wild West with BloodRayne 2 one hundred years later. And then we go to the Second World War for Part Three, which is the game. This is basically how I approached it — of course, people say [the game] isn’t directly in the Second World War, but then I wouldn’t like to go backwards in time. So I thought, why not start in the 1700s and then we go forwards. But in everything that I did, I kept a lot of the ideas of the game, and the characters — for example, BloodRayne, how she’s dressed, or how she’s fighting. So I kept a lot from the game. And some game stories are also kind of, let’s say, Dungeon Siege — tell me the story. Right? The only thing I could use was in the beginning, there is a farm, and the Krugs coming in killing everybody, and the Farmer goes on a revenge trip. The funny thing is that I even got bashed from game sites about why his name is Farmer. But it’s exactly what I kept from the game, because in the game his name is Farmer — he has no name. So it’s like whatever you do, you’ll have people getting mad about it and it’s kind of stupid. jomo999 asks, “Mr Boll, why do you like to adapt video games into movies? Your movies aside, the general reaction to video game adaptations is largely negative. To name a few, Hitman, Tomb Raider and the Resident Evil trilogy all had a cold reception. So what are your reasons for working on this particular genre?” UB: I know, but you have to see we are not spending $150 million on the movies. Dungeon Siege was $60 million — our biggest movie — and the other movies are more between $10- and $25 million. We know we can recoup the money also out of DVD; so theatrical is more like an advertising machine, and then you cash in money on the DVD. This always worked. Alone in the Dark was on DVD a big success, House of the Dead and BloodRayne, and I think if you see the business there is right now a lot of movies losing a lot of money, because they make those movies too expensive to recoup the money. And this is what I did more carefully — also because I didn’t have the money, I cannot spend $150 million on a movie! So in the end, if you really break down the numbers like what I spent and what I get back, then even a $5 million box office for Alone in the Dark — what was around $20 million to do…of course, it tanked in U.S. theaters, but you have to see the relationship. If BC 10,000 [sic] makes a $90 million box office but it was $200 million to do, and they spent $80 million to release it, are they losing not way more money than I “lose” with Alone in the Dark if it makes $5 million theatrical but then $26 million on DVD? And then I have only $20 million spent on it, and $15 million in advertising. The chance that I make my money back is bigger than a movie like BC 10,000. But it’s not that I’m happy with the theatrical performance of my movies in the U.S. It’s always interesting for me to see that outside the U.S. the movie is working. Dungeon Siege, like every single country it got released in, stayed three weeks in the top ten: Germany, Austria, Russia, Greece, Turkey…we stayed three weeks in the top ten in Germany and beat American Gangster, for example, and smashed Beowulf in the same weekend — it’s kind of strange, right? This is what I think: in the U.S. I don’t get a decent release at all from the beginning on. If you would put $50 million in advertising in Dungeon Siege and have a real studio releasing it, it would also make a $50- or $60 million box office. So does that explain why your movies perform so much better overseas than in America? UB: Absolutely! Because here, maybe since House of the Dead, I’m not able to set up a domestic distribution where I can make money. If, for example, a studio takes a movie over, you sign a contract that they can charge advertising costs — like, unlimited — before you get one dollar. So you know, maybe out of the U.S., I get nothing. I cannot do that. I need money out of the U.S. So this is the reason I always have that strange theatrical self-distribution — you know, it’s kind of a strange thing that I’m doing, what is definitely not positive for my career as a director, but what is better for me as a producer. In the Name of the King, for example, tanked in the theaters with Freestyle Releasing, but Fox is doing DVD and TV, and it’s massive. So on DVD, the movie performs like it made $50 million box office, and Fox is for me a real cash cow, because they didn’t spend the advertising money for the theatrical release. Now, I get 6, 7 bucks per DVD — cash. If the movie makes $30-$40 million on DVD in U.S., I get at least my $10-$15 million out of U.S. out of the DVD and TV, and I’m not running into a total disaster. If Fox had released it theatrically, they’d have kept all the DVD and TV revenues against the cost. Next: On Seed going to DVD, Grand Theft Auto, and Michael Bay…
Have you thought of just going the direct-to-DVD route? UB: Not with King, it was too big. But other movies — Seed, my upcoming horror movie, is definitely going direct to DVD. We showed it in a few festivals, it’s a very depressing horror movie, but it makes no sense to spend $10, $15 million dollars for a release of a NC-17 movie — because I don’t want to cut it, it’s NC-17 — so I don’t do it, the movie stays as it is. I prefer to have the direct to DVD release before cutting it down to an R-rating and then getting, maybe, bad reviews. Ryze asks, “Would you consider making a movie of Grand Theft Auto: Vice City?” UB: It would be great, but I heard that the game guys want to play the lead parts in the movie. This is one of the reasons the movie never got made, because they actually want to star in the movies. (Laughs) The producers are like, “Look; you’re a f***ing geek! You will be the hero in the movie? We cannot do it.” So it’s one of the reasons it’s maybe never getting made. thereign asks, “How in the name of all that is holy do you actually manage to get KNOWN actors (Ray Liotta, Dave Foley, Jason Statham, John Rhys Davies–JOHN F***ING RHYS DAVIES, for God’s sake!!!) to work in your films?” UB: We don’t offer so much money, but we shoot fast. And we also go very late to actors so they don’t have another option — you go two weeks before the shoot to Ben Kingsley and he has nothing, he takes it. You cannot go with BloodRayne in advance; Ben Kingsley will never take it. All genre movies — people do it for money, but also for, like, “Ok, right now I have a gap; I’ll do it.” You’ve been compared by some to Ed Wood; how do you feel about that comparison? UB: Look, Ed Wood fulfilled his dreams; he went out there and made movies with no money; I have more money to make movies, but…I’m okay with whomever they compare me with. In the end, after Postal I know what’s coming out for me — I have Seed and Tunnel Rats, a Vietnam War movie, and so on. I know what I did, and in five years, people will talk differently. Do you consider yourself more of a businessman or a director? UB: I have to do both to keep going. This was the whole Michael Bay dispute, why I bashed him; if a guy gets always money pumped in his ass from the studios, and can do whatever he wants, and is not even on set where they shoot the real scenes from his movie because the CGI and second unit teams are doing it…I was pissed about this kind of approach; this guy has no responsibility. And I’m responsible, that’s the reason all my movies come in on time on budget, which is totally the opposite of what the public thinks of me. Writing about me, I’m the worst, and a retard, whatever. But who did 12 movies in seven years on time, in budget, distributed it worldwide and financed the movies? Name one other guy in the business who did that. And this is the thing what I think a lot of people should at least show respect for that. Because if you see In the Name of the King, it’s not that movie that, let’s say 90 percent of the movies coming out are way smaller, with way less cast, and way worse in filmmaking in the technical sense — but I do all that shit on my own! I don’t have a CGI guy directing my movie. Now, Michael Bay has denied accepting your boxing challenge, but have you sought out Eli Roth or George Clooney to spar with you? UB: I don’t care — whoever comes into the ring gets beaten up. No, but I think Eli Roth reacted with humor. And you have to see, I said that out of an impulse; it was not like I thought about it a long time before. I wanted to give sh** to all of Hollywood at that moment, so I grabbed those three names. I think that actually Eli Roth is a talented director, even if he made Hostel — it’s not my favorite. And George Clooney made great movies, but I think he was in my mind because Leatherheads started on that weekend. And I felt like, what a bullsh** movie from him! I love Syriana, I love Michael Clayton. I think he’s a great actor. Tell our readers why they should see Postal this weekend instead of Indiana Jones. UB: They should definitely see Postal because I will have on Rotten Tomatoes, the first time in my career, a 55 percent or up positive reviews rating…and don’t put the faces up of some Internet “Quint” from Ain’tItCool.com or whatever, don’t feature him on Rotten Tomatoes. Go for other web sites also, like Bloody-Disgusting.com — they love Postal. [By the way, it’s 60 percent or higher for a Fresh Tomatometer, Uwe. But we’re rooting for you!] Postal is in select theaters today. Check out Uwe Boll’s Five Favorite Movies here.
This week we discuss Dr. Indiana Jones’ long-awaited return to the screen in Steven Spielberg‘s Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull , deliver a message directly from the Raging Boll AKA the Teutonic Terror AKA Postal director Uwe Boll, and answer more viewer mail. Where did the Rotten Tomatoes name come from? Do we ever appear on radio shows…perhaps like Adam Carolla’s morning show on 97.1 FM? What constitutes “appropriate bars” in any naked painting of Dave? Tune in next week as we discuss the highly anticipated Sex and the City: The Movie and the home invasion thriller The Strangers. Fun times ahead! But for now, we leave you with the following. Let your simmering Indiana Jones excitement boil over with the help of film critic Luke Y. Thompson… Sure, he’s confronted his critics — and Michael Bay — in the most unusual ways. And yes, he’s turned a some of your most beloved video game titles into big-screen clunkers (none of which have yet broken 11 percent on the Tomatometer*). Heck, the man who gave us such stinkers as Alone in the Dark, BloodRayne, and Dungeon Siege: In the Name of the King has even agreed to retire if an online petition asking him to simply “stop” reaches one million signatures. But we bet you never expected Uwe Boll to pick veritable classics of cinema as his favorite films of all time… Read on for Dr. Uwe Boll’s five favorite films, as told to RT. *Boll’s latest film, the political satire Postal, currently has a career-high 29 percent Tomatometer. What is lost, if you see war movies today — not like Pearl Harbor, that’s one of the worst movies of all time — but like Mel Gibson‘s Once We Were Warriors or Soldiers or whatever (2002’s We Were Soldiers), all that stuff, you feel it’s all fake. You feel they go in the evenings to their hotel rooms and it’s all good. But in Apocalypse Now, you feel like these guys were f—ed! [Editor’s note: check back for next week’s full interview with Uwe Boll as he tells us how he almost got Kevin Costner to join the cast of Dungeon Siege: In the Name of the King!]
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Apocalypse Now
One of my all-time favorites is Apocalypse Now, because it shows the craziness of war, and you have the feeling that the shooting also was a big adventure. And this is what I like.
Dances with Wolves
I love a big adventure; it’s one of the reasons I like Dances with Wolves, also on the list. Because I feel that this was also a big adventure [to film] and I like the very realistic feeling, what Kevin Costner did with that movie. I love that movie. It’s emotional, and it’s real, in a way. I really like it.
A Clockwork Orange
A Clockwork Orange would be [on the list]. Clockwork Orange and Citizen Kane, because they’re both all-time favorites, and I think Orson Welles did with Citizen Kane so much interesting stuff for the year that he did it, what nobody else did before. The same with Kubrick for Clockwork Orange. They broke a lot of filmmaking rules and the subject matter is, for me, very interesting.
Citizen Kane is, like you see now, P.T. Anderson‘s There Will Be Blood. It’s a good movie; it’s the same kind of thing. You follow a crazy character who gets really successful, and in a very bitter way. So I really love those two movies.
It’s still one of the biggest crimes of Hollywood that they didn’t finance Orson Welles’ movies after a while. To have a genius like him, sitting there and trying to get his last 5,000 bucks together to make another movie after he did a movie like this… (Welles’ follow-up to Citizen Kane, The Magnificent Ambersons, was notoriously completed and re-cut without his input.)
Number five…like I said, it always changes. There are a lot of good movies out there [that are] from time to time favorites. I would do The Searchers, from John Ford, with John Wayne. I’m a big Western fan, and this was a great Western.
John Ford is interesting; if you are younger, you don’t appreciate John Ford so much. I liked more Howard Hawks and William Wyler Westerns when I was younger, and now, later, if you get a little older, you like John Ford more and more. It’s the same with some writers. There are some writers you love when you’re 20, and when you’re 30 or 35 you think it’s completely silly bulls–t what the guys wrote (laughs), but you appreciate other writers.
Tune in next week for our full interview with Uwe Boll, in which the Postal director shares the secret of how exactly he makes money on flicks like Alone in the Dark and Dungeon Siege: In the Name of the King, and answers your submitted questions!
RT is a website for the people, and as such we are offering the RT community the chance to pose a question to moviedom’s most controversial working director: Uwe Boll.
We’ll be meeting Boll later this week as he embarks on a press tour to promote Postal, his latest videogame-to-screen offering. Post your burning questions for the Teutonic Terror below and select lines of inquiry will be put to him on your behalf. (Try to keep it tactful. And no, we’re not going to challenge Boll to a boxing match.)
Boll’s upcoming Postal hits theaters later this month (May 23) and is a sort of departure for the man known best for films like Alone in the Dark, BloodRayne, and In the Name of the King: A Dungeon Siege Tale. Unlike those actioners, Postal is an intentional comedy that mines today’s political atmosphere for laughs with the delicacy of a bull in a china shop. Borrowing its premise from the videogame of the same name, Postal follows a down-on-his-luck loser named Dude (Zack Ward) as his worst day ever turns into a frenzy of bullets, babes, terrorists, and angry mobs; suffice to say that avian bird flu, Osama bin Laden, and a doomsday cult come into play. Did we mention the full-frontal Dave Foley?
Nearly every Boll flick nabs a handful of Hollywood stars; Postal features the aforementioned Dave Foley, Zack Ward, J.K. Simmons, Verne Troyer, Larry “The Soup Nazi” Thomas as Osama bin Laden, and Uwe Boll…as Uwe Boll.
Boll, a natural publicity magnet, has single-handedly spread word-of-mouth for Postal‘s debut by posting a video online disparaging filmmakers like George Clooney, Eli Roth and Michael Bay; more recently, he prematurely confirmed that he’d step into the ring opposite Bay, as he had before against his harshest critics (Bay later denied the showdown.)
Below, one of Boll’s recent promo videos for Postal, in which he delivers a PSA-style lesson in the character of General George S. Patton. Remember to submit your Boll questions below!
Watch more General Boll videos here.
**UPDATE: Thanks to all of you who submitted questions. We talked to Boll this morning and he answered some of your burning inquiries! Stay posted for our full interview soon!
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