Pixel Theater

Dracula's up to no good, and there are only three people who can stop him. Join us as we explore the strange world of Castlevania!

Today we are joined by Dr. Vanessa Haddad. Vanessa is a professor and chair of Liberal Arts, General Studies, at SUNY Erie, and teaches courses at the University at Buffalo in educational technology for social studies, and game studies at Niagara University. Her research interests include video games in higher education, video games and gender performance, and video games and psychoanalytic theory. Vanessa is a lifelong gamer who believes in the power of play and games to improve day to day life.

Check out our discussion about the newest entry to the Resident Evil adaptation collection. It's the Netflx Original Series. Resident Evil: Infinite Darkness. 

Assault on Arkham is the prequel to Batman: Arkham Asylum. So it hols a very niche' place in the "Arkhamvers". Which is a term I didn't even know existed. It refers to the media that is related to the Arkham video games. So far, this is the only movie in that universe, and while it's not as great as it could have been, it definitely isn't as bad as it could have been either. The voice cast definitely helps elevate this movie. The story is all over the place, and then animation is a little cheap, but overall it's fun.

Street Fighter II: The Movie, an animated adaptation of a sequel to a video game that didn't get a film adaptation. This movie is made for fans of the series, like if you don't know who these characters are, and what happened to them in the first game, too bad! Still, it's got some great fight scene's and animation. Check it out!

We're doing the Super Mario Brothers Movie, again! It was our first episode, but we just can't stop talking about this absolutely bonkers film. It's silly, it's fun, and Dennis Hopper plays King Koopa! How could you not want to talk about this movie. We are joined by local film critic and enthusiast Matt Giles!

On this episode we are talking about the video game influenced, and very trippy, David Cronenberg movie, eXistenZ. This isn't one of Cronenberg's most well known movies, but it is a lot of fun, especially as it comes at a time when there were several films that tackled the nature of reality. Fans of the Matrix, Dark City and The Thirteenth Floor will also find a lot to enjoy with this film.

We are also joined by special guest Steve Weidner. Steve has played video games since the Fairchild Channel F system, but is primarily a tabletop RPG gamer. He has been a genre film nerd since his mom took him to a double feature of Barbarella and Fantastic Planet. He still has a working laserdisc player and too recently realized that he spends way more time shopping for weird movies than watching them. He supports his film addiction as an instructional designer at a small college in central New York.

Going back to the Pokemon well this week as we discuss Pokemon - The First Movie: Mewtwo Strikes Back! Which is a very strange title. Anyway, Producer Erin is on this episode and they discuss their experience with, I think, every Pokemon video game ever made. This is a very strange movie, that tries to teach a lesson, that is ultimately abandoned because everyone's memory is wiped.

It's Pixel Theater Time everyone. On this episode we're talking about Warcraft. An ambitious Fantasy Epic, based on one of the most popular video game franchises of all time! It... ok, like not great, could have been better, but isn't as bad as it could have been. We also talk a little bit about Zero Dawn Horizon, which would probably make a really great movie.

We've got a brand new episode for you, and this time we;e talking about the latest Mortal Kombat movie. This movie starts with a lot of promise, but ultimately doesn't delivery. Ron, especially, took it pretty hard.

We're taking on The Rock, with this episode as we discuss "Rampage" a movie that, for some reason, exists! I don't know how they got some many people together for such a dumb, middling movie. However, it's still one of the best movies we've ever watched on this podcast. So, if you like mindless action, or gorillas that know sign language, you could do A LOT worse.