The Wizard (1989)

Without looking it up. What won best picture in 1989? No one remembers and you probably have not scene it....but people are still watching this. I rest my case.

Jimmy Woods (Luke Edwards) suffers from unspecified mental handicap and often wanders off to go to California. He lives with his mother Christine Bateman and stepfather. The stepfather institutionalizes him in a home. Corey (Fred Savage) and Nick (Christian Slater) live with their father Sam Woods (Beau Bridges). There is little that Sam can do without custody. Corey takes his half-brother Jimmy away from the home on a trip to California. Bateman hires Putnam (Will Seltzer) to track down Jimmy while Sam and Nick follow the boys on their own. While at a bus station, they meet Haley Brooks (Jenny Lewis) and discover that Jimmy is a real wizard at video games. Haley suggests entering him in a big video game contest in L.A.This is a fun little adventure for kids. Of course, it's insanely dangerous to promote hitchhiking for little kids and it's a thinly disguised commercial for Nintendo. Nevertheless, Lewis and Savage are cute together. The power glove sounded awesome. The B story has some fun comedy. Beau Bridges getting hooked on video games is funny. If not for 3 little kids hitchhiking around in what essentially is a commercial, I would be more fully behind this movie.

I've been a gamer ever since I was six, got my first video game console when I was 8, this console was of course the Nintendo. This film was almost a dream come true to me because it was one based on the world of gaming. This is an underrated gem (in my book anyway)that I really like and still do to this day. It's also one of the only sports films I really like/love (I personally am not a fan of the sub genre)and there aren't many like it.There is just a lot I really like about the film, watching it again now is more interesting because now it's sort of a time capsule of the 89-90's era. The fashions, video games at the time, the Universial Studio locale when it was young, music you name it. Speaking of the music, I feel this film has one of the best soundtracks which no doubt brew 90's, my favorite is the end credit theme song which is one of my personal favorites called "I Found My Way", it's just a beautiful and inspiring song in my book anyway.The highlight no doubt in the visual aspect was the Video Armegenon contest, just the amount of energy and showmanship it had, really makes me which most other video game/PC game tournaments today had that again. But of course it was when the new game at the time was revealed "Super Mario Bros 3" I remember seeing that in the film and thought OMG, I never even knew the franchise was even developing a third volume so you can imagine how much it blew my mind. Some would say that the film is a bit dated, personally I think that's an unfair argument to make, if it was some other video game in a film say "Halo 7" same thing would happen. You have to understand in 89-90 the video game counterculture was on the rise, not just was it becoming more popular and accessible but also video game technology itself was rapidly developing. However I don't just like this film because it has video games/gaming, but I honestly felt the film has a bit of a heart as well. Like any sports film I really like the characters and there motives.The antagonist that stands out for me despite not being in the film that long is Lucas, he's a villain you love to dislike because we've all seen people like that, whom think their hot stuff, egocentric, have more things than you and like to show off.However the best characters were the three protagonists whom I thought were the best dynamic of the bunch. All three acted and felt like real kids, they weren't stereotypical all smiles annoying kids. Each of these protagonists I thought were sympathetic have suffered loss in a sense and all three wanted some sort of change, I wouldn't say just change in their life but just something good again in their lives, which is something they've never had in a long time. Fred Savage was great as Cory Woods (on a side note, yes I remember the TV show "The Wonder Years" thats one of my favorite shows). He's a typical adolescent a little rebellious, a gamer he does know his games, he's not too smooth he has a sort of dry witticism to him. But most importantly he does care about his young brother Jimmy Woods (Luke Edwards) whom is the video game wizard. Cory's motive is he simply wants both he and his brother to be a family again and going on this journey with him is the only way to do it.Jenny Lewis I thought was great as Haley, it's a shame this actress didn't have more because I thought she was a capable actress. She sort of reminds me, heck even physically looks a bit like actress Emma Watson. Anyway her character is my favorite, she's fiery, feisty, smart, she has some of the best moments and lines to say. But what I really like is that she has warmth even though she doesn't also show it, she does care about Jimmy and has a bit of a crush on Cory. But there is a bit of sadness to her character, because her character is alone in a way. Doesn't really have many close friends, so Cory is probably the only one she's ever been closest to.The chemistry between both Cory and Haley to me is the other highlight of the movie. Both have just a great back and forth, where at times both give each other intentional or unintentional grief. And yet their relationship develops both care and bond with each other more as the film goes on.But it's true this film isn't perfect I have at least a couple of glitches. I wished in the Video Armeganon elimination sequence it was a montage, where I would of liked to of seen Jimmy play different Nintendo games and knocking down numerous competitors, the fact this didn't happen I thought was a lost opportunity. Certain hiccups in the script, for example 50,000 in "Double Dragon" which in reality isn't possible (I played and own the game so I know) though I don't feel that was so much a case of bad writing just bad research. Overall I think this is a fun and surprisingly touching sports movie and personally I like to see more sports movies based on the video game subculture. For me it's a fun nolstagia trip I like to take every once in a while, for new viewers it could be a fun history lesson but most importantly a fun movie. The Wizard scores.Rating: 3 and a half stars.

So back in the 80's there was this clever little gadget known as the Nintendo entertainment system, which brought all of us young and old alike together for some head smashin, hockey playing, mushroom eating good times...There were several things attached to NES back then that would transform a bystander into a hard core fan. One of those things which held much importance at the time was the magazine Nintendo Power. I have seen everything from early Atari with my grandad to Ps3, but never was there anything like NES. For what seems like ten years it had the market cornered and somewhere in that time the execs at NES decided, smartly i might add, to make a film with the best child star actor of all time, Fred Savage! At some point during this time there was a Major rumbling about this movie in Nintendo Power. This is pre-internet here, we had to get together and pass the magazine around to read about this movie, and the kicker was the secret game to be introduced during the climax of the movie. All i can say is this was a total watershed moment in NES history, peoples heads nearly exploded seeing Super Mario 3 on the big screen at the end. It's a movie packed to the brim with one liners and heart. And what i mean by heart is they didn't have to make a movie so utterly depressing about video games. Fred Savage's brother has lost his twin sister who DROWN, and he just wants to go to "cccalifornia" to put her things back inside a dinosaur. Well this movie confronts all kinds of issues, its a time-capsule and like i said its got a deeper plot then you could imagine for a movie about Italion plumbers. But they did it. And thank god for that! Ten thumbs up.