// BEGIN editorial data var i = 0; var games_top5_081001_LeastEmbarassingGameMovies = new Array(); games_top5_081001_LeastEmbarassingGameMovies.ID = "games_top5_081001_LeastEmbarassingGameMovies"; games_top5_081001_LeastEmbarassingGameMovies.ID_WB = 26984759; games_top5_081001_LeastEmbarassingGameMovies.sPubDate = "10/2/2008 9:34:31 AM GMT"; games_top5_081001_LeastEmbarassingGameMovies.navsectionID = "15879576" games_top5_081001_LeastEmbarassingGameMovies.appFmt = 2; games_top5_081001_LeastEmbarassingGameMovies.itemsPerPage = 1; games_top5_081001_LeastEmbarassingGameMovies.nTeaseW = 298; games_top5_081001_LeastEmbarassingGameMovies.nTeaseH = 298; games_top5_081001_LeastEmbarassingGameMovies.appWidth = 600; games_top5_081001_LeastEmbarassingGameMovies.appHeader = "

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Later this month, 20th Century Fox will release “Max Payne,” the most recent video game to get a Hollywood makeover. But if history is any indication, the movie will be a critical stinker, as have been the majority of cringe-inducing, game-related feature films.

That's not to say there haven't been any good ones (or at least a handful of bearable ones). And from time to time, there have even been some great ones, particularly those that use video games as a backdrop, as opposed to driving the central story. And these are the best – the ones that will leave you minimally embarrassed or even impressed.

Tell us: What are your favorite game movies?

-- Blake Snow


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“The Wizard” is little more than a 100-minute commercial for Nintendo, that's for sure. It features a lame \"troubled boy runs away from home\" plot, contains numerous factual errors related to the games being shown, and there's even a scene involving a disturbing accusation of pedophilia. (Yikes.) Still, the admissible acting can be quite entertaining, and the movie serves as a great time capsule for lovable ‘80s gaming. As antagonist Lucas Barton says, \"It's so bad,\" and we love it."; games_top5_081001_LeastEmbarassingGameMovies[i++] = new Array("","'The Last Starfighter' (1984) ","","http://msnbcmedia.msn.com/j/msnbc/Components/Photo/_new/081001_Top5_Starfighter.hmedium.jpg","","", "", "", "", "", "", "", "Universal Pictures", "197", "382", "#000000", "", "", "", ""); games_top5_081001_LeastEmbarassingGameMovies[i-1].body = "

What a drag to live in a trailer park and have your only hope of escape be a college loan that was recently denied, but that’s precisely the situation for Alex Rogan (Lance Guest) in “The Last Starfighter.” To drown his sorrows, Rogan takes comfort in dominating a fictional arcade game that turns out to be a recruiting tool used by an endangered solar system fighting for its survival. In short, Rogan saves the day and becomes an intergalactic superstar."; games_top5_081001_LeastEmbarassingGameMovies[i++] = new Array("","'Tron' (1982)","","http://msnbcmedia.msn.com/j/msnbc/Components/Photo/_new/081001_Top5_Tron.hmedium.jpg","","", "", "", "", "", "", "", "Disney", "273", "389", "#000000", "", "", "", ""); games_top5_081001_LeastEmbarassingGameMovies[i-1].body = "

“Tron” is a feast for the eyes. At number three on our list, it’s not only a great video game movie, it's a great movie, period. The Disney-backed experience was one of the first films to use computer animation for a majority of its scenes and centers on the life of Kevin Flynn (Jeff Bridges), a talented game programmer who gets zapped into a computer and must play his way out to restore his pride and livelihood. And like the games “Tron” tries to humanize, the movie is just as fun."; games_top5_081001_LeastEmbarassingGameMovies[i++] = new Array("","'WarGames' (1983) ","","http://msnbcmedia.msn.com/j/msnbc/Components/Photo/_new/081002_Top5_wargames.hmedium.jpg","","", "", "", "", "", "", "", "MGM-United Artists", "273", "382", "#000000", "", "", "", ""); games_top5_081001_LeastEmbarassingGameMovies[i-1].body = "

“WarGames,” starring Matthew Broderick and Ally Sheedy, is easily the most highbrow story of all game-related movies, addressing such issues as the Cold War, nuclear annihilation, computer ethics and whether machines could ever be humane. The movie stalls a bit when Broderick and Sheedy visit the creepy creator of the naive and overpowering supercomputer, which likens nuclear war to a game of chess, but “WarGames” remains an original, convincing, and entertaining film nonetheless. (And seriously, look how young Matthew Broderick looks!)"; games_top5_081001_LeastEmbarassingGameMovies[i++] = new Array("","'The King of Kong' (2007) ","","http://msnbcmedia.msn.com/j/msnbc/Components/Photo/_new/081001_Top5_King%20of%20Kong.hmedium.jpg","","", "", "", "", "", "", "", "Picturehouse", "263", "363", "#000000", "", "", "", ""); games_top5_081001_LeastEmbarassingGameMovies[i-1].body = "

The only documentary on our list is also the best film we’ve named – by far. “The King of Kong” is a brilliant story of good versus evil (even if the filmmakers fudged the truth a little in telling it) as two \"manchildren\" duke it out for the coveted top score in \"Donkey Kong\" (not the newer version of the game, the 1981 classic). You'll want to cry at one point (seriously), and then laugh out loud several times over during other scenes – it's that good. If you see only one movie about video games, make it this one.


Tell us: What are your favorite game movies?"; // END editorial data