Nostalgia can be bipolar

Lately I've been watching a number of movies from my youth/teen years. Many of them from my college years, when I worked in a movie theater (1997 to 2001) because there were many great movies in that time and also because I can still remember who I was with when I first saw them and I kind of enjoy the nostalgia. A couple nights ago I watched Saving Private Ryan, and I'll admit even shed a tear or two. And not completely because of the movie itself, but because it brought back some strong memories of the latter half of 1998 which was probably the most emotionally challenging time of my entire life.

Then there are some of the movies that just plain bring me back to an even simpler time. This afternoon I dug up a copy of The Wizard, which I loved 20 years ago (it was released in 1989) and haven't seen in over 15 years.

Considering that this site is full of 30-somethings who like video games, I probably don't need to give much background about this film. Chances are you remember it - the younger brother who had only 10 lines in the whole movie, 7  of which were "California!" The ol' Nintendo Power Glove being used to show how the 14 year old was a bad ass mother fucker. And who can forget the unveiling of a game nobody had ever played or even seen before: Super Mario Brothers 3.

Mere mention of the film may bring back some generally favorable memories of this movie. My suggestion: Stop right there. Keep it shelved in the "Good movies from my childhood" section of the video store in your brain.

First and foremost, none of the movie is even remotely plausible. The "villain" of the film is a self-proclaimed retriever of runaway children. To get his paycheck he commits some pretty serious felonies - kidnapping, accessory to grand theft auto, and tire slashing. What a bad ass.

Secondly, while it was great to see some old-school NES games at the forefront of this heap of dog shit, I was astounded at how obvious a promotional vehicle this was for Nintendo. There's overtly blatant product placement (think FedEx in Castaway), and then there are films seemingly written by Hiroshi Yamauchi himself. I think we can all agree that in 1989 Nintendo was the uncontested leader of the pack, but did we really need Kevin Arnold to keep reminding us of this?

I guess this movie was groundbreaking in a way. The Wizard paved the way for Uwe Boll to make numerous subpar movies based on video games. To be fair, The Wizard wasn't as bad as Alone in the Dark, but if this blog is making you remember how much you liked the movie 20 years ago keep that memory and go play some old school Nintendo.