Int. Studio Conference Room. Day.
Exec #1: Two words. Video Games. This stuff is great, guys. We don’t have to option some book or something, all we have to do is pay some video game company and we can do WHATEVER we want. This is the way to go.
Exec #2: But what about that Mario Brothers movie? Wasn’t that a pile of crap?
Exec #1: It was the first one. The trailblazers always die of dysentery.
Exec #3: So whatta ya got for us then?
Exec #1: Double Dragon. It’s a game where two twin brothers kick ass. I mean, there’s more to it, but that’s the basic plot.
Exec #2: Are they Asian? Because, you know, Double Dragon makes it sound Asian, and we can’t cast two Asian leads. That’s just not going to happen.
Exec #1: Well, their names are Lee. So…
Exec #3: Listen, all we have to do is find one vaguely Asian guy as the second one, and then cast a real lead, and we’ll pass them off as half-brothers or something.
Exec #2: Can we get the bad guy from Terminator 2? I really liked him… Exeunt
What a sad thing it was for this movie to be Raul Julia’s last screen performance. Julia, who died before Street Fighter hit movie screens, plays General M. Bison, the villain in the arcade game. Which is fine. The problem with this film is ostensibly the problem with any video game adaptation—the desire to please video game fans at the expense of narrative cohesiveness, character development, or visual beauty. It’s the reason there hasn’t been a single good video game movie yet.
Street Fighter, based on the fight-em-up coin-op, tries to use as many of the game’s characters as possible, resulting in a mish-mash of nonsensical combat scenes. And, in a moment reminiscent (in a bad, probably not even purposely referential way) of Carrie, Raul Julia’s fist smashes through a pile of rubble after he has been well defeated. Sequel!
From Nicki Minaj’s Red Riding Hood getup to Katy Perry’s head-to-toe blue ensemble, TIME rounds up some of the best (and worst!) sartorial choices at the annual music awards show.
From Nicki Minaj’s Red Riding Hood getup to Katy Perry’s head-to-toe blue ensemble, TIME rounds up some of the best (and worst!) sartorial choices at the annual music awards show.
