I allowed my break from playing Darksiders to continue one more day in order to check out the movie
Noobz. I’ve been a fan of Jason Mewes since I first saw the character “Jay” in Clerks years ago. I’ve
seen him play various roles in other minor movies, and when I heard that he was playing a competitive
gamer in Noobz I knew it was something I had to see. It also did not hurt that this movie received lots
of promotion from Robert Paz (Prod1gy X) who was in the movie far less than I expected based on his
promotion of it.
The day before its release a very negative review was posted by Game Informer (I will not link due to major spoilers). Several people I follow on Twitter posted links to the review and reactions to the trailer. It seemed as though many people took these as a direct representation of the movie. I only read a paragraph of the review initially, and didn’t
watch the trailer until after the movie. My only knowledge of Noobz was by word of mouth. I think the
trailer could’ve been done to put a better spin on the movie than it did, and I am honestly not sure what
movie the GI reviewer watched, but it wasn’t Noobz.
I was going to rent it through one of the many services on the PS3, thought about buying it through
VUDU, but ultimately decided to pick up Noobz on DVD (which came with a VUDU code) at Wal-Mart
for $10 (I don’t buy anything without a 2nd copy anymore). I will spare you any spoilers and just say that
I really enjoyed the movie. This is saying quite a bit for me since after leaving the video rental industry
a few years ago I’ve become bored with movies. 95% of the time I fall asleep or just stop watching and
do some mundane task like washing dishes. Noobz has a few flaws, but there are limitations when doing
an indie production so it’s to be expected. I was annoyed by the amount of product placement initially,
but I realized I am pretty much a walking billboard for games and gaming equipment (some stuff I don’t
even own *coughGAEMScough*) at all times. Because of this realization I could see that the director/
producer/whoever is in charge was really just trying to show true gamer culture and how we support it.
If you’re considering watching, skip renting and go buy Noobz. Support indie films and get us out of the
sequel, prequel and remake rut that that the industry seems stuck in. (Except for Star Wars and LOTR,
those can stay.)
On a side note, I really think the review on Game Informer was done by someone who was jealous that they were not in the movie…. I wonder if someone was cut… seriously… wow.
IDEKWTF 