While most of the hype surrounding E3 is behind closed door game appointments and grabbing rare swag items, it can also be a great opportunity to screen movies. The upcoming independent movie “Noobz” (Rated R) is directed and written by Blake Freeman who also stars in the movie. The movie is based on four friends brought together by their love of games to find out what it takes to compete in a tournament for Gears of War 3.
Starring: Blake Freeman, Jason Mewes, Matt Shively, and Moses Arias.
The movie is full of recognizable moments from the gaming culture such as listening in on a full blown argument through headphones as someone forgot to mute their microphone, trash talking against opponents, and the laughs had at mentioned sexual humor. The development of each of the four main characters expands as they try and reach their destination of the tournament that takes place in Los Angeles. The grand prize for the tournament is $100,000, with each member of the team needing the money for different reasons. As a team it would be a great success, but some of the team members will need more convincing than others. While the movie is full of dude-bro moments, high fives, crude humor, and slapstick comedy, the movie can provide laughs throughout if the viewer is slightly aware of gaming culture. Throughout the movie there is tons of product placement from companies such as Microsoft, Epic Games, Project Triforce, GAEMS (the personal gaming environment cases), all relating to the Gears of War series. Being an independent film it is great to see that the support that was given for the movie by these companies.
One of the sub plots of the movie is based on a washed up retired gaming champion stuck in the past, Greg “Armagreggon” Lipstein, who is trying to reclaim his glory by becoming the Frogger champion. His travels leads him to cross paths with team Reign who are trying to capture the Gears of War 3 championship in LA, but gets more than he expects when he reaches the finals. Some of the most ridiculous moments come from when “Armagreggon” is on screen and can be one of the most quotable characters in my eyes.
While some of the plot points can be telegraphed as the movie progresses, it doesn’t take away from the overall satisfaction that I had with the movie. When the movie ended it couldn’t be helped by many people in the audience to give a cheer and to start quoting their favorite parts of the movie as they walked to the lobby, most of which can’t be repeated here. While this might not be for the mainstream audience, I can see this becoming an instant cult classic for gamers to have on hand in their collection of movies.
Overall I would recommend seeing this movie later this year when it releases in theaters for a good laugh with some of your gamer friends or non gamer friends so they can get a little taste of what we are talking about.
The official unrated and not safe for work trailer for Noobz can be found here.
For all the pictures from the red carpet event to see special guests in attendance for the movie such as Cliff Bleszinski (Epic Games), Rod Fergusson (Epic Games), Adam Sessler, Casper Van Dien (Johnny Rico of Starship Troopers), and more go here.
I look forward to the theatrical release of the movie and seeing it again with more friends. Let us know if you plan on seeing the movie when it releases in the comments below or in the forums!