Top Ten Movies to Watch While Playing Video Games

Warning: The following contains spoilers, video game chat and obnoxious references to weed, sex, and violence.

Now, some may ask, what is the point of watching a movie while playing a video game, aren't the two done on different screens? Well, let me tell say one thing which is known to be true since the start of the game. Games lag, can't fight it, can't get rid of it but there's always a time when no matter how good it was to you before, you want the game your playing to be three times better than it actually is. Therefore, the mind not only asks for but seeks a friendly distraction, which is why I comprised this list.

On the top of the list, of course, is Half Baked directed by Tamra Davis and written by the star of the movie, Dave Chappelle, because the video game mind quite enjoys its heroic save-the-guy-unjustly-arrested-for-feeding-a-horse scenarios. Particulary impressive in this movie is Chappelle's relationship with his room-mates, which is not unlike the gamer's relationship with others, bound by one common thread: weed. A dog gets high in the movie, that's about as close to video game fantasy as you can get. Its perfect for those times when you're playing a game like Mafia Wars, which was invented by Zynga.

This only means that Zynga spent a lot of time considering the effect of people as they hungered for some violence without actually being involved in violence, which brings us to the second choice: The Addams Family. This movie goes back to the old days of comic book writing and we all know comic books are just video games slowed down with a bunch of words in funny-looking globes. The characters were created by Charles Addams (oh, no, there was a real Addams!) and the movie, well, pretty much written by Caroline Thompson but the certainty of these things is always unclear. Some scenes may relate to the comic book but one must consider that the Addam's have an original style all-their own. It was directed by Barry Sonnefeld and released to gamers in 1991. This goes along well with obscure Vampire games which shoot at things with guns for no good reason. Basically any game with reason while watching this movie is out the window but it's number two on the list because most good video games are without reason.

Okay, number three is dedicated to all those people who ask themselves if they should take risks. Year One, starring Jack Black, and directed by Harold Ramis, is the movie that wins the crown for third place. Why? Because we all ask ourselves what would happen if we all of a sudden pushed the red button. Not for those players doing the mmo (it stands for massively multiplayer online game) thing because the "forbidden" fruit definitely implies no "wiggle room" in those game, which are actual lines from the movie. This is more for those who aren't afraid of the hack and slash and are ready to kill anything in the way, no matter what. It's that kind of inspirational movement that really makes this one memorable, especially if you're at that part of the game where the leveling up starts to attain as Jack Black states, "a knowledgy taste to it."

Speaking of player versus player mmo's, it's about time the fourth movie on the list to spring to life. Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back written and directed by Kevin Smith is definitely for those seeking some vengeance. The movie centers around two weed-selling video-store junkies who are mad about people dissing them on the internet, even though their movie might make lots of money, which covers two out of two of the reasons why gamers PK (Player Kill) another player. Since the underdogs of the story are always those who are playing, Strike Back, is a welcomed addition to the pvp (player versus player) game scene.

However, in 2001 came a movie almost too perfect for gamers. It was called How High directed by Jesse Dylan and written by Dustin Abraham. The Music Artists Methodman and Redman starred in this film as two un-well-to-do grown ups who are taking their first shot at a promised institution of higher learning. They basically get the cliff notes of the test from their dead buddy and manage to get into a prestigious school. Some say, what does it have to do with games, why this movie? Are you serious? This movie has everything in it that gamers love, freaky ghosts with girlfriend problems (remind you of someone?), a pimp with a lackey, and large plants with weird side-effects (hmm, all games I ever heard of).

Apart from that, it has a neat soundtrack which might augment game-playing ability, although if you're watching the movie, you might be too busy laughing.

Perhaps, however, there's a movie that can relate to the 12-hour video game marathon that someone played on the weekend with their friends because the princess's layer turned out to be crowded with over-powered goblins and red-haired karate dudes, hmmm. In 2009, this movie was brought to us by the writing expertise of Jon Lucas and Scott Moore with the instant classic The Hangover (number six for anyone still counting) directed by Todd Phillips. This flick is ideal for online rpg-style games in which you've spent a lot of time doing nothing, basically, and then can't remember how your purse is full of fake cash the next day. Also, the fact that a tiger appears out of the blue in this movie gives it a nice taste for those moments in which the video game mimics the movie (monsters appearing out of the blue) and its a good distraction when the game lags or slows down. It can't be called a Gameover because of the practical implications but it's like a Game Hangover. The game's not over but you can't remember how you reached level 100 in two days.

Speaking of levels and reaching super-hero heights, our seventh movie includes many of such. I'm talking of course about Disney's Sky High directed by Mike Mitchell and written by Paul Hernandez and Robert Schooley, which brings that feeling of City of Heroes (Heroic figures in an online rpg) which is brought to people by NCSOFT. The movie and game go almost hand-in-hand as far as heroic figures are involved, although some of the heroes from Sky High have weaker powers, albeit creating a system of sidekicks to "fix" the problem. Finally, an equal opportunity movie that promotes that all heroes can be treated the same, even if they turn an entire school into babies just like in the game everyone can be a hero.

The eight movie in this quite jolly list of playable movies for play-able people, comes from this idea of elements controlling magic. It was first started by the all-too-popularSquare Enix's Final Fantasy series but some form of it was found in The Fifth Element directed and written by Luc Besson. The element movie uses fire, water, earth, wind and love as a form of elemental damage, hmm, sounds familiar so far. This is a perfect movie for Final Fantasy fan and comes at eight only because of the constant distractions in this movie that take it away from being a video game-liked movie. What is that? Hmm, ugly dudes with big guns and a loud-mouth d.j.? Why would any gamer be turned off by this? Perhaps, its the other distractions of the movie like not enough enemies for the "one" to defeat.

Next to last, is a movie which promotes fantasy in its title. The movie is Back to the Future directed by Robert Zemeckis and written by him as well, along with Bob Gale. Did this one make a good call for video gamers? (Onliners, as they are referred to by some) Of course, it signifies a scientific approach to video games, how often has anyone died in a game and wishes they could go back to the future and push the right button or go the right away. (This is an effect used by non-internet games) It reminds me of playing Resident Evil released by Capcom in that sometimes you can go back and get your bullets from an unknown place before being able to defeat the huge spider (not always a spider but always something big and scary).

The last movie is for sports online gamers. That is to say, much has been said about online rpg's and their addicting strategies. But this last movie is for those who are into sports. It's called Beerfest directed by Jay Chandrasekhar and written by him and Kevin Hefferman. The reason this is a good movie to watch while playing sports games is because this movie has a variety sports-related games which, although done while drunk, promote that spirit of teamwork among their peers, even though some of those team members are more out-of-their mind than others. This would be the guy whose relationship with a paddle is closer than it should be. And who doesn't like a loud cheering gang of Englishmen while playing their favorite basketball or football game?

It could be that accuracy was lost in the description of certain aspects of the games but the movies are what's important. This ends the list of happy movies for a good time on the computer.