Pixels

A visually inventive opening credits sequence captures 13-year-old Sam Brenner being defeated at the 1982 Worldwide Video Arcade Championships. Skip ahead to present-day, with Brenner (Adam Sandler) now working as a Geek Squad-type home-video system installer. Suddenly, various historic sites around the world are being attacked by giant, weaponized video-game characters, including Pac-Man, Centipede, and Donkey Kong. Apparently, when NASA sent a time capsule into outer space in 1982, a video clip was included that showed Sam and his pals playing video games—footage that intergalactic aliens interpreted as Earth's declaration of war. Now, the President of the United States (Kevin James) says that only Sam and his cronies (Josh Gad, Peter Dinklage) can save the world. Directed with an insouciantly sexist slant by Chris Columbus, this dismal sci-fi comedy also features Michelle Monaghan, Brian Cox, Sean Bean, and Jane Krakowski (with cameos by Martha Stewart and Serena Williams). Bottom line: Pixels is just another sloppy, stupid Adam Sandler man-child movie. Not recommended. (S. Granger)