He’s Maxy Max, err, Max Payne star Mark Wahlberg. You know him. He’s the star of the Max Payne movie and is gonna talk about the 1993 Hollywood version of Super Mario Bros.

There was that Mario Bros. movie. Remember it? I just thought it didn’t go anywhere. Like, you can only blow up enough cars and places, have enough special effects. That’s not necessarily a plot. But we’ve got a plot. And also it’s so topical and real ’cause it’s about drugs, which is a huge problem in our society.

It was great to hear that. Read the rest of the his interview and say “hi” to your mother for me, okay?

Mark Wahlberg:’You are what you are’ [The Japan Times] [Pic]

Rockstar Games and Microsoft may be giving Xbox 360 owners a chance to brush up on their Max Payne history in advance of the release of Max Payne 3, courtesy of the Xbox Originals program.

The ESRB lists relatively new ratings for both Max Payne and Max Payne 2: The Fall of Max Payne for the Xbox 360. Typically, that’s a good indicator that the games are going to hit the Xbox Originals lineup. That’s a good opportunity for those of you who missed out on the originals to see how Max progresses from terminally pinch-faced to sad and droopy to blood-spattered and grizzled over the course of the trilogy.

We expect the release date to be between now and “Winter.”

Max Payne [ESRB via Destructoid]

Rule of thumb: Video game movies are not very good. I know it, you know it. Yet, game movies typically do pretty well at the box office. Why?

“Honestly, I really think it’s a marketing thing,” says Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li actress Kristen Kreuk. “There’s a built-in audience. But realistically, if you are trying to sell a film, you have a huge audience already.”

Case-in-point: Max Payne. While it was generally panned by critics, the movie took the box office’s No. 1 spot during its opening weekend and ended up turning a profit of around $50 million.

“It’s the same as with sports,” explains David Jaffe, creator of God of War. “If you’re a sports fan and the home team is losing, you’ll see the game in the hope your team will turn it around.”

One day, Hollywood will. Epic exec Mark Rein is optimistic, stating that big time movie producers like Jerry Bruckheimer, Peter Jackson and Thomas Tull are taking them seriously and treating them with importance.

“If you treat your material with importance then filmgoers will take it seriously. Did you ever think a theme-park ride would make a great movie? Jerry Bruckheimer did,” Rein said, “and he made three awesome movies based on it (the Pirates of the Caribbean series). Now he’s working with Prince of Persia. Peter Jackson created three movies based on a taking a classic fantasy novel seriously and won a Best Picture Oscar. Now he’s working with Halo. Thomas Tull reinvented Batman and Superman and now has one of the biggest movies ever with The Dark Knight, and now he’s working with Gears of War and World of Warcraft. So yes, I see good to reasons to be very optimistic about the film versions of these and other games.”

Adapting games has proven hard, but Hollywood will figure out how to do it. As Jaffe pointed out, “Comic books are much easier to adapt into movies because they are traditional story telling. Games are harder to adapt because at their very core, they’re games.”

Hollywood’s passion for the video game [Japan Times] [Pic]

It’s … really impressive to me that Max Payne came in number one this weekend…What I’m hearing is that the film is doing very well in many other European countries and Australia. This kind of opening brings us a lot closer to the reality of a sequel.

From haterade to champagne and talks of sequels in half a week? Amazing what the sight of buckets full of cash money will do to your thoughts on a shitty movie.

Miller Tones Down Max Payne Film Criticisms [Edge]

“Max Payne” shoots to top of box office roster [Reuters] [Pic]

In his review of the new Max Payne movie, which he pans like everyone else, Moore writes “But as good as a couple of its action beats are, Max still suffers from the heartlessness that makes games emotionally inferior to movies. Nobody ever shed a tear over a video-game character’s death.”

Oh, Roger. A simple Google search for “I cried when Aeris died” shows just how wrong you are. Even I… have a friend whose tear ducts were fit to blow near the end of Shadow of the Colossus. Shit on Max Payne ’til your heart’s content, but realise we’re a sensitive lot. *sniff*

Movie review: Max Payne — 2 out of 5 stars [Orlando Sentinel]

Then the reality of the film began to seep in. Horrid dialogue, surprisingly bad acting across the board, and some really dodgy sound editing — have you ever noticed sound editing before? …me neither — helped to drive an already sub-standard plot further into the ground…

Nobody comes out of this thing looking good. The damn thing’s 85 minutes and you swear you’ve been in there for about two and a half hours by the time it’s over. All the buzz you’ve been hearing about how this film is good is coming from people whose jobs depend on it making money. Do not give it the time of day.

Sounds like the film’s makers should’ve worried less about making Max Payne true to the video game and concentrated on, you know, just making a decent flick. All hope is not lost, as there will be many more reviews. And maybe, just maybe, you can one day see the Max Payne flick and say “hi” to his mother for us.

Latauro Trashes All Eighty-Five Minutes Of MAX PAYNE!! [AICN]

It’s a little slower and a little more atmospheric. There are some rougher edges on it, but it’s not going to be a bloodfest. I want this to be the Max Payne that I set out to shoot… The movie you see in the theatres will be an intense experience and the movie you see on DVD will be as intense an experience with some extra sensibilities for people who really adore the game.

And Moore already has his fingers crossed for the inevitable sequel.

Max Payne Director Wins Battle with MPAA, Gains PG-13 Rating [GameDaily] [Pic]