The Best Movies For LAN Parties September 10, 2014

In high school I was fortunate to be able to attend some incredible Local Area Network (LAN) Parties. At regular times during the year, we would take over the offices of a local Open Source Group to play Unreal Tournament CTF and Starcraft.

The room they kept all their gaming computers in was also equipped with a (then) top of the line projector and 5.1 surround system. The system was pretty flexible and could run content from a variety of different sources including DVD-Video and PC. On the nights they held LANs, the group would run a DVD movie of whatever film they wanted to watch that week.  At one point I remember asking them why choose to play a movie on that system.  They could have run a spectator server on the projector so non players could see what was going on in the game, but they said for some reason having a spectator feed on a screen that big made some of the people watching it nauseous.  With that in mind, they decided to show some amazing movies that in a lot of cases I was ashamed to admit I had never seen before. It added to the atmosphere of the event and was a fun distraction during the levels’ load times.

Even in a fully manned LAN Party, not everyone is going to want to play every second they are at the event and some non gamers may be in attendance too, so it’s a good idea to have something running in the background for those people to watch on their downtime. If you plan to do this, I recommend showing movies that fit three major criteria. First, show a movie that has been universally considered good, unless you’re planning to be ironic in a “so bad it’s good kind of way.” You want people to enjoy their time at the event, so bad stuff is going to be frowned upon.  I’m not saying people will leave if you choose to play something bad, but having something good on might convince them to stay longer.  Second is you’re going to want to show something which can be easily understood in passing, or something that you’re sure your guests are already familiar with. That includes anything popular or straight up action movies. Serious dramas, crime mysteries or twist films are kind of hard to understand unless you’re able to pay attention to every single second of it, and let’s face it, this is going to be a film that’s glanced at infrequently.  I think an argument could be made for The Usual Suspects, since I don’t know a single person who hasn’t already seen that movie, but I’m not going to include it on this list.  Finally I would recommend movies on a darker lighting tone. By that I don’t mean depressing movies I mean films shot mostly at night. Aside from vampires, nobody hates light more than gamers and nothing can kill a gaming mood more than the bright glare from ambient lighting.  Heavy brightness from a film playing in the background can be a distraction or irritation, so brightly lit films are out.

So with all that said, here are some of my recommendations for the best movies to play during a LAN Party.

Blade –  The very first successful movie based on a Marvel property will also be the very first film to make this list.  A vampire-human hybrid gifted with supernatural strength and agility uses his powers to fight the creatures of the night.  When he discovers a plan by one of the outcast members of vampire society to trigger an apocalypse, he must stop them before its too late.  While the film has tons of great action beats culminating with an epic final battle between the two main characters, it is an extremely well written and acted film.  Since it’s a vampire movie, you can be sure most of the movie’s plot takes place at night, and the color palate will not distract from gameplay.  Trust me, the first time I ever saw this movie was at a LAN Party, and I’m grateful for it.

The Matrix – Regardless of how you may feel about its sequels, the original Matrix film is one of the best movies ever made.  When a LAN center briefly opened in my area, I recommended the owners buy a DVD player and keep this film running on loop.  They took my advice, and this film became a staple of the center’s lounge area.  The themes of this movie become quite ironic given the setting.  Here is a future where the world could be interpreted as one big MMO, with players given the ability to cheat if they are skilled enough.  While I admit not much of this movie actually takes place at night, that isn’t much of an issue when you think about the film’s cinematography and colorization.  The directors chose to color tint most of the scenes and intentionally avoided showing the world’s sky, giving even daytime shots a darker tone.  Without spoiling anything, look really closely at the color filters used throughout most of the movie and you’ll notice a specific hue saturating it depending on the location.  While it may be a more complicated film to follow than some of the others on the list, it isn’t as difficult to follow as some would have you believe, and even as just a visual spectacle the movie still holds up.

TRON –   This is without a doubt a generationally defining movie which pushed the limits on what was possible with animation.  The movie’s plot is perfect for the setting.  A game programmer is sucked inside the computer and forced to battle his creations for real.  Once that happens, the movie continues from setpiece to setpiece until the final battle.  Another thing going for it is the entire movie is dark.  The animation effects were achieved by having live action actors filmed in front of a black background on 70mm black and white film.  The director insisted the computer world would not have a sun, instead everything in the world would have its own independent glow, showing they were made of energy.  The first time I ever saw this film was at a LAN Party and I have to give great props for the organizers choosing to show this film.

Blade Runner – This is a film that defies every description but I’m going to try to define it for you guys.  Well, it’s a futuristic film noir starring Harrison Ford, where a formerly retired cop is charged with tracking down and retiring four robots illegally operating in a futuristic Los Angeles.  While some people will have a hard time following the film in passing if they’re not previously familiar with it, the spectacle of the film’s world should be more than enough to impress passing viewers.  The director, having looked at his facilities, decided very early that night, rain and smoke were his three best friends let me tell you those three elements add a magical look to the movie.  Try to get the Blu-Ray Disc release on this one, you won’t regret it.

Batman Begins – The movie that brought DC films back into the public image, Batman Begins is one of the best superhero origin films ever made.  Finally, after years of waiting for someone to tell the story about how exactly Bruce Wayne became Batman, we got one hell of a well acted, well directed and well paced first story in what looked to be a promising new film franchise, and that eventually paid off when Warner Bros released the best film of 2008, The Dark Knight, a few years later.  The reason why I chose this film instead of The Dark Knight is basically because of my lighting rule.  The Dark Knight was shot partially in IMAX and uses more daytime sequences than Batman Begins which could distract players.  Since Batman operates mostly at night (because a guy in a Bat costume isn’t very scary in broad daylight) most of the film takes place at night, making it perfect for a LAN showing.

Iron Man – The movie responsible for ensuring the continued future of Marvel Studios and with it the Avengers movie, Iron Man was the right film released at the right time.  A brilliant billionaire playboy is captured by terrorists while trying to sell weapons to the military.  Instead of making weapons for the terrorists as he was forced to do, he builds himself a suit of armor armed to the teeth and fought his way out.  When his companion is killed in the breakout, he decides to use his knowledge and resources to help make the world a better place.  This becomes the foundation for an entire superhero universe, culminating in one of the best movies ever made, and certainly the best film of 2012, The Avengers.  While some of the movie isn’t shot at night, a pretty good portion of the daytime scenes take place in dark environments, so it shouldn’t be much of an issue.

Terminator 2 – A being made entirely of a metallic alloy able to change its shape to mimic any person of equal size is sent back in time to kill the future leader of the human resistance.  The only thing that can stop him is a fully reprogrammed cyborg made from a hardware line that failed to kill his mother years earlier. It is without a doubt one of the greatest action movies of all time. While it is beyond likely that every person you know probably knows the film by heart, the movie is just so good they’re not going to care. As for the lighting, while not everything in the film is shot at night, a wide majority of it is, including all of the final act.

I hope you all enjoyed the list and if you have any recommendations you would like to add, just post a comment!