Screen Rant » dragonball

2009 Scream Award Nominations

Ross Miller — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 17:37:08 +0000

The nominees have been announced for the fourth annual Scream Awards, held every year by Spike TV. The decisively more “fan-friendly” award ceremony (compared to the Oscars) honors films from the sci-fi, fantasy, horror and comic-book genres of movies, TV shows and comic books. The awards are described as, “the first and only global event of its kind,” to honor those genres.

The Scream 2009 nominees were chosen by the Advisory Board of Hollywood and Genre Leaders, a list which this year includes the likes of Wes Craven, Roland Emmerich, Neil Gaiman, Frank Miller, Eli Roth and Zack Snyder, plus many more. The event will be taped on Saturday, October 17th this year at The Greek Theater in Los Angeles, and will air on Spike TV ten days later on Tuesday, October 27th (check for local times).

Along with the awards, the show will also be airing some exclusive, world premiere of footage of some of the most anticipated movies of 2010! Presenters and musicians for the event are to be announced shortly.

Below is the list of a selection of the 32 categories from this year’s Scream nominations. For those of you (all of you?) who want to have YOUR say on which film should win, you’re in luck! Public voting for the awards has opened already and will run right up to October 17th. But before you head off to vote, here are some of the nominees:

BEST FANTASY MOVIE

“Coraline”

“Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince”

“Twilight”

“Up”

“Watchmen”

“X-Men Origins: Wolverine”

BEST HORROR MOVIE

“Dead Snow”

“Drag Me to Hell”

“Friday the 13th”

“Let the Right One In”

“My Bloody Valentine 3D”

“Splinter”

BEST COMIC BOOK MOVIE

“Dragonball Evolution”

“Punisher: War Zone”

“The Spirit”

“Watchmen”

“X-Men Origins: Wolverine”

BEST VILLAIN

Eric Bana as Nero; “Star Trek”

Cam Gigandet as James; “Twilight”

Lorna Raver as Mrs. Ganush; rag Me to Hell”

Liev Schrieber as Victor Creed/Sabretooth; “X-Men”

Alexander Skarsgård as Eric Northman; “True Blood”

BEST DIRECTOR

J.J. Abrams; “Star Trek”

Tomas Alfredson; “Let the Right One In”

Michael Bay; “Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen”

Pete Doctor & Bob Peterson; “Up”

Duncan Jones; “Moon”

Sam Raimi; “Drag Me to Hell”

BEST TV SHOW

Battlestar Galactica

Dexter

Fringe

Lost

Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles

True Blood

BEST ACTOR IN A FANTASY MOVIE OR TV SHOW

Ed Asner, “Up”

Hugh Jackman, “X-Men Origins: Wolverine”

Robert Pattinson, “Twilight”

Brad Pitt, “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”

Daniel Radcliffe, “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince”

Michael Sheen, “Underworld: Rise of the Lycans”

BEST ACTRESS IN A FANTASY MOVIE OR TV SHOW

Scarlett Johansson, “The Spirit”

Jamie King, “The Spirit”

Rhona Mitra, “Underworld: Rise of the Lycans”

Kristen Stewart, “Twilight”

Emma Watson, “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince”

For the rest of the nominees you can head over to Spike.com, where you can also cast your votes.

Although some of the awards are truly suspect (how the hell The Spirit got nominated for ANYTHING is beyond me), I still like the overall celebration of the type of sci-fi, fantasy, comic book and horror films we here at Screen Rant revel in Although I won’t go into a specific rundown of who I think should win, I’d like to throw my opinion in the ring for a few of them:

Lost should win Best TV Show (I love Dexter, but it’s no Lost); Best Horror Movie should go to Let The Right One In (I would say Drag Me To Hell, but since that’s a comedy too, Let The Right One takes it for me); Best Actor in a Fantasy Movie Or TV Show should go to Brad Pitt for The Curious Case of Benjamin Button; and Best Comic Book Movie should (EASILY) go to Watchmen.

But enough from me, what and who will YOU vote for? As stated, you can cast your votes over at Spike.com, and you can see if the winners match your picks when the Scream Awards 2009 air on October 27th this year on Spike TV.

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Growing Up On ‘Dragonball’

Kofi Outlaw — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 21:49:31 +0000

Before Dragonball was a movie, it was a Japanese manga comic book created by Akira Toriyama, which later became an anime cartoon series. I was too young to read the manga in the 80’s but I first became aware of the anime around 1989, when a Dragonball Tv movie premiered on my local TV station.

My brother and I instantly shoved a tape in our VCR, trying to preserve this new awesomeness we were seeing. As fate would have it, that tape ran out just before the climatic final battle at a Martial Arts Tournament, and Dragonball was lost to us until the series’ next installment, Dragon Ball Z, premiered on American TV in the late 90s. Fate had given me a second chance and I snatched it up.

Most of my college years (1999-2003) involved hard-partying peppered with some light studying – but in all the chaos I carved a special place out for Dragon Ball Z. I never missed an episode, every afternoon on Cartoon Network, and failing that, I was surely there for the late-night repeat. I (and alot of my friends) stayed glued to the saga of Goku, an alien warrior raised on Earth who defends humanity from interstellar warriors bent on conquering and/or destroying the universe by using seven magical dragon balls which grant one wish to the one who collects them all.

Girls used to call it “a soap opera for boys.”

And it was just that: the Dragon Ball Z anime (as fans already know) was executed in soap opera fashion: episodes jumped between three or four main storylines and it could take weeks for ‘that big thing that was about to happen’ to actually happen, but the turtle-crawl pace didn’t matter: you stayed tuned in.

Heck, one half-hour episode could spend fifteen minutes on a character “charging up” his super powers for a fight, without ever getting to the fight! And we were somehow on the edge of our seats!

My obsession didn’t end with the show either: the only video games I ever had imported from Japan were (you guessed it) Dragon Ball Z games. I couldn’t read a word of the instructions, it could take me weeks to figure out how to play it, but again, I (and my bro) loved every minute of it, trading karate blows and massive energy blasts, battling it out with our favorite spikey-haired characters.

By the time I finished the fourth and final (and epic) installment of the Dragon Ball Z series post-college, I felt like I had completed an epic journey. One that had not only journeyed me through an action-packed story of warriors in battle, but also through a significant time in my life, out of high school, through college and into manhood. It’s a strange through-line to have, I know, but hey, it’s what I got.

Kamekameha, baby. Ka-me-ka-me-ha.

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Weekend Movie News Wrap Up: April 12, 2009

Niall Browne — Mon, 13 Apr 2009 02:57:39 +0000

This week:

Miley is smiley over the box office; Gyllenhaal joins Thompson and Fiennes in Nanny McPhee; Terrance Howard may not be in Iron Man 2 – but he will star with Method Man and Gooding Jr in George Lucas’ Red Tails; Jennifer Garner likes Butter and we discover Burt Dickenson: The Most Powerful Magician on Planet Earth.

Box Office

Well if you thought that Fast and Furious’ $70+ million gross was impressive last week then you’ll be amazed that the Hannah Montana The Movie with Miley Cyrus banked $34 million over the weekend. That’s enough to mend Billy Ray’s Achy Breaky Heart.

Fast & Furious sped past the magic $100 million mark with a weekend total of $28 million. Down an okay 59% after its mega opening the Vin Diesel/ Paul Walker pic has now made off with $118 million.

Monster Vs. Aliens brought its total up to $144 million after making another $22 million.

Observe and Report had a modest $11 million weekend. If people observe and report that it’s good then it might have legs (highly doubtful), otherwise it’ll be a DVD performer.

Knowing managed to grab another $6.5 million bringing the total of the Nic Cage film to just under the $70 million mark. I Love You, Man did about $½ million less and its at $58 million.

The Haunting in Connecticut scared up another $5 million giving the low budget horror a pretty decent $46 million.

Dragonball Evolution crashed and burned with a not so good $4.5 million opening. Seriously – who decides to make a movie like this when everybody knows from day one that it’ll be terrible and that’ll tank?

Duplicity eeked out $2 million. It’ll never see $40 million.

Movie news

1. Maggie Gyllenhaal will star in the sequel to Nanny McPhee 2. The Dark Knight star joins Emma Thompson and Ralph Fiennes in the film. The family pic starts shooting next month at Shepperton Studios in England.

Source: Production Weekly

2. George Lucas’ Red Tails has finally started getting its cast together. Cuba Gooding Jr and Terrence Howard and Method Man will join many others in the Anthony Hemingway directed film.

Lucas said:

“I’ve been wanting to do Red Tails for 20 years, and we’ve finally got the means to showcase the skill of the Tuskegee pilots. We’re working on techniques which will give us the first true look at the aerial dogfighting of the era. And our top-notch cast will really make this story special.”

Source: Dark Horizons

3. Jennifer Garner is attached to produce and possibly star in Butter.
According to the Hollywood reporter:

“Butter follows a young orphan who, after being adopted by a Midwestern family, discovers she has an uncanny talent for butter-carving. She eventually finds herself up against the ambitious wife of the retired reigning champion in a town’s annual butter-sculpting contest.”

The script was written by Jason Micallef.

It butter be good!

Source: The Hollywood Reporter

4. Jake Kasdan will direct the comedy Burt Dickenson: The Most Powerful Magician on Planet Earth.

“The story centers on a Burt Dickenson, one half of successful two-man team who accidentally kills is partner and loses his inner magic. He has to find a way to rekindle it to fight his rival, a magician named Xander Storm.”

Source: The Hollywood Reporter

That’s it for now folks. See you at the movies.

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Dragonball: Evolution Review

Ross Miller — Thu, 09 Apr 2009 01:20:09 +0000

Short version: Dragonball: Evolution is a badly written film with horrible dialogue, lackluster action and a sense of fun that’s nowhere to be found.

Screen Rant’s Ross Miller reviews Dragonball: Evolution

When you head to the theater to see a movie called Dragonball: Evolution, you obviously aren’t expecting Shakespeare. From the advertising, the whole thing gives off a feeling of light, campy, action-packed fun that you would hope would allow you to just sit back, relax and turn off your brain for 90 minutes or so.

Yeah, well, that’s why we have words like “hope” as a counterpoint to “guarantee.”

Dragonball: Evolution may very well be one of the worst films of the past 12 months or so – I am actually struggling to think of the last movie I thought was quite as bad as this one was. And it’s not one of those cases where it’s just not my cup of tea… No, this is a flat-out bad movie in pretty much every area that makes up a motion picture.

Based on the popular anime series of the same (or at least similar) name, Dragonball: Evolution follows Goku (played by Justin Chatwin) who carries out his grandfather’s dying request to find Master Roshi (played by Chow Yun-Fat) and locate all seven of the powerful Dragon Balls. He already has one of them, but with the help of Bulma (played by Emmy Rossum), Master Roshi and Yamcha (played by Joon Park), he must find the others before the evil Lord Piccolo (played by James Marsters) does, whose intentions are to use them to take over the world.

Now let me just point out that I very much represent those who are not fans of the source material, and in fact know next to nothing about it. I can say without reservation that I am in the majority – if you’re a fan it may feel like everyone in the world is a fan of the cartoon, but trust me, most of the general movie-going population (who will be exposed to this through TV and other marketing) will barely even have heard of it, never mind having seen any of it.

So I then have to judge the film purely on its own merits, without having the prior knowledge to be able to compare and contrast it with the source material. Some fans of the cartoon may get a kick out of seeing such things as a certain costume or a hairstyle appear in some form, but as a movie this thing flat out stinks. And not even in a “yeah it was bad, but kind of fun in spite of that” kind of way – in pretty much all areas you can think of, it is awful.

The main problem with the film is the script, meaning both dialogue and the story. First off, I can’t believe how bad the dialogue was in this movie. From the very first scene in the film, which sees the movie starting off with a short back story explanation, the dialogue is painful. Near the beginning of the movie we see Goku being trained to fight by his grandpa while balancing on two ropes – and the back and forth exchange of dialogue is like something written to sound cool, but is delivered and pulled off so poorly that it’s cheesy and downright cringe-worthy.

That’s pretty much representative of the entire movie right off the bat – everything comes off as cheesy, nothing can be taken seriously, not even when Goku is supposed to be upset right after his grandfather dies (which happens within the first 10 minutes, so that’s not really a spoiler). Every time a character opens their mouth and delivers this atrocious excuse for dialogue, I felt like covering my ears and shutting my eyes in embarrassment (which I did do a handful of times, I’m not even kidding).

Well, you might be thinking “so what?” Who cares if the dialogue is bad and high on the cheese-meter? The action has to make up for that, right? Well, wrong. Actually, dead wrong. Action is the one thing that could have saved this movie from the abyss, but they even manage to muck that potential up. The action is not just mediocre or even sub-par – oh no, it’s worse than that - it’s terrible. Director James Wong clearly doesn’t know how to direct the needed action (although he seemed to do okay with Jet Li’s The One), and the attempts he makes are reminiscent of a young kid having fun in a special effects studio, just randomly pressing any of the fancy buttons on display.

They attempt to have 300-esque action scenes of things going from normal speed to slow-motion and then suddenly speeding back up to normal again. But for such a technique to be effective you have to know what you’re doing, and it’s evident from this movie that Wong doesn’t. Zack Snyder, although using it a bit too flippantly in 300, timed the slowing down thing pretty much perfectly, matching up exactly with the action on-screen and giving that extra bit of kick. But here it’s used far, far too often for no reason other than to just have it in there for the sake of it. There’s a strange sense that the movie thinks what it’s doing is cool… but “laughable” is more the accurate description.

You probably want to know how the cast did… Well unfortunately, like the rest of the movie, pretty awful. Justin Chatwin is completely miscast in the role of Goku (for some reason an American playing this character just doesn’t feel right), Emmy Rossum is hot but nonetheless terrible as Bulma, and I feel embarrassed that Chow Yun-Fat has gone from amazing stuff like Hard Boiled and The Killer to eye-rolling stuff like this. The only actor who did all right (and I stress, just all right) was James Marsters as (an underused) Lord Piccolo – he’s not in any way good, but, let’s just say… he was less terrible than the rest of the cast.

The only thing I can think of that’s even remotely positive about Dragonball: Evolution is that the special effects are pretty cool at times. Not during some of the hand-to-hand combat scenes (where the effects are so obviously… effects, if you know what I mean), but when they use what is known as “KI attacks,” which are basically blasts of different colored energy from their hands.

Props go to Amalgamated Dynamics for creating special effects which are, on their own, quite visually stunning. Also, the movie is really quite short, so at least I didn’t have to sit through the pain for all that long.

However, that’s pretty much where the positive stuff ends – you just know a movie is in trouble when you are literally straining to think of something you liked about it.

I don’t know if the story they used here in any way resembles the original cartoon/anime stories, but how they told it in the movie was abysmal. There were clearly elements taken from the source material, and it is then clearly a story (or one of the stories… I don’t know, I’m not a Dragonball fan) that may work well in a cartoon but it does not work well on the big-screen. Not for even the slightest moment.

I lost count of the number of times I rolled my eyes, snickered, groaned, and shook my head in embarrassment and shame during this movie. I can’t actually believe the filmmakers looked at the script and thought, “Yes, this is good stuff. Let’s go ahead and make it!” It’s probably just one of those cases where they saw the popularity of the source material and thought that they could make a quick buck by just throwing anyone in the roles, sticking together bits and pieces from the cartoon to form something resembling a story.

So needless to say I don’t recommend Dragonball: Evolution. I wasn’t expecting this to be any good, but I don’t know if I was expecting it to be this bad. Please, if you believe in the magic of cinema, avoid this with as much effort as it takes.

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Cast & Crew of ‘Dragonball’ Explain Differences Between Cartoon and Movie

Ross Miller — Wed, 08 Apr 2009 00:12:51 +0000

[NOTE: THIS ARTICLE IS 100% SPOILER-FREE]

No matter the source material – be it a novel, comic book, graphic novel, TV show or cartoon – there is always going to be some complaints about the movie adaptation. Even if the changes are critical to making the adapted story work on-screen, fans of the source material get up in arms about simple, unimportant things like changed hair colors or age differences.

One such movie catching that flack right now is Dragonball, which is based on the ultra-popular anime series. In an interview with MTV News, the cast and crew of Dragonball have gone out of their way to try and justify any changes they may have been made from the original cartoon to the movie.

James Marsters (Buffy The Vampire Slayer), who plays Lord Piccolo in Dragonball, is a huge fan of the original cartoon but was adamant to remind fans that the letter “Z” that most people associate with coming after the word “Dragonball,” wasn’t introduced until about 150 episodes into the series. He also says that just because he isn’t the same Piccolo fans know and love for much of this first film, that doesn’t mean that in potential sequels (one of which is in the works already) he won’t become more reminiscent of the Piccolo fans expect.

Director James Wong explains many of the changes made by attributting them as “superficial necessities in pulling characters into the “real” world.” He also compares the project to the X-Men movies. For example, just because the character of Goku wears a bright orange costume in the cartoon, doesn’t mean it will work on-screen (I think he’s referring to Wolverine’s original yellow and black outfit compared to how he looked in the movies). Wong said that they, “shot so many test with so many different versions [of the costume],“ a hint to fans that the original costume(s) may make a brief appearance.

Justin Chatwin, who portrays Goku, has said that the biggest point of issue (for him, anyway) was to get the character’s trademark spikey hairstyle right. According to Chatwin, it took forty cans of hairspray to get the right combination between the cartoon and the ”real” world hairstyle. Co-star Emmy Rossum, who plays Bulma, also went through a few attempts using blue wigs before the filmmakers settled for using blue dye.

In an overall sense, Wong has said that the major changes come from trying to capture the spirit and tone of the cartoon series. Wong said it was quite early on that they changed to a more family-friendly tone, forcing them to drop some of the more risque elements that were present in the cartoon.

However, the cast maintains that the most important elements of the characters are still very much in the movie, even if they appear to be completely different. For example, when it comes to Chow Yun-Fat’s Master Roshi:

“He kind of embodies the essence of Master Roshi,” explained Jaime Chung (Chi Chi), “Minus being perverted.”

Now, I am a firm believer in the fact that adaptation means that certain things absolutely have to be changed. Not just hair or eye color, but even something crucial like an accent or an attitude should be changed if it needs to be, in order for it to work better on the big-screen.

A prime example is Galactus from Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer. I am not going to say I liked what they did with Galactus – turning him into a storm cloud was a titanically dumb idea that was jaw-droppingly lame to witness in the movie theater. But at the same time, I can see why they changed it from what he originally is in the comic (again, I’m not saying I like what they changed it to, just that I understand why they did it).

If they had faithfully translated Galactus from comic book page to the big-screen it would have looked bloody ridiculous. A giant man with a purple helmet, floating through the universe devouring planets? No one, not even the most experienced and skilled filmmakers in the world, could have made that look anything other than preposterous.

The same need for re-interpretation goes for any other movie adaptation, including Dragonball. The filmmakers hopefully had good reason for changing the things they did, otherwise why would they have changed them? Clearly there were certain things that just didn’t work, and they made the right decision to change them.

Whether Goku has an orange suit or a green suit; whether Piccolo has green skin or brown skin; whether this character has this hair color or that hair color… It doesn’t matter. Adaptation means exactly that: things need to be adapted, if the original concept doesn’t work on-screen, even if that adaptation means being “unfaithful” to the source material.

What are your thoughts on the changes the filmmakers have made to Dragonball? Do you agree that in any adaptation things have to be changed if they don’t work on-screen? Or are you one of the die-hard purists who believes that the source material is sacred and should never be mucked with?

Dragonball is scheduled to be released this Friday the 10th of April, 2009.

Source: MTV Splash Page

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Dragonball Sequel Already Has A Script

Ross Miller — Sun, 05 Apr 2009 20:35:50 +0000

The release of Dragonball hasn’t even come along yet (we’re still a few days away), and yet there’s already a script written for the inevitable sequel! According to star Justin Chatwin (who plays Goku in the film), it’s not just some ideas wrote down on some pieces of paper, but an actual completed script that has been written, although I doubt it will be the final version.

Here’s what Chatwin told MTV:

“I know they’ve written a second one and it’s pretty far out there. The second one really goes to some different places that I’ve never seen in any comic book adaptation”

MTV goes on to say that: “Chatwin admits that he hasn’t read the sequel script firsthand, but that he’s been told a lot about it and that he and co-star Emmy Rossum (Bulma) would jump at the chance to return for more.”

It appears that James Marsters (who plays Piccolo) is also eager to come back:

“Likewise, Marsters is not only ready for a second chapter, but would like to see the franchise continue indefinitely. A die-hard fan of the anime, Marsters has every intention of fulfilling the arc of Piccolo in live-action.”

“We’re going to get to ‘Dragonball Z’ later,” said Marsters, “where Piccolo becomes youthful and he’s going to become the Piccolo that most people recognize.”

However director James Wong is being a bit more cautious:

“Director James Wong wants to reminds fans that, even though a sequel may have already been written (he would neither confirm nor deny the script’s existence), the litmus test is really going to come down to next weekend’s box office.”

Wong is probably just not wanting to give away the fact that they already have some sort of script written, just in case this first film tanks at the box office, which it may very well do. There’s no denying the original Dragonball cartoon has a strong following out there, but in the bigger picture, let’s face it, the fan base isn’t that big.

Remember Grindhouse? Remember Snakes on a Plane? Those two seemed to have massive support (mainly on the web) before they came out, and it seemed like they were going to dominate the box office, but that’s not how it turned out.

So the support may seem huge for Dragonball because of its loyal fan base (which, again, I’m not disputing) but I just don’t know if the wider, more general movie going audience will be flocking to see this thing, particularly in the all important opening weekend.

In roughly a week we’ll find out, anyway.

What do you make of there already being a Dragonball sequel script written? Do you think they should have waited to see how the first one performed before writing another?

Dragonball is to be released on April 10th in the US, and April 8th in the UK.

Source: MTV Splash Page

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3 More Disappointing ‘Dragonball’ Clips

Carl Lee — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 03:37:06 +0000

With the U.S. release of Dragonball approaching, MTV Splash Page has exclusives that will make die-hard fans cringe. Hints of how adaptation was handled are here, it doesn’t look good.

Already released in various places around the globe, the marketing team keeps peddling this movie despite the negative press. The last time we checked, we had 5 character-centric TV spots and a name change but this time we get a little closer with actual scenes. Full of cheesy dialog, terrible acting and bad fight scenes, the three clips are excruciating to watch. You have been warned.

Goku and Chi Chi don’t meet at the World Martial Arts Tournament, but at high school. Awesome.

Sans-Turtleshell Roshi explains details to Goku and Bulma. Great.

Grandpa Gohan and Goku square off on wires. Fantastic.

Anyone planning to see this mockery, just rake your eyes out, it’ll be less painful.

Thanks FOX, I can always count on you to ruin childhoods. Between this and Street Fighter, I’d have to guess that you have something against 80’s babies. Either that or you just can’t adapt source material correctly.

Dragonball, sadly, will be released just a few days from now on April 8th.

Still looking forward to this? Or are you planning to burn FOX to the ground, too?

Source: MTV Splash Page

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Five New Character-Centric TV Spots For ‘Dragonball’

Ross Miller — Thu, 19 Mar 2009 15:15:48 +0000

The footage we’ve seen of the cartoon-to-movie adaptation known as Dragonball (they dropped the “Evolution” part, in case you’re wondering) has been less than satisfactory to say the least. No one is expecting Shakespeare from this thing, but by the looks of a couple of the trailers, it almost seems like a joke or spoof of some kind.

I will admit that some of the action sequences haven’t looked completely terrible, but every time we hear a piece of dialogue a cringing feeling is induced. It seems like the people behind this adaptation have gotten it all wrong: they’ve apparently changed certain aspects which have, and will continue to, cause fans of the original cartoon to get extremely annoyed, but at the same time the changes they’ve made don’t seem to be in the best interest of appealing to those who have barely even heard of the cartoon, much less actually watched it.

The footage we’ve seen has been mostly concentrated on the action and the special effects which is understandable since if there’s anything that the general, unknowing movie going audience is going to see it for, it’s for those aspects alone.

Well, for anyone more interested in the individual characters that make up the movie, today we have five new TV spots that each concentrate on a specific character: Goku, Lordi Piccolo, Bulma, Roshi and Chi Chi, respectively. Check out all five of them below:

Since the TV spots aren’t terribly lengthy, it’s hard to judge whether or not they make the movie look any worse or any better. It’s certainly still got the cheesiness factor fully on display (I really hope it works within the context of the movie), but nonetheless it’s cool to see each of the characters individually… I suppose.

If I were to bet on it I’d say this will probably turn out to be pretty awful, but as they say, never judge something completely until you’ve actually seen it for yourself. I’m not going to completely bash a movie I haven’t seen, but simply going by the footage we’ve seen so far (including these five TV spots), it’s not looking too promising.

What do you make of these new TV spots? Do they make you want to see the movie anymore than you already do, or are they just as awful as some of the stuff we’ve seen so far?

Dragonball is scheduled to be released on April 8th this year.

Source: ComingSoon.net

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New Dragonball Movie Footage Leads To Slight Optimism

Sabrina Cognata — Thu, 05 Feb 2009 18:38:01 +0000

There’s all sorts of news buzzing about Dragonball Evolution. First, there’s the release of clips of the dragon that appears to be Shenron. Although there is no indication in the clip that the dragon is in fact Shenron, if you followed the cartoon Shenron was the dragon that was summoned once all the dragonballs were collected on Earth and can grant one wish to the summoner.

Until I saw these clips of from the movie I was pretty sure it was going to look like something a bored high school student did for their art school application project. It goes without saying that all the footage released until now left me anticipating something worse than the love child of Speed Racer and The Goonies sequel.

To see the dragon clip, head over to io9.com.

In addition, the French trailer for the film was also released. I suppose the PR people should have put this one out first because it also makes the film seem less terrible. Perhaps it’s because the French language makes things seem infinitely sexier and more sophisticated, but it just might be because the film isn’t a total piece of crap. Amazing.

io9 also reports a more detailed story line for the film via the film’s press book:

Goku’s quest – with nothing less than the fate of our world at stake – begins innocently enough in the backyard of his grandfather’s home, where Gohan is training the young man in some exotic martial arts moves. It is Goku’s 18th birthday, and Gohan’s gift to his grandson is a Dragonball, a small, round ball whose surface is smooth and pearl-like, but with a milky translucence that gives it depth. Four stars float inside the ball. There are only six others like it in the world, and it is said the seven Dragonballs together will grant the holder one perfect wish.Connected to the legend of the Dragonballs is Goku’s own mysterious past – he never knew his parents – as well as the coming solar eclipse, which superstitions mark as a sign of a coming apocalypse. Gohan promises to reveal all to Goku at the special birthday dinner Gohan is preparing for his grandson.

But Goku skips out on Gohan’s feast, to attend a party hosted by Chi Chi, a fellow student to whom Goku is drawn. As the two teens get to know one another, a tragedy at home is triggered by the arrival of a dark force – propelling Goku, Roshi, Bulma, Yamcha and Chi Chi into a race to collect all seven Dragonballs. The stakes couldn’t be higher. Goku will face the deadliest enemies on Earth, master a powerful force called Ki, which marshals the energy of the universe – and learn the truth of his incredible past…and of a potentially unthinkable future….

One of the first steps in Goku’s journey is to seek out Roshi, an elderly Master who completes Goku’s training, helps him unlock the secret of his past – and joins him in a quest to save the world. Roshi is unlike any Eastern Master you’ve seen before; he has an eye for the ladies and favors Hawaiian shirts….

The burgeoning relationship between Chi Chi and Goku comes from, in part, them being kindred spirits. “Chi Chi is drawn to Goku’s secret ability to fight,” says Chung. “She feels there’s something really special about Goku, and she’s able to bring that out in him.”

Another beautiful young woman joining Goku in his quest is Bulma, a scientist described in the manga as the “smartest girl in the world.” The film retains the manga character’s confidence, intensity and intelligence – and the fact that she knows exactly what she wants. And what Bulma wants is the Dragonball stolen from her father’s company. Wielding a laser-guided, high-tech magnum pistol and a Dragonball-tracker, Bulma will do anything to retrieve the five-starred Dragonball, which she thinks will supply an unlimited source of energy – and immense financial rewards.

In their search for the Dragonballs, Goku, Roshi and Bulma face their adversary, Lord Piccolo… Working with Piccolo is Mai, an exotic beauty tainted by malevolence. Her weapons of choice are throwing knives known as shiruken.

Finally, here’s the latest U.S. trailer for the film, which looks almost identical to the French version:

After reading all that and seeing the new clips I am less apprehensive about the fact that this movie might be a total disaster. It’s really starting to take shape and look like it has the ability to be a Hollywood blockbuster instead of a total dud.

Source: io9.com

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New ‘Dragonball Evolution’ Trailer Worse Than The Last One

Rob Keyes — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 03:47:35 +0000

Back in October, I wrote a little piece on the leaked trailer for Dragonball (now re-named Dragonball Evolution) and in it I basically talked about how terrible the teaser looked. I was clearly not the only one who thought this and after 91 comments and some feuding, Screen Rant Master Vic had to shut down the thread to simmer things down.

In defense of the movie (at that time), that trailer was very early and not complete in terms of post-production. Today however, we have the first official trailer for the upcoming live-action adaptation of the hit Manga series and it still sucks… maybe even more than the first teaser.

From this trailer, the characters and costumes look ridiculous (especially the secondary characters), the fight choreography looks awful and the dialogue and cinematography has B-movie or worse written all over it. Not to mention the terrible use of slow motion in some of the action sequences.

Don’t believe me? Watch and see:

Now, re-watch it while trying to put aside the special effects (which are 95% of it) and focus on what’s actually happening, especially the dialogue and acting. They are burying this in heavy visual and sound effects.

It looks like they’re trying so hard to take and use cool styles from other films but this movie doesn’t have that kind of ‘cool’ and using those techniques in the wrong places with poor execution really makes this feel over-the-top but in a bad way.

What I’m seeing from the trailer and images of this film give me the exact same feeling as Catwoman and Elektra did – both of which are both on my list of worst movies ever.

Some stories simply cannot be translated to the big screen. Have you seen the characters from Dragonball Z or its action sequences? It’s not even remotely human. The show was super popular and many people I know really dug it but I don’t think it makes for a live-action version, especially if it’s supposed to be faithful to the cartoon. Even if it’s not, the extreme nature, extreme style and crazyness that was Dragonball Z (for example) can’t be done in reality because it’s so far from reality that it looks stupid when they try to imitate with real people. The styles are simply too different.

Even the characters saying the word “dragonball” while holding a literal glowing ball sounds and looks like cheese in live-action. And that scene with that vehicle transforming while Justin Chatwin (playing Goku) says “cool” is really awesome too… Not.

I can’t tell if this is made solely for the fans of old (not me) and the young audiences or if the fans of the series’ will hate this and Fox is actually targeting more of a mainstream audience.

I don’t know if the movie will actually be as bad as I think this trailer is because I know Dragonball isn’t my thing regardless -- but I expect pretty weak box-office earnings and I know I will not see it at the theater. Like I said in my first article, it might be a fun rental. I would love to know what fans of the cartoons think of this. Do you think it can be done well in live-action? Does this meet your expectations? And for those who don’t know much about Dragonball or simply may not have fancied the cartoons, will you see this flick?

Dragonball Evolution stars Justin Chatwin, James Marsters and Chow Yun-Fat and comes out April 8, 2009.

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First Dragonball Trailer = Fail

Rob Keyes — Fri, 03 Oct 2008 18:03:21 +0000

Fail.

That’s the quintessential word of choice describing what I think about this trailer, and even the movie for that matter. Today we get our first look at what the Dragonball movie is shaping up to be, with the release of the first teaser trailer.

The trailer does nothing right for me. I actually think it looks awful and terribly cheap. With that in mind, I do have to admit that I am not a fan of the anime cartoon shows so I guess I could be biased.

I know it’s just an early teaser trailer and that it may be kind of unfair to judge a movie based on that. However, a trailer does share with us a lot of information such as how its filmed, the style and tone, what the effects look like, how the characters look and act, etc.

Take a look and see what you think before I really tell you how I really feel:

[See post to watch Flash video]

From all of those aspects, I have very little faith in this film and from what I’m reading online, neither do most others (including fans of the tv shows). The scenes shown here really make it look like they’re trying to imitate so many other movies but none of it really works.

So if that’s the case, who is this film appealing to? I would imagine most movie-goers aren’t excited about this, and if actual dragonball fans are worried as well… then I can’t see this doing very well at the box-office.

I will keep an open mind and see what future trailers have to offer. Perhaps its too early to throw down the hammer on this. But from the start, I have had nothing but negative feelings toward the promotional material and this trailer just adds to my feelings about this.

Dragonball is based off a successful manga series that lasted from the mid-eighties to mid-nineties which evolved into several anime television series’ and multiple video games.

The live-action Dragonball film hits theaters April 10, 2009.

So what do you think? Am I being too harsh?

Source: DBtheMovie.com

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New Dragonball Photos Here, Trailer On The Way

Kofi Outlaw — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 05:08:37 +0000

Coming Soon is reporting that 20th Century Fox (boo, leave Watchmen alone!) will be releasing the first trailer for Dragonball before Max Payne, which hits theaters on October 17, (and looks pretty good judging by its trailer!)

While you wait for October 17 to roll around and deliver the first real impression of whether or not Dragonball will flop, take a look at the new pics which have hit the Web, and let us know your first impressions.

Goku (Justin Chatwin) holds the Dragonball.

Chi Chi (Jamie Chung) gets ready for the fight.

Master Roshi (Chow Yun-Fat) is ready to throwdown.

Goku about to be ambushed?

Goku and Master Roshi take it to the streets.

Goku looking hardcore.

Goku thinks long and hard about a new haircut.

Dragonball will hit theaters on April 10, 2009.

Source: ComingSoon.Net & Latino Review

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Keanu Reeves To Star In Cowboy Bebop

Kofi Outlaw — Sat, 02 Aug 2008 18:17:24 +0000

First Showing is reporting that Keanu “Whoah” Reeves is adding another straight-faced hero to his resume, playing intergalactic bounty hunter Spike Spiegel in the live-action adaption of anime cult-favorite, Cowboy Bebop.

According to First Showing’s “inside source” at Fox studios, Cowboy Bebop has long been buried in the list of movies waiting to be green lit, with Reeves attached to the project for some time now. That bit of star-power, plus some early fan buzz, has motivated Fox to fast-track Cowboy Bebop for a 2010 release; though currently there is no director, writer, or script for the film.

For those who aren’t into anime, Cowboy Bebop follows the exploits of a team of bounty hunters, (”Cowboys” as their known,) who coast the cosmos aboard their spaceship, Bebop, tracking down the universe’s worst criminals and collecting the bounty on their heads. The plot thickens when the team’s strong but silent leader, Spike (Reeves) begins to run across his old buddies from a nefarious crime syndicate he used to belong to. The only thing standing in the gangsters’ way? Spike, and the crew of the Bebop.

If Reeves is attached, you can expect the scale of this flick to be big-budget epic. Warring spaceships and kung-fu throwdowns complete with gun fire. Nice. Between Cowboy Bebop, the upcoming Street Fighter: Legend of Chun Li and the live-action Dragonball movie, it seems Hollywood is trying to cash in on the anime universe.

Are you psyched for a Cowboy Bebop movie? Or is anime not your thing? Let us know what you think.

Source: First Showing

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New Promo Image From Dragonball Movie

Kofi Outlaw — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 03:58:06 +0000

Here’s a new promo image from the live-action Dragonball movie. The new picture features Goku (Justin Chatwin) looking real chummy with best friend Bulma (Emmy Rossum). It’s an all right picture, but the hairstyles and that “ironic” t-shirt Chatwin is wearing worry me. It makes it look like the film is trying too hard to imitate the series’ oscillation between kick-ass action, EXTREMELY cheesy humor, and long, still frames of characters posing, growling and looking like they might eventually do something cool. Not a big draw for the general public.

Take a look at this new Dragonball image for yourself and tell me if you don’t get that same vibe.

Dragonball is slated for an April 10, 2009 release. It’s being directed by James Wong.

Source: Hoy Cinema (Head on over for a MUCH larger version of the image.

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Official Dragonball Teaser Poster

Kofi Outlaw — Sun, 20 Jul 2008 15:56:30 +0000

The first teaser poster for the live-action adaptation of anime action/soap-opera Dragonball has been released… in Japan, anyway. Still, the poster shows star Justin Chatwin looking quite the part of Saiyan martial-arts master Goku, holding what appears to be one of the mystical dragonballs in hand.

Yawn.

No, really… YAWN. The only work this poster seems to do is let a less-than-interested general public know that “hey, we’re making Dragonball live-action now!” which I’m sure is causing all kinds of mania across the pond in Japan, but here in the USA, where Dragonball fans are still considered a minority group, the marketing team behind DB is going to need to come up with some pretty action-packed, intense, get-you-sweating-down-you-back images that will get people interested in seeing a good kung-fu flick. Leave the rest of the aliens abound/super Saiyin hairstyle/laster beam shooting/mystical dragon summoning aspects of the film for when people are already committed to putting their butts in those theater seats.

But enough about what I think. The poster appears below. Take a quick look and let us know what you think.

Dragonball is still scheduled to hit theaters on April 10, 2009. It will star Justin Chatwin, Emmy Rossum, James Marsters, Jamie Chung, Yun-Fat Chow and Ernie Hudson. The film is being helmed by James Wong (Final Destination, Final Destination 3).

Source: LiveActionAnime.org via Latino Review

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Wanna See A Dragonball Z Picture?

Vic Holtreman — Fri, 16 May 2008 02:50:33 +0000

You can check out a picture of Justin Chatwin as Goku from the upcoming Dragonball Z movie below.

I haven’t talked about this one much because frankly I was just never into the cartoon, but from what I’ve seen so far it looks like they’re really trying to capture the look of the characters (lots and lots of hair gel required, no doubt).

The movie is being directed by James Wong, and that’s about all I know about it.

I guess it’ll have lots of martial arts action in it, and it’ll be interesting to see if Wong tries to emulate the anime style of cinematography in a live action film. Of course we’ve seen how that might go over in Speed Racer’s box office numbers…

Thanks to “Roman” for the shout.

Dragonball Z opens on April 10, 2009.

Sources: DBtheMovie via ComingSoon

So what are your feelings about this? Are you guys looking forward to it?

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