After a fun meal with Lisa, I found myself wanting to see a movie.  Regal Winter Park, which I was close to, had a midnight showing of Angels & Demons, but it was 8 PM.  Looking at the times, I could either see Star Trek a fourth time or go to something I hadn’t seen.  I chose the latter, not having high hopes.  I killed an hour at Borders and then wandered over to the theater.  I settled in with my drink as the first person in the theater.  A few couples showed up, including one that sat right behind me and started taking phone calls.  After a few looks from me, they left.

The movie is what happens when studios combine two guaranteed moneymakers: anything Christmas-Carol related and romantic comedies.  Matthew McConaughey plays the “Scrooge” in need of saving, which is good because it allows him to play the jerk.  Given the press surrounding this guy for years, it is no surprise that he appeared comfortable in the role.  Jennifer Garner plays the role of the “one that got away”  Unfortunately she does not have much chemistry with the lead, much like many of her past movies.  It is a shame, but she seems so rigid in all of her roles.  The supporting characters are well-cast, including our “Marley,” Michael Douglas.  The movie follows a predictable course and has just enough laughs to keep you from giving up on it.

My advice:  wait for cable or DVD – this one does not need the theatrical treatment…

More than the announcement of a director or a cast, the trailer for a movie will often have more direct impact on how people will perceive a movie long before any critics get to screen it.  Some movies turned out to be great, but had horrible trailers.  Unfortunately, the reverse is the more common tale: a great trailer hides a bad movie.  Even worse is the case where a trailer makes you think a movie is about X when really it is about ABC.  The trailer for Adventureland falls into this latter category.

Lisa and I found ourselves wanting food and a movie.  Food was a fairly easy decision, but should have been an omen to how things would turn out: we wanted BBQ, but it was closed on Easter – so we had Chinese.  While eating, we debated whether to see Adventureland or Observe and Report.  We chose Adventureland because we thought it would be more light-hearted than Seth Rogen’s dark, bipolar character.  Heather agreed to meet us at the Regal Winter Park, so off we went…

The movie centers around a young man just graduated from college whose financial options have dried up.  To even think about grad school, he must get a summer job at the local theme park (filmed on location in Pittsburgh, as Heather was happy to point out).  Typical plot points evolve: a love interest that is not easily attainable, the “hot” girl that everyone wants, the idiot friend.  It is set in 1987, so the soundtrack has a cool vibe.  Ryan Reynolds has a bit part as part of a love triangle.

Story is decent enough and the cast is likeable enough, but overall the movie had that typical indie-feel to it.  Unfortunately, all of the funny bits with Bill Hader and Kristen Wiig had been shown in the trailers.  This is a movie that is more often serious and melancholy than it is funny.  I just wish the marketing department had not tried to sell us something different.  Due to the bad trailer/movie pairing, its box office was hurt even more than it would have from word-of-mouth about an average movie.

My advice:  wait for cable or netflix – dollar theater if you are bored…

Historically, live-action anime adaptations have been campy at best, often riddled with misinterpreted storylines, ill-cast characters, and just general bad acting.  That being said, I went in to DBE expecting very little, and that was probably the only thing that it lived up to.

The story goes that David and I wanted to see a movie at the cheap theater.  Our options were DBE and Adventureland.  Having already seen Adventureland and sharing a pretty similar opinion to Matt’s review, I convinced him to take the devil we didn’t know over the devil I knew.  $1 admission and a small popcorn later, I want my dollar back.  The popcorn was the best part of the experience.

First, I’ll explain that I am partially versed in the Dragonball universe, so right there I do have to admit that my view on this movie is potentially tainted by the original source material.  I kept reminding myself throughout the movie to attempt to forget it was based off an existing property and just see it as a stand-alone movie.  I have hammered into my head that this was NOT an adaptation of Dragonball, it was a spin-off, a re-imagining, or in the anime lingo, an OVA/OAV.  Even after adopting this mindset, casting aside all prior beliefs and knowledge of Toriyama’s work…it was a horrible movie.

The cast was made up of a bunch of somewhat known actors, and some more well known, nay even Golden Globe nominated names.  Why they regressed to star in such a film as DBE, I will never know.  Overall, the acting was bland…Goku came across flat and unmotivated for the most part, while Yamcha was the victim of multiple personality disorder, being a surfer bum at one point, a money-grubbing twit the next, and seconds later a ‘popped-collar bro’ as the stereotype runs.

Continuity was not a friend of this movie.  We’re treated to a nice backstory montage at the start to set the scene, typical “evil guy attacks planet, is sealed away, now he’s coming back to destroy us”  We’ve all heard it before, but they forgot one key element: how’d he escape the seal?  Did it weaken over time?  Was there a limit?  Did someone free him?  These questions and more…never explained.  He’s also got a busty henchwoman who’s never even addressed until the credits scroll (she was supposed to be Mai, who worked for Emperor Pilaf, but I’m supposed to be unbiased here, so I’m just going to take the fact that she worked for Piccolo).

While I’m on the topic of continuity, let’s speak of timelines, shall we?  A total solar eclipse is supposed to happen in 2 weeks time, according to Goku’s teacher.  A day later, the reality of what that eclipse will bring is revealed to Goku and co. and they set into action, saying there’s only a week until the eclipse.  What couldn’t have been more than a day or two time, the eclipse is referenced again, only this time it’s 2 days away.  Apparently, our production team need a calendar, or at least a better grasp on how to effectively portray time advancement within a movie.

In an action flick, you expect special effects, and DBE does deliver on those…with skills possessed by an entry-level college 3D animator.  All the ‘ki energy’ work was portrayed by blobby blue particle effects (or red in Piccolo’s case), the only notable CG that didn’t look amateur was the smoke effects within the Dragonballs.

Stay through the credits, because they’re probably the best part of the movie thanks to the end theme song “Rule” by Japanese pop queen Hamasaki Ayumi.  On a sad note, the credits also sets it up for a sequel.

All in all, forgetting this was supposed to be Dragonball anything, this was a BAD movie.  Not a “this is so campy, it’s funny” (I didn’t laugh once), not even a “well, it’s not living up to the original” bad.  If you knew nothing of Dragonball and saw this movie, not only would you be confused, but you’d most likely agree that this was a waste of celluloid.  If you’re looking for a good action movie, the few action sequences will leave you disappointed.  If you’re looking for a good fantasy tale, you’ll be so confused by the lack of exposition and plot holes that you’ll lose track of what little story there is.  If you’re looking for a good movie, this isn’t it.

My advice: Do not pay for this movie.  Do not devote time to this movie.  The only reason you should watch this movie is if A) you are forced to (and the compensation had better be sweet) or B) there is absolutely no alternative aside from physical harm (and even then I may consider the physical harm).