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).

Beyond PBS programming, I have three distinct memories regarding television and being in 3-7 age range:

• Batman
• Star Trek
• Lawrence Welk – my parents liked it…

Every afternoon, Star Trek would come on and I would watch it, not really understanding any of it but thinking Spock looked cool and that the gadgets were neat.  I spent hours working on the eyebrow raise that now comes as second-nature.  I also remember being slightly scared every time I walked through a tunnel because of watching the episode where Kirk and Company are attacked by things latched onto the ceiling of a tunnel they walked through.  Being a cartoon nut, I watch the animated series when it was on as well.  Over the years, I watched the movies released with the same mixed feelings as others – some were good and some were not-so-good.

Senior year in high school brought the return of Star Trek to TV in the form of The Next Generation.  Over the next 12 years or so, there was at least one Star Trek series on TV – not counting the reruns of the original series.  Next Gen got to do some movies, but they quickly fell off in quality and likeability.  This soon left a point that had not existed in many years – no movies or series in production with a general audience that was worn out on the Trek theme.

Enter J.J. Abrams…

Abrams had shown a penchant for the genre with the series Alias and Lost; his big-screen efforts of Mission Impossible III and Cloverfield were equally well-received by viewing audiences.  So it is no surprise that Paramount approached him about doing a new Trek movie.  But there was a problem; the same problem that had killed all of the series and movies.

How to tell an original story while saddled with all of the canon that exists on film, video, and books?

This is where the pick of Abrams made sense.  He was not a fanboy saddled with pre-conceived notions (self-admittedly), but he understood the importance of valuing that which came before.  His first announcement was that the movie would not be a sequel, but a “reboot” of the series.  This had everyone buzzing…

The movie actually has a simple story-line: the origin of the crew of the Enterprise, with a twist.  Time travel is used as a device in the movie, but with dramatic consequences.  We see how Spock, Kirk, and Bones come to Starfleet and what elements make their characters tick.  Add to them the youthful dopplegangers of Sulu, Scotty, Chekov, and Uhura, and you get a pretty decent cast.

What I really liked is how the story focuses on the development of the bonds between these characters.  The villain is there as a necessary device to all story-telling, but could have easily been any ordinary villain.  Abrams turned everything you know about Star Trek around – all while still honoring what came before him.  This is truly the “reboot” promised – one that can yield interesting stories for years to come.

I actually ended up seeing this movie three times between Thursday and Monday.  The first time was at an early Thursday screening that most did not know about – my theater was maybe half-full.  The second time was with Rich on Sunday morning with a packed house.  The final time was with Russ and his mom at a fairly empty theater.  The first two times were on quality screens at AMC Altamonte; the third time was on a bad screen at Seminole Town Center.  They would be better off converting that theater to a dollar theater.

My advice:  Big-screen, full price – one roller-coaster of a movie that does not require prior knowledge (although I have heard reports that it is not worth paying more to see on the “fake” IMAX screens that seem to have popped up everywhere…)

Fox, as a movie studio, frustrates me to no end.  Given the chance to do something great, they tend to pass.  X-Men was a good start for them in the comic-book genre.  Audiences enjoyed the movie and fanboys were fairly well-satisfied (even though there were still complaints).  X2 wasn’t bad, but you could feel the influence of the marketing department on the story.  Then Fox let Bryan Singer get lured away by Warner Brothers to do Superman Returns – this ended up being bad for all parties concerned.  Then X-Men 3 came out and effectively killed the franchise.

Or so we thought…

Despite all of the horrible reviews and audience reactions, Fox greenlit the Wolverine movie.  This was done for two reasons: a big opening weekend for X3; and the idea that by giving the audience the one character they cared about his own movie.  It’s too bad that a writer wasn’t included in the budget.

The movie revolves around the development of Logan into the badass we know as Wolverine.  The audience is given a front-seat view of how Logan was driven to allow himself to be injected with Adamantium (not a spoiler since it was well-documented in X2) and become a loner.  As a bonus, we are given insight into the relationship between Logan and Sabretooth.

So what was good? (format stolen from Herc at Ain’t It Cool News)

• Casting – Hugh Jackman is Logan, a part he was born to play; Liev Schreiber makes the movie more interesting every time he appears as Sabretooth; and Ryan Reynolds was briefly entertaining.
• Opening Credits – Much of the growing up story is done over the credits and I would have enjoyed seeing more of those periods.

So what was bad?

• Unfulfilled promises – Fox would have been better off calling this movie Weapon X rather than Wolverine.  Too much of his origin is ignored (bone claws as a kid – how; rapid healing was thought to be only power).  It seems that Fox wants to perpetuate the idea that Wolverine only began when the Adamantium was added.
• Inconsistent linking to previous movies – The lab where Logan gets “hardened” is shut down and abandoned, yet X2 established it as a continually running facility that produced Lady Deathstrike; Cyclops and company rescued as kids by Logan and a “young” Professor X, but no mention of earlier meetings by either party in X-Men.
• Bad special effects – The claws seemed more fake than they were in previous movies – this is a danger when too much CGI is used; bad application of youthening process to Patrick Stewart for a young Professor X; overreliance on CGI in end-battle creates a feeling that none of the characters on either side are in true danger – let real people take real hits.

I wanted to like this movie; I really did. I was even moderately enthused to go see it.  However, it just has too many problems to overcome.

My advice:  cable or DVD – dollar theater if you have to see it on the big-screen; too many good movies out there to waste a full price ticket on this sad affair…