If memory serves, it left Stonecrest the week after it came out. Mind you, I
haven't been in that direction since, so they may have put it back into play.
---------[ Received Mail Content ]----------
Subject : Re: [RE][scifinoir2] WTF? A "Dragonball" Movie??
Date : Fri, 27 Mar 2009 17:47:53 +0000 (UTC)
From : Keith Johnson <keithbjohn...@comcast.net>
To : scifinoir2@yahoogroups.com
Agreed. After all, how long did the Kristin Kreuk "Streetfighter" vehicle stay
at the multiplex?
----- Original Message -----
From: "Martin Baxter"
To: scifinoir2@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Friday, March 27, 2009 7:56:47 AM GMT -05:00 US/Canada Eastern
Subject: [RE][scifinoir2] WTF? A "Dragonball" Movie??
Keith, I predict that The Movie-Goer's Perfect Revenge will occur with
this one. The first wave of people who flock to see this will come out, spewing
venom to all and sundry about how BAD it is, and tank it that day. I don't give
it three weeks in release.
---------[ Received Mail Content ]----------
Subject : [scifinoir2] WTF? A "Dragonball" Movie??
Date : Fri, 27 Mar 2009 01:48:36 +0000 (UTC)
>From : Keith Johnson
To : scifinoir2@yahoogroups.com
Where in the Seven Hells did this thing come from? I never even knew there was
a Dragonball movie being worked on. Unfortunately, it's an American-based film,
and tailored for American audiences, according to the director.
And once again, as expected, the main male star is a Caucasian. Now, I read a
lot of posts on the net arguing whether Goku is white or Asian (
http://www.theasianeconomist.com/dragonball-evolution-why-is-goku-white/ ),
with some supporters of "White", but most of "Asian". But what strikes and
disappoints me again is that the female romantic lead and the wise old master
(Chow Yun Fat) are Asian, while the young cool hero is a white guy. When in
doubt, or if the character is drawn not looking extremely stereotypically Asian
(like Ang and others in "Avatar") H'wood always says, "Well, they're not
inarguably Asian".
What about erring on the side of "Asian" for properties steeped in Asian
culture and taking place in Asian-inspired lands? Man, and I thought Blacks had
it bad, but I don't know if even we get our culture ripped off and co-opted
this much (well, Egyptian-based flicks...) I'm surprised Chow Yun Fat went
along with that, although he did that crappy movie where he was a magical hero
training a young (white) guy to succeed him...
Another question that does come up again, though, is why do so many Asian
animators make their characters look more Western than Asian? And then, exactly
what is an "Asian" look? Do all Asian characters have to have pronounced
epicanthic folds and yellowish skin in order to avoid being interpreted as
white?
****************************************************
http://scifiwire.com/2009/03/what-we-saw-on-the-mexico.php
What we saw on the Mexico set of Dragonball Evolution
What we saw on the Mexico set of \ Dragonball Evolution\<\/i\>
Lord Piccolo (James Marsters), a being of immense power, and Mai (Eriko), his
ruthless assassin, prepare to harness the world-changing energies of the
Dragonballs.
SCI FI Wire was among a group of journalists to visit the set of Dragonball
Evolution in the high desert of Durango, Mexico, a year ago this month, where
we watched the filming of a climactic fight scene between Goku (Justin Chatwin)
and Lord Piccolo (James Marsters) under the direction of James Wong.
Based on the venerable Japanese manga/anime franchise Dragon Ball , the movie
is the first official attempt by a U.S. studio to translate the franchise's
characters—at least some of them—into a live-action movie.The movie shot in
various locations in Los Angeles and Mexico in 2007 and '08, winding up here
last March, in an old jeans factory outside Durango.
On the day SCI FI Wire visited the set, a harsh wind in this mile-high desert
raked the production's outdoor sets, damaging several, including a "volcano
crater" and parts of the outdoor "Dragon Temple," setting of a climactic battle
that we'll watch later.
What we saw on the Mexico set of \ Dragonball Evolution\<\/i\>
Bulma (Emmy Rossum) and Goku (Justin Chatwin) plot their next moves to retrieve
the remaining Dragonballs.
The climactic scene being shot this evening takes place in the Dragon Temple, a
massive stone crater surrounded by castellated towers, stairways and arches,
decorated with carvings of dragons.
Chatwin is wearing his full-on Goku costume: a short-sleeved dark yellow
martial-arts "gi" with black trim, a blue sash and the emblem of the Dragon
Ball: a calligraphic representation of a dragon on a white field. Chatwin's
hair is also spiked into a reasonable real-world approximation of Goku's anime
'do, and it's his real hair: no wigs for Chatwin.
In the scene, Goku and Master Roshi (Chow Yun-Fat) are squaring off against
Lord Piccolo: Marsters unrecognizably covered neck to toe in black armor and
wearing full-head makeup that turns him into a greenish pointy-eared alien.
"It's a four-hour makeup job," Marsters, encased in layers of prosthetics, says
between takes, sitting in a chair to keep cool so that he doesn't sweat the
makeup right off.
Dragonball_Piccolo.jpg
The set is lit: amber spots, smoke, bits of flame in the background. Master
Roshi is on the ground, Goku on all fours. Piccolo strides up to them to finish
them off. But Goko rises to punch Piccolo in the face. Piccolo parries the
blow. Cut!
Part of the challenge has been to adapt and translate for an American audience
a 20-year-old franchise that comprises by one count a manga series, three anime
series, 17 animated feature films, a card game, several electronic games and a
series of collectible action figures.
"I looked at all the mangas, the Dragon Ball 18 books that they provided me,"
writer/director Wong says during a break in filming. He adds: "I didn't really
know too much about it, and Dragon Ball Z [a later animated series] is so
different than Dragon Ball that, you know, when I heard about it, I thought,
'Wow, I don't know ... what to do with this thing.' Because it's so crazy, with
all the aliens and stuff like that. So I looked at the mangas, and it gave me a
whole different perspective on what this movie can be."
Ultimately, Wong and writer Ben Ramsey settled on a story drawn from the
original manga, centering on Goku, Master Roshi, Bulma and the characters
Chi-Chi (Jamie Chung), Goku's love interest; Mai (Japanese singer Eriko
Tamura), Lord Piccolo's shape-shifting enforcer; Yamcha (California-born South
Korean pop star Joon Park), a thief who becomes Goku's ally; and Grandpa Gohan
( The Matrix Reloaded 's Randall Duk Kim), who teaches Goku his martial-arts
skills.
"I think the most important thing to capture in the movie is the tone and the
fun that Dragon Ball is, and we had to obviously just take out parts that we
could do," Wong says. "I mean, the mangas are so fantastic, and so many
different places you can go. It was a matter of trying to figure out the
journey for Goku: ... How he comes to realize who he is and all that."
Dragonball Evolution opens April 10.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JQdwk8Yntds
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JQdwk8Yntds
