Now the reboot. Although it’s now much darker and more ‘serious’ It looks cheesy and B-movie-ish once again. And I’m simply entertained by the unusual long trailer. And how can you not like Michael Jai White after Spawn!?

It’s a very different (and even original) approach and it could even appeal to those who don’t know the game (anymore). It will not suck at the same level as Dragonball evolution or Street Fighter: The legend of Chun Li.

After the Avatar hype, which was good, but not great nor original at all and Batman: Dark Knight, which was great but too overhyped and overrated…this is the first movie which makes me wanna blog about it.
Now, is that a good omen? I think so.

update: bummer…it’s not an official trailer yet. It’s a ‘directors vision’ to impress bobo’s at WB.
Well I’m impressed…does that count!

It’s being overhyped. Over-hyped. Uber-hyped.

If you still haven’t checked out the trailer, do it now:

And? Impressed? Underwhelmed? Overwhelmed? Also in HDplus? And would you be impressed on the big screen?
And the characters/aliens? Aren’t they just…average? If you’ve seen some good video games cinematics (lately), you possibly can’t be overwhelmed.

At the moment I’m very underwhelmed.
Although the story/plot of the movie, the big (3D) screen and actual dialogues may safe the movie when actually released.
It will probably make good money at the box-office and it may end up as a great movie after all…but at this time it’s just like I’m looking at a less clumsy blue version of Jar Jar Binks.

PS: the Avatar concept is a very cool idea and is ‘borrowed’ from a magnificent short story by my all-time favourite author Jack Vance, Phalid’s Fate.

And how about you? Are you impressed with (the Special Effects of the) teaser of this 200+ million dollars and 10 years in the making movie, which should ‘redefine’ the genre and ‘make real actors obsolete’?

Actually I did enjoy most of these movies while watching, but at a certain point or after the ending credits some moment/thing did turn me off in a way. So don’t consider this as a ‘Worst Movies of 2008′ list!

1.The Forbidden Kingdom

At last Jackie Chan and Jet Li together in a movie. Should have been a dream coming true, but Hollywood decided to piss the real fans off: Instead of ‘Once upon a time in China’ meets ‘The Drunken Master’ we just got another ‘Neverending Story’! Let me use this stupid sentence just once: Epic Fail!

2.Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull

Not a particular bad movie, but it could also have been just another Tomb Raider movie. Nothing new. Nothing special. Nothing worth remembering afterwards. Surely a movie which could have used a fresh reboot.

3.10.000 BC

A lot o turn-offs actually and I shouldn’t have expected too much from a movie with a mix of (blue eyed) reggae/rasta cave(wo)man, (ice age) mammoths and Egyptian pyramids. But the fight between a sabre tooth tiger and ‘our’ hero could have saved the movie. Instead the sabre tooth tiger just walks away: Pussy!

4.Cloverfield

Not only using the same viral marketing introduced by The Blair Witch Project. It is also filmed alike: with a shaking (and irritating) ‘handheld’ camera. And for the rest the story kinda seemed to borrow from Godzilla. The twist is that we don’t get a clear look at the alien/monster. All that (online) hustle did raise the expectations a little high, I guess.

5.Speedracer

The bright colours strengthen the feeling it is a kids movie. And that’s what it was, actually. Hoped and expected more from the Wachowski bros.
Hope some of the other anime remakes will turn out better.

6.The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian

A darker Narnia was the premise and a darker sequel it was. Although less talking animals, the ´comic relief´ in the shape of a talking (and sword fighting) mouse made it kiddy again. No need for a third instalment.

7.Be kind, rewind

Instead of a funny movie, we got a ‘feel good’ movie. Which kinda was an ode to movie making in general. Nice. But I was prepared to laugh and the parodies of existing movies could and should have been so much funnier. Don´t remember having laughed.

8.Batman: The Dark Knight

I almost don’t dare, but…10 reasons why ‘Batman: The Dark Knight’ is the most overrated movie of 2008!

I´m aware that the following releases are from 2007, but I’ve watched them in 2008 and they fit very well in this list.

9.I am Legend

The whole second half of the movie was actually a complete anti climax and a turn-off. Especially the ending. And I´m not even mentioning the cheesy and clumsy CGI zombies!

10.Transformers

Where to begin with this blockbuster? The kiddy autobots? The unrecognizable Decepticons? Well, the MTV crowd liked it and we´ll be seeing more of the same misfits. Soon enough.
But it is an incredible achievement to screw up Megatron so much: It´s litterary (s)crap. Impossible to like this, if you loved the original cartoon.

Although also on my best of 2008 list, I think the movie is hugely overrated. And this new round of hype reminded me of 10 reasons why:

1.Necro-hype

Let’s just face it: after the death of Ledger the hype has taken some extreme proportions. Although the studio did not start it, they did not try to stop it either.

2.Viral marketing

The tragic death of Heath didn´t stop the tsunami of virals for promoting the movie and teasing the fans. Possibly one of most heavly promoted movies of all time.

3.Fanboys

Every solid IP needs a loyal fan base to build on and to spread the word and adore the franchise. The Batman ´fanboys´ may have out ´hallelujah-ed´ the Lord of the Ring, Star Wars and Harry Potter fanboys.

4.Low voice of Batman

With every sequel Christian Bale´s voice is getting lower once he pulls on the dark suite. He´s not getting scarier. Just less serious.

5.Action movie, not a superhero movie anymore

Maybe it´s a good thing actually, but after the reboot Batman is no more a classic comic movie. It´s just a harsh and dark good-guy vs bad-gut action movie.
The violence gets realistic and the villains are real world criminals.

6.Joker was good, not great

Heath Ledger as Joker was really good and up to par with Jack Nicholson´s version. But Oscar worthy? The best supporting actor? Wonder whether people would have thought the same if the movie wasn´t hyped this much or if Ledger was still alive.

7.Overcasting

The cast of the movie is just grand. But most of these big names have a small role. Morgan Freeman? Micheal Cain? Gary Oldman? A waste of talent, considering their roles.

8.Close-up & chaotic actions

The same trick used in Batman Begins to reveal that Liam Neeson can´t fight is used here constantly: the action is filmed almost at a close-up range, which makes the action hard to follow.

9.Too dark to see

Ok. The movie uses dark colours the underline the dark tone of the movie. But most of the time the settings and scenes outside are too dark to distinguish stuff. And this combined with the close-up action shots was just too chaotic and too dark.

10.When two ferries ‘collide’

Like the bridge and metro scene in the Spider-Man movies the final scene were passengers of two ferries are about to blow the other ferry is just…too…unrealistic at least. Even for a comic book. But especially for a such dark and serious movie version.

Hey, I still loved the movie. But I fear the hype for the 3th instalment will be even bigger. And the bigger the hype, the bigger the expectation and the bigger the disappointment. So, maybe I just have to try to avoid all the coming hype than.

Beneath you’ll find a list of 25 Anime movies with a ‘Live Action’ or a Computer Generated version on their way. Some of these Anime have already been ‘transfered’ into a ‘Live Action’ version by Hollywood (or Asian) studios.

Hollywood knowing they just pump a massive amount of money in this genre until they get the box-office hit they want. So we shouldn’t be surprised if we’ll see a lot of remakes, reboots and prequels like they’ve done with the comic genre.

Already ‘translated’ into a Live Action versions:

1.Casshern

I found this one hard to digest: a bit chaotic and somehow hard to follow. Couldn’t tell if it justifies the original though.
[rating: 2.5]

2.The Guyver

An Anime which actually deserves a big budget remake. A true great anime up to par with Akira and Ninja Scroll. This version however was just a small production, which couln’d justify the original series.
[rating: 3]

3.Fist of the North Star

A very cheesy (read B-movie) and over the top post apocalyptic martial-arts movie. Just like the original Anime, which had a very poorly drawings. Actually a great conversion and maybe an example for the rest?
[rating: 4]

4.Crying Freeman

A decent yakuza movie. But director Christophe Gans and Mark Dacascos delivered and true masterpiece with Brotherhood of the Wolf. Crying Freeman was just a warming up.
[rating: 2.5]

5.Azumi

The Live version is just great, with a popstar turned actress who is really impressing as a samurai. Even the sequel is good. Not familiar with the Anime version.
[rating: 4]

6.Speed Racer

This is actually the only high profile movie with a decent budget and a general audience, until now. And they had the Matrix directors, the Wachowski brothers. Not a fan of the original series and did not like this version either: too kiddy to me. Great special effects though.
[rating: 2.5]

7.Ichi the Killer

8.Lady Snowblood

9.Oldboy

A Hollywood remake is on his way and Steven Spielberg will be helming it.

10.Kung Fu Dunk

Upcoming Anime movies which are allready in different stagess of production or are very strongly rumoured. Some of these are actually multi million budget Hollywood versions of some true classics.

Coming (very) soon to (Asian) cinema’s as Live Action or 3D version:

11.Akira

A true masterpiece. Could be easily screwed up. However DiCaprio stated he is a fan himself and he will only produce it and not star in it. Which made me a believer now.

12.Ninja Scroll

The same goes for this one: If they only dare to make R-rated version, true to the violent character of the original. And cast true Asian actors!

13.Cowboy Bebop

An charismatic hero in all kind of space adventures: a potential hit.

14.Ghost in the Shell

Wonder whether it’s worth trying to film this. Unless you make it a brainless action movie. Which just could work.

15.Dragonball

Although I was initially very excited with the announcements of director James Wong () ánd producer Stephen Chow ánd actor Yun-Fat Chow all signs are pointing towards a major turn-off. Which is actually not a big surprise, because this is such an typical anime which can’t be translated to a Live Action version decently.

16.Evangelion

Could simply kick ass. And on the special effects part there will be no questions I suppose with the current technology.

17.Avatar

A story driven serie which could easily mobilize the Nick audience to the cinema’s. Should be intressting enough.

18.Astro Boy

First images are very cute. And this may be the issue with this movie. Who will be the audience? The very young Disney cartoon lovers or the die hard Anime fans? I wouldn’t be surprised if they can’t actually decide what audience to target like Speedrace and make a barely decent translation.

19.Blood The Last Vampire

20.Macross/RoboTech

My biggest worries are that some give this flick a chance by comparing it to Michael Bay’s Transformers, which I personally declared as one of the worst movies of 2007. Computer Generating giant robots is simple enough, making a great movie isn’t. But the MTV crowd seemed to love it.

21.Grave of the Fireflies

22.Battle Angle Alita

I’m one of the sceptics who is not assured this will be a flawless version just because James Cameron is helming it.

23.Sailor Moon

24.G-force/Battle of the Planets/Gatchaman (3D)

One of my most beloved youth treasures will turn in a pimped 3D version. I have no clue what the outcome will be, but I will see it anyway and probably on DVD: I have a hard feeling it would make the theatres everywhere anyway.

25.Star Blazers