I was quite addicted to DBZ for some time, and my brother is still a huge fan. I cannot fathom how anyone could make this work properly unless the focus was utterly and totally on the computer graphics involved in creating some glowing, flying guys blowing up weird alien bad guys a lot. Which is totally what they’ll do. *sigh* A cartoon can have weird pointy hair, eyebrows as big as their head, and can go “Ahhhhh!! Nnnnggg!!!” for like 10 minutes while sweating and shaking (which sounds totally not like what it is) and still be hot and awesome, but in real life, it can’t work. And surely anyone who would make this movie knows it, so they won’t do it. And then part of the essence of DBZ is gone. You just have a bunch of Asian guys leaping around blasting rays from their hands. If they could pick the right amount of goofy for Goku, the right amount of tiny/tough for Vegeta, and the right amount of humor (include Mister Satan?)…they still couldn’t get it right.

I’m getting pretty seriously bored and angry at movie makers lately. Come up with something NEW already. The 80s/90s aren’t everything. I already lived through all these things and didn’t need live action. But we get all these new-fangledy gadgets that can make reality look fake and fake look real and suddenly we have to redo everything.

The question is whether you’re really doing the series any justice. If you’re just in it for the money, then the answer is probably not. (This is why I like/hate Heroes. Tim Kring totally has no real love for the superhero genre and is totally money/hype motivated. And it shows in the marketing, casting, writing, everything. Disappointing. But what do I expect? What isn’t motivated by money?)

I also have worries about Speed Racer, which was a terrible cartoon anyway, but Matthew Fox is going to be in it, so I have no choice but to watch it. If it comes to the cheap theater.

It’s not yet time for the Oscars, but I’m proud of me! I actually saw FOUR of the movies nominated for best picture! I didn’t even remotely have access to or time to view the movies nominated for anything else.

The only best picture nominee I didn’t see was Letters to Iwo Jima. And no one else saw it either, so based on that alone, I don’t think it should win.

The Queen was good, but really, it was a long movie about an old woman battling with tradition, duty, and her country’s demand for false emotional outbursts. OK, those are good themes. The only real problem is it wasn’t filmed all that interestingly, but Helen Mirren WAS spellbinding to watch. She does deserve a nomination. I didn’t see the movies the other Best Actress nominees were in, so I don’t know how she compared to them, but I imagine she deserves the Oscar.

Little Miss Sunshine was adorable, hilarious, heartwarming, and the little movie that could. But really, Best Picture?

***SPOILER AHEAD HIGHLIGHT WITH CURSOR TO SEE***

They stole the grandpa’s body from the hospital.

****SPOILERS OVER***

As soon as they did that, as loving as it was, the movie stepped on the realism line. Most critics keep saying that they managed to make that scene real, but I just don’t agree. I get that the family would continue with the pageant, but I just think the law would be sooo after them and that it logistically didn’t make sense. If it was a small flaw, I wouldn’t care much, but it’s part of the buildup to the climax, so it’s important. That said, I still think it makes sense it was nominated.

Babel has a plot that spans the world and connects the stories through people and experiences, and lord knows I like those tenuous coincidences that put people in the place they are at that moment… Lost IS my favorite TV show! Each story was told with great acting and very interesting filmwork. But I do agree with one criticism I read about: The movie sets out to make us see just how language is a barrier, but it really doesn’t quite accomplish that. But maybe that’s a wrong interpretation.

The Departed, I saw, I loved, I raved that everyone in this movie deserved a nomination. Yet, Mark Wahlberg is the only one that got one. You heard me. Marky Mark is up for an Oscar. I never saw Blood Diamond (I will in the next few weeks), but I guess the rules are an actor can only be nominated for one picture in one category. If so, Leonardo DiCaprio must have been AWESOME in Blood Diamond for him to nominated in that above The Departed. His character broke my heart throughout the entire movie.

I really want The Departed to win, but the story is a narrow Scorsese favorite, basically about some guys in the mob, so I can see why the globe-trotting plot of Babel might grab more votes.

Surely Martin Scorsese will finally get his Oscar.

Anyway, there’s good news. From CNN:

LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) — The original theatrical versions of the first three “Star Wars” films are finally coming to DVD on September 12, two years after diehard fans blasted George Lucas for releasing only the digitally modified 2004 versions of the celebrated trilogy in a boxed collection.

This time, “Star Wars,” “The Empire Strikes Back” and “Return of the Jedi” will be available individually and appear on DVD exactly as they did in their respective theatrical runs in 1977, 1980 and 1983.

Each release, distributed by 20th Century Fox, will be a two-disc set that also includes the digitally tweaked 2004 edition.

The DVDs will be available only through December 31.

Something tells me this will be one of the biggest money makers this Christmas.

Via Sci Fi Wire

Paramount has hired Mission: Impossible III director J.J. Abrams to write, direct and produce the 11th Star Trek feature film, aiming for a 2008 release, Variety reported. Damon Lindelof, who co-created Lost with Abrams, and Bryan Burk, who produces Lost, have also been tapped to produce the yet-to-be-titled feature.

The project will be co-written by Mission: Impossible III scribes Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci. It will center on the early days of original Trek characters James T. Kirk and Mr. Spock, including their first meeting at Starfleet Academy and first space mission, the trade paper reported.

Now, who should play Kirk and Spock?