funny overheard conversation in the bus:

you know how some buses have tv's with dvd movies being played. it was bloodrayne showing at the time. (i know. he would know too right?hehehe) two people were talking. she said to him that she know the movie. she already seen it. have a dvd of it at home. she said the protagonist is a girl and she's half Fil... (silence)
tawa na sya. tapos tuloy na. half Filipino-half vampire! ampness! muntik na ako bumulwak sa kakatawa. kasi seryoso sya eh. hahaha ubo-ubo konti habang nakatingin sa window. hehehe but she really know the character. half human-half vampire. hirap ng walang choice na hindi mo marinig mga usapan sa bus. hindi naman ako ganun ka-bingi! hehehe

After the first installments of Harry Potter and The Lord Of The Rings rocked the global box-office back in 2001, American  movie studios started buying the rights of every fantasy book they could find in the hope of striking cinematic gold. Barely any executive was able to shout "cha-ching" however, as only a handful of these opportunist films have proved successful, namely Disney's The Chronicles Of Narnia and New Line's The Golden Compass (sure, it bombed in the US, but it was huge everywhere else). Indeed, in their rush to shell out movies about magical worlds, studios seem to have mostly forgotten what made Potter and Rings so successful: it's not only an established fanbase and an otherworldly setting, but mainly faithfulness, and a creative team truly invested in the source material.

Which brings us to Eragon, which is adapted from the first book in Chistopher Paolini's Inheritance Cycle. The movie was directed by first-timer Stefen Fangmeier, a visual effects supervisor on films such as A Series Of Unfortunate Events, and adpated to screenplay form by Peter Buchman (Jurassic Park III). It stars newcomer Edward Speleers in the title role, as well as Jeremy Irons (Kingdom Of Heaven), Sienna Guillory (Resident Evil: Apocalypse), Robert Carlyle (28 Weeks Later), John Malkovich (Beowulf), Garett Hedlund (Death Sentence), Djimon Hounsou (Never Back Down), Rachel Weisz's voice (Definitely, Maybe) and pop singer Joss Stone in her first (albeit brief) film role.

Eragon's story goes pretty much like this: Once upon a time, peace was kept by an order of knights with special abilities. One of these knights turned to evil however, and betrayed his comrades, killing them all (or did he?) and establishing himself as ruler of everywhere. Years later, a young blond male living at his uncle's farm stumbles upon something stolen from the evil lord. After his family is killed, he is recruited by a wise old ex-knight and sets on a journey to join a small band of dedicated rebels, to whom the stolen item could prove extremely useful. Along the way, they will venture into one of the enemy's fortresses to rescue the young princess who stole the thing in the first place. Sound familiar? Review and trailer after the jump.

Yes, Eragon can be pretty much be described as Star Wars in a Lord Of The Rings setting... Jedi Knights become Dragon Riders, Luke becomes Eragon, Obi-Wan becomes Brom, Princess Leia becomes Princess Arya, the Death Star plans become Saphira the dragon, the Rebel Alliance becomes the Varden, etc... At one point, Eragon even looks up at the sky, longingly observing the sunset. Elements of The Lord Of The Rings and, apparently, The Dragonriders Of Pern are also thrown in for good measure. However, all this was in the book, which was very well-received, so why would the film be any different?

Many elements contribute to Eragon being an extremely disappointing film. This could have been a huge franchise for Twentieth Century-Fox, so it's baffling that they chose to put it in the hands of Fangmeier, who may be a very talented effects guy, but has virtually no directing experience (all he did was direct Galaxy Quest's second unit). However, while Fangmeier's inexperience is surely an issue, I don't think it's the main one. Nor is the acting, which ranges from decent to quite solid. No, one of Eragon's biggest problems, in my opinion, is its length. Indeed, most of the recent successful fantasy movies have been more than two hours long (with the notable exception of The Golden Compass). Barely more than 90 minutes long, Eragon feels like it should be much, much longer. Take the first two Harry Potter and Narnia books, which are a bit more than 200 pages long, while their respective movies each clocked in at about two hours and thirty minutes. By comparision, Eragon is around 500 pages long, and I swear to you this hampers the film. Events seem to happen one after the other, with little room for development and explanation, such as Eragon apparently mastering the elven language in under ten minutes. You can plainly see where scenes were taken out, and this is one film which could truly gain from an extended/director's cut. Also, there's the fact that most of the film's props look ridiculously fake.

So should you dismiss Eragon as the turd everyone makes it out to be? Not really. Despite its many flaws and bad choices such has the long stark black nails every villain sports and its awkward handling of the clichéd storyline, the film is much better than, say Uwe Boll's BloodRayne or Jeremy Irons' previous fantasy effort, Dungeons & Dragons. The special effects aren't groundbreaking, but they're good enough. The cinematography is quite decent, though not to the level of The Lord Of The Rings. And sure, the storyline is conventional, but it's a convention that has proven it's worth time and time again. Also the score by Patrick Doyle (Harry Potter And The Goblet Of Fire) is excellent and features a memorable, heroic theme. To conclude, if The Lord Of The Rings is the Dark Knight of fantasy movies, then Eragon would be Fantastic Four.

Eragon was critically bashed upon its release, and was a box-office flop in the US, though it performed quite well overseas. The possibility of a sequel is however extremely unlikely and Fox seems to have missed its fantasy franchise opportunity, ironically in a play to make more money (epic fail). As for Stefen Fangmeier, he's gone back to visual effects work, most recently in this summer's Wanted.

Verdict: don't expect much out of it, but a decent alternative if you're tired of rewatching Star Wars and The Lord Of The Rings. Eragon currently hold a 5/10 on IMDB and a 15% on Rotten Tomatoes.

More "Movies Of The Day"

So...without futher ado....we give you Rayne.

 Rayne first and foremost is a dhampir, which means that she has a vampire father and a human mother.   But her being brought into this world wasn't all that pleasant...in fact her mother was in fact raped by her vampire father, end result: we get Rayne.  During her "teenage years" she visciously searched for her father because she wanted to kill him.  The search didn't end to well when she went to Europe and was captured by law enforcement officials because she had killed numerous people.  She tried explaining that she killed vampires, but it was dismissed by officials.

Shortly after she escaped the law enforcement, she was given an invitation to join the Brimstone Society.  So, she naturally accepted.  The Brimstone Society sent her on various missons.  Most of them had to do with slaughtering the supernatural.  One such instance, she had to stop the Nazi's from using magical powers to bring Hitler to complete and full power.

She is very athletic and very agile...as expected from a half-vampire.  She can jump over 20 feet in the air, duel-wield pistols, and she's even strong enough to hold shotguns and assult rifles one-handed.  In order to close gaps on the enemies, she has a harpoon "bracelet" that lets her stick her enemies to drag them back to her...making it easier to kill and feed upon them.

Not only can she wield guns, but she's also equiped with blades that are mounted on her forearms.  This allows for some intense and brutal "in your face" combat.  As with the norm, she does share some of the vampires weaknesses as well.  She can't stand in water because it'll cause her damage over time.  But, she is not suceptible to holy items and is barely affected by the dreaded sunlight that vampires so love...

It's said the most of her family is evil, but there is a mention of her having a half-sister who may be a dhampir as well.  It was never revealed in the game if this was in fact true or not.

Rayne has appeared in 3 total games: Bloodrayne, Bloodrayne II, and it's also said that she appeared in the game Infected.   Bloodrayne was also planned as a trilogy, but there has been no news at all on a new Bloodrayne game coming out.  Which, deeply saddens us.

As for other forms of media, she has had 2 movies made...neither one of them receiving very good reviews.  Uwe Boll directed both of the movies and he's also stated that he's going to be doing a Bloodrayne 3 movie.  Bloodrayne 3: Warhammer is set during World War II. He also stated that both Kristanna Loken and Natassia Malthe would like to return to portray Rayne in the movie. Filming is supposed to begin in Croatia, spring of 2008.

Bloodrayne also has a quite a few comic books that are released almost monthly.  Most of these comics are just mini-series, but almost all of the comics tie-in to the video games.  If you want to learn more about Rayne, I'd suggest checking some of them out.

So this wraps up our first serving of On The 7th Day.  Let us know what you think.  If you want to see more of certain information or if there is something you feel we left out, let us know and we'll try to improve.

Entonces súmate a los mas de 290,000 personas que piensan igual que tú y se han solidarizado a la campaña Stop Dr. Uwe Boll, en el que se planea juntar un millón de firmas con el fin de que este´finísimo' señor deje de producir sus bodrios cinematográficos.

Si tienes la suerte de no conocer a este tipo, la Santa Wikipedia te puede ayudar, pero, ¡para qué molestarse!, para muestra, mejor un videito de su nuevo trabajo:

BloodRayne 2: Ahora en el salvaje,salvaje oeste...que dios nos ampare.

Para votar, aquí el link:

http://www.petitiononline.com/mod_perl/signed.cgi?RRH53888

Prin 2005 o stire anunta ca in Romania, in acea perioada,un regizor strain filmeaza in Transilvania (bineinteles) pelicula "BloodRayne". Imediat am facut ochii mari spre televizor. Filmul, inspirat dintr-un joc mediocru, cunoscut datorita personajului principal (o gagica jumatate om-jumatate vampir, cu balcoane mari, ce rupe tot ce-i sta in cale dar e de partea binelui), avea sa apara in cinematografe in 2006. Eram foarte entuziasmat dar, cu timpul am uitat de el. M-am trezit apoi cu filmul la indemana insa cateva review-uri si pagina de imdb m-au determinat sa o las pe altadata. Filmul era o mare dezamagire, spuneau criticii.

In urma cu o luna citesc pe un site ca filmul "Postal" a fost lansat. Din nou, pentru cateva minute am fost foarte entuziasmat. Ca si "BloodRayne", filmul "Postal" este o adaptare dupa jocul cu acelasi nume. Un joc foarte violent, in care esti pus in pielea unui "loser" ce locuieste cu o nevasta enervanta intr-o rulota. Pe scurt, acest loser trebuie sa indeplineasca niste sarcini banale in fiecare zi intr-un mod cat mai haotic. Filmul trebuie sa fie bun nu? Nu. Aceleasi review-uri, aceleasi note proaste...

Am devenit curios si am zis sa caut ceva detalii despre autorul acestor filme, Uwe Boll. Regizor,producator,scenarist german. Cunoscut pentru filmele sale adaptate dupa jocuri video. Da,are si altele. Ghici ce? Toate sunt la fel de proaste. Boll are vreo 6-7 filme in topul imdb al celor mai proaste filme ever. Nu-i de mirare ca toate filmele sunt finantate de el insusi. Boll mai da si vina pe companie de distributie pentru succes slab al filmelor. Cei din industria jocurilor il cunosc. Boll a cerut drepturile pentru a realiza un film dupa "World of Warcraft" insa Blizzard i-a spus : "We will not sell the movie rights, not to you... especially not to you'".

Cum sunt un mare fan al filmelor horror proaste am zis sa incerc macar unul din opera lui Boll.Sa fie BloodRayne? sau House of Dead? sau Postal? Vampiri vs. Zombie vs. un psihopat...greu de ales....BUT WAIT!!! there's more. BloodRayne 2!!! Da, omul asta nu se opreste. BloodRayne a fost penibil spun multi...vampiri...alea alea...Dar, cum sa spun nu unui film cu vampiri + cowboys. "Sper sa nu ma prapadesc de ras" imi spuneam... Daaaaaaaar!!!! Nu. Filmul asta nici macar nu intra in categoria "asa de prost incat e bun". Nu. 38 de minute si 45 de secunde am rezistat. Prost. Nu stau sa dau detalii pentru ca e prost din toate punctele de vedere. Inca regret ca am pierdut acele 38 de minute in care puteam face ceva productiv, gen sa ma uit pe hi5 la poze cu cocalari.

In aprilie 2008 ziarul britanic "The Guardian" a publicat un articoul in care Boll a promis ca se retrage din business daca o petitie aduna 1 milion de semnaturi. Pana in ziua de astazi sunt  293330 de semnaturi (cu votul meu). Compania producatoare de guma Stride a declarat ca va da un cupon digital pentru un pachet de guma fiecarui om care semneaza petitia. Faceti un bine planete: Petitie

Inchei sfatuindu-va sa nu incercati aceste filme...imi pare rau ca nu puteti vedea durerea din ochii mei...Nu. Nici macar in gluma.  Poate o sa fac in viitor o lista cu filme "atat de proaste incat sunt bune". Pana atunci incercati "8th plague" sau pentru odc-isti "Puscaria parasita".

P.S.: in 2009 apare BloodRayne 3... de ce?

In today’s hard-hitting, action-packed conclusion, Vera expounds on bad hard drives, upcoming original works and blogosphere whipping boy, Uwe Boll.

So you shot for nine hours over two days; was it a relatively easy shoot or were there hurdles you had to overcome?
The shoot was great; it was a well-oiled machine. I have an MBA degree, so I am an amazing manager---I planned the preproduction phase out completely and it worked very well. We shot it with an array of high-end HD cameras---something you can't see on YouTube because of all the site's compression. The hurdles came later in post, where we had to make sense of every shot, and the effects and sound took forever.

So the editing wasn't as easy as the shooting process then?
We were halfway done with the editing when the hard drive we were storing everything on had a meltdown! We had to start all over, from capturing the footage from the tapes---that set us back two months of work. It sucked, but the recapture was better quality, so go figure. In the end, it took a year to the day to complete.

What did you use for your special effects and how long did that take?
Did I mention that it took forever!? We used every piece of software available to us and nabbed what we could for all the sound. The whole movie is pretty much a complete voiceover. We didn't use any sound when we were shooting other than what was in-camera.

Tallying it all up, how much did it cost in the end?
$1,200. The other $78,000 was donated to me with everyone's time and talent

From what I heard, you premiered the movie on the East Coast; how did it go over?
I showed an very rough cut at the New York Comic Con in April. It needed three more weeks of post, but I ran out of time before the show, so I got on that airplane anyway and decided to make a fool out of myself. I did. Nobody threw rotten tomatoes. I guess I did OK. Next, I'm looking at getting it into film festivals.

You spent a year on this flick---how did your working on the film affect the people in your life?
I'm a freelancer and I make money when I want to make it, so I have a very free schedule to work on projects. Every day is different for me: One day, I'm hand modeling, the next day, I'm doing makeup on a set and so on.... All of the people in my life are also in the industry, so the culture is a very understanding one. We are all happy to be working in one way or another in this town.

Looking back at the last year, then, what do you feel you learned, if anything, from making this film?
I learned what it's like to produce something. I usually walk away from the project after I'm in it and wait for the release. Now I know the monsterous amount of work that happens on the back end, and I was there through every aspect of it---and this is only 11 minutes long! I can't imagine doing a feature. That said, I will be doing other film shorts this summer.

Is there anything you would have done differently?
I know that for the resources and people we had, we did the very best we could, and I can't imagine it would have been any different. There was a plan and the director operated like a general. We fought bravely.

With all that in the back of your mind now, do you think you'll still make your own movies, whether fan films or originals?
Hell yeah! We have two more film shorts we'll do this summer which I wrote and will be producing on: The Toilet and In the Apartment Building of Good and Evil. They're both originals, both hilarious.

That brings up a point then---why did you choose to make a fan film, as opposed to making an original movie, say with a similar plot but with new characters?
That would be boring. I wanted to have something recognizable and I wanted to show Uwe Boll that fans can blow it out their ass better than he can. My vacuum cleaner makes better movies.

And that's why so many people---and vacuum cleaners---make their own fan films?
The big film companies are just not doing it as well as we can.

Those companies own the copyrights, though---were copyright laws and so on a concern during the production?
No, because it says "Fan Film" right on the box. As long as it is not being sold, you are basically just another crazy fan running amuck with a camcorder. Besides, both Majesco and Terminal Reality [the game manufacturers] loved the film.

While she's a consumate bloodletter in the movie, in real life, VanGuard is a self-described "actress / hand model / makeup artist / stunt girl" with an MBA. Surprisingly, she agreed to sit down with FCT for a chat, and was even willing to put away those sharp, pointy sword things while we talked---see, now that’s a class act. In fact, we talked so long that it's gonna be a two-part interview, running today and tomorrow.

When did you make BloodRayne?

We made it in 2008, but shot most of the footage in 2007, because post production took a very long time.

While Hollywood makes a lot of movies based on video games, there aren’t really that many fan films based on them, so what inspired you to make the film?

I cosplay [dress up in costume] as Tomb Raider at comic book conventions and I'm a big, proud geek. I met a lot of other gals who dress up as Tomb Raider and I saw they were starting to make their own fan films. I know there are way too many Star Wars fan films and I wanted to do a character nobody ever did (or finished doing). I had a choice between my other costumes: Black Widow, BloodRayne and Witchblade. I chose BloodRayne because I knew the story (and played the games), and I knew I could write it in such a way that was actually doable logistically with the resources I had.

Given that then, how long did it take to write?

I wrote it in an hour and then tweeked it several times as the preproduction phase began fleshing out what was going to be possible during the shooting and the allotted time we had.

Had you made films before?

I've been an actress for a while, but this is the first film where I actually wrote and produced it.

So would you characterize yourself as a risk-taker?

Very much so---but in a calculated way. Making a film of any kind and putting it out there opens you up to the world. You can face rejection and harsh criticism or have fans write rave reviews, and that is the scary part. People don't know how hard it is to make something happen on your own, and as the producer of this project, I footed the entire bill. I was fortunate that I had people volunteering their time and considerable talents. As for other risks? You mean like getting blown up in stunts? Been there, done that, walked away bruised, battered and slept on bags of ice. I like acting a lot better.

OK, you mentioned you go to conventions--were there any ulterior motives for you and your cast and crew, like moving up within fan culture or trying to get a film-related job?

Hell yeah---all of the above! I'm actually submitting it to festivals. I'd love to get out of B-movies one day. I'm so typecast as a femme fatale, so why work away from it? I did want to show that I can do more than fight scenes and kick ass or have my ass kicked---I can be funny too.

Who else worked on it with you?

My amazing crew! My amazing director Edward G. Negron, my awesome cast, and my fabulous dear friends behind the cameras, Jeff Centauri and Michael Su, whom I work with a lot on their kung fu and mixed media projects.

So your cast and crew was mainly friends then.

I know Eddie, Jeff and Michael from various projects I worked on with them and they were happy to be on board when I said I wanted to do my fan film. I have worked on their fan films, as well as projects you can find at Blockbuster. The other actors were assembled from my acting class and I got my fx makeup artist/Nazi and the General Nazi from a movie we were all working on the month before and I recruited them right on set. Eddie also did all of the post production and he works in the industry as one of the best.

How long did it take to shoot?

Actually the whole shooting time was about nine hours; we spent three hours the first day, where we shot the "horror" sequence of mom and dad running around. The gal that played my mom, Jasi Cotton Lainer, is a stunt gal as well and she made that fall look amazing. She is also a scream queen like me, and with the red hair, it was a great match. If you want inside info, look up “Jack Vegas” in Google--who else can say their fan film has two scream queens and a porn star? (laughs) The other six hours was all the time I had to shoot everything else. Our filming machine was so good that day, that we did get all the shots with Rayne in that time.

Come back tomorrow for Part II!

And then deadra and me went completely crazy and watched an Uwe Boll double feature - BloodRayne and In the Name of the King: A Dungeon Siege Tale.

But first things first: we started off with The Happening. If you are a regular reader, you might wonder why I went to see it, as I have done nothing but bitching about M. Night Shyamalan. But don't worry, I will continue to do just that.
The Happening aka Shyamalan's An Incovenient Truth [(c) Deadra] sucked big time. And keep in mind that this is the same post where I write about Uwe Boll movies and I'm afraid that The Happening is the worst of the movies I write about today...
I watched it with the faint hope that it would be entertaining and that I could spend the whole movie making fun of it. Instead I spent it mostly being bored, with a few exceptions [For example when Mark Wahlberg talks to the plant].
The plus side: Shyamalan didn't try to be especially creative with obvious plot twists. And he didn't go for the word play [SPOILER!] plant - nuclear power plant [SPOILER END!]. Shyamalan had only a voice role, not a real cameo.
The minus side: The plot. Zooey Deschanel couldn't act if her life depended on it. Even amidst a completely bad cast, she stuck out. [SPOILER!] Shyamalan managed to kill off the only actor who would have actually been worth watching - John Leguizamo [SPOILER END!].

Well, money badly spent... nothing worse should happen. Like having to watch this movie again.

In Bruges, on the other hand, was great. I really don't know why it wasn't marketed more. Here we have the perfect combination of (British) black humour [There's only two things, Belgium is famous for: pedophilia and chocolate. And they only got the chocolate to get to the kids.], a good cast (Colin Farrell, Brendan Gleeson and Ralph Fiennes) and a cool story, topped off with a bit of splatter, all in front of the beautiful scenery Bruges has to offer. Very well done, Martin McDonagh!
If you haven't seen it, go and do. It's worth it.

Now, we come to Uwe Boll.
BloodRayne was disappointing. I thought, again, I could laugh my ass off while watching, but unfortunately, it left me only wondering. And bored.
It was a gruesome mixture of genres, not really a vampire movie, not really a splatter movie [although the blood fountains sure were great...], not really a horror movie, but a little bit of all of that.
Michael "Sexy Voice" Madsen acted even less than he usually does. Ben Kingsley seemed so bored (and I'm sure he was) that when he held the traditional motivational speech before the great battle, it sounded like he recited the phone book. For the second time in two hours.
And as much as I hate to admit it, I didn't get the ending. I didn't get the ending of an Uwe Boll movie. How pathetic. But what was up with that best of all scenes? What was that supposed to mean?

Finally, finally, In the Name of the King: A Dungeon Siege Tale delivered what I had hoped for the whole weekend: Unintentional hilarity. Starting with the LotR rip off world, over the story and the dialogues and ending with the imdb forums, it was great. The first hour or so was a bit boring, but then it was packed with quotes that had me on the floor.

King Konreid: Bring in the ninjas!

Gallian: In my kingdom, there will be no word for madness. It will simply be called power.

And then, of course, the world's best pick up line: The cross-eyed Legolas character gets caught by the bad guys and thrown into a dungeon. He turns to the prisoner next to him, coincidentally a girl, and says: "So, where are you from?"
Actually, this line was one of three final choices, the other two being "How you doin'?" and "What does a girl like you do in a place like this?"

Wonderful.

The 10-minute flick features Vera VanGuard in the title role; pulling double duty, she wrote the script as well. It's not exactly a family film---the plot, such as it is, quickly explains the backstory: Bloodrayne, a half-vampire, is searching Nazi Germany for her biological father---a full vampire---so she can kill him for raping her mother. She bumps into a bunch of evil soliders and pretty soon she's not the only one wearing red. Being ignorant of all that is Bloodrayne, I don't know if the dialogue reflected the game's style (I found the incessant sarcasm a bit tiresome), but I got a real kick out of the superhero cameo in the "hidden" scene after the credits. Frankly, I think there's a whole movie right there in that one scene, just waiting to be made.

So gamers, help me out here: Is this fan flick accurate? How does it compare to the games---or Boll's movies? Is the costume as on-the-money as they claim? Give your fair and impartial opinion in the comments section.

Filmes que estrearam no cinema

• Air (2005)
• Alone in the Dark (2005)
• BloodRayne (2005)
• Clannad (2007)
• DOA: Dead or Alive (2006)
• Doom (2005)
• Double Dragon (1994)
• Dōbutsu no Mori (Animal Crossing) (2006)
• Fatal Fury: The Motion Picture (1994)
• Final Fantasy :
  • Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within (2001)
  • Final Fantasy VII Advent Children (2005)
• Hitman (2007)
• House of the Dead (2003)
• In the Name of the King: A Dungeon Siege Tale (2008)
• Mario :
  • Super Mario Bros.: Peach-Hime Kyushutsu Dai Sakusen! (1986)
  • Super Mario Bros. (1993)
• Mortal Kombat :
  • Mortal Kombat (1995)
  • Mortal Kombat: Annihilation (1997)
• Pokémon :
  • Pokémon: The First Movie - Mewtwo Strikes Back (1998)
  • Pokémon: The Movie 2000 - The Power of One (1999)
  • Pokémon 3: The Movie - Spell of the Unown (2000)
  • Pokémon 4Ever - Celebi, Voice of the Forest (2001)
  • Pokémon Heroes (2002)
• Resident Evil :
  • Resident Evil (2002)
  • Resident Evil: Apocalypse (2004)
  • Resident Evil: Extinction (2007)
• Sakura Taisen: Katsudou Shashin (2001)
• Silent Hill (2006)
• Street Fighter :
  • Street Fighter (1994)
  • Street Fighter II: The Animated Movie (1994)
• Tomb Raider:
  • Lara Croft: Tomb Raider (2001)
  • Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life (2003)
• Wing Commander (1999)

Filmes feitos para tv

• Art Of Fighting (1992) (originally aired as a TV movie)
• Bloodrayne II: Deliverance (2007)
• Dragon Ball Z: Plan To Destroy The Saiya-jins (1993)
• Fatal Fury :
  • Fatal Fury: Legend of the Hungry Wolf (1992) (originally aired as a TV movie)
  • Fatal Fury 2: The New Battle (1993) (originally aired as a TV movie)
• Final Fantasy :
  • Final Fantasy: Legend of the Crystals (1994)
  • Final Fantasy VII Advent Children (2005)
  • Last Order -Final Fantasy VII
• House of the Dead II (2006)
• Kirby: Fright to the Finish! (2005)
• Pokémon:
  • Pokémon: Mewtwo Returns (2000)
  • Pokémon: Jirachi Wishmaker (2003)
  • Pokémon: Destiny Deoxys (2004)
  • Pokémon: Lucario and the Mystery of Mew (2005)
  • Pokémon Ranger and the Temple of the Sea (2006)
  • Pokémon: The Rise of Darkrai (2007)
• Samurai Shodown
  • Samurai Shodown: The Motion Picture (1993) (originally aired as a TV movie)
  • Samurai Spirits 2: Asura Zanmaden (1999)
• SiN: The Movie (2000)
• Sonic The Hedgehog: The Movie (1999)
• Street Fighter
  • Street Fighter Alpha: The Movie (1999)
  • Street Fighter Alpha: Generations (2005)
• Tekken: The Motion Picture (1997)
• Welcome to Pia Carrot -Sayaka no Koi-monogatari (2002)

Ingen tycker om Uwe Boll. I alla fall verkar det så. Varje gång jag frågar någon om vad de tycker om tysken och hans filmer får jag antingen ett raseriutbrott eller hånleende som svar. Att han är inkompetent verkar vara någon slags grundlag spelare emellan som det krävs ett oändligt antal konsolgenerationer för att rubba på.

Må så vara för att Boll inte är någon Lynch, men jag vill mena på att han är missförstådd. Jag kan hålla med om att han inte är någon fantastisk regissör, men det är inte där i hans storhet ligger. Han har sett potentialen i att föra över TV- och datorspel till den vita duken, något som gått många stora produktionsbolag i Hollywood obemärkt förbi. Spel ansågs inte hålla en tillräckligt sofistikerad handling för att bli film. Boll tyckte annorlunda och satte sitt koncept i system. Visst har det kommit en rad med filmer baserade på spel innan Uwe Boll tog sig in i branschen, men det är han som verkligen har försökt etablera det. Det är en god kulturgärning om något.

I dag ska så gott som varje produktionsbolag i Hollywood värdiga sin titel köpa upp licenser att göra film på. Utan Uwe Boll kanske vi fortfarande hade fått vänta på att få se våra älsklingsspel på bio. Man kan givetvis säga vad man vill om det. Att de allra flesta filmskaparna inte bryr sig om att följa spelets koncept utan bara kör sitt eget race och förstör den bilden som miljontals spelare världen över har av sina favoritserier. Å andra sidan tror jag att vi, genom att få se fler spel på bio, kommer att öka förståelsen för vår kulturform bland vanligt folk. Spel kan faktiskt innehålla djupa manuskript.

Bolls filmer kanske inte är någon kulturgärning sett till deras kvalité, men sett till den inverkan han haft borde han ha en eloge och inte en utskällning. Dessutom är jag övertygad om att han gjort de bästa han kunnat med de medlen han har. Medan hans kollegor i USA leker med miljardbelopp så kostade Alone In The Dark 20 miljoner dollar att göra. Det hade bara räckt till att göra 45 minuter av The Matrix. Det säger en hel del om de kaffepengarna han gör filmer på. Då är det genast förståeligt att hans filmer kanske inte håller yppersta toppklass.

När man pratar med Boll får man också känslan av att man verkligen pratar med en passionerad romantiker. I en bransch där den stora gräddan regissörer och producenter tänker med dollartecken framför ögonen är han bara intresserad av att sammanföra sina två största intressen; spel och film. Det går bara att inte hata en person som berättar om sina största ögonblick tillsammans med Metal Gear Solid och förklarar sin kärlek till spel på samma gång.

Han är bara ett fan, precis som oss.

AV: Johan Karlsson Sjögren

Uwe Boll är på många sätt och vis rubrikernas man. Genom åren som gått har han ständigt blivit kritiserad för sina filmer baserade på TV- och datorspelslicenser. Medan de allra flesta skulle välja att inte bemöta sina demoner alls så har han valt att göra det omvända. Att detta har lett till en rad mer eller mindre kontroversiella uttalanden har ni säkerligen inte missat.

Nyligen som svar på att det gjorts en namninsamling för att få honom att sluta göra filmer har han själv skapat en insamling som stöttar honom. Att säga saker som "om ni får ihop en miljon underskrifter lovar jag att sluta med att göra film" är verbal tändvätska utan dess like. Uwe Boll är lika delar tysk citatmaskin som filmskapare. Om all publicering är positiv? Ja, enligt honom i varje fall.

Tysken har dock inte alltid valt att ta itu med allt genom munnen, sin vassa tunga till trots. Det finns ett uttryckssätt som heter "när orden tar slut tar nävarna vid". Trott eller ej, men ibland kan även orden ta slut för den mest eruptiva filmregissören.

En match i ringen
I juni 2006 var Uwe Boll trött på alla kritiker. Alla hans senaste filmer hade totaldissats av pressen och den ena recensionen var mer dräpande än den andra. Det verkade nästan vara en sport. Vem kunde egentligen skriva den mest sårande meningen om hans filmer? Boll ville få slut på hela diskussionen och under den sommaren gick han ut med ett pressmeddelande genom sitt produktionsbolag under rubriken "put up or shut up". I denna nyhet utmanade han sina fem hårdaste kritiker på en boxningsmatch som skulle vara i tio ronder. Han bjöd även in de välkända regissörerna Quentin Tarantino och Roger Avary. För att kvalificera sig för matchen krävdes det att varje recensent hade skrivit minst två mycket negativa recensioner om Boll och hans filmer och att dessa skulle ha varit publicerade under 2005.

I slutet av augusti hade fem utmanare valts ut. Kritikerna Rich Kyanka, Chris Alexander, Carlos Palencia Jimenez-Arguello, Jeff Sneider och Chance Minter ställde upp på jippot som snart skulle äga rum. Händelsen blev så omtalad att gamblingsajten Golden Palace valde att sponsra evenemanget och kallade det hela för "Raging Boll". I september samma år mötte han sina opponenter. Uwe Boll vann samtliga fem matcher.

Eftersnacket var dock nästan än mer intressant än matcherna i sig. Kyanka berättade efter sin match átt inte ens hälften av de kritiker som bjudits in hade sett Bolls filmer. Han anklagade dessutom Boll för att inte vilja möta Chance Minter eftersom han var en amatörboxare med erfarenhet av riktiga tävlingar. Tysken valde dock till sist att möta honom och vann även den matchen.

Sneider var inte heller han sen med att kritisera evenemanget. Han menade på att de inte hade fått tillräckligt med tid för att förbereda sig, något Boll försvarar med att han redan hade gett dem tre månaders träning. Att de sedan inte utnyttjade detta var inte hans fel. Att händelsen också bara skulle vara ett PR-jippo avfärdade han snabbt med att säga att det faktiskt var riktiga matcher och ingenting bara för kamerorna.

Alla var dock inte negativa efter sina matcher. Chris Alexander besökte Boll dagen efter sin match där de pratade om film i största allmänhet. Alexander tyckte visserligen att Bolls filmer fortfarande var dåliga verk, men menade också på att Boll var "en ärlig galning som älskade film, kunde sin historia och verkligen levde för konsten". Att Boll efter sina matcher valde att tacka sina opponenter genom ett officiellt pressmeddelande uppskattades också av både Alexander och Minter.

Uwe Boll är som sagt rubrikernas man. Är det inte omtvistade uttalanden så är det hårda boxningsmatcher. Vi har säkerligen inte sett det sista av honom. Vad han planerar bakom kulisserna kan vi bara spekulera i. Att det är kontroversiellt kan du dock lita på.

AV: Johan Karlsson Sjögren

Få personer är så allmänt hatade bland spelare världen över som Uwe Boll. Den tyske filmregissören som gjort sig känd för att överföra framgångsrika TV- och datorspel till den vita duken har inte sällan blivit kritiserad för sina verk. Tre av hans filmer (Alone In The Dark, Bloodrayne II och House of The Dead) finns med i Internet Movie Databases lista över de 100 sämsta filmerna som någonsin gjorts. Recensenten Rob Vaux skrev en gång att regissörer som gör dåliga filmer kan hålla sig lugna för de har i alla fall inte gjort "en ny Alone in The Dark".

- Jag mår inte bra av att få så dålig kritik. Ibland känns det som att jag vill hem till mamma och gråta ut när jag läser vissa recensioner. Jag tror att många recensenter skriver illa om mina filmer för att de på något sätt förväntar sig att en Uwe Boll-film per automatik är kass. De tror bara att de är coola när de skriver så mycket skitsnack om mig, berättar Uwe Boll om den kritiken han fått utstå genom åren.

Boll började dock inte sin karriär med att köpa upp spellicenser för att sedan göra filmer på dessa. Några av de första två engelskspråkiga långfilmerna han gjorde, skräckisen Blackwood (2002) och dramat Heart of America (2004), både skrev och regisserade han. Dessa två filmer är för övrigt några av de få som inte genomgående har fått dålig respons hos kritiker. Av den anledningen är förstås frågan på varför han gillar att göra filmer baserade på spel befogad.

- TV-spel är lite grann som serietidningar. De är bästsäljare för dagens unga generation. Därför tycker jag också att det är viktigt att jag är trogen spelet eftersom jag ändå ska göra en film baserat på det. Jag försöker i så god mån som möjligt att hålla mig nära originalet i fråga om design, formgivning och kostymer.

Sedan dess har han dock uteslutande sysslat med att föra över spel till film genom sitt egna bolag Boll KG Production Company. Just hans sätt att finansiera filmer på är relativt unikt i jämförelse med hur den genomsnittliga Hollywoodstudion arbetar. Hans företag står under tyska skatteregler, vilket har gett honom helt andra möjligheter.

Den tyska regeringen vill gärna uppmuntra inhemska filmmakare att investera i filmproduktion och som ett exempel på det behöver Boll bara betala skatt när hans filmer faktiskt går med vinst. Skulle någon av hans verk gå med förlust behöver han alltså inte betala någonting i skatteavgift. Detta system gäller endast för filmer som är helt ägda av tyska upphovsmakare, ett hål som Boll har utnyttjat genom att äga rättigheterna men sedan göra filmer som är uppenbart anpassade efter den amerikanska marknaden.

- Du vet säkert om det här, men det är inte lätt att få kostnaderna för en film att gå runt. Tack vare skattesystemet i Tyskland har jag möjligheten att göra de här filmerna.

Vill göra WoW-film
Trots kritiken verkar inte Boll ha färre planer på nya filmer baserade på spel. Han har redan uttryckt ett intresse för att göra film på Far Cry och vill gärna göra en uppföljare på Alone In The Dark samt en tredje film på Bloodrayne. En rad fans har gått i taket när han sagt att han varit intresserad av att köpa upp vissa licenser, men även spelutvecklare har aktivt tagit avstånd från honom. Hideo Kojima har exempelvis sagt att han absolut inte skulle vilja arbeta med Uwe Boll på en eventuell Metal Gear Solid-film.

- Fans flippar alltid ur när deras favoritspel blir film och det är svårt att göra alla nöjda. Jag tycker att jag i så god mån som möjligt har försökt att vara trogen mot originalen, men i vissa fall kan jag erkänna att jag gjort fel val. I Alone In The Dark valde jag fel skådespelare, exempelvis. Jag tycker dock att jag blir bättre och bättre och Postal, min senaste film, tycker jag både är min bästa och viktigaste. Jag hade gärna gjort en film på World of Warcraft också, ett fantastiskt spel som jag tror jag hade kunnat göra bra.

På grund av folks missnöje med Boll har man nu gjort en uppmärksammad namnlista där man uppmuntrar personer till att skriva på för att få honom att sluta göra filmer. Boll har själv kommenterat det hela med att han lovar att lägga av om listan får en miljon påskrifter (den 18 april hade namninsamlingen fått ihop 200 000 påskrifter). Nu finns det också en insamling där personer uppmuntras att stötta Boll i hans produktioner. Än så länge har drygt 2000 skrivit på för detta hopbringandet.

- Folk tror att jag gör det här bara för att jag vill tjäna pengar. De som tror sådant om mig är riktiga idioter som själva önskade att de var regissörer. Lev era egna liv, säger jag bara.

Så avslutar Boll intervjun. Det är svårt att säga hur recensenterna kommer att ta hans sista uppmaning, men klart är att han kommer att fortsätta leva sitt liv och fortsätta att producera film.

AV: Johan Karlsson Sjögren

Directed by Uwe Boll

Starring Christian Slater, Tara Reid, Stephen Dorff

Ah Uwe Boll, how do I hate thee, let me count the ways. Let me count the 275,000+ ways other people are showing their distaste for Boll's films at the "Stop Uwe Boll" from making movies petition. If you've seen any of his movies, you'll immediately understand why people are signing this online petition. Boll has publicly and rather foolishly stated that he will stop making movies when the list hits 1 million signatures. But before I ask you to go and do your part, let me just tell how bad a bad movie can get.

My first run in with Boll was at an independent movie festival in San Francisco where Boll was shopping a steamy pile of shit called House of the Dead around to distributors. He seemed charismatic at first, introducing the film, yet once the showing was complete and the insults started flying, Boll turned into the ego-inflated jackass we know today. That film like Alone in the Dark was supposed to be based on the game, yet it had no discernable link to its origins. Rather an hour long rave scene on an island with a cast of the most obnoxious characters to ever grace the screen followed up with a series of ridiculous zombie vs. human fights that made no sense.

And Clint Howard. Another stamp of bad filmmaking.

We started having bad movie night while I was LA which mainly consisted of renting the worst films we could get our hands on, getting loaded, and trying to sit through them. One night we watched my second Boll film, Bloodrayne, and holy shit that was bad...but I think I'll save that for its own post.

Which leads us to Alone in the Dark, which I watched, alone in the dark. I have a bad habit of when I rent or see a film, no matter how bad it is, I'll endure physical and emotional torment to finish watching it. For some reason I decided to dedicate myself to getting through this entire 96 minute turd. Expecting something similar to the game, a favorite of mine from my high school/college days, I was sorely disappointed when Boll turned the film into a ridiculous action movie, with ill-timed disjointed effects, unmotivated action scenes, poor acting (I think Tara Reid is actually drunk or stoned in every shot), and no discernable plot whatsoever.

The writers of the first draft of this film wrote a fascinating article about the experience of writing with Boll:

"The original script took the Alone In the Dark premise and depicted it as if it were actually based on a true story of a private investigator in the northeastern U.S. whose missing persons cases begin to uncover a disturbing paranormal secret. It was told through the eyes of a writer following Edward Carnby and his co-worker for a novel, and depicted them as real-life blue-collar folks who never expected to find hideous beings waiting for them in the dark. We tried to stick close to the H. P. Lovecraft style and the low-tech nature of the original game, always keeping the horror in the shadows so you never saw what was coming for them. Thankfully Dr. Boll was able to hire his loyal team of hacks to crank out something much better than our crappy story and add in all sorts of terrifying horror movie essentials like opening gateways to alternate dimensions, bimbo blonde archaeologists, sex scenes, mad scientists, slimy dog monsters, special army forces designed to battle slimy CG dog monsters, Tara Reid, "Matrix" slow-motion gun battles, and car chases. Oh yeah, and a ten-minute opening back story scroll read aloud to the illiterate audience, the only people able to successfully miss all the negative reviews. I mean hell, Boll knows that's where the real scares lie."

Rottentomatoes ranks this turkey a 1% and it graces the top of many lists as the worst film ever made, but don't take my word for it. Rent it, watch as much of it as you can physically stomach, and then come back here and sign the petition. Please, I beg of you. Think of the children.

You know what? Fuck the trailer, watch this instead:

Stride(R) Gum Declares Its Support for StopUweBoll.org

		Stride Logo. (PRNewsFoto/Cadbury Adams) PARSIPPANY, NJ UNITED STATES

 The Makers of Stride, The Ridiculously Long Lasting Gum(R), Offer A Total
   of One Million Packs of Gum to Signers of the Anti-Uwe Boll Petition*

    PARSIPPANY, N.J., May 7 /PRNewswire/ -- In an effort to protect the
childhood dreams of millions of video gamers everywhere, the makers of
Stride gum announced today that they are launching a special campaign
supporting the efforts of StopUweBoll.org in their attempt to convince
famed film director Uwe Boll to stop making video game-based films.

    (Logo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20080507/NYW034LOGO )

    For years, Boll has piqued the ire of the gaming community by adapting
many of their favorite games into universally panned films
(http://www.rottentomatoes.com/celebrity/uwe_boll/). On April 4, 2008, Boll
remarked to legendary horror site FearNet that he'd consider acquiescing to
his critics and abandoning making films in this genre if an online petition
reached one million signatures. As of press time, the petition is just
about 234,000 names, which is why Stride has decided to jump in.

    "Since gamers are one of our most supportive groups, we've been looking
for ways to return the favor," said Gary Osifchin, Stride North American
Marketing Director. "And what better way is there to get gamers' backs than
by helping them rescue their cherished videogames from the clutches of Uwe
Boll?"

    In an effort to help boost signings, the makers of Stride have put out
a special bounty. If the petition reaches the required 1 million signatures
by May 14 at 5pm EDT, each signer will receive a digital coupon* for a pack
of gum, downloadable on May 23, 2008, a day that could really use some
long-lasting refreshment, particularly as it will see the debut of his
latest videogame-based film.

    "Look, it's nothing personal against the guy. Maybe his non
videogame-based films are unbelievable! But we've seen such intense passion
for this cause that we couldn't help but get involved," said Osifchin. "Let
the signing continue."

    * Stride will provide a downloadable coupon (good for one pack of gum) to
      each petition signer that will be downloadable on May 23, 2008, if the
      target of one million signatures is reached between May 7 and 14, 2008.
      Additional details will be forthcoming.
    About Stride(R)

    Stride(R) The Ridiculously Long Lasting Gum(R) was launched in 2006 to
give gum chewers a fun, unique and long-lasting chewing experience. Stride,
a Cadbury Adams, USA brand comes in seven flavors -- Winterblue, Spearmint,
Sweet Peppermint, Forever Fruit(R), Sweet Berry, Sweet Cinnamon, and new
Always Mandarin(TM). To find out more about Stride, our friends and what
the brand is up to visit STRIDEGUM.COM.

    About Cadbury Adams

    Headquartered in Parsippany, New Jersey, Cadbury Adams USA LLC, is the
U.S. confectionery business unit of Cadbury Schweppes plc -- the world's
top confectionery company (and the only confectionery company with market
leading positions around the world in chewing gum, candy and chocolate
categories).

    The brand portfolio of Cadbury Adams USA LLC includes some of the
best-loved confections in the US, including Trident(R), Dentyne(R),
Halls(R), Bubblicious(R), Sour Patch(R), Swedish Fish(R), Chiclets(R),
Certs(R) and Stride(TM), The Ridiculously Long Lasting Gum(TM) and Green &
Black's(R) organic chocolate. Cadbury Adams USA "firsts" include the first
vanilla pellet gum (Dentyne Ice(R) Vanilla Chill(TM)), sugar free pellets
with two contrasting flavors in every pack (Trident Strawberry fusion
flavor), easy close envelope packaging, and the first center-filled pellet
gum in the US (Trident Splash(R)). Trident(R) Tropical Twist(R) was one of
the first fruit flavored gums to lead the gum category. Green & Black's
organic chocolate is one of the best selling chocolates in the natural food
channel. Our people create brands people love with passion, dedication and
drive. For more information visit http://www.cadburyadams.com

SOURCE Cadbury Adams USA

So what are you waiting for SIGN THE PETITION HERE.

Previously on Boll

• Uwe Boll Will Quit Making Movies with One Million Signatures | /Film

  Now this is news of the bizarre.... the unimaginable.... the unthinkable. From 1up.

  Stride North American marketing director Gary Osifchin explains:

"Since gamers are one of our most supportive groups, we've been looking for ways to return the favor. And what better way is there to get gamers' backs than by helping them rescue their cherished videogames from the clutches of Uwe Boll?"

  Yes, you read correctly: the marketing director for Stride Gum are joining gamer opposition to destroy German film director Uwe Boll once and for all. And how do they plan on aiding this cause?

  Anybody who signs up to oppose the director at StopUweBoll.org will receive a free pack of the "ridiculously long lasting" gum!

  This all comes as a response to when Boll famously announced a few weeks ago that he would agree to stop making crappy movies based on game licenses if at least 1 million people could be persuaded to sign a petition against him. Whether this started as a joke or not, lots of people have signed up in the ensuing weeks, putting the petition's total signatures currently at around 250,000.

  Ofcourse, reguardless of wether you want a free pack of Stride Gum I suggest you help protest against Uwe Boll ever making another game based film by signing the petition @ StopUweBoll.org

We're going back to all-encompassing pop culture and politics links posts now. The pop culture ones will be every day and the politics ones on Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Sunday. As I've got a new gig writing film reviews for Screenjabber, I don't need to devote the blog to film. Enjoy the change back, folks.

The AV Club pays tribute to Alien.

The Hold Steady's new record has a release date.

Uwe Boll is suing Billy Zane.

Everyone seems a little middling on the new Boris record. Pitchfork also has an interview with the guys from earlier in the week.

Not so with the new Portishead, greeted with almost universal acclaim.

PopMatters has a piece exploring the work of John Cage.

Vanity Fair talks to James Frey.

Esquire interviews Tina Fey.

The Guardian goes on the road with Dolly.

Andrew Kuo charts his enjoyments of gigs by The Dodos, Dirty Projectors and Hot Chip.

Roseanne Cash discusses her songcraft.

Slate briefs on Spring Books.

Isobel Campbell and Mark Lanegan talk to The Independent.

The 2008 List of Time's Most Influential People is out. Colbert loses to Rain again.

Finally, here's the High School Musical 3 press conference. Those eyebrows...

I hope no one thought 88 Minutes was gonna be good. Unlike previously horribly shitty movies whoever made this 88 minute film made the mistake of screening it for critics. On Metacritic, a summation of every respected critic all over the country, you’ll see a 12 next to the name 88 Minutes followed by the quote “Extreme dislike or disgust.” This weekend will truly be a test to see how much of a baller Al Pacino is. How many people out there would like to see the worst movie Al Pacino has ever made? He is Al Pacino; we'll find out on Sunday night. With the internet bringing reviews of movies to Yahoo and Google home pages, highlighting monumentally bad ones, Sony might have missed out on the wily move of not allowing any critics to see it. You may or may not be aware of this move that studios make every now and again. If they know that the movie they’re putting out will be completely panned by critics, they simply don’t screen it for them. Some movies you might remember seeing trailers for but not actually seeing that have utilized this tactic in the past are Ultraviolet, Date Movie, Larry the Cable Guy: Health Inspector, and the infamous Uwe Boll’s Bloodrayne. My guess is Sony might have made more chedder had they added 88 minutes to that proud list of fine films, and lord knows they need it with the Wii kicking ass and taking names. This guy Uwe Boll actually has quite a funny little story going on right now.

Uwe Boll is the director of a bunch of infamously bad films that include such gems as BloodRayne, In the Name of the King: A Dungeon Siege Tale, House of the Dead, Alone in the Dark, and last but not least BloodRayne II: Deliverance. A few months back there was an online petition that stated:

“We, the undersigned, respectfully ask that Uwe Boll give proper weight to the wishes of the video game community, the horror community, and the film going community in general and stop directing, producing, or taking any part in the creation of feature films. His distasteful handling of the subject matter and lack of acknowledgement of his failures simply cannot be abided any longer.

Mr. Boll has repeatedly shown a complete lack of comprehension regarding the videogames he has dragged, kicking and screaming, to the silver screen and his ham-fisted approach to horror has soiled future possibilities for anyone else who may attempt to bring videogames to film.

“Sincerely the Undersigned”

This petition has over two hundred thousand signatures and has been growing daily. Taking this as a serious personal attack good old Boll posted this video of himself on the internet.

And then this equally ridiculous one…

And then this completely over the top unbelievably ridiculous one, talking about taking a shit at Starbucks…

To date the Long Live Uwe Boll petition has 4,402 signatures. That’s 0.022 % of the people who signed the original petition. Uwe has said that with 1 million signatures he will quite the film business forever, so, similarly to the upcoming presidential election, I urge you all to do your part and vote!

- Rich