Jason Behr - D-Wars #7: After 6 years in the making, it's finally out! ~ DVD News!!! - Page 2

*Coccy* · 09-16-2007, 08:22 AM

i love how this movie created so many different and opposite opinions

it seems that it's going great no matter the bad reviews it got

i noticed that on IMDB the MOVIEmeter is 218% O__________O wow

now i want to see it too *___*

Invisible_Mom · 09-16-2007, 09:03 AM

Glad to see that all you lucky Behrians who were able to go to the premiere had an awesome time. Wish I could have joined you but I live on the wrong coast.

Thanks for all the pics too! Have to say that I hate Kadee's cornrows and Jason's hat. I know she gave it to him, so it was great that he wore it for her. I'm thinking only true love would have induced him to wear that hat.

I saw Dragon Wars yesterday and thoroughly enjoyed it. Not as much as Skinwalkers, which had me more on the edge of my seat and had some twists I wasn't expecting, but then maybe I wasn't as emotionally vested in whether LA survived or not. Apologies to my friends who live there.

Jason was awesome as always, but I didn't feel that he had any chemistry with Amanda. Too bad they didn't cast KaDee instead.

That would have been interesting to see.

The action scenes were great and I thought the ending was well done, but sad.

I always ignore the critics, because usually if they say a movie is bad, I wind up loving it. I only read reviews to see what the movie is basically about. But their opinions are their own, and don't mean much to me.

Have to get ready to leave. I am going back today to see it again and taking my daugher with me.

Joyce
(Invisible Mom)

*Coccy* · 09-16-2007, 09:13 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Invisible_Mom (View Post)

Jason was awesome as always, but I didn't feel that he had any chemistry with Amanda. Too bad they didn't cast KaDee instead.

That would have been interesting to see.

it's interesting because i didn't see the movie yet but i thought the same thing when i saw the trailers with their scenes together.
I don't know why but they seem more like a couple of siblings (where Jason is her big brother) than a couple of 'lovers'.
I may be wrong but their romance seems a bit "forced".. but i could change my mind when i will see the movie

FearlessLeader · 09-16-2007, 09:38 AM

Well, we had to drive to another country to see it but it was worth it to me

So, okay, Plattsburgh is closer to here than most cities in my own country

But as far as I could tell, the movie didn't even open in Canada, so Maggie and I grabbed our passports and to the States we went!

"Where are you going and why?" asked the border dude. "To Plattsburgh to see Dragon Wars," says we. Some show of surprise. "You are into dragons?"

"Well, really, we only just want to see Jason Behr."

He asked where he would know him from then said something like he sounded like a sci-fi/horror guy and told us to enjoy the movie before sending us on our way.

So we made it to the movie theater with no problem, had some lunch, bought some DVDs (because, believe it or not, Supernatural Season 2 is completely sold out in the Montreal area and has been since Tuesday!

) then went to see the movie.

I found the beginning to be extremely clumsy but it got better as the movie went on. The movie is called "Dragon Wars" and I expected dragons, well, warring and that I got. But I also feared that the humans were an afterthought to Shim, and well, they were. There was great potential in that legend for something really romantic and tragic on an epic scale but basically we got "dragons, dragons, dragons, oh, and a couple of humans. Back to the dragons." Which is not bad in itself, if you are into dragons. But I do like a little human drama in my beast stories

So basically, very good special effects (actually impressive considering the budget), not a bad story but almost non-existent characters (sigh). The actors weren't bad - just not given very much to work with.

One of my favourite Jason scenes is at the beginning when he's telling Bruce to find the girl and he's pacing and thinking out loud - it was funny

I also liked him at the end; one tortured look from Jason is usually enough to make me care - which is good, because the script and character development didn't give us much to go on. It almost felt like we were supposed to care more about which dragon won the war then what actually happened to the girl. Sigh. Again, not bad in itself - it just depends on what you like and/or expect.

There weren't a lot of people at our show (though I have to say, more than the two Skinwalkers showings I caught combined

) and someone walked out halfway through (I really don't know what they were expecting, because even with its flaws I found it to be quite an entertaining movie). But we went to a matinee, so there are always less people for those.

Oh, and it was driving me nuts (as Maggie could tell you) but I finally figured out where I had seen that psychologist woman before (the one with the zoo guy). She was playing Leo's secretary on the West Wing. I was going crazy trying to figure it out!

And Ethan's dream expert friend was a Skin!!!

Though we knew that from the promo shots

(And if I can be shallow for a moment, Jason looked particularly gorgeous throughout that whole scene).

Definitely some Roswell moments in there. Maggie and I laughed out loud at some of the Destiny dialogue

But one of my favourite (totally accidental) Roswell touch was this (not too spoilerish but just to be safe):

Spoiler:

Ethan is dreaming he's in Jack's shop and the lead bad guy is telling him there is no Jack there, so Ethan walks away. Then the bad guy tells him in Korean that he should be trying to find the Yuh Yi Joo, so Ethan stops, turns and says "What did you say to me?" before waking up.

Ethan's next line should have been, "And aren't you the guy who tried to kill me at my High School graduation? (it was the same actor) Isn't it enough that I have to deal with that destiny crap again, what have I ever done to you for you to still be trying to kill me?"

Or maybe it's just me

So, definitely worth it if you are a Jason fan, or a fan of dragons and giant snakes

Good if you like action and CGI, not so much if you're mostly interested in character development. Perfect if you're an 8 year old boy

And like that review said, not a bad way to spend a matinee if you have a sense of humour.

FL

**Crystaline** · 09-16-2007, 12:47 PM

Thanks for the reviews! You guys have got me so excited. I can't wait to see it!

Invisible_Mom · 09-16-2007, 05:44 PM

Now that is a dedicated fan! Traveling to another country to see Jason in a movie! Would have loved to see the border guards face as you were describing why you wanted to get into the States.

Loved your spoiler, FearlessLeader, and all the Roswell touches.

I too wish there had been more character development, if only to give Jason more lines and screentime. But still enjoyed the movie enough to see it twice.

At least it was playing in my area this time, and I didn't have to travel 60 miles roundtrip like I did for Skinwalkers. If only Skinwalkers had been given half the hype of Dragon Wars, and been carried in as many theaters, I think it would have done really well.

Oh well...

Joyce
(Invisible Mom)

LongTimeFan · 09-16-2007, 06:17 PM

Thanks for the reviews and opinions, ladies! Here's an interesting piece of information!

CINEMABLEND BOXOFFICE

ARTICLE

Quote:

'D-War' Breaks Korean Box Office Record in U.S.

"D-War", the Korean-made monster movie from director Shim Hyung-rae, earned US$1.55 million on its opening day Friday in the U.S.
According to U.S. entertainment industry newspaper Variety and box office reporter Box Office Mojo (Box Office Mojo), the movie retitled "Dragon Wars" scored the all-time opening-day box-office high for Korean films in the U.S. It opened in 2,275 theaters across the nation.

According to Box Office Mojo, "Dragon Wars" was the fifth biggest opener on Friday, trailing "The Brave One" and "Mr. Woodcock", among others.

The opening day box office for "Dragon Wars" topped that of all other Korean films released in the U.S. so far, including "The Host", "Typhoon", "Spring Summer Fall Winter and Spring" and "Taegukgi: Brotherhood of War".

And D-War finished number 4 this weekend - not bad at all! And most critics were predicting that it wouldn't make $5million, but looks like it's made $5.3 million, so there!

($5.4 according to Rotten Tomatoes)

ARTICLE

Quote:

Box Office Report Sept 16th 2007
Posted By: The Dude / Source
Related News : Movie Reviews ,

Dude here again. Ummm... I got nothing. Usually I have an idea of how I start off this column, something sticking in my craw, or a humorous anecdote to relay. But nothing of interest really happened. Wow. I'm disappointing myself, even. Oh, I totally just sneezed and bit my tongue at the same time. That's gotta count for something. Even if it is abject stupidity.

This weekend, a movie about dragons and a movie with Jodie Foster battled it out for supremacy, and only one survived, but continued the recent trend of low numbers. Well, technically most of the films produced lower than average numbers. Let's go to said numbers, shall we? (All in millions, remember, and these are the studio estimates, the actuals will be available on Monday. Just to prove me wrong).

1. The Brave One (WB) - $14.0, 2755 screens, week 1, $14.0 total
2. 3:10 to Yuma (LGF) - $9.15, 2667 screens, week 2, $28.5 total
3. Mr. Woodcock (NL) - $9.10, 2231 screens, week 1, $9.10 total
4. Dragon Wars (Freestyle) - $5.3, 2275 screens, week 1, $5.3 total
5. Superbad (Sony) - $5.2, 2910 screens, week 5, $111.3 total
6. Halloween (MGM/Wein) - $5.0, 3051 screens, week 3, $51.2 total
7. The Bourne Ultimatum (Uni) - $4.1, 2611 screens, week 7, $216.1 total
8. Balls of Fury (Rogue) - $3.34, 2758 screens, week 3, $28.8 total
9. Rush Hour 3 (NL) - $3.32, 2208 screens, week 6, $133.1 total
10. Mr. Bean's Holiday (Uni)- $2.6, 1770 screens, week 4, $28.4 total
So those are the numbers, but what do they mean? Well, it means that Jodie Foster can still open a movie, even one that came out just two weeks ago, but starred Kevin Bacon. The Brave One, which ostensibly is the same exact film as Death Sentence on paper, opened up to a weaker than expected $14.1 million dollars. What is this saying about the audiences? I have no idea. I guess when it comes to kickin' arse, people still prefer to respect Charles Bronson.

Mr. Woodcock overcame some harsh reviews and came in a respectable third, battling it out with Yuma for the number 2 spot. Again, watch those numbers flip around in the next day. Still, not bad for a movie that's been hanging out on the shelf for awhile, and looks remarkably like every other Billy Bob Thornton comedy since Bad Santa.

Dragon Wars, the highly anticipated motion picture that finally tells it like it is about the battle between dragons and man on the streets of Los Angeles (take THAT giant fighting robots) opened up to a disappointing fourth place, but can take solace in knowing that in Korea, it's the biggest money maker of all time. (Or something. I'm not entirely too sure. It's huge in it's original country).

Below the radar, a lot of films opened up on small screens, all hoping to garner attention in their own ways. (And all of them playing at my favorite theater out here, where they always seem to be sold out). The Beatles-inspired musical Across the Universe opened up to heavily divided reviews (Either people love it or hate it, with no middle ground) on 23 screens and took in $685,000. Eastern Promises, the latest collaboration between A History of Violence star and director Viggo Mortensen and David Cronenberg, opened up on 15 screens and took in $553,000. And In The Valley of Elah, the latest from Paul Haggis (of Crash fame, the Academy Award winning one, not the one about eroticism in crashed cars... fittingly directed by aforementioned Cronenberg) took in $150,000 on 9 screens.

And in the "Because It's There" series: The Simpsons Movie took in $700,000 on 799 screens, bringing it's grand total to $181,277,000 in 8 weeks. There you have my break down. Next week, one last "threequel" tries to sneak in, but this one looks pretty kick ass. Oh, and that annoying looking movie with Dane Cook is coming out too. It's possible that Resident Evil, though, will emerge victorious, and might break these low weekend numbers we've been experiencing. One can only hope. Until next weekend....

Quote:

The PG13-rated "Dragon Wars," which unspooled with 2,275 U.S.-only engagements, marked a 33% uptick on Saturday over Friday. Execs cited matinee grosses as helping to bolster the pic's debut in the absence of Canadian playdates.

**Crystaline** · 09-16-2007, 06:35 PM

Woohoo!

Take that critics!

Invisible_Mom · 09-16-2007, 07:06 PM

4th place! Not too shabby indeed!

This is for the critics who dare to criticize our Jason and his movie.

Joyce
(Invisible Mom)

Thanette · 09-16-2007, 07:15 PM

Yahoo has it earning $5,376,000. Not too shabby, in my opinion. And this was a slow weekend in NYC due to - I think - the Jewish holiday. There was no line for tickets for any movie on a Saturday afternoon at the movie theater I went to. I'm hoping next Saturday brings in more revenues.

If they could do another 5.375 mil, it would be pretty good for a movie that has not had the benefit of lots of advertising in prime time.

I really enjoyed it by the way. And there are those lovely close ups of Jason. Yum!. The camera does love him! Bring on those Dragons!!

Loretta

**Dreamer 4 Ever** · 09-16-2007, 08:19 PM

Take that you critics

Definitely going to watch the news tonight to catch the entertainment reports

Awww poor Maggie and FL for having to go to upstate NY to see the movie, but it was well worth it I take it

**Crystaline** · 09-16-2007, 08:46 PM

They had to come all the way to upstate NY to see the movie?!

Maggie & FL - you guys RULE!

Maggie aka Sarah · 09-16-2007, 09:17 PM

Yep.... Fearless Leader and I did just happen to drive to another country in order to see D-Wars!

It was our duty as Obsessed JB fans!

We had a great time! And even managed to find the mall where the theatre was without too much trouble. One moment that I am still giggling about was when FL... who was driving... asked me... who was in charge of looking at the various maps/directions that we had printed out... where we had to turn in order to get from autoroute 15 in Canada to I-87. After looking at the map for a while... I came to the realisation that it was the exact same highway. The highway numbur just changed on the other side of the border.

Jess: What you said about D-Wars being in more theatres, having a steady release date and being more marketable to kids and the general audience does make a lot of sense. And is very true that the werewolf/horror fans were alienated by the film being edited to PG13, etc.

Any ways... I did definitely enjoy seeing both Skinwalkers and D-Wars. And it is very good that D-Wars is doing well at the box office!

Liz: Thank you for posting the reviews.

Fearless Leader: Great recap of our Adventures In Plattsburgh!

And good review of the film! The scene where Ethan was telling Bruce to find the girl was definitely hilarious!

Thanks for figuring out that the pychologist was played by the same actress who was Leo's secretary on the West Wing!

Spoiler:

I especially loved the bit about how many Sarahs there were in LA... and how many Sarahs there were with tatoos, etc.

Also totally hilarious that the guy who played the leader of the opposing dragons forces was played by the exact same actor who tried to kill Max during Graduation!

Maggie

**Dreamer 4 Ever** · 09-17-2007, 12:19 AM

Good job

And did you guys notice that Christine Sheaks, who is the casting director in Dragon Wars was also the casting director for Shooting Livien? And that is your JB fact of the day

Sylvia37 · 09-17-2007, 01:10 AM

Well hopefully if people thought it was fun and good for their kids to see, than word of mouth will give it some momentum. If I really want to see a movie, I don't let the reviews stop me. On that note, here are a couple of good things:

Quote:

Reel Review

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Dragon Wars (2007)
Pauline Kael once made the oft-quoted assertion that movies are so rarely great art that if one can't appreciate great trash there's little reason to go. I can't agree with her cynicism about the cinema as art, and I suspect that, like so many of Kael's proclamations, she didn't really mean it herself (if she really believed it, she must have been a total masochist to spend 40 years reviewing films). I do, however, see the value in appreciating great trash, and the new Korean monster movie Dragon Wars is thoroughly entertaining garbage of the highest order. Completely inane in terms of content but exhilarating as a goofy orgy of destruction, Dragon Wars is the kind of movie for which the term "guilty pleasure" was invented. It's one of those films where the stuff that's good is enjoyable, and the stuff that's bad is equally enjoyable—in fact, the cornball dialogue and nonsensical plotting make the movie more fun, not less.
Dragon Wars follows a number of different storylines, most of which are connected by only the most tangential and implausible plot contrivances. The ostensible lead character is Ethan Kendrick, a reporter for a network based on CNN, though its ramshackle offices look more like those of a student newspaper. As a boy, Ethan meets a wise antique shop owner named Jack who instantly (and, like most of what happens in Dragon Wars, inexplicably) realizes that Ethan is a reincarnated warrior fated to do battle with dragons and demons. Now, the adult Ethan covers a story in which he realizes that dragons are now here on Earth, and it is time for him to face his destiny. This destiny involves taking a young woman named Sarah (Ethan's reincarnated lover from 500 years ago) to someplace called "the Grand Cave," and fighting off both an evil warlord named Buraki and an overzealous FBI agent who knows Sarah's true nature and wants to kill her. Most importantly, it places Ethan right at the center of the action when hundreds of dragons gather in Los Angeles to mow the city down in their hunt for Sarah.

There are a lot of other subplots and supporting characters in the film, and a lot of very funny (some intentional, some not) moments thanks to the filmmakers' commitment to pace and pyrotechnics at all cost. Dragon Wars is designed to move, and move it does—there isn't a slow moment in it, because the story never slows down to explain exactly what the hell is going on (one of the biggest laughs comes when Jack gives a young Ethan some backstory and Ethan says "what are you talking about?"—a question burning in the audience's minds as well). The movie also has some hilariously stilted dialogue; it stars American actors but was written and directed by Korean filmmaker Hyung Rae Shim, and his command of the English language (or lack thereof) makes the whole film sound as though the performers are reading subtitles. Yet to the actors' credit, they play their odd exchanges with utter sincerity—which makes the movie's more ridiculous moments all the funnier. Robert Forster, the most reliable character actor on planet Earth, provides some genuine wit as Jack, and Chris Mulkey is equally terrific as the most serious FBI agent in the history of movies.

Of course, the most colorful characters in the movie are the computer-generated dragons, who are surprisingly expressive, scary villains (of course, they have the benefit of not being weighted down by the script's leaden dialogue). Then there are the action set pieces, which are truly thrilling at times. The blend of CGI dragons and human actors is more convincing than one might expect, and the sheer scale of the spectacle is awe-inducing. This is not a "less is more" movie—it's a glorious celebration of the theory that more is more, and the incomprehensibility of the storyline pays off when all the seemingly unrelated threads of the plot come together in action sequences that make Transformers look like My Dinner With Andre. Helicopters, tanks, cars, dragons, soldiers, and some creatures so weird I couldn't figure out what the hell they were (although they looked an awful lot like the lizards the Stormtroopers rode in the original Star Wars) all do battle in a violent, kinetic special effects freakout. The most impressive thing about the movie's lengthy wars of the title is that they're visually, if not narratively, coherent—explaining the logic of the premise takes some work, but Hyung Rae Shim always keeps us acclimated as to who is fighting who, and it makes for a viscerally charged climax as satisfying as what one would find in any of the numerous films that Dragon Wars rips off. In the end the movie's pleasures are pretty simple, as Dragon Wars' greatest value is as an outlet for people who just want to see a lot of **** get smashed to bits—it's admittedly pretty dumb, but in the end its fierce commitment to its own goofy ideas is oddly admirable.

— JIM HEMPHILL

Quote:

Despite violence, 'Brave One' beats all at box office
Updated 10h 28m ago | Comments 18 | Recommend 12 E-mail | Save | Print | Reprints & Permissions |

Enlarge Warner Bros. Pictures

The Brave One is Jodie Foster's third consecutive No. 1 film at the box office.

Share this story: Digg del.icio.us Newsvine Reddit Facebook What's this? By Scott Bowles, USA TODAY
Despite its brutal violence and bleak subject matter, The Brave One topped all movies at the box office this weekend.
And it was thanks to the older women, who continue to turn out for Jodie Foster films.

BOX OFFICE BOTTOM DOLLAR: Check out how your favorite film performed

Brave took in $14 million, according to studio estimates from box office tracking firm Nielsen EDI.

The debut marked Foster's third straight No. 1 film, following last year's Inside Man and 2005's Flightplan. It fell short of the expectations of most analysts, though, who expected it to take in about $18 million.

"It's tough subject matter, and we knew that the violence could turn some people off," says Dan Fellman, distribution chief for Warner Bros., which distributed Brave. "But response has been very good, especially from women."

About 71% of the audience was 30 and older, and 55% of that group was female — an unusually high number for a violent urban film.

But "Jodie has a track record, especially with women, that brings fans to whatever she does," Fellman says. "We don't see much competing with it next week (when the comedy Good Luck Chuck and video game adaptation Resident Evil: Extinction open), so we think we're in good shape for a longer run."

The Western 3:10 to Yuma held nicely from last week's No. 1 debut, dropping only 35% to take $9.2 million and second place. The Russell Crowe film has done $28.5 million so far.

The Billy Bob Thornton comedy Mr. Woodcock did better than expected with third place and $9.1 million, while the fantasy Dragon Wars did a middling $5.4 million, good for fourth place.

Superbad continued its strong run, dropping just 31% to take fifth place and $5.2 million.

Despite the mediocre overall turnout, ticket sales were up 9% from the same weekend last year.

Final figures are due Monday.

How come some critics think 4th place at 5 million is good, while others think it's bad? That's why I take what they say with a grain of salt.

Sylvia