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How To Go Bigger With Transformers 3: Unicron

Rob Keyes — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 03:03:02 +0000

You Transformers fans know what I’m talking about when you see the name “Unicron.”

That’s right. If you thought Transformers 2: Revenge of the Fallen was a massive convoluted mess of nonsense and wasted… well, everything, coated in a big pile of explosions and sometimes-awkward visuals, then you’ve seen nothing yet. How can you introduce and misuse even bigger characters for Transformers 3 after what happened with Devastator and many others in Revenge of the Fallen?

Well, you introduce the Death Star Transformer!

For those who have no idea what I’m talking about, Unicron was the antagonist character introduced in the 1986 animated Transformers: The Movie. He’s so big that he transforms into a mechanical planet, or as Obi-Wan Kenobi would describe, “that’s no moon.”

I’ll try to be as brief as possible in describing Unicron’s role in that movie and how it could tie into Michael Bay’s film series. In the 1986 cartoon movie, Unicron made a deal with the dying and betrayed Megatron (betrayed by Starscream) and offered to give him a new body (becoming Galvatron) in exchange for his efforts in destroying the Autobot Matrix of Leadership. Sound familiar? That Matrix was in Revenge of the Fallen and was the device that The Fallen sought out and sent Megatron after to destroy humanity with that big-ass machine.

In Transformers lore, The Fallen worked for Unicron so perhaps that’s the pattern of the movies: We think Megatron is the leader, we then find out The Fallen is his leader. We think The Fallen is the leader, we then find out Unicron is the leader?

The reason I bring this up is that videos have been popping up online for bonus features that were included on the DVD and Blu-ray releases of Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen on October 20th, one of which (Thanks to Cinema Blend for the find) was a hidden Easter Egg featuring Michael Bay joking around about Transformers 3 with pictures of Unicron in the background.

Note the cliches and Bay making fun of himself: doesn’t have to be all “action action action,” could be more emotional, darker?

The video is meant as a joke and a tease for the hardcore fans. It is also already dated as Bay refers to making a slower and smaller movie first then come back to the Transformers franchise? That’s what was originally the plan with Bay seemingly set to work on his personal passion project “Pain & Gain” but then he met with Steven Spielberg to discuss the project in September and shortly thereafter, it was announced that Transformers 3 would be over-rushed into production like its predecessor and that it would be out in 2011.

This Unicron thing could probably happen. Hasbro needs more toys and what better way to do it (in addition to having 100 no-named random background characters) is to kill off the majority of the Cybertronian cast and bring them back with new bodies! Don’t expect them to talk or even be introduced though. They just need to be shown once or twice.

What do you want from Transformers 3? Do you think Michael Bay will go bigger and bring out Unicron the next time around?

Transformers 3 is scheduled to open July 1, 2011 and I hope it gets delayed a few years.

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Transfomers 3: Michael Bay Ponders How to Make it Good

Kofi Outlaw — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 20:18:46 +0000

I’m usually a pretty good barometer for how the majority of moviegoers feel about an upcoming film, but in the case of Transformers 3 I’m mystified. There’s been such a divisive split between those who hated Transformers: Revenge of The Fallen and those who think they loved it, that now I don’t know how many of you want to see a third installment (if only hoping one last time that it’s done right) – and those of you who cringe at the knowledge that Revenge of The Fallen made so much money Transformers 3 is going to happen no matter what.

Either way, one guy who already has his mind on Transformers 3 is Michael Bay, and he’s wondering how to outdo himself by actually proving that he can do more than make glossy, explosive, senseless sun-tanned spectacles for the screen. Buried in the special features of the Revenge of The Fallen Blu-ray, Bay talks about his early thoughts for the next chapter in Transformers.

There’s a video of Bay’s whole spiel from the Blu-ray feature up on YouTube. I won’t post it here, but if you want to get the gospel from the preacher’s mouth (wow, I might be going to hell for saying that) just check out the vid OVER HERE.

I want to believe Bay’s words in that video, really I do. He drops a few buzz words that I definitely wanted to hear – ’smaller-scale,’ ‘darker,’ ‘more about the robot characters,’ ‘less exposed,’ ‘more undercover,’ ‘emotion’ – he seems more intent on telling an actual story (even if it is the Sam/Bumblebee bromance, pt. 3), and I genuinely think the crazy (and chaotic) scope of Transformers 2 was too much even for Bay’s liking (if that’s possible). However, right now I’m one of those people who is skeptical about this franchise’s ability to deliver a truly all-around good movie; I just love Transformers too much to give up all hope.

What do you think about Michael Bay’s early thoughts about Transformers 3? Is he going in the right direction (does he even have direction)? Are you already excited for the next chapter, or are you taking this next installment to be a true omen that the end times are nigh?

Transformers 3 will be in theaters on July 1, 2011.

Source: YouTube via Cinematical

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Transformers 3 Will Not Be Written By Orci & Kurtzman [Updated]

Rob Keyes — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 23:08:55 +0000

[UPDATE: It's Confirmed: Orci and Kurtzman are NOT writing Transformers 3]

On Tuesday, word spread online that the writers for Transformers and its sequel Revenge of the Fallen, Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman, would not be writing the third installment in the franchise.

The information originated from the Don Murphy forums were Orci participates regularly and it was here where the writer revealed that he and his partner are done with Transformers.

“Time for fresh blood!” writes Orci. “The main reason we would move on is because we risk getting stale and comfortable. If you only sing one song for too long, you miss the opportunity to sing news songs. We’ll see.”

While I enjoyed Transformers upon second viewing (the first time all I came out with was thoughts of the negative parts), my personal belief is that the main weakness of Transformers was its screenplay and that so many of its problems would have been rectified by different writing decisions. For that reason, I am pleased that the story, characters and dialogue will be written by others the third time around.

Whether that means just Ehren Kruger will write it himself, or others will come aboard to take Orci’s and Kurtzman’s spots. It’ll give them a chance to focus on other (read: better) projects where they may have a tad bit more control of the final product.

I’m hoping for and expecting a better movie experience with Revenge of the Fallen but I am happy there will be new writers behind Transformers 3. Orci and Kurtzman have a real test this year with both Star Trek and Revenge of the Fallen having been written/co-written by them and debuting as Summer tentpole films – so we’ll get a real good look at their writing ability.

What do you think of this news?

Update: Collider managed to get these quotes out of Kurtzman and Orci on the subject of Transformers 3:

Why have you decided not to be involved with Transformers 3?

Bob: We’ve been working on Transformers longer than I was in college. I feel like we have our degree in Transformers now.

Alex: The franchise is so wonderful that it deserves to be fresh, all the time. We just felt like we’d given it a lot and didn’t have an insight for where to go with it next, and said, “You should do it right.”

Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen opens June 24, 2009 and Transformers 3 is scheduled for July 1, 2011.

Source: /Film

Update Source: Collider

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Transformers 3 Coming in 2011

Kofi Outlaw — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 16:38:36 +0000

Wow, Michael Bay is a serious glutton for punishment. Barely a breath-catching minute after the slavish effort that “Boom-Boom” Bay and the f/x wizards over at Industrial Light and Magic put in to get Transformers: Revenge of The Fallen in theaters this past summer, they’re proposing to run that marathon all over again in order to get Transformers 3 in theaters for Summer 2011.

Bay made the official announcement today – and he even threw in a funny little stab at Megan Fox in response to all the you-know-what she’s been talking about him recently. Oh, and Transformers 2 haters listen up: apparently they have a “great story” this time around (do you believe it?).

Here’s the the official message Bay posted on his official forum:

Well its official: We have a great Transformers 3 story. The release date is now July 1st 2011. Not 2012.

Today is Day One. This morning started with an ILM meeting for five hours in San Francisco. Currently I’m flying with writer Ehren Kruger to Rhode Island to talk to Hasbro about new characters.

P.S. Megan Fox, welcome back. I promise no alien robots will harm you in any way during the production of this motion picture. Please consult your Physician when working under my direction because some side effects can occur, such as mild dizziness, intense nausea, suicidal tendencies, depression, minor chest hair growth, random internal hemorrhaging and inability to sleep. As some directors may be hazardous to your health, please consult your Doctor to determine if this is right for you.

Pain and Gain is right after shooting of Trans 3.

Michael

Ehren Kruger helped out with the “script” for Transformers 2, he also wrote The Skeleton Key, The Brothers Grimm and Reindeer Games. An actual good movie he wrote (ZING!): Arlington Road.

To be honest, after seeing Revenge of the Fallen, I would be happy with Transformers 3 having A story, let alone alone a “great” one. Though, if Bay is thinking of bringing back The Twins, I don’t know how “great” the next film can possibly be.

The official release date of Transformers 3 (as stated) is July 1, 2011. Summer 2011 is quickly shaping up to be pretty epic.

Source: Michael Bay Forum via Superhero Hype

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Sweet Transformers Concept Art

Rob Keyes — Sun, 20 Sep 2009 20:42:20 +0000

Today we’ve got a collection of concept art by artist Ben Procter (thanks to the very cool site ConceptArtWorld.com) that feature a ton of characters as well as some of key objects from Michael Bay’s Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen.

As you’ll see, Procter’s art is amazing and he’s worked on a ton of major feature films before including the Matrix sequels, Superman Returns, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and many others.

Unfortunately, most characters in the film weren’t given any characterization (most of them weren’t given a name or any dialogue in the movie) and so the concept art for Revenge of the Fallen represents all the characterization we get of many of the Cybertronians featured in the film.

Some of the robot designs in the movie were really cool but some are too extreme. The Alice character in particular had zero purpose in the film other than to take away time from the characters we care more about and make the film make less sense.

Here are the twins in Icecream truck mode. I didn’t dig these characters at all and many didn’t find them funny or cool – they didn’t fit within the movies and took away from what viewers wanted to see. So, of course they were made the stars of the film over the other characters.

Note the awesome symmetrical designs of the faces of The Twins:

Click to continue for more Transformers artwork including the Destructicons and never-before-seen characters…

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Bay Holds Cybertronian Meeting to Discuss Transformers 3

Rob Keyes — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 01:52:56 +0000

I was a defender of the first Transformers. While the bad parts really made watching the movie difficult the first time, upon re-watching it, I really dug a lot of it.

Unfortunately, with the sequel that I hoped would eliminate the bad parts and improve on the good… it did mostly the opposite and we got stuck with a movie that although got very bad reviews across the board, it of course banked $830 million worldwide. Wait until Revenge of the Fallen Blu-ray and DVDs hit the shelves next month. Add that with the insane merchandising and there’s no other movie that can bank more in total.

So, that means Transformers 3 is a sure-fire thing no matter what, the only question is when.

According to Michael Bay’s official website, that’s exactly what he, Steven Spielberg and Ehren Kruger are set to determine later this week as they lay down some plans for Michael Bay’s next few years of work. The following points were listed on MichaelBay.com earlier today:

He will be meeting later this week with Steven Spielberg, and Ehren Kruger to discuss ideas for Transformers 3. By the end of the week he should have an idea if Transformers 3 will hit your local cineplex in the summer of 2011 or 2012.
In the meantime “Pain & Gain” is looking very possible as is…
…Bad Boys 3. Either film coming to a theater near you before or after Transformers 3.

Pain & Gain is Michael Bay’s personal project he has been intending to make for a while. The plan as we knew it before, was the he’d step away from giant robots and explosions for at least a little while to work on this smaller feature. It is based on a series of lengthy articles written by Pete Collins, published between December 23, 1999 and January, 2000 in the Miami New Times tiled Pain & Gain.

As for Bad Boys 3, a few weeks back we reported on a writer being hired to pen the script for the next installment but it wasn’t confirmed on whether or not Bay would return to guide Will Smith and Martin Lawrence through the explosions. I think he’ll be back but that it’ll come after TF3 and Pain & Gain.

Onto Transformers 3. At this point, it’s clear the next one is to be made just for money (I know its a business, but this is quantity over quality now) and I have zero expecations for it after what I saw from the franchise this summer. That means, although they can’t possibly finish a film this large in scale and with this many special effects properly in a year and half to have it open in the summer of 2011, they’re still going to discuss it and it’s still a possibility.

Who cares if the CGI is unfinished or if half of the characters don’t talk… or even get a name. Where’s my paycheck!

Heck, make half of it in 2D sketches and just don’t show it in the trailer and it’ll still bank a minimum half a billion. Anyway, rant aside (we’ll save that for later), the only real thing that would delay the debut of Transformers 3 is Bay’s desire to work on other projects, namely the two we’ve discussed.

I’m very interested to see Bay step away from the grand blockbusters for a little while and to see what he’ll do with Pain & Gain.

What would you like to see from Transformers 3?

Source: MichaelBay.com

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GROAN… Summer 2009 Sets Box Office Record

Kofi Outlaw — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 16:55:02 +0000

So we just finished telling you why the Summer of 2009 was the season of bad movies. Now, as if to validate our point (sarcasm alert) Variety has just announced that the Summer of ‘09 has set a new record as the highest grossing summer of all time at the U.S. domestic box office.

So there you have it, folks, it’s official: Hollywood has no reason to ever hire good writers, produce good scripts, or offer us anything better at the multiplex than what Michael Bay can half-envision.

Awesome.

The numbers of course tell a deeper tale than that, so if you’d like to find out just how the heck this summer managed to break the box office bank, here’s the breakdown:

Top earners for the season were Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen ($399.4 million), Harry Potter and The Half-Blood Prince ($294.3 million), and Disney/Pixar’s Up ($289.6 million). We all know why the franchise players made bank (it certainly wasn’t because the newest installments were great films in and of themselves) and Pixar is a proven brand that happened to offer a truly exceptional film. Other crap sequels that helped fill the piggy bank: Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs ($193.3 million), Angels and Demons ($133.4 million) and Night at the Museum 2 ($176.5 million)

There were also some unexpected boosts to the box office this year, thanks to Warner Bros.’ breakout hit The Hangover ($270.2 million) and the Sandra Bullock / Ryan Reynolds rom-com, The Proposal ($160.2 million).

Rounding out the Summer ‘09 box office cash pile were reboots/relaunches of popular franchises. On that front you had Star Trek ($256.7 million), Wolverine ($179 million), Terminator Salvation ($125.3 million) and G.I. Joe ($133.4 million and counting).

This really must be just a cruel joke being played by God, IMHO. You have he Writers Guild of America strike back in 2007, during which the scripts for a lot of these films were forced to go into production half-cooked (or less), and what’s the moral of the story? What’s the grand example that the talented writers in Hollywood can hold up to the studios? “Hey, you better treat us right, otherwise we’ll stop working and you’ll end up making more money than you ever have before!”

Pretty short soapbox to be standing on.

It’s also arguable evidence of the (snooty) stereotype that the average American moviegoer has the cerebral capacity of a third grader. Just looking at the numbers I have to wonder just how so many people could be so entertained by so much crap. It once again raises a question one of our readers put to us back in June, after the release of Transformers 2: Is there really a difference between movies like The Dark Knight and TF2 when both films start pulling in crazy bank? How much does quality count?

It was an intriguing topic before, but after hearing that the Summer of 2009 will go down as a the “best” summer at the movies ever (from a profit standpoint), it’s now a raging debate. Expect Screen Rant’s post about it soon.

Source: Variety

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Summer 2009: The Season Of Bad Movies [Updated]

Heath McKnight — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 16:38:14 +0000

Well, the summer movie season is officially over, and while box office earnings are way up, it seems like the quality of the films have actually gone way down. But for every few badly-written movies (like X-Men Origins: Wolverine, Transformers 2, and G.I. Joe–though some will say it’s not that bad), there was a diamond in the rough like District 9. So why were so many movies so bad in the summer of ‘09, even if they did make a lot of money? Hint: The Writers Strike!

Before the summer began, I wrote an article about how the 2007 Writers Strike might affect the summer 2009 movies. I speculated that back in 2007, studios were nervous about how long the writers strike could last, leaving them with a possible lack of films for the fall/winter 2008 and all-important summer 2009 season (early May to late August 2009). To make sure they had big films lined up for Summer ‘09, the studios pushed to have their big-budget scripts quick-finished before the Writers Guild of America’s (WGA) contracts were up in November 2007 and the Screen Actors Guild (SAG) in summer of 2008.

So what happened? Movies like Wolverine, Transformers 2, GI Joe, Angels and Demons, Terminator Salvation, and others got thrashed by critics (and our own, brave reviewers here at Screen Rant), for their lackluster scripts that showed every sign of being half-cooked. Now, some of you might thing bad scripts and summer blockbusters go hand-in-hand – but let’s be honest, when was the last time there were so many stinkers that came out in one summer? Sure, many of these films made a lot of money, but how much of that profit hinges on moviegoers looking for affordable entertainment and “stay-cations” in this bad economy?

It’s very well known that most of the summer ‘09 films were rushed into production. Angels and Demons was delayed a year due to the Strike, but that didn’t seem to help make the final product that much better; Michael Bay has said in interviews that he worked out the overall story of Transformers 2, all the way down to the action AND comedic bits. However, when the WGA strike ended, writers Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman were joined by fellow writer Ehren Krueger to try and get the script for TF2 hammered out in a matter of three or four months to meet the production start deadline. At that rushed pace, the script was bound to suffer.

Several Big-budget franchise installments failed to live up to the hype.

Here’s a quick recap of some of the more disappointing movies this summer:

Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen
Terminator: Salvation
Angels and Demons
X-Men Origins: Wolverine
Year One
Public Enemies (this one is open to debate–it seems kind of split on how people and critics liked it–Vic liked it)

(Continue to pg. 2 to see which movies of Summer ‘09 were actually good!)

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2009 Scream Award Nominations

Ross Miller — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 17:37:08 +0000

The nominees have been announced for the fourth annual Scream Awards, held every year by Spike TV. The decisively more “fan-friendly” award ceremony (compared to the Oscars) honors films from the sci-fi, fantasy, horror and comic-book genres of movies, TV shows and comic books. The awards are described as, “the first and only global event of its kind,” to honor those genres.

The Scream 2009 nominees were chosen by the Advisory Board of Hollywood and Genre Leaders, a list which this year includes the likes of Wes Craven, Roland Emmerich, Neil Gaiman, Frank Miller, Eli Roth and Zack Snyder, plus many more. The event will be taped on Saturday, October 17th this year at The Greek Theater in Los Angeles, and will air on Spike TV ten days later on Tuesday, October 27th (check for local times).

Along with the awards, the show will also be airing some exclusive, world premiere of footage of some of the most anticipated movies of 2010! Presenters and musicians for the event are to be announced shortly.

Below is the list of a selection of the 32 categories from this year’s Scream nominations. For those of you (all of you?) who want to have YOUR say on which film should win, you’re in luck! Public voting for the awards has opened already and will run right up to October 17th. But before you head off to vote, here are some of the nominees:

BEST FANTASY MOVIE

“Coraline”

“Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince”

“Twilight”

“Up”

“Watchmen”

“X-Men Origins: Wolverine”

BEST HORROR MOVIE

“Dead Snow”

“Drag Me to Hell”

“Friday the 13th”

“Let the Right One In”

“My Bloody Valentine 3D”

“Splinter”

BEST COMIC BOOK MOVIE

“Dragonball Evolution”

“Punisher: War Zone”

“The Spirit”

“Watchmen”

“X-Men Origins: Wolverine”

BEST VILLAIN

Eric Bana as Nero; “Star Trek”

Cam Gigandet as James; “Twilight”

Lorna Raver as Mrs. Ganush; rag Me to Hell”

Liev Schrieber as Victor Creed/Sabretooth; “X-Men”

Alexander Skarsgård as Eric Northman; “True Blood”

BEST DIRECTOR

J.J. Abrams; “Star Trek”

Tomas Alfredson; “Let the Right One In”

Michael Bay; “Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen”

Pete Doctor & Bob Peterson; “Up”

Duncan Jones; “Moon”

Sam Raimi; “Drag Me to Hell”

BEST TV SHOW

Battlestar Galactica

Dexter

Fringe

Lost

Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles

True Blood

BEST ACTOR IN A FANTASY MOVIE OR TV SHOW

Ed Asner, “Up”

Hugh Jackman, “X-Men Origins: Wolverine”

Robert Pattinson, “Twilight”

Brad Pitt, “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”

Daniel Radcliffe, “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince”

Michael Sheen, “Underworld: Rise of the Lycans”

BEST ACTRESS IN A FANTASY MOVIE OR TV SHOW

Scarlett Johansson, “The Spirit”

Jamie King, “The Spirit”

Rhona Mitra, “Underworld: Rise of the Lycans”

Kristen Stewart, “Twilight”

Emma Watson, “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince”

For the rest of the nominees you can head over to Spike.com, where you can also cast your votes.

Although some of the awards are truly suspect (how the hell The Spirit got nominated for ANYTHING is beyond me), I still like the overall celebration of the type of sci-fi, fantasy, comic book and horror films we here at Screen Rant revel in Although I won’t go into a specific rundown of who I think should win, I’d like to throw my opinion in the ring for a few of them:

Lost should win Best TV Show (I love Dexter, but it’s no Lost); Best Horror Movie should go to Let The Right One In (I would say Drag Me To Hell, but since that’s a comedy too, Let The Right One takes it for me); Best Actor in a Fantasy Movie Or TV Show should go to Brad Pitt for The Curious Case of Benjamin Button; and Best Comic Book Movie should (EASILY) go to Watchmen.

But enough from me, what and who will YOU vote for? As stated, you can cast your votes over at Spike.com, and you can see if the winners match your picks when the Scream Awards 2009 air on October 27th this year on Spike TV.

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G.I. Joe vs. Transformers 2: Popcorn Movie Showdown!

Kofi Outlaw — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 16:10:00 +0000

Summer is winding down and two of the blockbuster season’s biggest entries, Transformers: Revenge of The Fallen and G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra have both debuted in theaters to mixed opinion amongst audiences, total lambasting by critics, bale fulls of money made at the box office for Paramount and even more bale fulls made in merchandising by Hasbro, the company whose toys were the inspiration for both films.

But which film was better (read: not as bad as the other)? Even the critics who tore apart both Transformers 2 and G.I. Joe would be hard-pressed to argue that both films are equally as bad. And among you, the fans (or haters), that debate is even more polarized, if our comment sections have been any indication.

So now, for your consideration, Screen Rant is proud to present our first Popcorn Movie Showdown: Transformers 2 vs G.I. Joe!

THE EYE CANDY

OK, so Transformers: Revenge of The Fallen had some of the best-rendered CGI ever to appear on film, hands down. Expect the film to get some kind of (Academy?) award nod for its technical work. And if you’ve seen Transformers 2 in IMAX, you already know that the “true IMAX” sequences of robot-on-robot action are gorgeous enough to make you almost believe that transforming alien robots do exist. Amazing stuff.

G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra had some cool f/x moments (most people seemed to enjoy the accelerator suit sequence), but nothing even CLOSE to the level of Transformers 2. The two films are not even on the same plane in that respect. Clearly, the win for best f/x goes to Michael Bay and his team of tech wizards (aka Industrial Light and Magic)…

…But not so fast – the term “eye candy” means more than who had the smoothest CGI. What about the ladies? G.I. Joe had red-hot Rachel Nichols making a big-screen splash, and god bless Sienna Miller for always wearing something tight and revealing in every scene (even when her character was standing in the frozen Artic tundra). Now that’s dedication! However, Transformers 2 had the lovely Isabel Lucas and, of course, queen-gorgeous herself, Megan Fox. Even that little toy truck robot wanted to hump her leg; the G.I. Joe ladies got no such love. But hell, in this case, isn’t a visual aid better? Decide for yourself:

The Ladies of G.I. Joe:

Sienna Miller

Rachel Nichols

The Ladies of Transformers 2:

Isabel Lucas and Megan Fox

Winner: In every sense, Transformers 2 was the prettiest belle at the ball.

THE “SCRIPT”

So let’s just come clean: Both so-called scripts for these movies were half-baked hams that couldn’t even pass for coherent if they were reviewed by the blind and deaf. And that’s putting it mildly. It was a shame, too, because both scripts were written by some of the industry’s best and brightest talent: Transformers 2 was scribed by (two of my favorites) Robert Orci and Alex Kurtzman (Fringe, Star Trek), while G.I. Joe was written by Stuart Beattie (Pirates of the Caribbean, 30 Days of Night).

So what went so wrong that we ended up suffering the go-stop-go pace of Transformers 2 and the make-you-cringe dialogue of G.I. Joe? Or worse yet, The Twins? No doubt the pain we’re feeling now rippled out from the WGA Strike of 2007, when studios pushed their writers to finish the job quick-fast in order to get all scripts possible into production (in whatever half-cooked state they were in) before the impending strike left the studios without any tentpoles for Summer ‘09. I like to think I’m a pretty good writer myself and I can tell you: It doesn’t matter if you’re freaking Shakespeare – if you aren’t allowed sufficient time and space to write a story right, it isn’t going to turn out right.

Now we know. And knowing is half the battle. Hollywood: Pay those writers what they’re owed. We’ve all been officially reminded why good writing matters (don’t let those big box office receipts fool you).

Winner: G.I. Joe at least kept things moving lightly and quickly enough for (most of us) to forget that we were watching a half-cooked story – so long as nobody was talking. At least the plot was easy to follow: Tug-of-war over destructive warheads between good guys and bad guys. Simple. Transformers 2 had me scratching my head so hard, so often, my scalp started to bleed (what was the point of having The Fallen in there? Anybody?).

Keep reading to find out who wins the G.I. Joe vs. Transformers 2 Showdown!

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Weekend Movie News Wrap Up: July 12, 2009

Niall Browne — Sun, 12 Jul 2009 20:06:28 +0000

This week:

Bruno is the box office king; Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle’s want You; Hollywood loves Hooker; Jason Statham goes on a Blitz; Zooey Deschanel is Your Highness and Robert DeNiro and Paul Schrader see The Dying of The Light.

Box Office

Sacha Baron Cohen’s Bruno took the top spot over the weekend with a gross of $30 million. It’ll need legs like a supermodel to reach the coveted $100 million mark.

Crossing the century mark this weekend is Ice Age 3-D: Dawn Of The Dinosaurs $28 million this weekend the animated pics total now stands at $120 million. Expect an Ice Age 4.

Transformers 2: Revenge Of The Fallen banked another $24 million giving the Michael Bay action epic a grand total.

After breaking records last year with The Dark Knight, it has been a disappointing summer for Christian Bale. Terminator Salvation underperformed at the start of the summer and now Public Enemies looks to fall short of the $100 million mark. $14 million this weekend gives the Johnny Depp starrer a $66 million total.

After taking $10 million over the weekend, The Proposal now has $113 million in the bank. That’s good news for Ryan Reynolds after Wolverine and his attachment to The Green Lantern, but great news for the 40+ Sandra Bullock who proves she’s still a box office draw.

The Hangover banked $9 million over the three days giving the comedy an astounding $222 million total.

I Love You, Beth Cooper beefed it over the weekend (that is an accurate technical term) giving Chris Columbus his lowest opening in almost 20 years. Looks like Hayden Panettiere won’t be having a big movie career if they all open like this.

Cameron Diaz’s My Sister’s Keeper brought in another $5 million, that gives the weepy a total of $35 million. It should be a big hit on DVD.

Tony Scott’s The Taking of Pelham 123 banked just over $1.5 million for a total of $61 million. Considering the star power of Denzel Washington and John Travolta this has to be a bit of a disappointment.

Outside the top 10 Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smith hit $170 million; Star Trek hit $251 and comedy flops Year One and Land of The Lost brought their totals to $41 million and $48 million respectively.

Movie News

1. Those heroes in a half shell are at it again. The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles are set to return in a big screen reboot.

According to SlashFilm there’s an open casting call for anyone who wants to star as a member of the Foot Clan.
The casting call takes place next Saturday and anyone attending will have to give a thirty second martial arts demonstration.

Visit SlashFilm.com for all the details.

Source: SlashFilm

2. Hollywood appears to gave gone on a William Shatner remake frenzy as they’re now eyeing a big screen version of Shatner’s TJ Hooker.

The 80’s cop show, which also starred Heather Locklear, is set to be rebooted by Eraser and Scorpion King director Chuck Russell.

According to Variety:

“The writing team of Brent Maddock and S.S. Wilson will script the story, which focuses on the relationship between the title character and his father.”

That pretty much ensures a role for Shatner, and I’m going to guess that Ben Stiller and Will Ferrell will be at the top of some casting directors list for portray the titular Hooker – after all this is being pitched as an “action comedy”

Source: Variety

3. Jason Statham appears to be giving actioners a break with a role in Brit flick Blitz. Statham has apparently signed on to play “a rather crude, un-PC, borderline sociopath of a cop” Detective Sergeant Brant in the film that will co-star Paddy Considine.

According to Crimespree Cinema:

“The South East London police squad are down and out: Detective Sergeant Brant is in hot water for assaulting a police shrink, Chief Inspector Roberts’ wife has died in a horrific car accident, and WPC Falls is still figuring out how to navigate her job as a black female investigator in the notorious unit. When a serial killer takes his show on the road, things get worse for all three. Nicknamed “The Blitz” by the rabid London media, the killer is aiming for tabloid immortality by killing cops in different beats around the city.”

Sounds like it could be quite good. Although I have said that before…

Source: Crimespree Cinema

4. Zooey Deschanel will join Danny McBride, James Franco and Natalie Portman in Your Highness.

The Hollywood Reporter says:

“”Highness,” written by Ben Best and Danny McBride, centers on an arrogant, lazy prince (McBride) who must complete a quest to save his father’s kingdom. Joining him on the quest is his more heroic brother (James Franco). Deschanel plays Belladonna, Franco’s virginal bride.”

The film starts shooting in Belfast this month.

Source: The Hollywood Reporter

5. Robert DeNiro is attached to star in a news script by Paul Schrader.
The Taxi Driver and Raging Bull duo will re-team in CIA thriller The Dying of the Light.

DeNiro will play an aging CIA agent who is slowly losing his memory and he must find a way to recall and save all the secrets locked within his mind as he ventures on one final mission.

Schrader and DeNiro equals must see.

That’s it for now. See you at the movies.

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Weekend Movie News Wrap Up: July 5th, 2009

Niall Browne — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 01:21:13 +0000

This week:

Revenge of The Fallen meets Dawn of the Dinosaurs; it’ll take 6 years to see the last Airbender; Adams looks on as Batman fights Marky Mark; George Clooney leaves Warner Bros; The Green Hornet is delayed and Tony Scott, Denzel Washington and Chris Pine are stoppable.

Box Office

Transformers 2: Revenge of The Fallen and Ice Age 3-D: Dawn of the Dinosaurs fought it out over the weekend to see who would get the top spot. The fight was so close that it’ll take final numbers on Monday to see who the box office champion is. Both films should bank about $43 million over the July 4^th weekend. Tranformers 2’s total currently stands at just under $300 million. Public Enemies should bank about $25 million from Friday to Monday giving the Johnny Depp starrer a pretty decent $40 million over five days. The Michael Mann film appears to have been pretty good counter programming for those not wanting to see animated creatures, computer generated robots or Megan Fox.

Sandra Bullock’s The Proposal banked a little less than $14 million bringing the total of the comedy to $86 million. The magic century mark is within spitting distance.

The Hangover is hanging in there with a gross of $4.5 million. The R-rated comedy now has a spectacular total of $198 million.

The Cameron Diaz starring My Sisters Keeper took about $6 million giving the film a total of $23 million. The Taking Of Pelham 123 has so far taken $56.9 million – look for it to stop at the $60 million mar.. Year One banked just over $2 million for a flaccid $37 million total while Night at the Museum 2: Battle Of The Smithsonian took home just under $2 million to bring its grand total to $166 million.

Movie News

1. Now that the marketing machine has started up for M. Night Shyamalan’s The Last Airbender all eyes have turned to the potential sequels to the film.

The producer of the film, Frank Marshall has discussed the possible time frame of the sequel and Shaymalan’s involvement. Marshall said:

“One of the things we’ll be doing is using the sets, ships and elements for each different nation in this film and incorporating them into movies two and three. We’re not waiting. There just isn’t enough time. Night will finish this movie, then the script and then we’ll prepare for the next one. I think it’ll probably happen over six years.”

I’ve been a fan of Shayamalan’s work for the last decade or so, and while I will admit that his films have been declining since he made his mark with The Sixth Sense I’ve always been willing to defend his choices. However, I can’t say that I’m looking forward to The Last Airbender. I’m not a fan of animation and the film looks terrible.

I know that there’s a lot of people out there looking forward to this – but I’m not one of them.

Source: SlashFilm

2. Amy Adams will join Christian Bale and Mark Wahlberg in David O. Russell’s The Fighter.

“(The long in-development film) revolves around the life of boxer “Irish” Mickey Ward (Wahlberg) and trainer-brother Dick Eklund (Bale), chronicling their early days on the rough streets of Lowell, Mass., through Eklund’s battle with drugs and Ward’s eventual world championship in London.”

I’m going to go out on a limb and say that Bale will be intense, Wahlberg will be wooden and Adams will be a love interest.

Over the years Matt Damon, Brad Pitt and Darren Aronofsky have been attached to the troubled film that is set to start shooting soon.

Source: The Hollywood Reporter

3. George Clooney is ending his longstanding relationship with Warner Bros. The star along with his producing partner Grant Heslov will move their Smokehouse production company off the Warner lot to Sony Pictures.

Warner Bros has been behind most of Clooney’s big hits over the years from his star-making stint in ER through to The Perfect Storm and The Ocean’s trilogy.

Read the press release below to see what Sony head Amy Pascal and Clooney have to say, as well as a list of the films that Smokehouse is currently developing:

“George Clooney and Grant Heslov’s Smokehouse Pictures are in final negotiations to sign an exclusive two-year theatrical development and production deal with Sony Pictures Entertainment, it was announced today by Amy Pascal, Co-Chairman of Sony Picture Entertainment and Chairman of the studio’s Motion Picture Group.”

“Commenting on the announcement, Clooney said, ‘Warner Bros. has been a great place to work and I’ve felt like part of a family for almost 20 years. So in moving on, I’m leaving a terrific company and a lot of dear friends. They’re a class act. In looking ahead, I’m tremendously excited to be working at Sony Pictures, and we all feel like it’s a perfect match for Smokehouse. Grant Heslov and I hope to deliver the kind of films that will make them proud.’”

“We admire and respect George and Grant as filmmakers and producers and we couldn’t be more excited to be in business with them and their talented team at Smokehouse Pictures,” said Pascal. “The broad range of quality projects they have championed and the compelling and sometimes provocative material they support says everything about their company and their creative aspirations. While we have been trimming production deals overall for the last few years, we see real value in opening our doors to producers with their critical and commercial track record and their artistic point of view, and we know they will be a fantastic addition to the Sony Pictures family.”

“My nine year relationship with Warner Bros. was extremely gratifying and now, George and I look forward to Smokehouse being a part of the Sony family,” Heslov said.

The Smokehouse Pictures team includes Senior Vice President of Development Nina Wolarsky, and creative executive Alex Meenehan. The company is currently in development on the following projects with Warner Bros:

THE CHALLENGE
Screenplay by Aaron Sorkin. An adaptation of Jonathan Mahler’s nonfiction book chronicling the historic Supreme Court case in which two lawyers sued the Bush administration on behalf of accused terrorist Salim Hamdan.

OUR BRAND IS CRISIS
A satirical comedy about American spin doctors competing in the same Presidential election in Bolivia. Based on the documentary by Rachel Boynton, with a script by Peter Straughan (MEN WHO STARE AT GOATS).
FARRAGUT NORTH
An adaptation of Beau Willimon’s critically acclaimed play, set during the Iowa primary of a presidential race.

ESCAPE FROM TEHRAN
The true story of how the CIA used a fake movie project to smuggle hostages out of 1979 Tehran. Chris Terrio is writing the screenplay.

THE TOURIST
A contemporary spy thriller about a spy who risks everything to reveal a conspiracy after he’s accused of a murder he didn’t commit. Based on the bestselling book by Olen Steinhauer. Tony Peckham is writing the screenplay.

THE INNOCENT MAN
Based on the bestselling nonfiction book by John Grisham, the true story of murder and injustice in a small town in Oklahoma. Adapted by David Gordon Green..”

The irony of this story being that just days before this deal was sealed Pascal ditched Clooney’s Ocean movie pals Steven Soderbergh and Brad Pitt’s Moneyball due to script issues.

Source: Deadline Hollywood

4. Those of you who have been waiting to see Seth Rogan as The Green Hornet better prepare to wait a little bit longer.

The comic book adaptation’s release date has now been changed from June 25, 2010 to July 9, 2010 release. It’s only two weeks so don’t worry too much.

The Michel Gondry directed Green Hornet will now be sandwiched between Toy Story 3 and Twilight: New Moon.

Source: Film School Rejects

5. It looks like Tony Scott’s runaway train film Unstoppable might be…er stoppable after all.

The film was set to star Scott’s go-to-guy Denzel Washington and Star Trek’s Chris Pine, however 20^th Century Fox have hot the brakes of the film because of budget concerns.

Unstoppable was set to go before cameras this fall but that start date now looks uncertain. One of the reasons for the studios cold feet is the so-so performance of the latest Scott and Washington action film The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3 which has so far grossed $56 million from an estimated $100 million budget.

Washington currently gets $20 million a film while Pine is probably asking for a couple of million following the success of Star Trek.

More when we get it.

Source: The Hollywood Reporter

That’s it for now. See you at the movies.

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Will Megan Fox Feud With Michael Bay Mean No Transformers 3?

Rob Keyes — Sat, 04 Jul 2009 06:47:44 +0000

As you no doubt already know, Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen is currently playing in theaters everywhere and making insane amounts of money. In fact, you’ve probably already seen it twice considering how much money this thing has made in its opening week.

As of now, it’s made over a half-billion dollars worldwide in just over a week and expected to net plenty more over the weekend – that means we are absolutely guaranteed a third installment to round off the trilogy.

No matter what anyone says, or what rumors you may hear about Michael Bay, Transformers 3 will be made. It’s a guarantee.

For the next installment, what we do know is that Bay is taking a break from the franchise to work on a little more serious and a much smaller project. He’s spent the last three years working strictly on bringing the Cybertronian robots to the big screen and working insane hours to get the sequel out on an extremely rushed schedule. Now, he needs time off to gather himself and work on something different and come back later with a fresh mind.

As for the franchise’s leading lady and ultimate marketing device, Megan Fox has been continuously playing down her role in the movie and berating the Michael Bay franchise. Here are some examples:

In response to a question about how much of her acting range has been demonstrated, Fox said:

“Seven percent. On the new one ['Transformers 2'], I tried. But unless you’re a seasoned veteran, working with Michael Bay is not about an acting experience.”

And as for claims against Bay for being more interested in effects and explosions than action:

“That’s true. He thinks it’s funny to put his actors through Navy Seal boot camp to make a movie. And it’s not even necessary for the job! It amuses him”

Perhaps she’s emulating what she’s been reading online from news sites, blogs and critics and trying to appease to them?

Continue to the second page for Michael Bay’s Response and more…

Continue reading ‘Will Megan Fox Feud With Michael Bay Mean No Transformers 3?’

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Revenge of the Fallen May Have Its Revenge…

Jacob Waldman — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 20:45:17 +0000

Say what they may (and they will) about the recently released Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, but I suspect they’d be singing a different tune if they were the ones laughing their way to the bank right now. In its first five days in IMAX theaters, Transformers 2 set a five-day record of $14.4 million – and that’s only 3.5% of the film’s total grosses as of June 28th: $390,240,609.

So if I were Michael Bay, it wouldn’t take too much for me to ignore the harsh criticism that Transformers 2 has garnered – but that hasn’t stopped anyone from trying to get his attention.

THE HIGH SALE OF LOW QUALITY

It didn’t take critics long to start slamming the movie for being juvenile, and what CNN called “…a grotesque exercise in hyperinflation”. Most nay-sayers were reading from the same script, touting the film as a non-stop, action packed, plotless, 147-minute Hasboro commercial that appeals only to 14 year-old boys and their fathers who once owned the toys.

And they’re right, in my opinion. Transformers 2 is everything the critics say it is, and more. It is a Shia La Beouf/Megan Fox vehicle; an opportunity to watch Fox run through the sand in slow motion while La Beouf stammers like some next generation Hugh Grant; and of course, it is a chance to see the toys of our youth have the life-giving breath of CGI breathed into them so they can bang around like junkyard porn.

This is why I was willing to be gouged at the box office for IMAX tickets. Watching this movie made my childhood playthings come to life. And watching Megan Fox bounce through sandy explosions in super slow-mo made another childhood plaything come to life…

Can't be mad about that...

I, like so many others (and unlike so many critics), were not surprised to find that this movie wasn’t likely to be awarded an Oscar, nor was it going to warrant attention from any elite festival. So I didn’t leave the theater yammering about how the last 45 minutes of the film were vapid and mind-numbing, or groaning about how Skids and Mudflap were such offensive stereotypes of African Americans that I’m henceforth boycotting Michael Bay and everything Chevrolet. Instead, I left grinning from ear to ear, having gotten exactly what I expected. In fact, had I sat through two hours of insightful dialogue and profound, globally relevant social commentary, I would have left rather peeved.

But the people have spoken. Currently trailing closely behind The Dark Knight’s record grosses, the new Transformers will have its Revenge on the critics as it thunders down the road toward some serious box-office records of its own. And with numbers like these, it’s amazing that those involved with the production are still unsure about a third installment.

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Regarding Lousy Movies & ‘Snob’ Critics

Vic Holtreman — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 03:18:05 +0000

Well. I’ve taken some heat for reviews in the past, but I don’t think I’ve ever seen such… interesting reactions to one of my reviews as I have for Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen. Of course I don’t really care – back in the day it used to bother me when someone flamed me for a movie review, but now I actually get a kick out of it.

Of course I’m not alone – go to any site that gathers up an aggregate of movie critics’ opinions and you’ll see similar numbers when it comes to Transformer 2. The number of positive reviews for the sequel to the highly successful first film is abysmally low:

RottenTomatoes.com: 20%

MetaCritic.org: 35%

TopTenREVIEWS.com: 1.7 out of 4

Even over at IMDB.com, where it’s mainly “regular people” voting for films, it’s only getting 6.7/10 – not bad, but not an overwhelming vote of quality from “Joe Average.”

On the other hand, two days shy of being in theaters for even a full week, the film has already earned over $200 million in the U.S. and close to $400 million worldwide, and our very unscientific poll here on Screen Rant shows that 74% of visitors here rate the film either a 4 or 5 out 5 stars.

Note: There is a poll embedded within this post, please visit the site to participate in this post's poll.

The result? A backlash against movie critics the likes of which I’ve never seen before. There are accusations of impartiality (”you hated the first one so of course you hate this one!”), being too old to “appreciate” the film, being generally unclear on the concept of a “fun, summer popcorn movie,” and my favorite: Not liking it because I (and other reviewers) are snobby, elitist critics.

Generally speaking, action films that do well at the box office tend to get at least half way decent reviews (The Dark Knight, Iron Man, Spider-Man 1 & 2, etc.), but this has to be the best-performing, worst-reviewed film in recent memory.

It seems that Michael Bay (who, for the record, I do not “hate” – his film The Rock is one of my favorite movies to pop in the DVD player from time to time) has tapped into the formula for entertaining the teen moviegoer who is easily amused by cool visual effects, big explosions and titillating shots of hot babes.

What’s ironic is that many of the same “elite” critics that skewered the sequel actually LIKED the first Transformers film, so those accusations are pretty ridiculous. Fine, I’m not one of those who liked the first one, but over at Rotten Tomatoes the first film had almost triple the positive score of the sequel (57% vs 20%), MetaCritics had almost double (61% vs 34%) and at IMDB where non-critics vote it was 7.4 vs 6.7.

The other funny thing is that here at Screen Rant I actually try to write reviews to help the average person decide whether or not to drop their hard earned bucks at the local multiplex. I also generally rate movies within the context and genre of where they fit and what they set out to accomplish. In other words I don’t judge Oscar-contender dramas on the same scale as a great comedy or an awesome Sci-Fi film. That’s why I can give Clint Eastwood’s Gran Torino, the amazing documentary Enemies of Happiness and Serenity all 5 out of 5 stars. Each of those films has a different goal, and each of them meets or exceeds it within the context of its genre.

Some may call that inconsistent, but I never claimed to be objective in my reviews – I have a certain taste and regular readers come to know that point of view and can judge whether or not they’ll like a film based on that particular point of view.

So as to the accusation of being an “elite snob,” here are a few movies that I consider “popcorn flicks” and which have received good reviews from me – and in some cases I’ve taken heat for being too easy on them:

So if a string of explosions, big CGI effects sequences, bad jokes and sight gags, no plot, lousy acting (HELLO Megan Fox) and foul language in a movie based on a toy line that will attract under-10-year-olds doesn’t strike me as a “fun” movie, that’s not my problem.

If you want GOOD action movies, keep supporting movies like Star Trek, The Dark Knight, Iron Man, Hellboy, etc.

However, if you want more empty action movies, by all means, go see Tranformers 2 three or four times. But when you get a bit older and appreciate movies that have a good story and characters you can care about, don’t complain that there’s nothing but crap at the megaplex – because it’ll be your own fault.

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Weekend Movie News Wrap Up: June 28, 2009

Niall Browne — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 02:58:59 +0000

This week:

The box office is Transfomed; Ryan Reynold’s career is Buried; Lorenzo di Bonaventura knows Jack Ryan; Zac Efron grows up and Daniel Craig moves into his Dream House.

Box Office

Transformers: Revenge of The Fallen blasted into the top spot with a powerful $201 million in its first five days. The Michael Bay sequel overcame horrendous reviews to show that all an audience wants is giant robots and Megan Fox. You can bet your butt that Transformers 3 will be on its way soon!

With a second weekend take of $18 million it looks like The Proposal is the bridesmaid. The Sandra Bullock comedy has now banked $69 million. A final take of $100 million is pretty much a cert.

The Hangover brought in $17 million bringing giving the hit comedy a mighty total gross of $183 million. Look for the film to cross the magic $200 million mark in a week or so.

Up has now hit the quarter billion mark for Disney/Pixar. After taking $13 million this weekend, it looks like the animated film has a few more weeks in the top ten.

Cameron Diaz’s terrible looking My Sister’s Keeper opened with a very mild $12 million. Unless a miracle happens it looks like Diaz’s days on the A-List are over. No wonder she’s set to re-team with Tom Cruise, but that’ll only slow the slide.

Year One dropped a huge 70% this weekend with a weekend gross of just under $6 million. With just $32 million in the bank this has to be a disappointment for all involved.

The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3 took in another $5.3 million giving the Tony Scott film a $53 million total. Look for the film to end with about $65 million.

Star Trek is approaching $250 million, making it the most successful film in the series.

Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian took another $3.5 million from moviegoers giving the family fiilm a $163 million total.

Dropping out of the top ten is Land of The Lost and Terminator Salvation. The films have grossed $46 million and $121 respectively.

Movie News

1. Ryan Reynolds has chosen his next film project after the double whammy success of Wolverine and The Proposal .

Mr Scarlett Johansson will star in Buried, a film that sounds slightly more serious than the Hugh Jackman and Sandra Bullock starrers.

“Reynolds will star in Buried, playing a civilian contractor who’s kidnapped in Iraq and awakens buried in a coffin in the desert, armed only with a cell phone, a candle and a knife.”

Rodrigo Cortes will direct the film that starts shooting next month in Barcelona.

Will this be the role needed to finally break Reynolds onto the A-list? Maybe, but at least he has the Deadpool movie on the way.

Source: Variety

2. Moviehole spoke with Transformers producer Lorenzo di Bonaventura about the new Jack Ryan film. The block-busting producer stated that one of the main hold-ups with the film is that the filmmakers are worried that they won’t be able to top the other films in the franchise.

He also stated that he had been talking to Phillip Noyce who directed Clear and Present Danger and Patriot Games about returning to the series. The Australian director who is currently working on Angelina Jolie’s Salt hasn’t made a firm commitment though.

Lorenzo di Bonaventura said:

‘’No, we were just – we’ve been working – I mean, yes. We did talk about it, actually, prior to Salt. And we’ve been so focused on Salt that neither of us has really had time to think about talking about Jack Ryan. So, he’s going away on vacation now, for a week – or — vacation’s the wrong way. You know, he worked like crazy. He needed to take a week and breathe, so that’s what he’s doing right now.”

He also admitted that they were looking for a younger star to step into the shoes of Alec Baldwin, Harrison Ford and Ben Affleck.

Source: Moviehole

3. Teen heartthrob Zac Efron will in a new untitled thriller for Mandate Pictures.
Nothing is known about the thriller that will be produced by Greg Shapiro, Jason Barrett and Leslie Dixon.

Dixon also wrote the script which is expected to be Efron’s foray into a more mature role after bolting on the Kevin Bacon role in the Footloose remake. Chace Crawford nabbed the lead in the remake and he will be joined by Julianne Hough.

Source: Variety

4. Daniel Craig is starting to fill out his between Bond schedule with a role in Jim Sheridan’s Dream House.

“Craig would play a man who moves his family to an idyllic small town, only to find his house haunted by its former inhabitants, who were murdered there.”

While the film sounds like the usual generic horror fair it should be noted that Irishman Sheridan has been behind such heavy hitting films as My Left Foot, In The Name of the Father and The Field.

Daniel Craig is set to return as James Bond in Bond 23. That won’t be its real title.

Source: The Hollywood Reporter

That’s it for now. See you at the movies

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Transformers 2: Big Controversy, Big Box Office & Sequel Rumors

Kofi Outlaw — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 21:06:14 +0000

Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen has now blasted its way into theaters and IMAX and after just one day, the movie has managed to break box office records ($60 mil!), incite controversy (minstrel Autobots Mudflap and Skids), and, of course, spark (unconfirmed) rumors of an inevitable sequel.

Oh yeah, and the film has been taking a “record-breaking” beating in the review columns. Not that Michael Bay care$.

WARNING: THIS POST CONTAINS HEAVY SPOILERS ABOUT TRANSFORMERS 2.

BIG CONTROVERSY

If you’ve seen our Transformers 2 discussion forum (or looked just about anywhere else on the known Internet), then you’ve surely seen the outcry from both fans and critics about “The Twins” Mudflap and Skids, two new characters that were introduced in Revenge of The Fallen.

The problem? The Twins have been almost universally pegged as the most offensive racial stereotype on film since Jar-Jar Binks. The two Robots talk in southern crunk drawls, use profanity almost every other word, talk slang like “bust a cap in somebody’s ass,” and proudly admit to being illiterate. Oh, and one of them even has a gold tooth.

In an interview with the Associated Press, Michael Bay sort of kind of denied the accusation of racial insensitivity:

“We’re just putting more personality in…I don’t know if it’s stereotypes – they are robots, by the way. These are the voice actors. This is kind of the direction they were taking the characters and we went with it.”

So… basically he’s saying that, as the DIRECTOR he wasn’t keeping close eye on the development of the characters in his movie? On how they might be perceived, who they might offend or what kind of controversy they might stir? Yikes.

Bay later added (brilliantly) in his defense:

“I purely did it for kids, Young kids love these robots, because it makes it more accessible to them.”

There is TOO much loaded into that statement for this blogger to touch. Just good to know that (in Michael Bay’s humble opinion) Mudflap and Skids are the avenue to reaching today’s youth. Double yikes.

Transformers 2 writers Robert Orci and Alex Kurtzman are wisely putting up an umbrella (ella, ella) to shield themselves from this s-storm. Apparently, this “ghetto fab” version of Mudflap and Skids was a shock to them (the writers) as well. As they told Film School Rejects:

Orci: Number one, we sympathize. Yes, the gold tooth was not in the script, that’s true.

Kurtzman: It’s really hard for us to sit here and try to justify it.I think that would be very foolish, and if someone wants to be offended by it, it’s their right. We were very surprised when we saw it, too, and it’s a choice that was made. If anything, it just shows you that we don’t control every aspect of the movie.

Kurtzman and Orci are pretty good guys in my experience, so I for one gladly give them the benefit of the doubt. Besides, this has studio idiocy written all over it; when you think about it, Paramount had to clear this depiction of The Twins at some point, so no matter what Bay or the voice-actors were up to, the studio should’ve known better.

Continue reading ‘Transformers 2: Big Controversy, Big Box Office & Sequel Rumors’

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Transformers 2: The IMAX Experience

Kofi Outlaw — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 21:24:56 +0000

[NOTE: This is not a review. For Screen Rant's review of Transformers 2, go here.]

I’ve just come back from seeing Transformers: Revenge of The Fallen at my local IMAX theater, and so in addition to our official review I thought I’d take a minute to discuss the good, the bad, and the ugly of opting to see Transformers 2 in IMAX.

Be warned: This post contains HEAVY SPOILERS about the film.

TECH TALK

Revenge of The Fallen has several sequences that were shot using IMAX cameras, much like certain sequences of The Dark Knight. For non-tech geeks: most movies shown in IMAX are regular prints that have been stretched (so to speak) to fit the IMAX screen. If you pay close attention, you’ll notice that these “stretched” prints usually only fill about 2/3 of the IMAX screen.

Sequences shot using IMAX cameras, on the other hand, fill the entire IMAX screen (that’s a 5 to 6-story-high picture!) and offer an unmatched level of HD detail and quality. If you are watching a movie like Revenge of The Fallen or The Dark Knight, which use both standard cameras and IMAX cameras, the difference between regular sequences and “true IMAX” sequences is readily discernible: All of a sudden the picture gets very, very big, and very, very pretty.

THE GOOD

Like I said, sequences shot in “true IMAX” are extremely gorgeous to look at. In Transformers 2 this is especially true: the “forest fight” between Optimus Prime and a handful of Decepticons is the longest IMAX sequence in the film and was BY FAR the best. A lot of peoples’ biggest criticism of Michael Bay’s Transfomers films (besides the “stupid humor”) has been “shoddy camera work” during such battle sequences. Well, once those same people see the “forest fight” or Devastator’s impressively massive (if not brief) desert rampage sequence, they’re going to have to pipe down. You see EVERYTHING – every detail and movement of every single robot – and it all looks GORGEOUS. I’m not surprised that getting all that IMAX CGI rendered made a few hard drives explode.

For the “true IMAX” sequences alone I would recommend people go out and see Transformers: Revenge of The Fallen in IMAX – even though there are only two of them and only one of those two (the forest fight) is 100% true IMAX.

THE BAD

When movies shot with regular cameras are “stretched” for an IMAX screen, the bigger picture size usually comes at the expense of picture quality. This was severely noticeable for me while watching Transfomers 2; sequences shot with standard cameras that looked crystal-clear and sharp in the HD TV spots I watched from my living room couch, where anything but up on the IMAX screen. Talk about frustrating! The worst case of this had to be the Sideswipe chase sequence at the opening of the film – something I was very much looking forward to but admittedly was let down by, due to the reduced quality of the “stretched” print…

THE UGLY

…Which brings me to the ugly truth: The one thing I can say for certain after watching Transfomers: Revenge of The Fallen in IMAX, is that in order for a film like this to be TRULY realized and appreciated, it needs to ALL be shot in true IMAX. Having had a taste of full-scale 5-story robots duking it out, I can’t go back; after seeing a creation like Devastator filling the IMAX screen, I CAN NOT GO BACK. Rendering those CGI IMAX sequences undoubtedly cost multiple fortunes and pushed some F/X programmers to the brink of insanity (if not over), but the bar (for me at least) has been raised in terms of IMAX visuals and I’ll be damned if I see it lowered again.

Side Note: Michael Bay, you may want to consult James Cameron about all the crazy 3D CGI tech he’s invented for Avatar before you try to do Transformers 3. I’m just saying…

Transformers: Revenge of The Fallen is now in theaters. Did you see it in IMAX? What did you think (about the IMAX sequences, not the film overall)?

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Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen Review

Vic Holtreman — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 19:50:42 +0000

Short version: Just like super-sizing a McDonalds meal doesn’t make it taste any better, neither does giving us more of what was in the first film improve Transformers 2.

Screen Rant reviews Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen

Regular readers here at Screen Rant are familiar with my disdain for the first Tranformers movie. While many agree with me and others disagree vehemently – both sides have been expecting me to skewer Michael Bay’s Tranformers 2. I didn’t go in expecting much, and that may have actually caused me to not judge it quite as harshly as a lot of other reviewers are doing.

The (very thin) story here is that of Sam (Shia Lebouf) heading off to college, trying to go back to a semblance of a normal life – where you don’t have giant, talking robots that turn into cool cars. He’ll be leaving behind tough biker chick Michaela (Megan Fox) but they’ll continue a long distance relationship through the wonders of the internet.

Before Sam leaves, he discovers a shard of the “All Spark” is still in his possession – when he touches it, it has some sort of effect on him and is shown to still have the power to animate mechanical objects. Thinking he has it safely secured, Sam heads off to college where he meets his roommate Leo (Ramon Rodriguez), a guy who runs a website dedicated to robot sightings which is not nearly as popular as he imagines it to be.

It turns out the Autobots have been working with the government trying to track down the vestiges of the Decepticon robots that are still on Earth. It looks like the Decepticons have been searching for something, but no one (not even the Autobots) know what that might be.

Of course the last thing that will happen to Sam is a “normal” college experience, and he is soon drawn back into the world of the Transformers. He’s joined by his reluctant roommate Leo and of course soon enough by Michaela and the buffoonish (now ex) government agent from the first film, Simmons (John Turturro).

From here the whole point is to stop the Decepticons (led by the ancient robot called “The Fallen”) from getting their claws on a device that is of course a danger to all of humanity.

And it takes a really, really long time.

In Revenge of the Fallen there’s more of everything that was in the first film: More robots, more explosions, more soldiers, more battle scenes, more juvenile (and inappropriate for kids) humor and more foul language.

In the end it doesn’t make this film any better than the first one – it just makes it feel longer. I was surprised to learn that this film is only 6 minutes longer than the first one… it feels a LOT longer than that. Thirty to forty minutes could have been cut pretty easily – it’s a movie about giant robot battles, does it NEED to be two hours and twenty minutes long? Even the scenes most people go to see, the battle scenes, drag on far too long.

So what was good? I liked the scenes involving the military, great stuff. I liked that Bay pulled back the cameras on the robot battles so you can actually tell what’s happening (although the shots were too tight once again at the end of the film) – and about the best robot fight took place in the forest. Not “awesome” but probably the best thing in the film.

On the bright side, I actually liked Kevin Dunn as Sam’s dad in this one, although the mom annoyed the heck out of me again. Aside from the “humor” I’ll describe below, I thought some of it was actually OK – even Turturro wasn’t quite as annoying. The CGI was excellent, although at this point for a film like this that should be a given.

What wasn’t so good? Well, beyond “everything else,” a big pet peeve of mine about the first film was the juvenile humor that I didn’t think fit with the action. In the sequel, most of the “humor” happens during the first third of the film and thankfully it’s not as prevalent later on (although it still pops up from time to time). In this film, instead of masturbation jokes, robots “peeing” fluid on people and acting like teenage girls hiding in a back yard, we have dog humping (twice), a robot humping Megan Fox’s leg, gigantic robot testicles, farting robots and a college professor who’s introductory lecture is limited exclusively to veiled sexual references.

There’s also TONS of inappropriate language for the under-10 crowd that is sure to show up for this movie – including but not limited to a**hole, pu**y, ball sack, b*itch and sh*t. And of course in addition to the lingering shots of Megan Fox, there are suggestive scenes with actress Isabel Lucas, including an obviously carefully crafted “peek” shot of her rear/crotch.

I only mention all this because over and over and over again I’ve heard in defense of the first film: “It’s a kids movie!!”

Right.

And despite all the action I found myself kind of bored… I actually almost nodded off at one point. Again: TOO LONG.

Oh, and yes, there are a couple of robots in the film (the “Twins”) that talk and look like something out of an old minstrel show – that was pretty hard to fathom. I could possibly see if they acted like rappers (due to absorbing what they’ve seen on MTV or something), but ignorant, Southern, gold-toothed robots who can’t read? It was reminiscent of the two black crows from Disney’s Dumbo (which was made back in 1941). Of course one of the actors providing the voices is black, so I’d be curious to hear his take on all this.

So, Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen is more of the same. If you thought the first one “rocked” you’ll probably think the same of this one; if you thought the first one was terrible, you’ll probably think this one is even worse. Me, I had such low expectations going in and already knew what to expect based on the first film. I didn’t have such a violent reaction to it – although I certainly don’t intend to ever watch it again.

If you plan on bringing kids, I would highly recommend you check this out yourself before bringing them.

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Discuss Transformers 2 (Heavy Spoilers)

Vic Holtreman — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 04:49:36 +0000

One of our most popular new features here at Screen Rant is the movie spoiler discussion post, where people can feel free to talk about all aspects of a film without having to worry about spoiling it for others. For spoiler-free discussion, check out our Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen review (which will be up very soon), but if you want to talk about the movie after having seen it I suggest you do so right here.

So discuss Transformers 2 below to your heart’s content!

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