Public Enemies - What Did You Think?
Regardless of her acting talent, which frankly has yet to be proven (look to Jennifer’s Body for that) you’ve got to love Megan Fox. On screen some comes across like the ultimate fembot, glammed- and dolled-up almost beyond the point of humanity. She’s a pouting, posing, running machine, especially in the hands of Michael Bay. But in interviews she’s reliably awesome, because she evidently thinks she’s hot enough to say any damn thing in the world. And, for right now, that might be true. Cue a bunch of slightly trash-talking comments about Bay and Transformers 2, which has led to a head-shaking, condescending response from Bay. What better way to start the weekend? Read More »
Want to be an Extra in David O Russell’s The Fighter? Want to see Mark Wahlberg and Christian Bale fight it out in a boxing ring? Do you live near Lowell Massachusetts? Details after the jump.
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Last Airbender Trilogy Not Being Filmed Back-to-back, May Take Over 6 Years to Complete
Posted on Thursday, July 2nd, 2009 by Devindra Hardawar
Last Airbender producer Frank Marshall recently confirmed that the trilogy of films will not be filmed back-to-back (Lord of the Rings style), but will instead be shot one at a time. M. Night Shyamalan is still working on the script for the second film, while also sketching out the trilogy’s greater mythology. Marshall notes that they still plan to take advantage of the sets and other elements from the first film in the sequels:
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.
He also confirmed on Twitter that fan-favorite animal characters Appa (a flying bison, think Neverending Story), and Momo will be in the film.
The Fighter has been struggling to make it to the big screen for the last two years, and is finally back on track with David O Russell at the helm. Production is set to begin in a couple weeks, and the final casting announcements are being made.
Academy Award-nominated actress Amy Adams is in final negotiations to star opposite Christian Bale and Mark Wahlberg in the sports bio. Adams will play “a tough, gritty bartender and former college high-jumper” who ends up dating Wahlberg’s character. I can just imagine Adams performance now, complete with what I’m sure will be a very believable Massachusetts accent. But could it possibly rival Amy Ryan’s performance in Gone Baby Gone?
Paramount Nabs Shane Salerno’s ‘Super Repo Men’ Script
Posted on Monday, June 29th, 2009 by Russ Fischer
After the first Transformers reviews started coming in, some speculated that it would be a bad weekend for Paramount. But Revenge of the Fallen did amazing business, and now, according to THR, new Film Group president Adam Goodman has started to buy. First up is an untitled pitch by Shane Salerno, about “super repo men who reclaim high-end jets and boats from rich but delinquent (and often hostile) clientele.” Read More »
Can Michael Bay Be Convinced To Fast Track a Transformers 3?
Posted on Monday, June 29th, 2009 by Peter Sciretta
After Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen’s monstrous 5-day domestic box office take of $201.2 million, Dreamworks/Paramount is going to want to fast track a third film into production and strike while the iron is hot. But will Bay hold up the big giant robots return to the big screen?
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Transformers 2 Earns $201.2 Million in First 5 Days
Posted on Sunday, June 28th, 2009 by Peter Sciretta
Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen has earned an estimated $201.2 million, besting Spider-Man 2’s $152.4 million to become the second biggest five day domestic gross of all time.
No One Wants To Own Up To Racism In Transformers
Posted on Thursday, June 25th, 2009 by Russ Fischer
Given how many people worked on the creative angle of Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, I’m amazed and not a little bit shocked that the movie hit screens with two of the most offensive, stereotypically black characters I’ve seen in a studio film since Mickey Rooney donned buck teeth to play a Japanese character in Breakfast at Tiffany’s. (Granted I’m also a bit amazed that I didn’t even talk about these characters in my review, which is a major oversight; I’d already talked about them so much offline and in various emails that I completely passed over the subject.)
The characters in question are Skids and Mudflap, who after an initial appearance as a ratty old ice cream truck are upgraded to be green and orange Chevys. More to the point, both characters speak with voices that sound like urban black stereotypes, have big ears and buck teeth and proclaim that they ‘don’t do much readin’‘. Skids even has a gold tooth. How did these characters make it through months of development, meetings and rendering to appear on screens this week? Read More »
Transformers 2 Breaks Wednesday Release Record with $60.6 Million
Posted on Thursday, June 25th, 2009 by Peter Sciretta
Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen has scored the best opening day ever for a Wednesday release, with an estimated $60.6 million domestically. The previous record-holder was Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, which grossed $44.2 million on a Wednesday in July 2007. The $60.6 million includes a confirmed $16 million from midnight shows, the third largest overnight numbers of all time behind only The Dark Knight ($18.5 million) and Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith ($16.9 million).
The film could earn anywhere between $150-$170 million by Monday morning. That number would be enough to beat Spider-Man 2’s $152.4 million 5-day opening, which would put it as the fifth biggest five day opening of all time (under The Dark Knight, Revenge of the Sith, Pirates 2 and Spider-Man 3).
source: Variety
Movie Review: Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen
Posted on Wednesday, June 24th, 2009 by Russ Fischer
It would be easy to say that Michael Bay’s Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen plays like a movie made by a thirteen year old boy for other thirteen year old boys, but if that were actually the case, it might not be such a wretched experience. Made by a filmmaker who doesn’t seem to be much evolved beyond the mentality of a teenager, yes, Revenge of the Fallen could also probably be characterized as the Hollywood sequel machine run amok. Who needs ‘better’ when you can do more, louder, flashier?
Transformers is dull, ponderous and overlong, packed to the gills with glamor shots of busy robot designs and Megan Fox, flashes of idiocy (a small robot humping the leg of Fox, who smiles at it fondly) and endless examples of Bay’s increasingly tedious military porn. If summer entertainment is meant to be diverting and imaginative, Revenge of the Fallen succeeds only in that it drove me into periods of catatonic daydreaming, where I imagined watching anything else. Read More »
How The Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen IMAX Experience Compares with The Dark Knight
Posted on Wednesday, June 24th, 2009 by David Chen
Last summer, Christopher Nolan wowed IMAX audiences by shooting the establishing shots and several action sequences of The Dark Knight in IMAX. Many were concerned that the effect would be jarring: Since only a few sequences were shot in IMAX, the picture would have to switch back and forth between a widescreen presentation and a native 70mm IMAX presentation (which filled up the entire whole, square-shaped frame).
Nonetheless, in the context of the film, these swaps made sense. The resulting establishing shots gave Gotham city a feeling of grandeur and openness unique to the IMAX format. The action scenes, already visually spectacular, took on a heightened immediacy and drama.
That’s why I was excited to hear that the Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen would feature four scenes shot in native IMAX, and that the IMAX version of the film would be slightly longer with more robot fighting. Would the IMAX presentation enhance the film, as it did for The Dark Knight? Read onwards to learn what to expect when you walk into that enormous IMAX theater this weekend.
[By necessity, this article will contain MINOR spoilers about some sequences towards the end of the film. You have been warned.]
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Exclusive Video From the UK Transformers 2 Press Conference
Posted on Tuesday, June 23rd, 2009 by Brendon Connelly
The UK release of Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen was last week, and before that there was a press conference with Michael Bay, Shia LaBeouf, Megan Fox and John Turturro for not only the British press but, seemingly, a number of continental Europeans also. I was there, but this time I was not sitting amongst the press pack, waiting to shoot my hand up, but stood behind my camera, getting us some exclusive video. That video - about five minutes, representing the material really worth bothering with in the forty five minute conference - comes after the break.
