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 »
Ramon Rodriguez Getting Bigger Role in Next Transformers?
Posted on Tuesday, June 30th, 2009 by Brendon Connelly
When Michael Bay gets around to the next Transformers movie (and I expect it will be his next film, a year spent trying to get a ’smaller’ picture off the ground possibly coming to nothing quite in time) there could be a beefier role for Ramon Rodriguez, Revenge of the Fallen’s conspiracy nut Leo Spitz. There’s a piece at the LA Times’ Hero Complex blog today profiling the young actor, who does seem to be having a real growth spurt in his career right now. The story was written by Geoff Boucher who reports that Michael Bay “hinted” to him that TF3 would see Rodriguez step up to a bigger role. More immediately amusing, however, was Rodriguez’ description of his audition for this current Transformers film…
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.
Michael Bay To Direct Adaptation of Book by Embattled ‘A Million Little Pieces’ Author?
Posted on Saturday, June 27th, 2009 by Russ Fischer
Here’s what we know: according to Variety, Dreamworks is working to preemptively buy the rights to I Am Number Four, the first novel in a projected six-book sci-fi series, eyeing Michael Bay to produce and possibly direct. The unpublished novel is being shopped around with the two authors represented by a single pseudonym. But the interest level rose when reports surfaced that one of the writers is James Frey, who rose to fame, then infamy, as the author of the partly fictional ‘memoir’ A Million Little Pieces. Read More »
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 »
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.
LOL: Transformers 2 Features Decepticon Testicles?
Posted on Wednesday, June 17th, 2009 by Peter Sciretta
The first Transformers film featured an Autobot peeing on a human. How has Michael Bay topped this act in the sequel, Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen? How about a giant Decepticon will giant steel testicles. Details after the jump. Possible spoilers follow.
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Early Buzz: The First Real Reviews for Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen
Posted on Sunday, June 14th, 2009 by Peter Sciretta
Last week we posted the first fan reviews of Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, coming out of the Tokyo premiere. As expected, fanatics who loved the first film also loved the sequel. But what about the real critics? The first real reviews are beginning to appear online, and I thought we’d take a look at the early buzz:
Orlando Parfitt, IGN UK: “The film reaches its pinnacle with one such action set-piece that takes place in a forest - a brilliantly crafted sequence that is kinetic, emotional and genuinely thrilling. Unfortunately however, it is a climax that comes only an hour or so into the movie - the remaining 80 or so minutes just never quite scale the same heights.” … “Bay could have cut 40 minutes from the bowels of Transformers 2, and it would have been a far more effective movie. Unfortunately, the director fell into the same trap with Pearl Harbour and Bad Boys II - each filled with spectacular moments, but both becoming bloated, arduous cinematic experiences that ultimately outstay their welcome.” … “Bay has refined and improved his technique when it comes to directing action since the first Transformers. Bay has - to an extent anyway - cleared this up in ROTF, with more lingering tracking shots, cleaner environments and establishing framing.”
Four more review excerpts after the jump.
IMAX To Feature Longer Cut of Transformers 2 With “More Robot Fighting”
Posted on Sunday, June 7th, 2009 by Peter Sciretta
Michael Bay has posted a new update on his official forum, confirming what I’ve heard from a variety of sources — Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen isn’t finished, even though the movie is set to premiere tonight in Tokyo, Japan. I’ve heard that the crew has been working around the clock, 7-days a week, to finish the movie and Bay says that the film is “almost finished.”
He also tells moviegoers to see the film on the big 50 foot tall IMAX screens, as the computer animated effects have been rendered at 4K for the 70mm projection. The IMAX version of the film is “slightly longer” with “more robot fighting” and the previously advertised, four scenes, that were shot using IMAX cameras, that “will fill the fill IMAX screen.” Oh, and did we mention the film features 42 robots in all? Read the full update below.
It’s a slow news day so I thought I’d point out a story over at Forbes Magazine that profiles director Michael Bay from a financial perspective. The bottom line is that Bay makes some serious cash. Here are some interesting tidbits I learned from the article.
- When there wasn’t enough money to bring back the crew to shoot a sequence where Will Smith punches out a bad guy in Bad Boys, the first time feature director put up $25,000 of his $125,000 fee to shoot the scene.
- Bay declined upfront pay for Pearl Harbor in favor of a 50% split of what remained after the studio recouped production and advertising costs. The film grossed $450 million; and Bay made $40 million.
- Bay gets an estimated 8% on Transformer toys tied to movies, second only to that of George Lucas, who gets an estimated 15% royalty on all Star Wars figures.
- As a producer, Bay gets an average 8% of the studio’s net on each film.
- Bay bought James Cameron’s visual-effects house Digital Domain in 2007 (when the company had fallen on hard times) with his business partner, John Textor for $35 million.
Head on over to Forbes to read the whole article.
Earlier this year, Michael Bay commented that he would like to see a war between Transformers and Terminators (somehow this led to McG challenging Bay to a penis measuring contest, before later admitting that he has been born with the irish curse). Of course, we’ll never see a movie where Autobots fight T800s or even those huge Harvester bots. But Black20 did the next best thing, and created a movie trailer mash-up titled Transforminators. Watch the trailer after the jump.
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