Archive for Michael Bay
First Look At ‘Pain And Gain’ — Plus JGL’s ‘Looper’ Poster
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A few weeks ago I wrote an article on how Michael Bay’s non-Transformers project called Pain And Gain was getting some much needed help in the script department. It must have been a pretty quick fix because Michael and his crew are currently in the filming stage. Check out the pictures by hitting the jump.
The MashCast, Episode 7: “We’re Just Three Complaining Fanboys”
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In this week’s episode of The MashCast, Matthew, newcomer Josh Winger and I discuss the atrociousness that is Wrath of the Titans, our utter frustration with the lack of marketing from Warner Bros. for The Dark Knight Rises, a psycological breakdown of Michael Bay’s thought process with his Ninja Turtles reboot, and The Hunger Games box-office success.
Click play below to listen, and be sure to share your thoughts with us in the comments after the break and on Twitter: #MashCast.
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Michael Bay’s New Turtles Movie Titled ‘Ninja Turtles’
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It seems like the more news I read about this new TMNT movie that Michael Bay is producing, the more I just want to scream at my computer until it shatters. Michael Bay recently posted some news on the Turtle project including the new title of the film, now simply titled Ninja Turtles. He also continued his attempt to calm the masses that are protesting the changes made to the backstory.
The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Are Aliens Because Michael Bay Says So
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I recently wrote an article on the progress of the new live action TMNT film. Since then a lot of pieces have slowly fallen into place for this movie to happen. Recently Michael Bay was talking about the reboot and decided to be very upfront with his new take on the origins of our favorite hero’s in a half shell.
Michael Bay’s ‘Pain and Gain’ Needs Help
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Since 2007 Michael Bay has done nothing but Transformers films. You could call that a good thing because together the three films have grossed more than $2.5 billion. And you could also call that a bad thing because Michael is slated to direct a fourth Transformers movie. But before he dives back into the Hasbro money-pool, he has made it clear that his next project would be much smaller in scale, budget, and definitely not in the Transformers universe. He signed on for a dark comedy called Pain And Gain. The film is about a couple of Miami bodybuilders who get caught up in an extortion ring involved in a kidnapping scheme that goes terribly wrong. Sounds a lot like Fargo. Too much like Fargo. Now comes word this pre-production project needs immediate script revisions. Which is funny, cause Transformers 2 had the same issue, but never saw such revisions.
I think we can all agree that Rise of the Planet of the Apes was a suprisingly good film this year. And a lot of the buzz has come from motion capture actor extrodinare Andy Serkis’ performance as the lead ape, Caesar. There has even been buzz and a small Oscar campaign for his “revolutionary” performance and ability to use physicality to convey emotioin and create compelling drama. Well, comedians Rob Huebel and Paul Scheer are poking fun at Serkis with this new Funny or Die video that shows the real-life artistry and dedication of inanimate object motion capture acting. Check out the video after the break.
Unless you have lived under a rock or somehow stayed away from the reach of the media in the past weeks, you know the Transformers franchise grew to three films recently. The third installment opened to incredible opening weekend numbers. To be more specific, the film actually opened on Wednesday, June 29th – Dark of the Moon has also grossed over $400 million dollars at the Worldwide Box Office since then. Simply, ridiculous. The film was not very good at all, aside from the 3D — see my full thoughts here.
Bay was even caught reusing shots from one of his previous films, The Island, and inserting the clip into Transformers: Dark of the Moon. Watch this video. Bay probably loved the shot from The Island so much and was pissed no one really got to enjoy it — The Island only grossed $36 million total at the U.S. Box Office, while Transformers rolled out $37 million its opening day. Why not do a little recycling? The shot was so good. People won’t notice. We did — and I’ve gotta say, I’m disappointed… but not surprised. I’ve always said Bay is usually just re-packaging his old movies to make new ones. To see the full Box Office top ten and to read a little more, hit the jump.
GRADE: C-
Awhile back when I saw a trailer for Transformers: Dark of the Moon I was very worried the title of this review would come true. The action looked great in the preview, but I wondered, was there an adequate storyline to link the action and characters together? Or was it going to be another series of plot points simply leading to action sequences like Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen? When I saw Revenge of the Fallen, I didn’t hate it. I won’t bother watching it twice though. It was a mindless sequel that forced action down my throat and then expected me to invest in the rest of the film. It was good for what it was — unreal action with robots beating one another down.
After the second effort, both Director Michael Bay and Shia Labeouf said Revenge of the Fallen was not worthy of praise (duh), and the third time around would be different. Well, it wasn’t any different, at all. Bay and Shia lied to us, and my distaste for this film partly stems from the fact Dark of the Moon was the same product as the second one. But if this formula works to make millions, why change? How many times can you successfully glorify robot warfare without a top notch screenplay? The answer is one. The song and dance gets weary the third time around.
Funny AND True: ‘Every Michael Bay Movie In Under A Minute’
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Matt and I saw Transformers: Dark of the Moon a couple days ago. His full review will be up here tomorrow. For my quick thoughts on the film, it was definitely better than ROTF, but had some nagging elements that are present in all of Bay’s films, which can become tiresome. One being length; TF3 is over two and a half hours. Another being the non-stop action, explosions, car chases, etc., which has made Bay the filmmaker that he is, but doesn’t mean that it isn’t super exhausting to endure a 45-minute battle scene. In echoing this sentiment towards Bay’s staples as a filmmaker, I came across this very funny College Humor video on Twitter titled, Every Michael Bay Movie In Under A Minute – which is pretty much just how it sounds.
New ‘Dark of the Moon’ Trailer Full of Action, But Does This Film Have a Story?
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As for the question posed in the headline, who knows? That is yet to be seen. We have seen the robot vendetta against Earth before due to the all-spark landing here. So what now? Why do the robots want to destroy Earth this time? If you can’t make the story interesting Michael Bay, you are just splicing action scenes together. I like the historical angle involving Apollo 11 and Neil Armstrong — consider that a good start. I won’t pretend for a second the action does not look pristine, but let’s hope it all has a purpose.
