A surge of intrigue rippled through the blogosphere this week when a rumor hit, sourced from the barest of suggestions (a secondhand casting breakdown), that Michael Bay's fourth and allegedly final outing with the Transformers series might revolve around the rarest of Bay creatures: A female heroine. Sad, yes — Bay's filmography is so male-driven, his portfolio so stacked with binders full of supermodel-hot leading ladies, that even the slightest move toward gender equality in Bay's work force warrants an onslaught of hopeful speculation.
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The first trailer for Sacha Baron Cohen's The Dictator had Megan Fox and Kardashian jokes, but those pop culture touchstones have been replaced by Anna Faris and terrorism gags in the new, longer trailer. An upgrade? Eh, sure. Maybe. Or not: Faris's brunette pixie 'do does make her look particularly adorable, but juxtaposed with her natural poise Cohen comes off as a poor man's Adam Sandler. Like, hammy Zohan-lite Sandler.
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For an independently produced comedy that mostly revolves around adults talking to each other — sometimes with child accessories — in varying degrees of inebriation, Friends with Kids is finding a modest amount of success. It’s not perfect, but somehow it manages to be funny without any accidental drug trips, grandmas shooting guns at the dinner table, or Tom Cruise rescuing Cameron Diaz from a crashing plane. Writer-director-co-star Jennifer Westfeldt has returned us a bit to the days of comedies of manners, instead of the awful dichotomy between shrill “romantic” comedy and Apatovian gross-out comedy where Hollywood seems stuck these days. In that spirit, here are four lessons future adult comedies should take from Friends with Kids.
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Last week came news that perennial problem starlet Lindsay Lohan was in talks to play screen icon Elizabeth Taylor in Lifetime's Liz and Dick biopic, which would mark some sort of career rejuvenation for the troubled La Lohan. But wait! It seems other actresses are also up for the role, including Transformers/Passion Play star Megan Fox.
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ABC released a cutesy trailer for the 2012 Academy Awards telecast that speaks loads to the youthful new direction the show's makers were going in when they brought Brett Ratner aboard, before his untimely exit; in a slick parody of globe-trotting Hollywood fare, two heroes are tasked with tracking down wizened Billy Crystal for hosting duties on the Big Night. Those heroes? None other than Transformers castmates Josh Duhamel and Megan Fox, because of course. Nothing says current like the girl who was the hottest thing on earth three years ago! Watch the trailer and see if it entices you with its "Hey kids, check us out!" hip comedy stylings.
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