Famed voice actor Peter Cullen still remembers the feeling of surprise he had at his first fan convention when he realized how much characters like Optimus Prime, whom he voiced throughout the Transformers series and films, meant to fans. In an extended chat at Comic-Con, Cullen revealed how a pre-audition chat with his Vietnam veteran brother inspired his take on the Transformers hero and how, years later, he's working with NASA and HASBRO to foster interest in science, math, and space in the latest generation of young fans. (Scroll down for the full 30-minute chat and let your nerd hearts melt, people.)
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Speaking with MTV, producer Lorenzo di Bonaventura confirmed general details on a fourth planned movie in Paramount's Oscar-nominated Transformers series, which will indeed see Michael Bay returning behind the camera. (First, however, he may finally shoot his bodybuilding crime pic Pain & Gain.) Though it's expected we'll see main robot characters like Optimus Prime return, summer of 2014's Transformers 4 -- Trans4mers? Tr4nsformers? -- will be a reboot, di Lorenzo says, because of course we need a Transformers reboot already. Of course. [MTV]
Yes, I just wrote the words "Transformers Oscar campaign." Sigh. It's time we come to terms with the fact that each installment in Michael Bay's robot action series has technically been nominated for one or more Academy Awards -- deservedly so, really, given the technical achievements these CG metal-on-metal bashfests have under their belt, even if everything else in these films are aggressively, brain-numbingly mediocre. But Paramount aims to take home one of them statuettes this year, by god, and so they've created an awards campaign to break through to Oscar voters in the most effective way possible: Through their TV sets.
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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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This was, oh, five years in coming, but the long-time Village Voice film critic J. Hoberman has been let go from the paper. Fun fact: Hoberman's 34-year relationship with the Voice commenced with a high-low glimpse at David Lynch's experimental blast Eraserhead ("Eraserhead's not a movie I'd drop acid for, although I would consider it a revolutionary act if someone dropped a reel of it into the middle of Star Wars") and concluded this week with a high-low glimpse at Ken Jacobs's experimental blast Seeking the Monkey King ("This homemade slingshot has the capacity to resist and pulverize the idiotic visual aggression of a commercial behemoth like Transformers. It's a '60s vision happening today—beautiful, terrifying, and determined to storm the doors of perception"). Anyway, don't sweat it, he'll be back. [Capital New York]
Earlier this month, Netflix released a list of their ten most-rented movies ever. It was a strange selection that shocked and saddened us -- Sandra Bullock's films The Blind Side and Crash ranked first and second, while the abominable, Jack Nicholson-Morgan Freeman terminal illness buddy comedy The Bucket List finished third. But weep for America's horrendous taste no more -- TorrentFreak has ranked the most pirated titles of all time and they are much more respectable selections. Can you guess what they are?
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While accruing billions of dollars at the box office for his Transformers franchise, director Michael Bay has also gained somewhat of a reputation for his aggressive, dictatorial style of directing. Former Transformers star Megan Fox called Bay a nightmare who aspires "to be like Hitler on his sets." Other Transformers actors have agreed, claiming that a day on a Transformers set is like a day on the battlefield with General Bay shouting commands for explosions, choppers, Blackhawks, appleboxes and instructions to ignore lunch. But is there a softer side to Michael Bay that the public does not know about?
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One of the more famous staples of Michael Bay's visual vocabulary is, without a doubt, the 360-degree spinning shot, in which the camera circles actors as they stare meaningfully into the distance -- one of the most instantly recognizable directorial flourishes around (also see: J.J. Abrams and those damn lens flares). Within, marvel at the signature circular hero shot in a supercut edit piecing together said shot for a minute and a half of Michael Bay epicness.
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Captain Planet and the Planeteers, among the cheesiest children's properties that the '90s birthed, was a cartoon very earnestly devoted to encouraging environmental awareness among youngsters built around the multi-colored titular superhero. Now, thanks to the folks who brought us Transformers, that mulleted, blue-skinned emblem of early-'90s morning TV will be updated with a live-action film. Has retro rebirthing gone too far?
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Gone are the days when Shockwave seemed like one of the lamer Decepticons in the Transformers universe, and fans may have Michael Bay to thank for it. According to producer Lorenzo di Bonaventura, Shockwave's been given a facelift for Transformers: Dark of the Moon -- and if you've seen the trailers, you've already seen his handy new upgrade.
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