A glimpse into the creative process of those big, effects-heavy Hollywood blockbusters always offers a fun and fascinating prospect, and that’s precisely what happened when one of the industry big-hitters, Oscar-winning Visual Effects Supervisor Scott Farrar, recently took the stage to chat about his experiences working on Transformers: Dark of the Moon.

An employee of ILM for thirty years now (he worked on ‘Jedi’, and before that, the early Star Trek films), Farrar has lent his considerable talents to Michael Bay for over six years, and the third of the Transformers films presented the biggest challenge and most ambitious undertaking in his career so far. As well as a huge leap in digital effects this time around (giving ILM more than 200,000 hours of rendering power a day), Farrar and his team had to create a cityscape ravaged by a Decepticon onslaught, and unleash the awe-inspiring, building-devouring juggernaut referred to as the “Driller”, a giant snake-like creature with spinning rotator blades, knives and teeth (and comprised of over 70,000 parts!) All this was achieved while also factoring in the inclusion of 3D.

Whatever your thoughts are on the finished film, the sheer scope of the effects and the technological advancements are a thrilling part of the process, and have definitely helped to contribute to its mammoth success (it’s currently the fourth highest-grossing film of all time).

Breaking down the painstaking work that went into creating the world of Dark of the Moon, Farrar’s 30 minute slide presentation looked at all aspects of the film’s effects. A firm believer in establishing as convincing a world as possible with the technology (“CG looks lousy unless it’s dirty”) Farrar’s own noticeable personal touches to the work in the Transformers series has been the insistence of deploying those fun biochemical touched to the robots, as they spit machinery fluid and  haemorrhage oil during bloody battle sequences.

A candid and revealing presentation, Farrar talked about Bay’s on-set habits, and how his usual bombastic style of shooting needed reigning in from time to time to make concessions for the 3D (it’s clear watching the film that a much clearer geographic sense of the action is established throughout this time around).

He also divulged some interesting titbits about a couple of lesser-known aspects of the production. For instance, the FX team were actively encouraged to participate in story ideas and the Chernobyl scene and the moon conspiracy springboard for the story resulted from those workshops. Initial Sentinel Prime tests were achieved by using footage of Sean Connery as a template, and Farrar screened these matching shots. It was interesting to note how close they used Connery’s visage, making the process much easier to adapt for the actual actor (Star Trek’s Leonard Nimoy) when he came onboard to do voiceover duties.

This industry veteran’s passion and boyish enthusiasm for taking on these huge, potentially overwhelming projects was very much apparent during the presentation, and it’s that youthful and passionate attitude which has undoubtedly helped him make a successful transition to a digital landscape.

While it’s the director who usually receives the kudos for their cinematic efforts, behind the scenes figures like Scott Farrar are the unsung heroes of this world.

Transformers: Dark of the Moon is now available to buy or rent on DVD and Blu-ray, here’s our review.

When we last saw our friendly neighbourhood Fringe Division, they were straddling parallel universes in an attempt to save Peter (Joshua Jackson) from his biological father, Walternate (John Noble). With the other universe’s Olivia having switched with our own in the heat of the rescue attempt, Anna Torv’s FBI agent finds herself alone and imprisoned in a foreign America, as she struggles to hold onto her own identity amidst the Zeppelins and rationed coffee. With the wall between universes quickly deteriorating as singularities riddle the parallel universe and the portentous Observers continue to make their presence felt in the series’ original, prime universe, the stage is set for a whole new set of adventures as our heroes come to terms with the challenges at hand.

Having started out as a monster-of-the-week series akin to the similarly supernatural The X-Files, Fringe found an identity of its own in season two as the drama was split across two universes, bridged by Walter’s previous kidnapping of Peter. Bonkers from the beginning, the introdution of Walternate, Fauxlivia and a reality in which the World Trade Centre is still standing ensures that Fringe is flaunting its genre status from the off, with an abandon that might, with hindsight, have served sister-series Lost - by going full disclosure with its more universal audience. With the pre-title recap growing to truly dizzying lengths by the latter half of the collection, by this point you’re either in or you’re very, very out.

Boasting a cast which has, in effect, doubled in size, with each actor now shouldering what really amounts to a whole other character, Fringe has found new ways of exploring its ensemble without resorting to the standard practice of active, psychological development. It is a challenge to which its cast rise entirely. Evil by default, the show’s writers have similarly done a truly revelatory job of devillifying the alternative Fringe Division to the point that they are sympathetic, relatable protagonists in their own right. It is both novel, and unfalteringly interesting to see how each character might have progressed had they made different choices, or been subjected to different choices in the past.

This third season is awash with interesting cases, stand-out episodes and sequences (the computer generated ‘cartoon’ segment is an absolute joy), and a forking arc that threatens to blow your fragile little mind (that said, SOUL MAGNETS?! Really?). Some of the season’s best moments come from neither universe at all, in fact, but are instead the by-product of a backstory that is almost as interesting as the struggle at hand. The relationship between Walter and William Bell (Leonard Nimoy) is endlessly compelling, and any insight into their past is always very welcome. Flashing back to the characters’ youth, we serve witness to events that we have to this point only heard about; it is a decision that helps to flesh out a very engaging story that is forever on the move.

My problem with Fringe, however, is that it has begun to spread itself a little thin, not only across universes but now back in time, too. As we jump, intermittently, between universes prime and parallel – a necessary evil, I’ll admit – the narrative effectively drops threads that have been building and building for years now in order to pander to characters (however worthy) with whom we have much less invested. I found myself craving a return to simpler times, an hour in the company of our original heroes, in order to finally pick up where we left off. We still know next to nothing about Astrid (Jasika Nicole), about Nina Sharpe (Blair Brown), and I’m beginning to worry that if we keep sidelining these characters so that we can meet alternate versions, we might never see the originals come into their own. I needed a time out from the madness.

As you can imagine, providing you have yourself kept up to date with the series, the final episode only fanned the flames (I will say no more). I believe I have been patient, that I have played along, but as I watch every genre trope imaginable marched onscreen for its contractual moment in the sunlit nectar – shapeshifters, amnesia, possession – I find myself more and more frustrated at the lack of simple, honest character development and time spent with the characters with whom we started this adventure (the indelibly Fringe-esque humour is bafflingly dropped about half way through the season). How many narrative quirks and alternate realities will we have to sit through before the story of Walter, Olivia and Peter is brought to a satisfying conclusion? Everything else feels like side-notes.

Of course, with the series going in such a potentially divisive direction this is only my own personal opinion; it is impossible to deny that Fringe is tenderly acted, beautifully scripted and intricately plotted genre entertainment at its most inventive. The fact that the third season leaves you wanting more (so, so much more) can only bode well for the upcoming fourth season. With a dwindling audience, however, I only hope that the show-runners don’t forget their original mission statement in their ongoing pursuit of new and exciting dimensions.

****~ (4/5)

After a nifty opening which is comprised of both stock footage and newly-shot film (think JFK meets Apollo 13) revealing that the US moon landing was part of a covert mission to explore a marooned alien vessel from the Transformer’s home plant of Cybertron, we’re back in present day where the surviving Autobots have now settled on earth and act as a convoy of world-scouring do-gooders.

Sam (Shia LaBeouf) has graduated from University and is struggling to find work in the big, wide world. Required to keep quiet about his fantastical adventures with those robots in disguise, he’s frustrated that he has to take a menial post room job offered to him by a maniacal control freak (an initially humorous turn by John Malkovich). Luckily, Sam has a new love (British lingerie model Rosie Huntington-Whiteley, making her big screen debut) who we’re introduced to via a roving, pervy camera, which is titled up at her behind as she bounces upstairs to give her new beau a present. Forget talking robots that can magically transform into different disguises, the chances of LeBeouf’s character ever scoring with someone like that far outweighs any of the overtly fantasy elements in the film.

It isn’t long however before Sam’s help may just be needed to save the universe yet again when he uncovers a conspiracy to mount a Decepticon uprising which may implicate the recently resurrected Autobot leader who was discovered in the aforementioned moon mission, Sentinel Prime (voiced by Leonard Nimoy in a nice nod to the 80’s cartoon movie version).

Like May’s X-Men: First Class, Transformers: Dark of the Moon (surely that title must be down to legal wranglings with Pink Floyd?) has an ace up its sleeve with the juxtapositioning of a real world event within a fantasy framework. It’s a nice touch but perhaps unsurprisingly, it’s soon back to the same metal on metal action as the previous instalments. This is not to say that director Michael Bay (shooting on 3D cameras this time around) isn’t able to wring some fantastic moments out of it. Some of the effects work here is truly jaw-dropping. As the Decepticons lay waste to the city of Chicago you realise that how truly epic in scope the film is. You could argue that this is all due to (what must been) thousands of animators who worked on the film, but Bay knows how to shoot action, and the introduction of 3D appears to have reined the director in a little in terms of his normal ratter-tat-tat approach to the edit. What you get are some incredibly impressive Matrix-esque shots where the action beats are delivered in full view and (even more surprising for him) pretty easy to follow for once.

A moment where series regular Josh Duhamel and his crack team of soldiers dive out of their damaged helicopters whilst under attack from flying Decepticons (while huge chunks of destroyed aircraft rain down on them) is as impressive a scene as you’ll see in any big summer blockbuster, but as exciting as all this is, it also highlights the overriding problems with the film. For all its incredible effects and moments, once again, the human interplay, plot twists and reveals just seem really tired and ill-conceived. Even a potentially interesting subplot which involves a secret, decades-old human and Decepticon alliance fails to breathe any real intrigue into proceedings. It’s also maddening to see a whole slew of big talents (some of whom give it their all) fighting a losing battle against a mediocre script. Both returning cast member John Turturro and Francis McDormand are fun here (although it looks like they may have taken a wrong turn when heading to an audition for the Coens) and even LaBeouf is surprisingly strong, and can emote with the best of them when it comes to showing his love and solidarity towards the machines. Not sure what Bay saw in Huntington-Whiteley however, apart from the obvious. She’s no actress, and many of her scenes (particularly towards to end) are extremely painful to watch. Impossible as it may seem, she makes you yearn for those halcyon days of Megan Fox.

It’s pretty darn violent for a kid’s flick too. Robots are decapitated, have their spines ripped out, faces blown apart and generally get pummelled into an oil-splattered pulp. There’s something a little disconcerting about this, and like World of the Worlds before it, actual humans are now annihilated by the robots in full view of the audience.

The film is bound to do huge numbers at the box office in the next coming weeks, but it’s just a shame that even a smidgen of the attention that has clearly been attributed to the CGI and 3D couldn’t have been afforded to the script.

It’s not like Bay does anything new with his own style (that same tired jingoistic vibe is very much present and correct) but even he must have realised that he had to try and transform his jaded audience after the previous effort!

**½~~ (2.5/5)

Gosh, it’s certainly been a while. Those of you with long memories, or matchless devotion to Transformers, 1980′s style will know that Leonard Nimoy voiced Galvatron in 1986′s Transformers: The Movie. Galvatron was a kind of reboot of Megatron, after Unicron got his hands on him. Unicron was a planet-sized Transformer, voiced by Orson Welles, who was seeking the Matrix of Leadership.

It’s a bit complicated. Anyway….

Nimoy is set to return to Transformers voice duties, this time as Sentinel Prime, the brother of Optimus Prime and his predecessor as leader of the Autobots. Sentinel Prime was introduced to us on the front page of Empire Magazine a couple of months back and by the sound of things, he is the Transformer found/seen on the moon during this teaser and will feature in the film’s climactic showdown in Chicago.

Needless to say, Nimoy’s gravelly tones are perfectly suited to TF voice-duties and will bring a further touch of class to an already excellent voice cast (Peter Cullen, Hugo Weaving, Frank Welker). I’m tempted to be excited about TF3 after the debacle that was Revenge of the Fallen, but once bitten twice shy, so we’ll wait and see. What do you think?

Source: ComicBookMovie.com.

News has surfaced that a second sequel to the Leonard Nimoy directed, 1987 movie, 3 Men and a Baby and the 1990 movie 3 Men and a Little Lady, directed by Emile Ardolino is still in development and moving forward. It’s apparently got the working title ’3 Men and a Bride’ which pretty much does what it says on the tin.

I’ve seen both these two movies dozens of times as me and my sister used to love them. All grown up now, we still quote from the movie, especially the bed time rap from the second movie! “Now close them eyes and catch some Zzzzz’s!”

Tom Selleck is currently on the interview circuit for his new movie Killers and spoke to MTV about the possible sequel saying:

“It is true that Disney checked my availability and I know they checked Ted’s and Steve’s, and then had a script written, I think tentatively called ‘Three Men and a Bride,’ which kind of says it all. I hope it’s a good script, and if it is a good script I hope they do it, because it would be really fun to get back with Ted and Steve.

The strongest of the two movies I think is the first one. It had more heart, and that’s what I hope this third one would have if we do it.”

The interview itself has been recorded by MTV and I’ve embedded it below.

And by Spock I mean Leonard Nimoy, not Zachary Quinto – there’s no chance J. J. Abrams would leave out the logical half of the dynamic duo, but word comes from MovieWeb that Nimoy may not be in the expected sequel.

He told MovieWeb:

If J.J. asked me to come back, I would consider it. But I don’t think it is necessary, nor do I think that is part of J.J.’s plan.

It’s a gracious touch from such an iconic character, particularly as it was his presence in Abram’s fast paced blockbuster that gave it the necessary sense of legacy and gravitas. While it is a shame to think of Star Trek without Nimoy the new cast need to forge a path for themselves, so it makes sense.

Also when chatting with Bruce Greenwood MovieWeb asked him about Captain Pike’s role in the second film:

“I know they’re writing the film right now, but I’m not sure if we’ll see Pike or not,”

Clearly Abrams has big plans for the future of Star Trek, and after watching the exhilarating first film on Blu-ray yesterday the cast Abrams has assembled to portray the original roles look hungry to establish themselves as the definitive Enterprise crew.