After Transformers: Dark of the Moon was released last summer, Michael Bay and leading man Shia LeBeouf both said that if there were to be a sequel, they wouldn’t be returning for it.

But then in December last year, we heard news that Michael Bay was in talks to make his return, but still hadn’t decided one way or the other.

Collider are now reporting that not only is Transformers 4 (sub-title forthcoming) eyeing a Summer 2014 release, but producer Lorenzo di Bonaventura has officially confirmed in an interview with MTV that Bay will be returning for the fourth time around for a film that will reboot the franchise:

“Yeah Michael’s gonna direct and it’ll be releasing in the summer of 2014. We’re excited and I think the challenge there is we really are gonna do a reboot, and what that’s gonna be we don’t even know yet.”

Definitely sounds like a step in the right direction to me. Di Bonaventura’s been a producer for all three Transformers films so far, so you can assume that he knows what he’s talking about, even when he says that they don’t yet know exactly what the film will be like:

“Well I mean again it’s hybrid. It’s not the way—I’m not involved with Spider-Man but what I perceive Spider-Man to be is a redoing of the whole thing, [Transformers 4] is not. It’s an evolution. There’s still continuity that’s going on, and yet there’ll be a lot of new cast. Whether there’s anybody from the [original] cast, we don’t even know yet. But the truth is, it’s gonna be a whole new story. The characters that would certainly come along would be Optimus and Bumblebee I’m sure.”

As long as they bring back Optimus and Bumblebee, I think most people will be happy, and with Bay behind the camera, clearly knowing what he’s doing with the big blockbusters like these, that should comfortably convert into a healthy box office taking. Dark of the Moon went on to take more than a billion dollars at the international box office, as well as three Oscar nominations in this month’s awards to boot, and it will be interesting to see how a fourth film compares in two years’ time.

MTV’s Josh Horowitz asked the producer about the rumours of Jason Statham taking on the lead for the reboot, which di Bonaventura completely put to bed:

“No, it’s so silly. We’ve gotta get a story first. You can’t pick characters until you have a story.”

Still no word yet on who’ll be penning the script, and as you can tell from di Bonaventura’s comments, there’s no way to know exactly what we can expect from this new reboot. Needless to say, though, the effects will be immense, and if you’ve been a fan of Bay’s first three films, then this is good news for Summer 2014.

What is clear is that Bay will first be making his smaller project, Pain and Gain, with Mark Wahlberg and Dwayne Johnson this spring, and likely move on to direct the fourth Transformers from there. More news as we get it.

Universal Studios have just placed this new TV spot for the latest ride to hit Universal Studios Hollywood and it’s the Transformers ride.which is no doubt set to blow your socks off! It’ll hit the park in May and is guaranteed to come equipped with Bayhem!

The ride follows on from the movie franchise directed by Michael Bay and which stars Shia LaBeouf running around with his friends, the Autobots while trying to defeat the evil Decepticons! I’ve not been to Universal Studios Hollywood for 14 years but maybe it’s time i went back!

Visit PrepareForBattle.com for more info!

Russell Brand has seemingly rebounded from Katy Perry into a Michael Bay production. He’s played a rockstar version of himself, a privileged version of himself, and at the start of his film career himself if he ever ended up a teacher in a school full of lingerie-clad 25-year-old schoolgirls. But now he’s set to return to our screens as The Hauntrepreneur – a man with a title so incongruous that I’m not sure whether to laugh when I hear it or just go along with it in the spirit I’m sure it’s meant to be taken.

The film tells the story of an eccentric man who helps a family adjust to a new town through the medium of a haunted house filled with strange characters.

Bay’s been working on this project with an eye to producing for a while now with a script first presented by Scott Rosenberg (of Con Air and High Fidelity mild fame). Brand is the only casting announcement to date and if there’s anyone who can carry off ‘kooky’, ‘affable’ and ‘charming’, I’m sure it’ll be him. But I nevertheless get the feeling that he needs to at least attempt one of those break-the-mould roles and the sooner the better really, lest fickle Hollywood grow tired of his repeated reliance on his all-English persona. I’m not talking an Anne Hathaway Havoc-style career tangent here, more of a Jim Carrey Truman Show-style affair.

Even so his next role will indeed see him back in the world of cheesy rock with the big screen adaptation of Rock of Ages in which he plays Lonnie the manager of the film’s The Bourbon Room and of course narrator. Let’s just hope that he doesn’t find himself too typecast too soon or Russell Brand’s foray into Hollywood might be an all too fleeting one.

Source: Variety.

So remember yesterday when I wrote that long post about UltraViolet and how I’d never heard of it before? Well it turns out that a few hours later, I watched this video that Michael Bay made with Paramount to plug the special edition Blu-ray box set for Transformers: Dark of the Moon 3D and he gives UltraViolet a little plug!Now that Michael Bay has mentioned it, it surely must be worth a look!

Have a little watch of this video which shows what we can expect from the special edition 3d Blu-ray box set for Transformers: Dark of the Moon when it’s released later in the year in the US. What I’m not sure of is if the epic special edition will be available here in the UK. I’m currently writing this at 00:35 in the morning so I have no PR to ask but I shall investigate in the morning and update this post when I get more info. You can however pre-order the 3d Blu-ray here before it’s released on February 13th.

In the meantime, enjoy!

Source: MichaelBay.com

In recent years we have seen Hollywood tap a variety of different resources in its ongoing search for new ideas. Stopping just short of sticking its hand down the side of the sofa and rummaging for loose inspiration, Tinseltown has instead chosen to adapt everything from the usual books, video games and television shows, to comic books, websites, theme park rides and – I still can’t quite believe it –  even board games. So, why not an entire year?

If 2011 were a movie, aside from reflecting such recent events as The Royal Wedding, the London riots, the Eurozone crisis and those pandas arriving at Edinburgh zoo, it would also have to reflect the trends and tendencies prevalent in the films it has seen released during its tenure. As such, it would most likely be a remake of a foreign language prequel, a motion-capture throwback and a steamy tale of friends with benefits, with no strings attached.

If 2011 were a movie it would star Michael Fassbender as a man haunted by an unsuppressable Irish accent, Ryan Gosling as someone who can wear clothes really well, and Natalie Portman in the midst of what must amount to the most productive pregnancy ever. Stellan Skarsgård would play a man with a hidden agenda, Felicity Jones’ character would ultimately win your heart and Justin Timberlake would appear as a surprisingly capable actor.

If 2011 were a movie it would be set in Rio de Janeiro, where birds come to mate, the fast are as fun as they are furious, and vampires routinely honeymoon.  At least, that is, until Michael Bay crashes a Transformer into it, forcing our heroes to set sale, on stranger tides, in search of the secrets of a unicorn. On a Zeppelin. It would see McLovin slay some vampires, James Bond team up with Indiana Jones, and Queen Amidala wooed by a bunch of carrots and a period mix.

If 2011 were a movie it would be called 2011: The Movie – Part II Of The Rise Of The Planet of The Apes Of The Moon 3D. It would have more punctuation than characters, more dimensions than punctuation, and in all likelihood be prefixed with Green. It would be a kid’s film by Martin Scorsese, a superhero movie by Michael Gondry, a live action movie by Brad Bird and an animated movie by Steven Spielberg.

If 2011 were a movie it wouldn’t be as good as the book, the original or the trailer for Sucker Punch made it out to be. It would miscast Liam Neeson, boast too much Nicolas Cage, and at some point feature a fat character shaving his head and shitting into her dress. Worst of all, however, New Year’s Eve would kill the finale. And it would be inexplicably steampunk.

More importantly, however, if 2011 were a movie I would pay to see it. I would marvel at its melancholy, gasp at its production values and laugh unabashedly at its failure to kill Bono. It would be surprisingly heartfelt for a summer blockbuster, unexpectedly jaw-dropping for a low budget Norwegian flick, as funny as the TV show, and a fitting conclusion to a much loved franchise.

If 2011 were a movie, 2012 would have a lot to live up to.

It seems like news about Michael Bay has been coming in fast and strong in the past few days. Earlier this week, we heard that Bay was reconsidering his position on declining to return to the Transformers franchise for a fourth film, with none other than Steven Spielberg fully backing his possible return.

Then yesterday, we got some great possible casting news in the form of Dwayne Johnson and Mark Wahlberg being eyed for Bay’s next and smaller-budgeted film, Pain and Gain.

Now comes the (in my eyes) fantastic news that Bay is in final talks to direct a fourth Transformers film for Paramount, via Vulture, and it sounds like the key is tied up in Pain and Gain.

Bay’s next film has been a passion project that he’s been developing since 2001, and he’d first been intending to direct it in between the second and third Transformers films. Since that didn’t happen, he’s now shifting from the $195m. budget of his last film, Transformers: Dark of the Moon, to a more moderate budget of $20m. for Pain and Gain, and it looks like Paramount are essentially going to greenlight and fund the smaller film for Bay if he’ll return to direct the fourth Transformers film for them.

As Spielberg recently commented, Bay really does seem to have a secret formula with his films, especially when you consider the ever-increasing box office performances of each of the successive Transformers films, and I’m already getting excited about seeing the robots return to the big screen under his direction.

The plan is to get Pain and Gain underway as early as the spring of next year, and whilst he’s shooting that, Bay will begin pre-production with art development and visual effects tests simultaneously, with an eye to start filming the fourth Transformers instalment by the winter of 2012.

Naturally plot details are being kept under wraps, but it sounds as though the next film is looking to hark back to some of the original characters and bring them to life on the big screen.

““Regular people might not care about bringing out a character like Sentinel Prime,” says one of our insiders, referring to the little-known character who played a major part in last summer’s Transformers: Dark of the Moon, “But believe me, fans of the series cared.””

No news yet on who’s going to be penning the script, but I’m hoping we’ll see the return of Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman, who co-wrote the first two films, alongside Ehren Kruger, who co-wrote the second film and took the third film on alone.

I thought Dark of the Moon was an absolutely brilliant film this year, with Bay really out-doing himself after what I think many fans thought was a bit of a drop-off in calibre in Revenge of the Fallen, so I’ve got high hopes for a fourth film, and every reason to expect Bay will fulfil every one of them.

One of the next big questions will of course be whether Shia LaBeouf, who had previously announced like Bay that he wouldn’t return for a fourth film, will reconsider his original position, and if not, then the studio will no doubt begin the search as soon as possible for who will fill his place in the lead.

It’s still early days yet, but it sounds like the deal is pretty close to closing for both Pain and Gain and the fourth Transformers film, and an official announcement is expected to come as early as next week. Keep your fingers crossed, because I think Bay has got two brilliant films coming for us in the next few years. More as we get it.

After reporting just yesterday that Michael Bay is reconsidering his position on not returning to direct a fourth Transformers film, we’ve now got some great casting news to bring you concerning the smaller film that he wants to do before potentially returning to the franchise he’s spent the past few years working on.

Variety are now reporting that Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson and Mark Wahlberg, who’ve worked together previously on The Other Guys, are now being eyed for the two leading roles in Bay’s upcoming Pain And Gain, a dark comedy centred on two steroid-abusing bodybuilders.

“Based on a Miami New Times article from 1999, “Pain and Gain” will follow a pair of Florida bodybuilders who get caught up in an extortion ring and a kidnapping scheme that goes terribly wrong.”

The project is set up at Paramount and has been in the works since 2001, with Bay originally planning on making it in between the second and third Transformers films. He’ll be producing alongside Donald De Line, who’s worked with Wahlberg already on The Italian Job remake. The original script was written by Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely, co-writers on this year’s Captain America: The First Avenger, who have compared its tone to the Coen brothers’ Fargo.

The talks for both Johnson and Wahlberg are very much still early, and it’s likely that Wahlberg’s busy schedule – he’s currently filming Broken City and has a slew of other movies lined up beyond that – will unfortunately keep him from joining Bay’s next project.

And whilst Johnson’s schedule is also busy at the moment, having gained some serious attention after starring in this year’s Fast Five, it’s thought that he’d have time to fit the project’s intended spring production next year into his schedule before returning for the sixth and seventh films in the The Fast and the Furious franchise, which are expected to be shot back-to-back next summer.

So though both Johnson and Wahlberg still have question marks over their heads for this project, it’s great to hear that the film is getting some traction having been in the pipelines for quite some time now. No official greenlight has been given to Pain and Gain yet, but with Bay at the helm and Johnson and Wahlberg being considered for the leads, I’m sure they’ll get the official go-ahead without much a problem, especially with the budget moderately forecast at $20m., which is a fraction of Dark of the Moon’s $195m. price tag.

He may have his critics, like any other director, but you can’t argue that Michael Bay knows how to make a pretty damn successful movie, with his box office takings being overwhelmingly impressive.

His feature directorial debut, Bad Boys, took almost $150m., followed by The Rock and then Armageddon, which took north of $330m. and $550m. respectively. The man knows how to make a great film that people want to see.

His latest film, Transformers: Dark of the Moon, the third in the recent Transformers franchise, earned more than a billion dollars internationally. More than a billion. At the time, he’d announced that it would be his final time directing a Transformers movie, three films into the franchise, but it looks like he may be re-thinking his decision.

Collider report, with tip-offs from EntertainmentWeekly, /Film, and Channel News Asia, that in an interview with EW, Steven Spielberg, who’s worked as executive producer on all the Transformers films, was asked whether he thought Bay would return to direct a fourth instalment, and this was his reply:

“I hope so, because I think he made the best of the three with this last one. I certainly can’t imagine anybody other than Michael being equipped to make another Transformers. He’s invented a genre and he’s got the secret formula.”

Though it’s only a ‘hope’, in his words, I definitely think he has a point. Bay does seem to have the secret formula, and I really can’t imagine anyone else taking the helm in his place. The Transformers director himself recently spoke to Channel News Asia about the possibility and said,

“How did I know someone’s going to ask me this question today? We’re talking about it, but there’s nothing right now. I’m going to do a tiny movie first, then we’ll talk about it, if I potentially do it.”

So fans of the franchise and fans of Bay, keep your fingers crossed. I’m a big fan of Bay’s films, and would love to see him take on another Transformers film. I think a lot of people would agree that Dark of the Moon was a big improvement on Revenge of the Fallen, and with a fourth movie all but inevitable, I think it only seems right that Bay would be the one to take it on.

That small film he wants to do first looks to be a project called Pain and Gain, a black comedy that he’d initially wanted to do between the second and third Transformers films. Since that is low-budget, and has been in the pipeline for some time, let’s hope that it won’t take too long to get production on it underway and completed, because it should be a great project too.

And once it’s finished, then we might well get to see him return for a fourth Transformers film. The question would then, of course, be whether or not Shia LaBeouf would return as the lead. LaBeouf has said that Dark of the Moon would be his final Transformers film too, but if Bay were to return, I wouldn’t rule LaBeouf out as a possibility at all. More as we get it.

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.

An open mind is a wonderful thing, and I approach every film I see with one. Despite the narrative black hole that was Transformers Revenge of the Fallen there was something in the first film which gave me hope that a return to form was the only option open to Michael Bay and his enormous metal army, and it certainly couldn’t be worse than racist robots and roboballs, could it?

Transformers Dark of the Moon is a technical marvel and though the lauded 3D obviously doesn’t make it to DVD the incredible CG creations have never looked better on screen with whole cities crumbling and some excellent stunt work at play here, particularly in a set piece with a collapsing building. Likewise there’s a few new robots taking the field here as we find Shia LaBeouf’s Sam Witwicky down on his luck after saving the world, though he does have a stupidly attractive girlfriend and knows all the cool giant robots in town, but with comedy parents in town for a road trip and no luck finding a job we’re all set for Round Three of this planet wide boxing match.

When this one rolled out in cinemas the lines were already drawn and the critical backlash was countered before it appeared by the fanbase, a section of which championed the notion that as a Transformers film it isn’t meant for critics and is best enjoyed with the brain firmly switched off. This is an immensely stupid and troubling comment and its prevalence as a defence the wake of T DOTM finding its way into cinemas is an indication that the film rarely tries to deliver anything other than the usual maelstrom of metal fisticuffs.

It does start off well, and has a nice premise setting things in motion, with the Moon landing mission having a secret purpose. This opening scene is well directed and gives a glimmer of hope that we’ll have more to work with here than usual. Sadly it’s the only original piece in the film and very soon we are back on track with Bay’s patented rapid fire dialogue, complete with some outlandishly terribly comedy insertions which litter the film like an errant child who has had too much ice-cream and shouts childish jokes during a family dinner, and then comes all the all-too-familiar hitting. I know this film has its audience and I’m very happy they enjoyed the film but there’s so little here to engage any emotion other than unrequited lust; it is as if Bay has some sort of contraption similar to Krank’s dream stealer in Jeunet & Caro’s The City of Lost Children and is drawing on the dullest of teenage wet dreams.

And John Malkovich does John Turturro’s Crazy Guy routine this time round so you get that thrown in for free.

I would wish that this was the final film in the series of Big Robots Hitting but I fear we’re due to see more from this sterile world, with Jason Statham’s name being bandied around for a new director to place in the middle of the next mess, and I can see it happening because, as my friend who watched it with me said, in Michael Bay’s world there are no fat ladies to sing.

**~~~ (2/5)

Extras.

There were no extras on the DVD I was sent and that’s just as well.

To celebrate the release of Transformers: Dark Of The Moon coming to DVD and Blu-Ray on 28^th November, HeyUGuys has has hooked up with Paramount Home Entertainment to offer four readers the chance of winning Transformers: Dark Of The Moon on Blu-ray along with a Transformers graphic novel.

From director Michael Bay and executive producer Steven Spielberg, in association with Hasbro, Transformers: Dark of the Moon explodes with high-octane action when a mysterious event from Earth’s past erupts into the present day threatening to bring a war to Earth so big that the TRANSFORMERS alone will not be able to save us. Introducing British newcomer Rosie Huntington-Whiteley alongside stars Shia LaBeouf (Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull), Josh Duhamel (Life As We Know It), Tyrese Gibson (Four Brothers) and John Turturro (The Good Shepherd) have returned along with a host of new stars including Patrick Dempsey (“Grey’s Anatomy”), Frances McDormand (Fargo) and John Malkovich (Beowulf).  The film also features the voices of Leonard Nimoy (“Star Trek”) and Hugo Weaving (Captain America: The First Avenger).

Transformers: Dark Of The Moon is the 3^rd instalment of the phenomenally successful Transformers franchise from Director Michael Bay and Executive Producer Steven Spielberg, that sees hero Sam Witwicky and the Autobots once again take on the might of the Decepticons.  Starring Shia LaBeouf, Josh Duhamel and Rosie Huntington-Whitely, Transformers: Dark Of The Moon is available to pre-order here.

To be in with a chance of winning the movie, simply answer the following question using the form below:

Who directed the movie, Transformers: Dark Of The Moon?

COMPETITION NOW CLOSED

The small print:

• Open to UK residents only
• Only one entry per household will be counted
• The competition will close 28th November at 23.59 GMT
• The winner will be picked at random from entries received
• No cash alternative is available

The usual T&Cs can be found here. Good Luck!

With production well under way on his third and final Batman film, speculation has begun to brew as to what project Christopher Nolan will turn his hand to next – and the most intriguing notion is that he will helm a feature film revival of The Twilight Zone for Warner Bros.

This won’t be the first time Rod Serling’s classic anthology series has been adapted for the big screen – 1983’s Twilight Zone: The Movie featured four stories directed by John Landis, Steven Spielberg, Joe Dante and George Miller, three of which were remakes of episodes from the 1959-1964 television show; in contrast, this latest revival, written by Jason Rothenberg, is said to focus on just one storyline.

While Nolan appears to be the studio’s favourite choice to direct, his participation is by no means assured and a list of possible alternatives has been prepared should he decline. Included on this list are Transfomers helmer Michael Bay and Alfonso Cuaron who is best known for his work on Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, along with Rupert Wyatt whose credentials have gone through the roof following the box office success of Rise of the Planet of the Apes.

Should Nolan take on the project, however, it would see him reunited with his Inception star Leonardo DiCaprio, whose Appian Way Productions will produce the movie. It will certainly be interesting to see if the pair can transport audiences to that other dimension so tantalisingly promised by the series’ opening narration…

(via Variety)

If you thought we’d seen the last of Transformers: Dark of the Moon when it came out at the end of June this year, you were very much mistaken.

Director Michael Bay, who’s helmed all three of the Transformers films, has now put up on his site dozens and dozens of immensely awesome photos from behind the scenes, taken by the film’s photographer, Robert Zuckerman.

As we wrote at the start of August, the film has joined that elusive club in the movie industry grossing more than $1bn. dollars, becoming one of the three films to do it this year, alongside Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2 and Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides.

Bay has said that the film completes his trilogy for the franchise, and will thus be his final Transformers film, which I think is a solid decision on his part. I thought Dark of the Moon was a great film, and did a lot to improve on Revenge of the Fallen, and Bay has ended on a high note with these films here.

With the film now finished at UK box offices, I thought we’d be waiting for the DVD/Blu-Ray release (and you can be sure this is a film to see on Blu-Ray if you can) to get another look at it, but Bay and photographer Zuckerman have been nice enough to give us a reminder of how beautiful the film’s visuals are. Bay’s put up literally more than a hundred and fifty photos, so if you’d like to see them all (which I highly recommend), then you can do so here. I’ve chosen a few of my favourites to share with you below. As usual, click to enlarge.

To celebrate the release of Colombiana, the new film from Luc Besson and the writers of TAKEN, in cinemas from September 9^th, we have a limited number of tickets to give away to preview screenings on Tuesday September 6^th at selected Odeon cinemas (list below). If you’ve not see the trailer for the movie yet, you can watch it here. The movie stars Zoe Saldana, Jordi Molla, Lennie James with Michael Vartan and Cliff Curtis and is directed by Olivier Megaton.

Synopsis: This Autumn vengeance is beautiful as Zoe Saldana (Avatar, Star Trek) stars in action adventure Colombiana, produced & written by Luc Besson (The Transporter 1-3, Taken and Leon) and directed by Olivier Megaton (Transporter 3). 1992.  Colombia.  Nine-year-old Cataleya witnesses her parents’ murder.  Barely escaping the massacre herself, she takes refuge in the United States with Emilio, her gangster uncle…Fifteen years later, Cataleya works for him as a hit woman.  Her calling card — an orchid drawn on the chests of her victims — is a message to her parents’ assassins.  For Cataleya is determined to see her vengeance through to the bitter end… even if it means losing everything she loves.

Colombiana hits cinema’s Sept 9th.  You can find out more about the movie on their official facebook page or all our coverage can be seen here.

To receive your pair just log onto www.showfilmfirst.com and enter the reference code 727579 which will take you to a special page where you can download your tickets to bring with you on the night (Subject to availability). Remember its first come first served so be quick to avoid missing out!

Click here to get your tickets but be quick!

Locations of Odeon cinemas below:

• Birmingham
• Brighton
• Bristol
• Edinburgh Wester Hailes
• Glasgow Braehead
• Leeds Bradford
• Liverpool One
• London Covent Garden
• Manchester Printworks
• Newcastle Metrocentre

Terms and conditions: Tickets are subject to availability and will be allocated on a first come, first served basis via www.showfilmfirst.com. Each reader may claim up to two tickets. Readers who successfully book tickets must present this page with the ticket and have ID available if required. No photocopies of the page will be accepted. The tickets are not for resale. No cash alternative. No late admittance. The cinema reserves the right to refuse admission. In the event of a dispute, the cinema manager’s decision is final.  For full terms and conditions visit: www.showfilmfirst.com

 © 2011 EUROPACORP – TF1 FILMS PRODUCTION – GRIVE  PRODUCTIONS

Zoe Saldana is Luc Besson’s latest leading lady and this tale of revenge and gunplay comes to us on the 9th of September from the hands of Olivier Megaton.

We’ve seen the film and reviewed it here and it’s unlikely you’ll see this poster in the wild so it’s interesting to bring this to you international variant. In truth it’s far more obvious and less interesting than this one and sadly opts for our old friends Mr. Orange and Mr. Blue.

And I can work out that Zoe Saldana’s name is emblaoned across the poster (the word Avatar rathe rgives that away) but I’d be really interested to know what is written above the title, particularly as the words NON-STOP are untranslated. Answers on a postcard to the usual address.

Here’s the poster,

IMPA FTW

Luc Besson, French auteur turned Hollywood-friendly, action-themed hit factory (his EuropaCorp studio has churned out The Transporter and ‘District 13’ series, as well as the Liam Neeson surprise hit, Taken) returns with his newest writing and producing venture, Colombiana.

Beginning in the Colombian capital in 1992, a young woman named Cataleya witnesses the death of both parents via the local crime lord. After a genuinely exciting and action-packed chase scene (think a mini Bourne scarpering around, and replace Tangier with the back streets of Bogota) the plucky tween manages to escape her captors and find her way to US shores, where she begins to rebuild her life by hooking up with her tough, yet nurturing uncle (Cliff Curtis), whom she is insistent on teaching her how to be a professional hitwoman.

The film then brings us in to present day, where Cataleya, now in her early thirties (and played by the luminous Zoe Saldana) is a lean, mean, killing machine who has made good on her career plans. Still unable to find her intended target, due to his cover being guarded by a shady operative from the CIA (wouldn’t she just venture back down there anyway?) she presses on regardless, forsaking love and a normal life in her pursuit for retribution.

The first 20 minutes or so of Colombiana suggests a Latino-flavoured, high-octane remake of Leon may be on the cards, but unfortunately, the film pretty much runs out of steam shortly after Saldana is revealed as the grown-up Cataleya. This is not to suggest that any fault lies with the actress. She actually gives it everything and really helps sells the preposterous notion of the methodical female assassin with acute, almost superhuman, combat training (and unlike Angelina Jolie in last year’s Salt, regardless of her svelte figure and small frame, she looks like she could feasible kick some serious ass). She’s let down by a barebones script (the likes of which Besson and co-scribe, Robert Mark Kamen, most probably knocked out over a bottle or two of Chateauneuf du Pape) that, while establishing why she would look to avenge the death of her parents, never really explores her inner psyche or the reasons behind her wanting to work in such a crazy profession. The film also exists within a  reality-bending universe from that of our own, where the software on the PC belonging to dedicated cop (British export Lennie James) is capable of doing anything and finding anyone at the touch of a button, and all air conditioning vents magically possess ample space for a human figure to freely roam around in.

The film also features perhaps one of the worst-written male parts ever, in the form of Catalina’s bit on the side – an artist named Danny (Michael Vartan) who she has managed to keep at arms length, emotionally. He is one of the least ineffectual characters ever to grace the big screen (or maybe this is Besson having a sly role-reversal dig at the tropes which are usually attached to this male-dominated genre?)

None of these gripes will probably bother the intended core demographic (horny, male adolescents) and when the director goes by the moniker Oliver Megaton, this was hardly going to be a subtle portrayal of one women’s emotional plight at losing both parents at an early age. Nevertheless, the film suffers greatly from a severely underwritten and uninteresting lead role (despite the best efforts of Saldana), and even the potentially interesting euro-flavoured aesthetic, mixed in with the Michael Bay and Tony Scott school of big bangs fails to come alive, and (even more annoyingly for a film of this kind) grows increasingly tiresome and lifeless as the action intensifies.

If you’re looking for a strong female character to hold your attention in this kind of film, do yourself a favour and rent Besson’s own Nikita (and the aforementioned Leon, for that matter). Unlike Colombiana, both films take a similar character and really make you care about her predicament and journey.

**~~~ (2/5)

When you look at the second and third Transformers movies, you have to wonder why they keep making them but then this news comes out which explains everything! Paramount have just released a press release stating that Transformers: Dark of the Moon has now surpassed $1bn worldwide. Bear in mind this is simply from cinema takings and not including any DVDs, Blu-rays or digital downloads. Madness!

Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen made $836,297,228 with the original movie (which was by far the best), making $709,709,780. I guess inflation and 3d helped the most recent movie. Transformers: Dark of the Moon joins the following (courtesy of Wikipedia) which is now slightly out of date with this new news.

Scroll down for the full press release:

TRANSFORMERS: DARK OF THE MOON” CROSSES $1 BILLION WORLDWIDE

HOLLYWOOD, CA (August 3, 2011) – Worldwide box office receipts for TRANSFORMERS: DARK OF THE MOON, have hit $1 billion, Paramount Pictures announced today. To date, the third installment of the hit Transformers franchise, and the first shot in 3-D, has grossed $338 million in U.S. (through Monday) and $663 million internationally (through Tuesday).

“TRANSFORMERS: DARK OF THE MOON is the first billion dollar grossing movie in the history of Paramount Pictures, marking a substantial milestone in the 99 year life of this legendary studio,” said Brad Grey, Chairman & Chief Executive Officer of Paramount Pictures. “We are grateful for the extraordinary work of Michael Bay and his film-making team, executive producer Steven Spielberg, and everyone at Paramount around the globe who played a part in helping make this latest TRANSFORMERS one of the 10 highest grossing films worldwide of all time”.

Earlier this summer, Paramount was the first studio to reach $1 billion in domestic grosses, aided by the $180.7 million opening of TRANSFORMERS: DARK OF THE MOON over the July 4th holiday. This is the fifth year in a row that Paramount has reached the milestone before any other studio. Paramount Pictures International crossed the $2 billion mark on July 30th, making it the first for any studio this year to reach the benchmark. The studio has had six consecutive movies earning over $100 million at the domestic box office in 2011.

TRANSFORMERS: DARK OF THE MOON is directed by Michael Bay, written by Ehren Kruger and produced by Don Murphy & Tom DeSanto, Lorenzo di Bonaventura and Ian Bryce. The executive producers are Steven Spielberg, Michael Bay, Brian Goldner and Mark Vahradian. When a mysterious event from Earth’s past erupts into the present day it threatens to bring a war to Earth so big that the Transformers alone will not be able to save us. The movie stars Shia LaBeouf, Josh Duhamel, John Turturro, Tyrese Gibson, Rosie Huntington-Whiteley, Patrick Dempsey, Kevin Dunn, Julie White with John Malkovich and Frances McDormand.

Tech Sergeant Epps and Captain Lennox quickly worked out in 2007′s Transformers that their conventional ammunition wasn’t going to cut it when it came to bringing down a Decepticon. Instead, they needed to use Rapier rounds (or something) because they burn at a higher temperature (or something). What neither of them knew then, what none of us could have known then, is that the franchise as a whole would evolve to become entirely bullet-proof within four short years.

For the most part, Transformers (2007) was well-received. Of course it was not everyone’s cup of tea and it was loud and silly, but the special effects were outstanding and the action sequences breath-taking, with a fairly arch and knowing script touching the right bases on its way from A to B. 2009′s sequel, Revenge of the Fallen, very much eschewed the “less is more” ethos in favour of “a lot more is a lot more”. We had lots more Decepticons, we didn’t really know who they were or what they were doing, Megan Fox gratuitously spread herself over a motorbike in order to keep teenage boys (and middle-aged fathers) happy, pyramids got trashed, outrageous racial stereotypes were perpetuated, we were treated to a giant swinging set of Decepticon testicles and Michael Bay just kept turning up the volume. As a film it had moments of fun and entertainment, but it fell way short of the first in terms of quality, coherence and cohesion and yet, here’s the thing; it made $836m to the $708m of the first instalment.

Clearly these films were becoming increasingly critic-proof, as Revenge of the Fallen was roundly lambasted by film journalists. Two stars seemed to be the order of the day (for whatever that is worth) and Mark Kermode in particular savaged the film as misogynistic, crass and racist. A year down the line, Bay himself confessed that ROTF had fallen short of expectations in terms of quality and that the next film, which by then was underway would correct its shortcomings as a way of making things up to the audience, who he acknowledged deserved better. This was quite an admission and heightened expectations that Dark of the Moon (as it came to be known) would be more akin to the 2007 in terms of quality. But consider those box office numbers again for a moment. No doubt Michael Bay has no desire to be known as some sort of hack who gets good box office but remains dismissed by the critics fraternity. He plays to his strengths (great set-pieces, high-quality action direction, lots of explosions), but he won’t be wholly indifferent to his critical reputation. Having said that, Paramount would have taken a long, hard look at those figures and, one would assume, leaned towards Bay’s ear to whisper, “if it ain’t broke…”. What they clearly had on their hands here was a combination of product and director with alchemic qualities, able to produce pure gold out of base components. It didn’t make any difference whether the critics liked it or not, audiences were pouring in, fortunes were made and all of a sudden the franchise became boxed in.

So here we are in 2011 and Dark of the Moon is now with us. It is every bit the bullet-proof juggernaut that its’ predecessor was. In excess of $400m in its first week, worldwide. This despite some unbelievably vitriolic reviews. Film Freak Central says:-

Transformers: Asshole holds the distinction of being the first movie this year I’m actually ashamed of. In it, I recognize every failing of we the people, paraded before us as though they were virtues.

Roger Ebert says:-

a visually ugly film with an incoherent plot, wooden characters and inane dialog. It provided me with one of the more unpleasant experiences I’ve had at the movies.

Mark Kermode had nothing nice to say at all, dismissing it as soft-core porn, crass, leering and obscene. Reviews were, in the interests of fairness and balance, more positive elsewhere, but certainly no-one hailed it as a masterpiece. Empire Magazine captured the inevitable outcome best with their summary:-

An improvement on Transformers 2, but then what isn’t? To paraphrase the Bard, it’s a tale, full of sound and fury and extremely stupid dialogue and nonsensical plotting and preposterous stunts and robots punching each other’s heads off, signifying nothing. Needless to say, it’s going to be huge.

Exactly. It didn’t matter what anyone thought of the film, it didn’t matter whether it was better or worse than the previous films, it didn’t matter whether Bay learned his lessons and gave us the Transformers film we deserved. It was bigger, louder, longer, more exciting, better-rendered and most importantly, in 3D. Yes, you get to wear uncomfortable shades for 160 minutes as well. To be honest, I quite enjoyed a lot of it, though Bay insistence on salivating over Rosie Huntington-Whiteley’s body every five minutes was dreary and unpleasant. But, IT DOESN’T MATTER. This franchise has become indestructible, death proof. The critics have turned on the film and it has made no difference at all.

Bear in mind that this isn’t the first critically-mauled, effects-heavy film to reach the cinema recently. Skyline performed wretchedly and Green Lantern has fared far worse than hoped by the studio. Neither of these could escape from the impact of negative reviews and ambivalent audience reactions. But where they stumbled and fell, Dark of the Moon has shrugged and carried on pounding. The difference must be that regardless of what it says about our taste in films, regardless of whether we should like it or not, Bay is giving the audience what they want and we are lapping it up. No-one is going to be able to convince Bay or Paramount that a wrong turn has been taken and that the franchise needs to be scaled back, rebooted and the quality improved (as seems to be happening now with Spider-Man). Successive franchise entries have been louder, longer and less refined and the money just keeps pouring in ever more abundantly.

I’m not sure what if anything can stop this juggernaut. Unless the studio decides to grasp some higher ideal of not sacrificing quality and artistic integrity on the altar of commercial success, we will surely just get more of the same. For these sorts of projects, money talks. It took the unmitigated failure of Batman & Robin to wrestle the franchise away from Schumacher and entrust it to Nolan, which has resulted in The Dark Knight, Oscar success and greater box office returns than any other entry in the franchise. Unless and until we stop watching these films, they won’t change. Why would they? Why should they? We have only ourselves to blame.

We’ve featured some of the videos from The Soundworks Collection before and every time they shine a light on a world heard but not seen.

Even today when DVD special features are commonplace there is a growing tendancy for discs to be stuffed with blooper reels and ‘featurettes’ culled from press kits with no actual added value, so we’re lucky then that there are these videos available for free.

Michael Bay’s third Transformers films, Dark of the Moon, has traveresed the inevitable line between disgusted critics and satisfied audiences (with exceptions on both sides of course) but for all the talk of 3D and visual insanity the sound design of the films hasn’t had much attention.

Enter the Soundworks Collection, who have done another excptional job in giving us a look at the people and techniques behind the aural assualt.

Have a look below and check out their homepage for much more.

Soundworks Collection: The Sound of Transformers: Dark of the Moon from Michael Coleman on Vimeo.

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)