SOUNDWAVE REDUX... After posting this entry about him (and his tape cassettes) being out of place in the 21st Century, I thought I’d share these cool images I found online of Soundwave and Megatron’s other right-hand man, err, Decepticon; Shockwave. A fan updated the design of the two Waves and gave them the look of the robots you see in the live-action Transformers film. These are NOT actual movie concepts. Soundwave was suppose to have been in Michael Bay’s blockbuster, but fans were unsatisfied with his initial design (Soundwave was suppose to have transformed into a helicopter...but the role of evil chopper was given to Blackout instead), and Frenzy ended up becoming the Decepticon tape player in this year’s film. Soundwave is currently the top fan favorite to show up in the sequel...whenever that gets made. Damn WGA strike.


Courtesy of Transformers Live Action Movie Blog


Courtesy of timshinn73

Soundwave in his original design (from the 1980's cartoon)...

Twentieth Century Fox / Paramount Pictures

TEN YEARS AGO TODAY, the movie Titanic came out in theaters nationwide. The reason why I’m bringing this up is because the film was pretty popular during my senior year in high school. Even dudes who looked like gangmembers in my class say they saw the film at least 4 times at the multiplex, haha. No BSing. James Horner's orchestral score for the film was sold out for weeks at music stores everywhere (at least the compact disc version), and so was the "James Cameron’s Titanic" movie book (um, published by HarperPerennial) at major stores like Borders and Barnes & Noble. Also, Celine Dion’s hit song "My Heart Will Go On" was freakin’ being played on the L.A. radio station KIIS FM every other hour (okay, maybe I’m exaggerating with that part). The reason why I watched the flick in the first place was because my British Literature teacher (who worked at a Barnes & Noble bookstore and was able to hook me up with a copy of "James Cameron’s Titanic") was giving extra credit if my class showed him our ticket stubs. So how many times did I watch the 3-hour epic, you ask? Well let’s just say...the only other movies that I saw more than the 1998 Best Picture winner was The Phantom Menace (Hey, it was the first Star Wars film in 16 years. In fact, many Star Wars fans thought that Episode 1 was gonna surpass Titanic’s $600 million domestic box office gross. They were off by around $170 million), Revenge of the Sith and Transformers. How many times did I watch these three films, you ask? No comment.

Next year marks 10 years since I graduated from high school. I have no idea who’s planning the class reunion. Of course, in the Age of MySpace, Friendster and Facebook, are reunions even practical now? We may not see old classmates in person ever again, but at least we know what they’re up to by visiting their profiles on these websites (assuming they haven’t made their pages private, of course). Anyways, just felt like being nostalgic. That is all.

THE DARK KNIGHT Teaser Trailer... The preview is currently being shown in front of I Am Legend at regular movie theaters everywhere, and was made available online in High Definition Sunday night. Here are a couple of screenshots from the trailer...







I might watch I Am Legend again...but this time in IMAX. The reason being that I want to see the 6-minute preview to The Dark Knight that is shown in front of Legend. Heath Ledger is gonna be crazy as the Joker. "Why SO serious?"



All images courtesy of Warner Bros. Studios

I AM LEGEND... I saw the film last night, and it was pretty good. Kinda slow in some parts, but still pretty suspenseful. I’d have to say the movie reminded me of 2000’s Cast Away and this year’s 28 Weeks Later. It reminded me of Cast Away in that for much of the film, we see Will Smith just milling about...going about his everyday life while traveling with his companion dog Samantha around Manhattan. In Cast Away, we see Tom Hanks milling about for much of the movie while traveling with his companion volleyball Wilson around that uncharted island. I Am Legend reminded me of 28 Weeks Later in that at the beginning of 28 Weeks, we see Robert Carlyle (of The Full Monty fame) hiding with a group of strangers inside a house in the middle of a rural area...with all windows and doors boarded up with wooden planks so the folks will go undetected by zombies lurking outside. Also, Great Britain was quarantined by the U.S. military so that the virus that was unleashed there won’t spread to other countries (which it does...starting with France). In I Am Legend, Will Smith’s house (or should I say, mansion) has all of its windows and doors protected by giant metal shields at night, since the mutants (they’re never referred to as zombies in the film, but they pretty much have the same characteristics as the infected folks in 28 Weeks, and countless of first-person shooter games like Resident Evil) can only go out at night since they’re sensitive to the Sun’s UV rays during the day. They’re "vampire zombies", haha. Also, New York City was "ground zero" for the virus...and was suppose to be quarantined by the U.S. military. But much like in 28 Weeks, the effort in NYC failed. And well... I don’t want to spoil the rest of the movie for ya, but let’s just say that much of Earth’s 6 billion people were infected and killed. This is what I call a holiday film...



Images courtesy of Warner Bros. Studios

IRON MAN... I’m kinda surprised that it took me this long to write a Blog about next May’s film debut of this Marvel Comics superhero, what with the teaser trailer looking awesome and all (Robert Downey Jr. as scientist Tony Stark is hilarious...especially in this scene where a U.S. Army soldier is trying to take a photo with him inside a military Humvee: "I don’t want to see this up on your MySpace page. Please no gang signs. No throw it up, I’m kidding."), but oh well. The bottom-right image is a new photo of the armor-clad hero that was released by Paramount this week.



Iron Man will be released on May 2, 2008, and along with Downey Jr. stars a formidable cast consisting of Terrence Howard, Gwyneth Paltrow, Jeff Bridges and Samuel L. Jackson.



Images courtesy of Marvel Characters, Inc. / Paramount

ARCEE... I’m pretty sure there are a lot of other fanboys (and fangirls?) out there picturing this scene in the movie, but what would be cooler and hotter than seeing Megan Fox ride a motorcycle through the thick of battle in Transformers 2? Not only a motorcyle...but one that transforms into an Autobot that’s just as agile in, um, robot mode as it is vehicle mode? Not only an Autobot...but a female Autobot? Yep, that would be awesome. I’m actually referring to Arcee, who was suppose to appear in this year’s Transformers but was dropped from the script due to a lack of screentime that would explain why there’s a chick who’s a member of the robotic race. Arcee was replaced by Ironhide for the film, and a motorcyle was still featured...in the scene where (in case you forgot already) Josh Duhamel’s Captain Lennox rides an Aprilia RSV1000R down the street while taking on Blackout.



Hopefully Arcee will be in the sequel, and knowing Michael Bay and his inclination to feature hot chicks and hot chick moments in his movies, the Megan-Fox-as-a-sexy-motorcyclist idea isn’t so farfetched. Just get the WGA strike over with so the screenwriters can finish the script ASAP (but still make sure it's a kick-ass screenplay) and Ms. Fox (I dread the day I have to call her Mrs. Green. Do research on Google if you don’t know what I’m talking about) begins motorcyle driving lessons. Have her practice enough that she doesn’t have to wear a helmet during filming...since covering up her sexy face and hair with plastic and fiberglass kinda defeats the purpose of having Megan ride a motorcyle in the first place (To hell with her going slow during filming and then altering the appearance of her driving speed in postproduction... I wanna see Megan GO FAST!! Haha). Hey, Carrie-Anne Moss did it The Matrix Reloaded. I think. Haven’t seen that bloated mess of a film in a long time.



FYI, I wasn’t the one who altered this Foxy pic below. Though I’m pretty sure Sam Witwicky would be even more aroused if Mikaela showed up on that purple cycle as Sam was getting chased through that parking lot by Barricade. Hell, maybe even Barricade would’ve been distracted by Arcee’s presence. Do Transformers mate? Just kidding.



All images courtesy of Dreamworks / Paramount

THE MIST... I saw the horror/sci-fi flick this weekend, and needless to say, I don’t think I’ve EVER felt so much anger or clapped this much for characters in a movie before. In fact, in the case of this film, I could type down two lists in this journal entry... The first one being for CHARACTERS WHO DESERVED TO SURVIVE (but didn’t) and the other for CHARACTERS WHO DESERVED TO DIE (and did). But first, let me point out the fact that the audience (at least the one I saw the movie with) reacted so strongly to the folks on-screen is a testimony to how well the actors and actresses portrayed them (and the script might have something to do with it too, haha). Well done. The characters you were suppose to like you did like, and the characters you were suppose to hate you REALLY hated. Now...onto the lists:

(BELOW: SPOILERS BEWARE!! Don't continue reading if you haven't seen the movie yet. And are planning to.)



CHARACTERS WHO DESERVED TO SURVIVE (but didn’t):
AMANDA DUMBFRIES (played by Laurie Holden)... Amanda had such a sweet personality that you wished she’d REALLY open a can of whup-ass on Mrs. Carmody (Marcia Gay Harden) for treating her like crap—and literally calling Amanda ‘crap’—throughout most of the film. She had to meet her fate with a bullet (won’t tell you by which character...yet).
OLLIE (played by Toby Jones)... The audience I watched the film with cheered whenever he killed a mist creature, and Mrs. Carmody (more on this one later) with his revolver. He met his fate by one of those creatures.
DAN MILLER (played by Jeffrey DeMunn)... He didn’t do anything special, but it sucks that he ate the bullet (by the same character who capped Amanda) as well.

And:

IRENE (played by Frances Sternhagen)... Irene instantly won the audience over after throwing a can of soup at Mrs. Carmody’s head to shut her up, and then using a barbecue lighter and what looked like a can of Raid as a blowtorch to incinerate a giant alien spider that was about to attack her in a drug store. Too bad her fate was the same as Amanda and Dan Miller.

Now, let’s get to the other list...



CHARACTERS WHO DESERVED TO DIE (and did):
NORM (Chris Owen)... The bagboy was such a douchebag that you were glad those giant tentacles that made their way into that loading dock first mauled Norm before taking him out into the mist and chewed him up. Looks like Norm should’ve stuck with being the "Shermanator". Watch the American Pie films if you don’t know what I’m talking about.
BRENT NORTON (Andre Braugher)... It’s actually ambiguous as to what happened to Norton the minute he stubbornly exited the market door...but you wished something bad happened to him after mocking David Drayton (the main character played by The Punisher’s Thomas Jane) after Drayton tried to warn the judge about the dangers that lied out in the mist. That, and failing to cut down the tree that destroyed Drayton’s boathouse during a storm at the beginning of the film. Interestingly, how funny that it was mostly the other African-American customers who followed Norton out of the market...and apparently met their fate at the hands of the alien creatures as well. The token black folks always get killed off in Hollywood movies...

And last, but DEFINITELY NOT LEAST:



MRS. CARMODY (Marcia Gay Harden)... If ever you were looking for a movie that taught you about the dangers of cults, or how extreme religious fanaticism can get, THIS is the movie. Marcia Harden did a bang-up job playing this crazy character, and you end up hating Mrs. Carmody more and more each time you saw her on screen. In fact, I would have to go out on a limb and say that Mrs. Carmody posed a much greater threat to the other customers than the creatures did out in the mist. In fact, she did. You hate Carmody for getting that one Army soldier (Wayne Jessup, played by Sam Witwer) killed by the mob that you want HER to meet The Maker as quickly as possible. And she does...in SPECTACULAR fashion. Almost everyone in the audience (including I) clapped at the moment Carmody eats not one but two bullets by Ollie...one in the stomach and the other right in her forehead. Sorry for sounding so sadistic, but trust me... If you watch this film, you’ll be so fired up over how psychotic Carmody is that you want her to meet her fate as violently as possible. I don’t need to tell you that there are religious fanatics out there in real life who ARE as extreme as this character. 9/11 is a good reminder of that.

I deliberately waited till the end of this Blog to write about Thomas Jane’s character. David Drayton is an artist who does movie posters for Hollywood studios, and throughout much of the movie, you find it ironic that it is the showbiz guy who’s the most level-headed and noblest one among everybody in the market. However, this noble dude ends up doing something crazy at the end of the film that not even Mrs. Carmody would think of (unless she had Kool-Aid in hand). Wanna know how Amanda, Dan and Irene eat the bullet? Let’s just say... Drayton, in possession of the revolver after Ollie bites the dust, was determined NOT to let any of the people he cared about meet their fate at the hands of the mist creatures. KA-BLAM!!

For a mere horror film, The Mist sure does carry a lot of messages. The first one being about the dangers of religious fanaticism. The second one about how people become less civilized the minute "machines stop working and people are left out in the dark". The third one about the U.S. military engaging in secret projects at the expense of the general populace, and the last one being about how you act the minute you're faced with your mortality. Do you sacrifice your own life so you won’t face a painful death? Or do you let things play out as fate intended and wait till the end comes naturally? This last one is what makes the ending to The Mist a surprising one. I won’t necessarily say it’s a good ending, but it IS a lot lot more interesting than the finales you usually see in horror films (and people in this film do stupid things for valid reasons). Frank Darabont and Stephen King... You guys are craaazay.


All images courtesy of Dimension Films / MGM

UPDATE (ANOTHER SPOILER): The reason why this film is science fiction is because the mist has something to do with the U.S. military opening a gateway to another world...causing those alien creatures to get through and wreak havoc on the town (set in Maine but actually filmed in Louisiana) where the movie takes place. Hence that major electrical storm at the beginning of the movie.

HITMAN... Tomorrow, the FOX film starring Timothy Olyphant (who played the main villain in Live Free or Die Hard) will be released in theaters. Looks pretty interesting...otherwise, I wouldn’t have typed a Blog on it, haha. Though I have one question: Was the barcode-tattoo-behind-the-head idea originally from the video game Hitman is based on, or was it taken from the long-defunct TV show Dark Angel? Or did the video game itself rip the idea off of Dark Angel? Or did Dark Angel rip the idea off of- Nevermind. All I can say is, I’ll actually be disappointed if they don’t play that "Ave Maria" song in the film. I think that’s what gives Hitman its charm...in the trailers and TV spots, that is.

THE DARK KNIGHT Update... Below are several photos from next summer’s anticipated blockbuster film. Heath Ledger plays the Joker, Christian Bale returns as—you guessed it—the Dark Knight, Michael Caine reprises his role as the faithful butler Alfred Pennyworth, Gary Oldman is back as James Gordon, Morgan Freeman is once again Lucius Fox, Cilian Murphy will make another appearance as the villainous Scarecrow, and Maggie Gyllenhaal replaces Katie Holmes as Bruce Wayne’s love interest, Rachel Dawes. Prison Break and Black Hawk Down’s William Fichtner plays a bank manager, and Thank You for Smoking’s Aaron Eckhart is Harvey Dent. Oh, and Christopher Nolan is once again directing. Of course, I could’ve just provided a link to The Dark Knight’s IMDb page and spare my fingers of all that typing, haha. The Bat Pod looks awesome...though I hope the Batmobile (a.k.a. the Tumbler) returns in the sequel. The Dark Knight will be released on July 18, 2008.

THIS BLOG would’ve been a bit more relevant if it was posted back in July (when the movie came out), but oh well. I found these awesome images on this site, and thought it would be cool to post them here. What’s great about these pics is that they are PNG files...meaning there are no backgrounds in them, and I can superimpose the robots onto any other image. Thank God for Photoshop. Here’s hoping that Michael Bay’s official website, which originally provided these snapshots, will do the same thing for all the new 'bots that will be in Transformers 2. I’m sure he will. Anyways, enjoy.



NOTE: Ratchet, Bonecrusher, Devastator/Brawl, Scorponok and Barricade aren't shown. Neither are the Mountain Dew Bot, the Nokia Bot, the X-Box Bot (or X Bot) nor that Escalade Bot whose steering wheel attacks that hot girl's face. Sorry.

The WGA Strike... I’d be indifferent, if not for the fact the screenplay for Transformers 2 hasn’t been completed yet, and production on the sequel will most likely be delayed. How this affects the film’s June 26, 2009 release date, we shall see. Also, the seventh season of 24 may be delayed because of the walkout as well. Worse-case scenario: Day 7 will be pushed back to 2008-09! In the words of Jack Bauer: Damn it! Curse you Writers Guild of America! And curse those screenwriters’ hides! Just kidding. Anyways, I need to re-register my Hard-Cores II script (which I wrote in 2001) with the Guild as soon as I can. Which would be...now. The screenplay’s first certificate expired in February. No, I didn’t write a porno flick...



Back to Transformers... The DVD sold 8.3 million units in the first week since its October 16 release. If you want to put this in perspective, 300 took 10 weeks to sell 8.3 million copies, and Happy Feet took 6 months to sell 9 million copies. In its second week, Transformers remained No. 1 with 5.1 million units sold and a two-week gross of $117,010,180. In its third week of release, Transformers fell to second place after the Spider-Man 3 DVD made its debut. However, the Michael Bay flick is still No. 1 in HD DVD sales. Thank the Transformers Live Action Movie Blog and Superhero Hype for the details.



UPDATE (February 12, 2008): The writers' strike has finally ended. WOOHOO!

STARSHIP TROOPERS... Today marks ten years since Paul Verhoeven’s satirical and bloody take on Robert Heinlein’s sci-fi novel of the same name came out in cinemas nationwide. The reason why this flick is meaningful to me is the fact that the first time I drove out once I got my driver’s license (which I received in the mailbox right before I left for the theater... I passed my driver’s test about two weeks earlier and was in my senior year in high school back in ‘97) was to go and see this movie. Starship Troopers was entertaining...though the climax was in all honesty underwhelming. Obviously, considering the tremendous bloodshed that we saw as the Federation fought the Arachnids on Klendathu and other worlds throughout the movie, Verhoeven wanted to show the soldiers capturing the Brain Bug without any conflict, so-to-speak. The special effects work done on the Brain Bug (and the whole film in general) was totally awesome—but I wanted to see one more gory battle before Casper Van Dien and Co. emerged victorious at the end. And yes, I consider Denise Richards being impaled by an Arachnid’s claw and her pilot friend getting the inside of his skull sucked dry by the Brain Bug to be pretty gory.



Speaking of Denise Richards, she kept her clothes on in Starship Troopers but her sexiness made me want to...look up online photos from her subsequent film Wild Things (I heard Kevin Bacon also um, showed some skin in that flick besides Richards; I’ll pass). Fortunately, Dina Meyers made up for Richards' modesty in Troopers. Before this entry starts to go astray, I’ll also point out that Basil Poledouris' orchestral score for the movie is pretty awesome. I wonder if he also conducted the music for the two Starship Troopers straight-to-DVD sequels as well. I don’t think he did.

I WAS ORIGINALLY gonna post an entry talking about the Cleveland Indians reaching the World Series after a 10-year hiatus (when they lost against the Florida Marlins in ‘97), but that will have to wait after the Red Sox won, 7-1, in Game 5 of the American League Championship Series last night. Damn you, Boston. Anyways, I’ll instead mention that I was able to see in person today a life-size replica of Bumblebee at a Hollywood shopping plaza (the West Hollywood Gateway Center, on the corner of La Brea and Santa Monica Blvd). 18-feet tall and weighing about 8,200 pounds, this is the actual film prop of the Autobot spy that was used in Transformers (during the scenes where he is captured in the river channel by Sector 7, and when he is transported into the Hoover Dam onboard a railroad car). Pretty cool. Now if only I had the chance to see the actual vehicles that were in the movie...like the Peterbilt truck that filled in for Optimus Prime, the Pontiac Solstice that the late Jazz transformed into, the 2009 Concept Camaro used for Bumblebee in car mode, and the Saleen Mustang that the Decepticon known as Barricade transformed into. So what did happen to Barricade at the end of the film? That’s a story for another day. The Bumblebee statue will be at the Gateway Center till this Sunday (October 21), for those of you who live in or near Los Angeles.

TODAY, Transformers comes out on High-Def and regular-format DVDs. Unlike the film score, which is mostly available online right now (I bought the very last copy at a Borders book store a week ago after the local Best Buy ran out, or didn't even have the CD in stock. Dorks), the DVD should obviously be available at retail stores everywhere. Major outlets such as Target, Wal-Mart and, um, Best Buy will give away exclusive stuff if you buy the DVD at any of them (go here for a complete listing). Anyways, here's a review (with some updates) I posted back in July. No need to write a new one, haha...



BRING ON THE SEQUEL! Really— I haven’t been to a film this fun (Note: I said fun...not good. But Transformers was good!) since Independence Day in 1996! You heard right... Despite liking Revenge of the Sith, and Spider-Man 2, and Batman Begins, and The Mummy, and Pirates of the Caribbean (the first film), I didn’t enjoy a movie this much since the alien invasion film 11 years ago. Well done, Michael Bay! Again, you heard right! This flick should really make up for the flack he got for Pearl Harbor and Armageddon. Especially considering the fact a lot of the shots in Transformers actually lasted for more than 2 seconds on screen! Good God!

Anyways, Transformers rocked! Jon Voight did well. And so did Josh Duhamel and Tyrese Gibson (though I don’t think we need to see their characters again if there is a sequel, which there should be...though it's gonna be hard to top this one)...and Anthony Anderson and Bernie Mac were crack-ups. Rachael Taylor is hot. Last, but not least... It might just be me...but I really dug the romance between Sam (Shia LaBeouf) and Mikaela (Megan Fox... WOW). LaBeouf and Fox, in my opinion, had really nice chemistry together. People in the audience actually cheered and whistled during that last shot (not to spoil the ending for y’all) where Mikaela is mackin’ with Sam on top of the Camaro— err, Bumblebee. You da man, Sam! I think we should definitely see their characters again in Transformers 2...which is currently set for a June 26, 2009 release...though that date is obviously not set in stone. Especially considering a writers strike will be taking place in Hollywood sometime next year.

And finally, another reason why I dug Transformers, other than the KICK-ASS special effects (award Optimus Prime and Megatron for a Best Visual FX Oscar next year!), was the music. Steve Jablonsky (Desperate Housewives, the first Pirates of the Caribbean, Tears of the Sun... He composed additional music on that last one. Hans Zimmer was the main composer) created a very epic score that reminded me of the work Hans Zimmer did for Gladiator or David Arnold with Independence Day. Very adventurous-sounding. And the U.S. military should really be giving kudos to Bay right now. Add real F-22 Raptors and MV-22 Ospreys with giant robots and Megan Fox, and you have a summer blockbuster that’s also a great recruiting film for kids wanting to join the armed forces (Hmm... I probably shouldn't have said that one out loud). Just wait till the Iraq war is over till you do so, 'kay folks? ‘Nuff said. No wait— One more thing... Starscream escapes at the end??? NOOOOO!

Bring on Galvatron, the Constructicons, Soundwave, Dinobots and Headmasters in Transformers 2 (currently, the Constructicons, Dinobots and Soundwave are actually rumored to be in the sequel)!! Oh, and don't forget Fortress Maximus and the Aerialbots. I'm such a geek.

5 out of 5 stars. *****