REVENGE OF THE FALLEN Update... Last Tuesday, Michael Bay stated on his message board that he was gonna ask Frank Welker to do the dialogue for Soundwave in Transformers 2. In case you don’t know who Welker is, he’s a well-known voice actor who’s worked on numerous animated TV shows throughout the years, ranging from the original Transformers cartoon (where he voiced Megatron and Soundwave) in the 1980’s to more recent fare like Futurama and The Simpsons.



The reason why this is big news is because of the fact a lot of die-hard Transformers fans (especially those who are huge supporters of "Generation 1", or G1, which consisted of classic characters like Optimus Prime, Megatron, Bumblebee, Soundwave and Ironhide) have been critical of the way Bay has recently been approaching the films. With the exception of Prime (and Peter Cullen reprising his voice role for the character in the 2007 film and Revenge of the Fallen), a lot of folks have been critical of the way Megatron has been designed for the movies (plus the fact The Matrix’s Hugo Weaving did his voice and not Welker), characters from more recent Transformers series (such as The Fallen) being introduced...despite the fact the mythology behind the Decepticons and Autobots haven’t been fully explained on-screen yet (which it should be, presumably, in Transformers 2...according to articles I’ve read online), and the fact Michael Bay’s certain sense of humor is fueling a sense or worry in terms of two new robots that will be introduced in Transformers 2: Skids and Mudflap.



I’m not a G1 purist, so with the exception of the way Skids and Mudflap are designed (on the Web, die-hard fans decry them as "retardbots"), I don’t care about these other criticisms of the film. I thought that Megatron was awesome in the 2007 flick, and I think he’ll kick ass in Revenge of the Fallen as well. Having Welker do the voice of Soundwave is a nice nod to the hard-core fans...and shows that Bay actually cares ‘bout what they think. In non-Transformers news, there are rumors that Megan Fox is reportedly dating Twilight star Robert Pattinson.

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Hm, I don’t know whether this will make me watch the Twilight films (a sequel is being made; I’ve never seen the first one) as a way to give Pattinson props for getting with BAG’s (Brian Austin Green) ex-fiancée, or to despise Twilight even more. Whatever.

WATCHMEN... I saw the film in IMAX on Saturday night, and it was pretty interesting. One of my friends filled me in on the story of the graphic novel last year, so I kinda knew what to expect from the movie before I watched it. Seeing as how director Zach Snyder was trying to give Watchmen a realistic feel a la The Dark Knight, it’s understandable that he didn't include the giant alien squid in the ending. Haha.



Anyways, my favorite character in the movie is Rorschach. Not only does he look bad-ass, but his actions and dialogue are, too. Case in point: The scene where he confronts that child killer in the apartment. I don’t watch horror films, but is there one that actually shows someone getting their head repeatedly hacked to pieces by a meat cleaver? I’m pretty sure there is. But this scene was craaazy. In terms of dialogue, the best line came when Rorschach (a.k.a. Walter Kovacs) was in prison. A fellow inmate tried to intimidate him in the cafeteria, and Kovacs ended up flinging a pot of hot oil at the prisoner’s face. Just as Kovacs is taken away by security guards, he shouts, "I’m not locked in here with you... You’re locked in here with ME!" Nice.



Overlooking Rorschach’s badassery, the rest of Watchmen was all right. Silk Spectre II (Malin Akerman) had a decent share of nude scenes...which off-set seeing Dr. Manhattan’s wang so many times in the film (what, he only puts that loin cloth on when he’s in the mood?). The Comedian was cool... Jeffrey Dean Morgan, who played the sadistic superhero with an affinity for happy-face pins, kicked-ass in the role...much as how he kicked ass as the demon-hunting dad, John Winchester, in the popular TV show Supernatural. All-in-all, I give Watchmen 8 out of 10 stars. Later.

TERMINATOR SALVATION... The newest trailer for the upcoming film was released yesterday, and I must say, I’m quite impressed. Of course, the Nine Inch Nails song playing in the background might be one of the major reasons why I think this preview kicks ass. I’ve never seen any of the Charlie’s Angels films or We Are Marshall [but I do watch the popular TV show (Supernatural) that’s executively produced by him on the CW network], so I don’t know just how well a job McG did in directing this fourth installment in the classic war-against-Skynet movie franchise. Here you go...



Unfortunately, the new trailer has not been released on Quicktime yet (at least in non-High Def formats... I don't have an HD monitor), so the screenshots below aren’t as sharp as what I’ve posted for The Dark Knight or even G.I. Joe. Oh well. Terminator Salvation comes out in theaters on May 21. If you live in the United States.




All images courtesy of Warner Bros.

WATCHMEN... The much-anticipated Zack Snyder film based on the popular graphic novel by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons gets released in theaters this Friday. I’m planning to watch it in IMAX on Saturday night, though. It’s all good... The one film I’m definitely planning to watch on opening day (Midnight screening? We’ll see) is, you guessed it (if you've been reading my Blog for at least the past year or so), Transformers 2. Which comes out on Wednesday, June 24.



Back to Watchmen, Malin Akerman and Carla Gugino are hot...especially in Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle and Sin City, respectively. Yup.