MEGAN FOX Speedpainting... The Transformers Live Action Movie Blog posted this cool video of Megan Fox’s famous car-hood scene from the first Transformers film being re-created digitally by artist Nico Di Mattia. I thought that the video capture below was a screenshot from the 2007 flick... Nope, that’s the final product by Mr. Di Mattia. Awesome work.



As for Transformers 3 news, the third movie is still in the middle of pre-production as work continues to gear up for the start of principal photography...which was rumored to start next month but should most likely begin in May or June (just like Revenge of the Fallen). In terms of rumors, the TF Movie Blog also mentions that TF3 will film in Moscow and Chicago, and that Bay might release the movie in 3-D. I’m just hoping that TF3 will be good as the first flick. Is that asking too much? Later.

SHUTTER ISLAND... I saw the flick last Saturday, and despite some editing issues that were also present in Martin Scorsese’s Oscar-winning movie, The Departed, Shutter Island is one awesome mindf**k of a film. That’s definitely a compliment. It really is pretty odd that Paramount Pictures would release this flick during the s**t month of February (it was originally suppose to have been released last November). For karmic purposes (haha), they should’ve waited till like, May to roll out Shutter Island...since Gladiator and Crash came out in May of 2000 and 2005, respectively, and went on to win Best Picture at the Academy Awards the following years. Oh well. Hopefully the Academy will have a good memory and remember this movie come Oscar season this Fall. Later.

82nd ANNUAL ACADEMY AWARD NOMINATIONS... Avatar, The Hurt Locker (both unsurprisingly) and District 9 all received Oscar nominations for Best Picture this morning. Nice. Good to see that the Academy didn't drop the ball this time around. Actually, I take that back. Star Trek should've gotten a nom as well. Sorry Trekkies.

And glad to see that Hans Zimmer got a Best Original Score nomination for Sherlock Holmes. I was surprised to see that it was Zimmer who did the fantastic music (since the score sounded very un-Zimmerish) for the Robert Downey Jr. film when I watched the end credits. Word.

THE A-TEAM... I haven’t posted anything here for almost a week now, so just thought I'd show the teaser trailer for The A-Team...which comes out in theaters on June 11, and is based on the 1980’s TV show, in case you didn’t know. Hopefully, unlike in the TV show someone will actually get shot in this movie. That is all.

AOL's Moviefone.com is a joke... Click here to know why. While it's understandable that Megan Fox would be called the Worst Actress (but Sexiest Female Actress) of 2009 and Transformers 2 the Worst Movie (but Best Action Film) of '09, calling Twilight: New Moon the Best Movie of this year is a friggin' joke. The next Twilight flick, Eclipse, was also voted as being more anticipated than Iron Man 2 and even Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 in 2010. What the f...



No doubt a bunch of teenybopper girls who drank the Kool-Aid (right after swallowing something else) voted over and over on that poll...

IRON MAN 2... Just thought I’d post screenshots from the Iron Man 2 teaser trailer, which was released online a week ago. Hopefully, War Machine is gonna kick major ass (along with Whiplash and Scarlett Johannson’s Black Widow. "Bow-chicka-bow-bow!") in next May’s anticipated blockbuster. Don Cheadle is a good actor, but it’s still unfortunate that Terrence Howard got booted out after the first film. Freakin’ Marvel... Anyways, here's the video itself:



And here are the screencaptures. Have a Merry Christmas, everyone!!









Images courtesy of Marvel Characters, Inc. / Paramount

AVATAR... Last Sunday, I watched James Cameron’s newest film on IMAX 3-D...and not surprisingly, it looked awesome! Cameron did an awesome job portraying an intriguing alien planet and species whose appearance popped right out through the wonders of 3-D. Floating mountains, exotic-looking plants and even an alien language that in real life was completely made up by a linguist who was enlisted from the University of Southern California... Cameron was very thorough in fleshing out the world of Pandora that was locked in his head for the past dozen or so years (as Cameron waited for special effects and camera technology to advance to the point where making Avatar would be possible...and also basking in the glory of making $1 billion at the worldwide box office and winning umpteenth Oscars for Titanic back in 1998).



Of course, some of you are probably wondering why I said that Avatar looked awesome...as opposed to being awesome. That’s because the film—as a couple of folks pointed out online in the months leading up to the movie’s release—had a storyline that wasn’t very original and was indeed derivative from other (Oscar-winning) films. Much as how some people pointed out that Titanic was similar to the 1939 Best Picture winner Gone with the Wind (both films had a love triangle set during a major historical event), Avatar was reminiscent of Dances with Wolves and Braveheart. It was also reminiscent of this year’s earlier well-reviewed sci-fi film District 9...in that the protagonist in that movie, Wikus van de Merwe (unintentionally) sheds his human skin to become just like the alien creatures he reluctantly has to protect in South Africa. In Avatar, Sam Worthington’s character Jake Sully (intentionally and permanently) sheds his human body to become one with the alien natives, the Na’vi, which he’s sworn to protect at the end of the film. If you haven’t seen Avatar yet, then ignore that last sentence (though I'm pretty sure you can guess this by watching the trailers). And yes, I’m 100% sure that the comparison to District 9 was definitely unintentional on Cameron’s part. I myself just found the fate of the main heroes in both flicks to be very similar.



In terms of the music, Avatar had a terrific film score by James Horner. However, I didn’t find the music as memorable as that in Titanic...or Apollo 13. Horner composed the score for those movies as well. Unlike Titanic’s music, which was on a CD album that was the bestselling film score since John Williams’ work on Star Wars in the late 70’s, I doubt Avatar will have any kind of presence on the Billboard music chart anytime soon. Oh well.



Lastly, will I watch Avatar at the movie theaters again? You betcha’! I saw it on a "fake" IMAX screen (which is nearly the same size as a regular movie screen but has an IMAX-quality sound system complementing it in the auditorium, and a digital print that has the same visual quality as an actual IMAX 70mm film reel) at an AMC theater on opening weekend, so I can assure you that I will be driving 20-30 miles to a "real" IMAX theater (specifically the one at the Irvine Spectrum’s Edwards 21 in Orange County) to watch James Cameron’s visionary work on the big screen again. Later.



Images courtesy of Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation

REST IN PEACE Brittany Murphy (1977-2009). The only films I saw with her in it were Sin City and 8 Mile (and I've also watched several episodes of the now-defunct FOX TV show, King of the Hill...where she did the voice of trailer park daughter Luanne Platter)...but that obviously doesn't mean I can't pay my respect here. So um...rest in peace, Ms. Murphy (technically, it's Mrs. Monjack, but whatever). That is all.

AVATAR... I’m totally lookin' forward to watching this film over the weekend... I would’ve pointed that out earlier this week, but you know, I was at work.












Images courtesy of Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation

IRON MAN 2... I’m totally looking forward to next May, when the sequel to 2008’s critically-acclaimed summer blockbuster comes out in theaters. Hopefully, the teaser trailer for Iron Man 2 will be released soon...presumably in front of James Cameron's Avatar on December 18 or most likely Sherlock Holmes (with Robert Downey Jr. playing the famous fictional detective) on Christmas Day. I’m looking forward to those films as well...especially Avatar.



Images courtesy of Marvel Characters, Inc. / Paramount