Michael Bay Confirmed for Transformers 4

Michael Bay and Paramount have come to terms with an arrangement where both parties are happy. Bay gets to helm Pain & Gain with Mark Wahlberg and Dwayne Johnson first, followed by a fourth Transformers installment for June 29, 2014, Bay confirmed on his official site today.

The original story, dating back to last December from Vulture, said the studio was dangling the body-building centered crime thriller, a long time pet project of Bay's, over his head in order for him to commit to more carnage and destruction with the Autobots. An irrelevant concern now since everyone is (pretending to be) friends again.

With that resolved, the narrative everyone is going by is about finding the right story, if you actually believe that's a concern on their end, and what actors will carry over from the Transformers trilogy besides Shia LaBeouf who claims he's not returning by his own choice. A claim I don't buy given the crap he's put those productions through with his offscreen shenanigans and his mouth.

Miss Piggy Schmoozes at the BAFTAs

See, the BAFTAs did the awards show thing right:  they gave an award to Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 (for visual effects), they gave the world a Les Miserables preview with Hugh Jackman and Russell Crowe presenting an award together...and unlike our upcoming Oscar telecast, their show had Muppets. 

Well, it had Miss Piggy anyway, and while I'm sure that had everything to do with the fact that The Muppets opened in the UK this weekend, it was still hilarious to watch her hamming it up (literally) with a few of the stars on the red carpet before the show:

See how much fun that could have been, Oscars??

By the way, there is a petition circulating around from fans trying to get the geezers at the Academy to change their minds about letting the Best Song nominess perform on the show next week.  Will it work?  Probably not, but it's got more than 53,000 signatures so far, so it's worth a shot. 

You can find a full list of winners of the 2012 BAFTA Awards here. 

Weekend Box Office Actuals: February 10 - 12

Courtesy of Box Office Mojo:

1.  The Vow - $41.2 million

2.  Safe House - $40.1 million

3.  Journey 2: The Mysterious Island - $27.3 million

4.  Star Wars Episode 1 - The Phantom Menace - $22.4 million

5.  Chronicle - $12 million

6.  The Woman in Black - $10.1 million

7.  The Grey - $5 million

8.  Big Miracle - $3.9 million

9.  The Descendants - $3.4 million

10.  Underworld Awakening - $2.4 million

This is one of those weekends were everyone gets a trophy for participating, especially (as much as it pains me to say it), The Vow, which celebrated Valentine's Day with the biggest opening weekend of 2012 so far with $41.2 million.  Loosely based on the true story of an amnesiac wife "re-meeting" her husband after a car accident, the film is the first romantic drama to open in theaters in awhile...so audiences flocked to it.  Obviously.

Denzel Washington had a good weekend as well, with Safe House opening above expectations with $40.1 million.  Ryan Reynolds can breathe a little easier now too - he's finally starring in a movie that didn't crash and burn like his past few films have (although Denzel was clearly the draw here).

The battle of the 3D family films provided some healthy box office too, as Journey 2: The Mysterious Island surprisingly managed to fend off Star Wars to win the race with $27.3 million, which is even higher than the $21.02 million that the original Journey to the Center of the Earth film earned on its opening weekend in 2008.

The first of the six planned 3D re-releases of the Star Wars films kicked off this weekend, and it did all right, as the much-maligned Episode 1: The Phantom Menace opened with $22.4 million.  Seems like enough families were willing to put up with Jar Jar Binks in 3D for the opportunity to take their kids to see Star Wars on the big screen for the first time (hard to believe this movie is already 13 years old).  In fact, the opening was good enough to bump Phantom Menace from seventh to fifth place on the all-time domestic list with $453.6 million.

Last week's two big winners held up well in their second weekend, as Chronicle dropped only 45% to earn $12 million.  Good word-of-mouth is turning that one into a decent hit.  The Woman in Black dropped a little more at 52% to earn $10.1, but that's not bad for a horror movie, since usually drop like a rock in their second weekend.  Both movies cost pocket change to make, so the box office is good news for both films.

Next weekend sees the releases of Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengance (no, I don't know why either), the action comedy whose trailer has been in front of every movie I've seen for the past two months, This Means War, and the animated The Secret World of Arrietty.  It's also Oscar weekend, so this week is a good time to hurry up and catch up to the nominated movies too. 

Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter Teaser Looks As Stupid As It Sounds

Ladies and gentlemen, if I may, if any of you are flabbergasted by how bad Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter looks, from this teaser trailer courtesy of Time, what were you expecting? The title says it all.

Not a defense for the Timur Bekmambetov-directed, Tim Burton-produced adaptation of Seth Grahame-Smith's "biography" on the 16^th U.S. President's secret life. Reminds me of Sucker Punch, i.e. glossy, hyper-stylized crap coming from the mind of an adolescent fueled on whatever "looks cool."

Russell Crowe in Talks to Join Dracula Tale 'Harker'

When we first heard word about a year ago of Warner Bros. and Leonardo DiCaprio teaming to bring the spec script Harker - a re-imagining of Bram Stoker's Dracula told from Jonathan Harker's point of view - to life, there was much to be excited about.

For one, the vampire genre was in dire need on a re-invention with the Twilight craze being on the loose the past few years.  Also, the fact the Leonardo DiCaprio was involved in the project and anything the guy has his hand in will be top notch.  Finally, the fact that Jaume Collet-Serra (Unknown, Orphan) would be directing as he has proven himself as an up-and-coming capable director.

Since then, the only news about the project was that Collet-Serra had left the project to work on the live-action adaptation of Akira.  However, since that project has recently run into budget problems, it seems as if Collet-Serra is back on the project with a star to go with him.

Vulture reports that none other than Academy Award winner Russell Crowe is in talks to join the film for the title role as Harker (in this tale he will be a Scotland Yard worker in England - not a lawyer as in previous incarnations - who hunts down the monster causing havoc).

No word yet on who will play Dracula or when the film is will start filming but it's safe to say the flick will go before the camera sometime by the end of the year.

"Let The Bullets Fly" Trailers

In the lawless land that is rural China in the 1920s, legendary bandit “Pocky” Zhang (Jiang Wen) and his gang stage a train robbery. They are quite unhappy to discover that instead of silver, the only thing left on the train is the con man, Tang (Ge You). Desperate, Tang explains that he’s on his way to Goose Town, where he’s bought himself a governorship. If allowed to live, he will help Zhang assume the governorship in his place… where Zhang can make more money in one month as a corrupt politician than he can in a year’s worth of train robberies. With Tang as his prisoner/counselor, off they go.

But neither realizes that Goose Town is already under the iron rule of the wealthy Master Huang (Chow Yun Fat, The Killer, Hard Boiled), whose charming exterior conceals a ruthless, conniving crime lord. As Zhang begins to see how badly Huang oppresses the citizens of Goose Town, he decides to do something about it, and Huang quickly senses a major threat to his empire.

Thus begins an escalating series of hyper-violent (and hilarious) mind games between the bandit and the crime lord, while the devious Tang tries to play both sides until he can exit the situation…preferably with a profit. The stakes quickly rise to ludicrous proportions in this masterfully vicious, pitch-black action-comedy (China’s highest grossing film of all time), and you’ll be laughing the entire time as double- and triple-crosses, razor-sharp wordplay, and hundreds of thousands of bullets explode across the screen.

"Monsieur Lazhar" US Release Trailer

Nominated for an Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film, MONSIEUR LAZHAR tells the poignant story of a Montreal middle school class shaken by the death of their well-liked teacher. Bachir Lazhar (Fellag), a 55-year-old Algerian immigrant, offers the school his services as a substitute teacher and is quickly hired. As he helps the children heal, he also learns to accept his own painful past. This moving film features exquisite performances by Fellag and a stunning ensemble of child actors.

Awards

   ** Academy Award Nomination for Best Foreign Language Film **
** Rotterdam International Film Festival 2012- UPC Audience Award **
 ** Toronto International Film Festival 2011: Winner – Best Canadian Feature Film **
** Locarno Film Festival 2011: Winner – Prix Du Public Award **
   ** Locarno Film Festival 2011: Winner – Variety Piazza Grande Award **
** Namur Film Festival 2011: Winner – Special Jury Award **
** Hamburg Film Festival 2011: Winner – Art Cinema Award **
** Windsor International Film Festival 2011: Winner – People’s Choice Award **
** Official Selection – Sundance Film Festival 2012 **

Battle For Superman Rights Slowly Glides Forward

As the Man Of Steel is being prepped to fly Summer 2013 we haven't heard much over the battle of Superman that is slowly being fought in the courtrooms.

The latest skirmish in what is a long drawn out war involves DC Comics arguing that they should have complete access to legal documents which Toberoff has claimed were stolen from him are are privileged.

I'm not going to pretend to be some kind of guru of law, you can read more details below of hearing before the 9th Circuit in Pasadena or click HERE for the original documents filed with the court on May 14, 2012

On Tuesday, counsel for attorney Marc Toberoff went before the three-judge panel of the 9th Circuit in Pasadena, challenging an order for the production of privileged documents that were allegedly stolen from Toberoff's law firm by another attorney and handed to Warner Brothers during representation of the heirs of Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster, the creators of Superman.

The publisher's complaint says that Toberoff persuaded the Siegel and Shuster's heirs to terminate their agreements with DC Comics and file invalid copyright notices. The heirs entered into a joint venture with Toberoff's Pacific Pictures Corp., granting him a controlling stake in the heirs' interest in the superhero character.

The documents at issue were unearthed during a theft investigation by the U.S. Attorney's office, and detailed Toberoff's interactions with the estates.

Magistrate Judge Ralph Zaresky rules that DC comics should have access to the documents last year, over Toberoff's objections that he had an agreement with the government to keep the documents under wraps.

Chief Judge Alex Kozinski and judges Diarmuid O'Scannlain and Norman Smith heard arguments from Toberoff's counsel, Richard Kendall of Kendall Brill Klieger, and DC Comics' attorney, Matthew Kline of O'Melveny & Myers.

Kozinski asked Kline why the documents were not protected under attorney-client privilege. The judge noted that even if an attorney states explicitly that he has a waiver from his client, that is not enough. "Where is the client's action?" he asked.

Kline argued that all the evidence showed that the clients had expressly waived the attorney-client privilege and that Toberoff had obtained their consent to release the documents.

But during his rebuttal, Kendall said that grand jury secrecy offered "complete protection" against disclosure. He added that he had asserted attorney-client privilege "every which way" and noted that "the entire crime was the theft of privileged documents."

Seeking a Friend at the End of the World Trailer is Great

Lose the starship battles in space, cool-looking aliens and robots. Science fiction in its simplest form is asking, "What if?" Take ordinary people in a world not unlike our own and put them in extraordinary situations. What if an asteroid was headed straight to Earth in three weeks and there was nothing we could do to stop it? What would you do?

That's the question posed in Seeking a Friend at the End of the World, the trailer you can watch below courtesy of Yahoo! Movies.

For Steve Carell (who truly is the Everyman among comedy stars, and not Adam Sandler though he likes to think he is) and Keira Knightley, it’s taking a road trip to see the girl who first broke your heart and family respectively.

We can guesstimate the world will probably not end and Carell and Knightley will probably fall for one another on their trip. But that doesn't matter if the final product is as captivating as this great trailer suggests. We could be in for the purest science fiction film since Children of Men, even though yes, this is wrapped in the "dramedy" sub-genre. I can't wait to see it this June.

George Lucas Wants Press, and You Just Gave It to Him

For a guy the Internet claims they can't stand, they can't stop talking about him. Look, George Lucas is a smart guy. He wouldn't have been able to turn his low-budget Flash Gordon-inspired, space opera adventure serial into the biggest film series if he wasn't. He knows exactly what he's doing when he makes provocative statements as he just did recently to Heat Vision, regarding the tired debate of Han Solo shooting first in Star Wars. You know it's topical when there are t-shirts about it.

Cut to many movie-news/commentary outlets (Many of whom I read and the webmasters I interact with on a regular basis and consider good, smart guys) getting up and arms and further bringing into discussion how out of his mind Lucas is.

Here's the thing though, fellas. Old George knew exactly what he was doing by saying that. He knew you'd all get livid and give him press...because that's exactly what he wanted. Not to mention, he's said this stuff about Greedo shooting first before. Many times over the years since he first made that change to the original Star Wars in 1997.

Like I said, Lucas is a smart guy. The Phantom Menace is back in theaters today, now in 3D, and all the attention/press it can get, the better in Lucas' mind. He's not wrong thinking that. But right now, it's all about riling up the hardcore fans that grew up adoring Star Wars, Empire and Jedi. Oh sure, they were angry Lucas tinkered with the trilogy for the Blu-Ray releases, for the umpteenth time. Yet most of those fans shouting the loudest I guarantee bought the damn Blu-Rays. He's just going to keep egging you guys on until the inevitable time comes when he gives the go-ahead on releasing the original trilogy in their unchanged forms with state of the art sound and picture transfers and talk up how "wrong he was to deprive fans of what they really wanted," or some nonsense to that effect. And he'll have played you all for suckers.

By complaining this loud, all you're doing is giving him more power, guys. Next time, Lucas makes another remark like this, just ignore it.