Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen takes over $201 million in 5 days
This weekend’s box-office estimates are in and Michael Bay’s TRANSFORMERS: REVENGE OF THE FALLEN grossed a massive $201 million in just five days, easily securing it the number one spot. The film is the second biggest film opening ever, behind last year’s slightly better reviewed THE DARK KNIGHT.
THE PROPOSAL, which stars Sandra Bullock and Ryan Reynold had another successful week dropping one place to number two in the countdown, as did THE HANGOVER, which clings on to the number three spot.
Here is the top ten in full, TRANSFORMERS listed with its weekend haul only (still a whopping $112 million.
1. “Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen,” $112,000,000
2. “The Proposal,” $18,466,000
3. “The Hangover,” $17,215,000
4. “Up,” $13,046,000
5. “My Sister’s Keeper,” $12,030,000
6. “Year One,” $5,800,000
7. “The Talking of Pelham 1 2 3,” $5,400,000
8. “Star Trek,” $3,606,000
9. “Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian,” $3,500,000
10. “Away We Go,” $1,678,000
Hugh Jackman is Avon Man!
Hugh Jackman is to star in 20th Century Fox’s AVON MAN, a pitch that they picked up from HITCH scribe Kevin Bisch. Variety reports:
The story follows men laid off from an auto dealership. One is reluctantly recruited into becoming an Avon salesman, and while the experience is initially emasculating, he uses his charm and good looks to become a top seller.
The car salesman sets out to save his financially strapped family and town by conscripting his buddies into the makeup business to win a regional contest.
Jackman and Seed Productions partner John Palermo will produce the film with Gary Foster at Krasnoff Foster Entertainment.
Three join the Stanley Tucci dramedy The Hunter
Pierce Brosnan, Patricia Clarkson and Julianne Moore have joined the cast of actor/ director Stanley Tucci’s drama THE HUNTER.
The film, set amid the aristocracy of New York’s Upper Westchester County, is a coming-of-age story of a middle-aged man, played by Brosnan, who find himself desperately clinging to the vestiges of his once-charmed life and world.
Variety reports that pre-production will start in September.
Review: Terminator 4
The fourth instalment of “Terminator” series has hit the screens but without Arnold Schwarzenegger – though he makes a blink-or-miss appearance towards the end of the movie.
Set in the future, the film is about man fighting with machines to save the world from the grip of an enemy called Skynet, which is trying to wipe out every trace of humankind from earth.
What happens when man wages a war against machines? There is the clink of metal against metal, gun shots and explosions. Director MCG has packed enough thrilling stunts to keep audiences on the edge of their seats. There are a few scenes that actually make you jump up as the filmmaker doesn’t give you enough time to think or absorb the turn of events.
The film is devoid of colour, but the director has created space for emotions with the help of Bryce Dallas Howard, who plays the hero John Connor’s (Christian Bale) pregnant wife, and Moon Bloodgood, who falls in love with a machine. However, he has ensured that the emotional scenes are not too many.
While Schwarzenegger played the saviour in the first three series, Christain Bale takes the responsibility to save humankind as the leader of human resistance in post-apocalyptic Los Angeles in the fourth instalment.
The film opens with circa 2003 — where we see Marcus Wright (Sam Worthington) donating his body to Serena Kogan (Helena Bonham Carter). The film then takes a leap and lands in 2018 where Los Angeles has turned into a junkyard, with no sign of human civilisation but only debris, dead bodies and a chilling stillness.
Connor is all the while trying hard to resist his superiors from bombing Skynet station because he wants to save all those who are imprisoned inside.
Meanwhile, Marcus emerges from nowhere and reaches Los Angeles and it takes him a while to understand the situation.
Marcus is the only one who can help Connor in his mission to destroy Skynet base but the latter is not ready to trust him because Marcus is half human and half machine.
When James Cameron’s original was released in 1984, it became one of the greatest action films of the decade. “Terminator 2: Judgment Day”, which came in 1991, managed to keep the interest alive. “Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines” came in 2003 and the fourth instalment takes the story forward.
With a spate of action thrillers coming to theatres, “Terminator Salvation” might not have anything extraordinary to showcase, but its a good watch for action-lovers.
Christian Bale does a decent job, while Sam Worthington remains expressionless in most of the scenes … just like a machine. Bloodgood, Carter and Howard pass muster.
Sony reveal August classic Blu-Ray releases
Our mates over at Sony Pictures Home Entertainment have just been in touch with details for their upcoming releases ABOUT LAST NIGHT, GLORY, GO, BLUE THUNDER and ST. ELMO’S FIRE, which are all set for release on Blu-Ray format (UK) in August. We have the details for all of the releases below, as well as the box-art for GLORY. Reviews coming soon!.
About Last Night
* 1080P 1.85:1 Widescreen
* English, Italian and Spanish 5.1
* Subtitles: English, English HOH, Danish, Finnish, Greek, Hindi, Italian, Norwegian, Portuguese, Spanish, Swedish
* Original Making-Of Featurette
* Ed Zwick and Rob Lowe in Conversation
Blue Thunder
* 1080P Widescreen
* English, Italian and Spanish 5.1
* Subtitles: English, English HOH, Danish, Finnish, Greek, Hindi, Italian, Norwegian, Portuguese, Spanish, Swedish
* Director, Editor and Motion Control Supervisor Commentary
* “The Special”: Building Blue Thunder: Making-of the Helicopter
* 1983 Promotional Featurette
St. Elmo’s Fire
* 1080P 2.40:1 Widescreen
* English, Italian and Spanish 5.1
* Subtitles: English, English HOH, Danish, Finnish, Greek, Hindi, Italian, Norwegian, Portuguese, Spanish, Swedish
* Commentary with Director Joel Schumacher
* Joel Schumacher Remembers St. Elmo’s Fire
* Music Video: John Parr – “Man in Motion”
* Deleted Scenes
Go
* 1080P 2.40:1 Widescreen
* English, French and German 5.1
* Subtitles: English, English HOH, Arabic, Danish, Dutch, Finnish, French, German, Hindi, Norwegian, Swedish, Turkish
* Commentary with Director Doug Liman & Editor Stephen Mirrione
* Making of Featurette
* “New” by No Doubt
* “Magic Carpet Ride” by Philip Steir
* “Steal My Sunshine” by Len
* Deleted Scenes
Glory
* 1080P 1.85:1 Widescreen
* English, French and German 5.1 Dolby TrueHD
* Subtitles: English, English HOH, Arabic, Danish, Dutch, Finnish, French, German, Hindi, Norwegian, Swedish, Turkish
* Director’s Commentary
* Blu-ray Game – Virtual Civil War Battlefield
* Featurette – The Voices of Glory
* Documentary – The True Story Continues
* Original Theatrical Making Of Featurette
* Deleted Scenes (with optional commentary)
Review: ‘Bruno’ (R)
Full frontal male nudity, raucous swingers and Paula Abdul are three of the many elements contributing to the ridiculous and utterly compelling Bruno, Sacha Baron Cohen’s return to form after a three year post-Borat hiatus.
At 83 minutes, Bruno is a mad-dash trek from Paris fashion week to the Hollywood hills, to the Middle East, Africa, the southern United States and back again. In his fame-seeking efforts, gay Austrian journalist Bruno completely freaks out a non-bondage-gear-friendly hotel staff, gets chased down an Israeli street by incensed Hasidic Jews and nearly starts a riot by getting physical with his assistant Lutz in front of the rough-and-tumble crowd at a cage-fighting match. Whether the movie pisses you off, grosses you out or makes you double over laughing, Baron Cohen’s bravery must be commended.
WHO’S IN IT?
Baron Cohen as Bruno, Gustaf Hammarsten as Bruno’s enraptured assistant Lutz and Clifford Banagale as butt boy Diesel. Abdul, Ron Paul, Harrison Ford and a cast of unaware antagonists from across the United States, Europe and the Middle East also make cameos.
A scene featuring LaToya Jackson was cut from the film three hours before its Los Angeles premiere, which was held on the same day as Michael Jackson’s death.
WHAT’S GOOD?
If Bruno is digested as it’s sold – flamboyant fashionista comes to the United States to fulfill aspirations of fame and manifests hilarity through encounters with unassuming citizens – then the movie is indeed an insightful glimpse into the often uncomfortable collective unconscious of prejudice and its many tangential issues.
But.
Bruno distributor Universal insists the film’s action is authentic and have not discussed the filmmaking process. Baron Cohen and director Larry Charles have been similarly mum. However, it’s been suggested that the film is a series of staged vignettes in which actors portray common folk for laughs. If so, Bruno maintains its hilarity but loses the reality component that renders the satire so fascinating. Still, the number of Bruno-related lawsuits Universal is already grappling with suggest many people in the film aren’t thrilled to be there. Certainly politician Ron Paul was unaware of the situation when he ended up in a hotel room with the disrobed protagonist. The former presidential candidate grumbles that Bruno is a “queer” after fleeing the scene.
WHAT’S BAD?
The vain, wimpy, animal print thong wearing Bruno is a sashaying gay stereotype in heels. The nebulous homophobia issue has made the movie a point of contention in the gay community. However, this and other mini scandals, (see Bruno’s MTV Movie Awards appearance with Eminem), have contributed to the buzz growing as the film’s July 10th release date approaches. Whatever preconceptions the audience brings to the theater, Bruno truly must be seen to be believed.
Review: Harry Potter
A year has passed since the climactic events of 2007’s Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, which culminated in the reemergence of the sinister Lord Voldemort. Darkness is spreading across the muggle and wizard worlds alike as the orthodontically-challenged Bellatrix Lestrange and the rest of her Death Eater crew roam freely between both realms, leaving devastation and chaos in their wake.
Newly famous thanks to his heroic exploits, Harry Potter has barely a chance to cash in on his celebrity before his old pal Dumbledore arrives to whisk him away on an urgent wizarding matter to the town of Budleigh Babberton. It’s there the two encounter the eccentric Horace Slughorn, a former professor of potions at Hogwarts who now hides out in the homes of vacationing muggles. Convinced that Slughorn is withholding knowledge crucial to the defeat of Voldemort, Dumbledore enlists his most famous student to help convince the starstruck professor to return to his old position at Hogwarts. He then tasks Harry with finding out what Slughorn is hiding.
As danger mounts outside the school, romance blossoms within it. Oblivious to the affections of Hermione, Ron Weasley has begun dating the cloying busybody Lavender Brown, while Harry has developed a crush of his own on Ron’s sister Ginny, who’s currently attached to Dean Thomas. It’s quite the tangled teenage web; the element of magic, with its love potions and other mind-altering concoctions, only further complicates matters.
Unamused by the romantic proceedings is Draco Malfoy, now clad entirely in black and simmering with hatred and envy for his rival Harry. Draco’s rage and resentment make him a perfect pawn for Voldemort, who recruits the angry young lad to aid in the Death Eaters’ attempts to infiltrate Hogwarts and exact revenge upon Dumbledore.
Draco’s suspicious behavior doesn’t go unnoticed by Harry, who becomes convinced that his long-time nemesis is surreptitiously working in league with the Dark Lord. But when his concerns are dismissed by the Hogwarts hierarchy, Harry mounts his own investigation and makes a disturbing discovery: Draco has been receiving help from someone on the inside, a traitor whose efforts could pave the way for Voldemort’s ultimate triumph.
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix director David Yates marks his second stint behind the camera with Prince, taking on what is arguably the most challenging episode of the franchise to date. But he proves more than up to the task, delivering all the visual grandeur and CGI fireworks we’ve come to expect from the Potter collection while simultaneously tackling the potentially thorny issue of adolescent hormonal urges with warmth, subtlety and a good dose of humor.
Though it clocks in at over two-and-a-half hours, the film never feels dull. Yates establishes a brisk pace from the outset, skillfully transitioning between emotionally dense dialogue exchanges, action-packed set pieces and comic relief. For all the travails facing young Harry, he’s never weighed down by the gravity of his situation, and neither is the storyline, which thankfully avoids becoming excessively dark.
Equal parts scary, funny, thrilling and touching, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince is quite simply the best Potter flick yet.
For all of its fevered set-up, the film’s ending is something of a letdown: a brief, unspectacular climax followed by a somber denouement. While it effectively sets the stage for the final episode of the franchise, to be depicted in the two-part Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, it will undoubtedly leave many a viewer feeling a bit dissatisfied.
Justin Timberlake to don tight stuff for The Green Lantern movie?
The mighty Ain’t It Cool News have had it said to them that Justin Timberlake is set to don some tight gear and star in the big screen version of the comic book THE GREEN LANTERN. Check this!
Got an unconfirmed rumor that at Leavesden Studios – there’s been some Warner Bros. screen testing on GREEN LANTERN and that Justin Timberlake was suiting up for the test. That does not mean that JT is going to be Hal Jordan, but just that he’s one of the guys that they’ve been seriously considering for the role of our Emerald Knight. At least that’s the latest from our source, Alphonse
Wolverine star joins Russell Crowe and co in Ridley Scott’s Robin Hood film
Danny Huston has joined the cast of Ridley Scott’s ROBIN HOOD flick. The 30 DAYS OF NIGHT and X-MEN ORIGINS: WOLVERINE, will play King Richard in the movie, according to reports.
Russell Crowe stars as the title character, while Scott directs from a script by Ethan Reiff, Cyrus Voris and Brian Helgeland. Cate Blanchett stars as Maid Marian, William Hurt is the Earl of Pembroke and Matthew Macfadyen plays the Sheriff of Nottingham.
Shooting is currently underway in the UK.