“Transformers: Age of Extinction” review

Michael Bay is back with a new “Transformers” movie. Mark Wahlberg, Stanley Tucci and Kelsey Grammer head the human cast. Is this film the best in the franchise? Or is time for this series to roll out.

The Good

Let’s face it. We know what’s good about a “Transformers” film. There are those money shots that are indeed glorious. But there are also long action scenes involving the humans that aren’t the military. And it’s a breath of fresh air … at first.

Perhaps more surprising is that, even though the film’s run time approaches three hours, it didn’t feel like the longest of the series to me. That may not be high praise, but hey, it’s praise all the same.

There’s way more focus on the human characters this time around … which isn’t always a good thing. But, the characters aren’t nearly as annoying as some of the characters who appeared in past installments. And, Tucci is entertaining throughout while Grammer does his best with his limited character.

The Bad

With the focus so much on the human characters, there’s surprisingly little robot action in this one. Don’t get me wrong, there’s a lot of action scenes. But, never the all out robot vs. robot battle the film was seemingly building up toward. Focusing on story may seem like a step in the right direction … Except when the story is pointless, dumb and with characters who don’t think or act like a rational human being in parts.

Also, none of the characters rank as overly annoying, but they all have their moments. And there are absolute throw away characters who serve almost no purpose in the film (though I’m sure some would make the argument all the human characters in this franchise serve no purpose).

The Final Word

At times, “Transformers: Age of Extinction” seems to bring the franchise into new directions that could be genuinely interesting. At other times, you’re reminded that this franchise has some really bad moments in them. If you’re looking for a lot of action, you won’t be disappointed. But those hoping a new cast meant a new start will be disappointed.

Lukas Eggen can be reached at eggen.lukas@gmail.com.

Box office battle: Is “Pacific Rim” in big trouble?

It would be a shame. I’m very much looking forward to Guillermo del Toro’s “Pacific Rim”. Think “Transformers” with monsters and intelligence (sorry Michael Bay). But, as one of my friends said, “The movie looks kinda dumb.” Thus the challenge the film has made. Coming on the heels of news that Warner Brothers and Legendary Pictures are splitting comes some distressing news from Variety. Apparently audiences are showing more interest in “Grown Ups 2” than “Pacific Rim”. You know the Adam Sandler comedy where we see Sandler do everything he’s done in practically EVERY OTHER MOVIE he’s made. Hopefully audiences warm up here late in the game.

But if “Grown Ups 2” actually does beat “Pacific Rim” none of those people has any right to complain about the lack of new films. When a new film comes out, they’re going to shun it? It’s like people complaining about movies not making you think so when a film like “Cloud Atlas” comes out and challenges you, they ignore it. Come on, people.

“Pacific Rim” stars Charlie Hunnam, Idris Elba, Charlie Day, Rinko Kikuchi, Ron Pearlman and more. I know I’ll chose a movie from the director of “Pan’s Labyrinth” over the actor responsible for ‘Jack and Jill” any day of the week.

Lukas Eggen can be reached at eggen.lukas@gmail.com.

Box office battle: The Rock has taken over the world

Well, not really. But Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson has taken over the box office world. You think I’m kidding? EW pointed this out: Take a look at the last 16 weeks. There has been a movie starring Johnson in the top 10 every week since Feb. 22. It started with “Snitch” and most recently continued with “Fast and Furious 6”, which co-stars Vin Diesel, Paul Walker, Luke Evans and more:

Feb. 22-24 – Snitch (No. 2)
Mar. 1-3 – Snitch (No. 4)
Mar. 8-10 – Snitch (No. 5)
Mar. 15-17 – Snitch (No. 6)
Mar. 22-24 – Snitch (No. 10)
Mar. 29-31 – G.I. Joe: Retaliation (No. 1)
Apr. 5-7 – G.I. Joe: Retaliation (No. 2)
Apr. 12-14 – G.I. Joe: Retaliation (No. 4)
Apr. 19-21 – G.I. Joe: Retaliation (No. 5)
Apr. 26-28 – Pain & Gain (No. 1), G.I. Joe: Retaliation (No. 6)
May 3-5 – Pain & Gain (No. 2)
May 10-12 – Pain & Gain (No. 3)
May 17-19 – Pain & Gain (No. 4)
May 24-26 – Fast & Furious 6 (No. 1)
June 1-3 – Fast & Furious 6 (No. 1)
June 7-9 – Fast & Furious 6 (No. 2)

His last three movies have reached No. one at the box office for its opening weekend and combined, his 2013 movies have earned $956 million. And I thought Channing Tatum had a good 2012. This puts that to shame. Also, Johnson hosts the TNT show “The Hero”.

Lukas Eggen can be reached at eggen.lukas@gmail.com.

Robots set for “Transformers 4”?

Michael Bay’s sort of reboot “Transformers 4” may have some new robots for fans to get excited about. JoBlo is reporting that the Dinobots and, specifically fan favorite Grimlock, will appear in the film. Also the Autobot Hound and a Decepticon “Samurai” robot will appear as well. And Galvatron will be replacing Megatron. Now I’m pretty sure the Dinobots have been rumored for every film, but maybe this reboot will see them make their way to the big screen. The film stars Mark Wahlberg, Jack Reynor, Nicola Peltz, Sophia Myles, Li Bingbing, Kelsey Grammer and Stanley Tucci.

Lukas Eggen can be reached at eggen.lukas@gmail.com.

“Transformers 4” adds “Underworld” actress

The cast list keeps growing as Michael Bay’s (“Pain & Gain”) nears the start of filming. Sophia Myles, best known to American audiences for her role in “Underworld” and “Underworld: Evolution” has joined the cast in a “major supporting role”. She joins Mark Wahlberg, Nicola Peltz, Jack Reynor and Kelsey Grammer, who was revealed to be the main antagonist in the film. Of course, gone are Megan Fox and Shia LaBeouf are out. This sort of reboot is scheduled to hit theaters on July 10, 2014.

Lukas Eggen can be reached at eggen.lukas@gmail.com.

Michael Bay backtracks on “Ninja Turtles”

Oh Michael Bay. First he was done with “Transformers”. Now he’s back for “Transformers 4” with Mark Wahlberg in. Then he said that the “Teenage Ninja Mutant Turtles” would just be called “Ninja Turtles” and that they would be alien turtles. Now he’s backtracking again. Here’s what he told Moviefone:

“There was that quote saying that we’re making [the Ninja Turtles as] aliens. We’re not. It’s the ooze! It’s from the original source material. These are from the original writers, and I never went out to correct myself in the press. I do listen to the fans and I do want this to be authentic. I think they’re going to be really happy with this movie. When I see the digital stuff, the turtles look great.”

Here’s director Jonathan Liebesman’s explanation of that quote;

“Look, it’s so funny—if everyone was such a die-hard fan, they would know that the TCRI canisters where the ooze comes from. That is alien ooze. Now I’m not saying what Michael said is exactly what the movie is, because we’re sitting in a room now figuring everything out. So we don’t know, but we are like Michael said: we’re expanding it, and the expansion will be true to the mythology.”

That’s funny because no one brought that up until now. So yeah, I’m guessing the backlash was so harsh they changed it. The new film stars Megan Fox (ugh), Will Arnett, Danny Woodburn, Alan Ritchson, Noel Fisher, Jeremy Howard and Pete Ploszek.

Lukas Eggen can be reached at eggen.lukas@gmail.com.

Final trailer for “Fast and Furious 6” is here

Dwayne Johnson has the top movie in America right now in Michael Bay’s “Pain & Gain”, which he stars in along with Mark Wahlberg. But it’s “Fast and Furious 6” that will be his biggest hit of the year. And here’s the final trailer for the anticipated sequel.

The film sees Paul Walker, Vin Diesel, Michelle Rodriguez, Gina Carano and a whole lot more reunite for the sequel from director Justin Lin.

Lukas Eggen can be reached at eggen.lukas@gmail.com.

Box office battle: 4/26/13

The last weekend before the summer movie season kicks into high gear. Michael Bay does a low budget film (by his standards) with “Pain & Gain” while “The Big Wedding” looks to offer counter programming.

Starring Mark Wahlberg and Dwayne Johnson, “Pain & Gain” will be taking the top spot this weekend. Wahlberg and Johnson have done plenty of comedy and action and have a large number of fans so this seems like a sure bet. But though it’s based on a true story, the marketing hasn’t made it clear whether this is supposed to be more of a comedy, a thriller with comedic elements, an action movie with thriller and comedic elements or what. Also with “Iron Man 3” just around the corner, it’ll keep enough audiences waiting for that film to limit this film’s opening weekend.

Opening weekend: $30-35 million

“The Big Wedding” stars Robert De Niro, Katherine Heigl, Diane Keaton and Amanda Seyfried. But audience anticipation is just so-so. Not to mention Heigl has seen her career take a big down turn after “Knocked Up” with lots of bombs lately. This one won’t find much of an audience.

Opening weekend: $5-10 million

Stay tuned early next week for my May box office preview!

Lukas Eggen can be reached at eggen.lukas@gmail.com.

TMNT casts Splinter

Oh boy. Producer Michael Bay’s “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles” is really happening. The film cast its Master Splinter, the rat who of course raises the turtles. Danny Woodburn has been named Splinter. Woodburn is probably best known for his role as Big Figure in “Watchmen”. The film stars Alan Ritchson, Noel Fisher, Jeremy Howard, Pete Ploszek, Will Arnett and Megan Fox.

Lukas Eggen can be reached at eggen.lukas@gmail.com.

Some good and bad casting news

One of these pieces of casting news has me genuinely excited. The other…well…you’ll see.

First the good news. Rooney Mara has garnered pretty much all the attention thanks to roles in “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo” and “The Social Network”, but now it looks like her sister Kate Mara will get her chance to shine. Kate’s had some smaller roles in “127 Hours” and “We Are Marshall”. Now comes news that she’s joining the cast of “Transcendence”, the debut directorial effort of Wally Pfister, who is the long time collaborator with Christopher Nolan. The film stars Johnny Depp, Rebecca Hall and Paul Bettany so this one seems to be loaded with potential.

On for the bad news. Anyone see ‘The Last Airbender” from M. Night Shyamalan? Don’t worry, there’s not a sequel coming, though there is still that possibility. But I digress. Do you remember Katara played by Nicola Peltz? Even if you don’t, my point is everyone in that film did a terrible job acting. Now Peltz is set for a starring role in another big adaptation. Are you ready? She’s in “Transformers 4”. She’ll star along side Jack Reynor and join the likes of Megan Fox and Rosie Huntington-Whiteley as the female leads for Michael Bay to look at in the series. Word of advice to Peltz. After working on one of the worst films made in recent memory, don’t use Bay as your “comeback” attempt.

Lukas Eggen can be reached at eggen.lukas@gmail.com.