In Contention

Tag: Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen

  • MONDAY CENTS: ‘Destination’ Labors to another victory

    All About Steve*All historical figures cited are adjusted to today’s dollars.

    Labor Day is known as the end of the summer season and the void it causes at the multiplexes is the underline to that point. This year was no different as “The Final Destination” repeated at the top of the chart with $15.4 million over the four-day period. Even with an extra day, that’s still a 44% drop from last week, but as you’ll see with “Halloween II,” it could have been a lot worse. The film’s running total has passed $50 million, which means that Warner Bros. is scrambling to invent 5D technology to make the naming of the fifth film more convenient.

    Second place goes to “Inglourious Basterds,” which could very well be number one when actual figures are released tomorrow. Another $15 million takes the cume to $95.2 million and earns the film a place in the top 10 success stories of the summer. Revisionist World War II films are now totally in vogue and “Harold and Kumar Inadvertently Join the Third Reich” is currently on the fast track.

    Third place goes to our first debut of the week, “All About Steve,” starring Sandra Bullock and Bradley Cooper. To those who thought I was low-balling the film last week I just want t0 say: “Good call.”  Despite a staggering 5% rating at Rotten Tomatoes, the film managed to sucker $13.9 million worth of lonely women and whipped men to the theater. Personally, it’s a rule of mine to avoid films that have a lame pun for a title.

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  • TECH SUPPORT: Best Sound Mixing — Volume I

    Star TrekA few weeks ago I analyzed the Best Sound Editing category, which awards the creation and integration of artificially created sound effects.  Today, we look at sound mixing – the overall composition of all the elements of a movie’s soundscape into a singular soundtrack. The re-recording mixers, who do this work during post-production, are rewarded alongside the production sound mixer, who captures the sound on set.

    Loud films tend to be rewarded here, with blockbusters and war films, as well as films heavily reliant on music, popping up more often than not.

    Speaking of which, I’ll start by discussing the only musical that will likely find some wiggle room here this year. I am speaking, of course, of Rob Marshall’s “Nine.” Marshall’s return to the musical genre strikes me as quite likely to score in this category barring the film being a catastrophe.  It’s worth noting that 11-time Oscar nominee Rick Kline is on board, and he’s yet to win a statuette.

    James Cameron’s films have excelled in the sound categories. If his “Avatar” does not have a very interesting and unique soundscape, I’ll be quite surprised. I suspect the film could be more of a showcase for sound effects than the overall mix, I nevertheless anticipate it finding a home here as well.

    Pixar has done very well in this category lately, with three of its last four films scoring nominations. “Up” is likely to one-up (no pun intended) those films by also finding a home in the Best Picture category.  Nevertheless, the film’s sound is not as integral to the film as many of the previous Pixar efforts. A nomination here is certainly very possible. But I’d hardly call it a sure thing.  Vets Tom Myers and Michael Semanick (both from the “WALL-E” team) are on board.

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  • New tune contenders from ‘2012,’ ‘Wild Things’ — what else?

    Adam LambertBoy, the “Where the Wild Things Are” items are coming fast and furious this morning.  I didn’t plan it this way, I swear.

    Anyway, generally around late August I begin to start compiling a list of the original song contenders.  It’s generally the last category that begins to fall into place after all, so it’s folly to speculate from too far out (which is why you’re greeted with the “coming soon” note in the sidebar for seven months out of the year).

    A potential nominee could be in our midst with Karen O’s “All is Love” from “Where the Wild Things Are,” which you can listen to over at MySpace.  Any fan of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs is bound to enjoy this bouncing little ditty.

    Meanwhile, Queen guitarist Brian May was apparently “blown away” by Adam Lambert’s original song for Roland Emmerich’s “2012.”  I’m sure that combination is nails on a chalkboard for more than a few people.

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  • TECH SUPPORT: Best Visual Effects — Volume I

    Avatar“How did they do that?”  Movie-goers often ask this in response to spectacular visual effects, one of few elements of a film, apart from acting, directing or story, that a studio might choose to sell a film directly on.

    Not surprisingly, the Academy’s award for Best Visual Effects is definitely the most mainstream-friendly of all of all.  $100 million grosses and higher are the norm.

    This branch also has a somewhat unusual process for choosing the nominees.  A shortlist of seven films will be announced in December or January and members of the branch will screen effects presentation reels of the films from that collective to nominate three contenders announced alongside the rest of the Oscar nominees.

    Probably leading the field this year, sight unseen, is James Cameron’s “Avatar.”  Cameron’s last five films have all been nominated in this category…with four of them winning!  Moreover, “Avatar” seems certain to be, like most Cameron efforts, a showcase for the visual effects.  Of course, the film could also be an unmitigated disaster, but barring that I would be quite surprised if it did not find itself among the nominees.

    On the other hand, we have already seen several films likely to end up in the running.   Michael Bay’s “Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen” was absolutely wretched in this viewer’s opinion.  But considering its massive box office take, not to mention the nature of the effects and the success of Bay’s films in this category in the past, I feel a nomination is quite likely.

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  • The long haul

    Daniel Radcliffe in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood PrinceScreenDaily editor Mike Goodridge raises a topic that has provoked more than a few grumbles this season: the inordinate length of some of Hollywood’s biggest summer releases.

    I’m not someone who automatically whines whenever a film pushes the 150-minute mark. Some films warrant that heft, and it’s not always directly related to the scale of the plot — more ambient pieces can need time and space to breathe and explore their environments. Many felt that “Public Enemies” hadn’t enough narrative to fill 140 minutes, which I can understand — though for me, the languidness felt right for a film that was principally an exercise in mood and texture.

    I don’t entirely subscribe to Roger Ebert’s overly reductive stance that “no good film is too long, and no bad film is short enough” — there is plenty of “good” work that could enter “great” territory via some judicious pruning, after all — but the bottom line is that if I’m engaged by a film, I’m not checking my watch. (In any case, as a screenwriter, overlength is a factor I’m sympathetic to: I know the pain of cutting beloved scenes.)

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  • TECH SUPPORT: Best Sound Editing — Volume I

    Transformers: Revenge of the FallenZoom. Smash. Bang. Grunt. Zap. Splash. Screech.

    A single sound effect can capture a character, emotion or setting. And creating such sounds is no easy task, requiring creativity, ingenuity and constant communication with the other filmmakers to best capture the feel of a film.

    The manifestation of these aural components — as well as their integration into the overall soundtrack of the film — is recognized by the Academy with the award for Best Sound Editing.

    I suspect we’ve seen at least two – very possibly three or even four – of this category’s eventual 2009 nominees already. (At this point last year, we had seen four of five!)  Blockbuster entertainment tends to rule the day.  Let’s take a look.

    Though I doubt it will be able to win, given the failure of its predecessor to do so, I am pretty confident that massive box office, not the complex mechanics involved, will manage to bring “Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen” into the final five. Michael Bay’s films do well with the sound branch.

    Also from the summer, another film I strongly expect to enter the fray is “Star Trek.” Against all odds, the film managed to be a very successful reboot to this franchise and sound effects were pivotal to its success. While the series has only been embraced by the category intermittently, if there is one category where I expect this film to score, this is it. The sound effects were impressive and with a wide range.

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  • SUNDAY CENTS: One fine gay

    Bruno*All historical figures cited are adjusted to today’s dollars.

    Sacha Baron Cohen’s full frontal assault on audiences took the top spot at the box office this weekend with an estimated $30.4 million from 2,756 screens. Considering that “Borat” made $29 million from 837 screens in its debut and then $31 million from 2,566 in its second weekend, I think it’s safe to say that lightning hasn’t struck twice in the same spot here.

    Universal can still be happy with its $40 million investment as the film has bright prospects overseas and on home video. But with almost 50% of the weekend figure coming from Friday alone, the signs are there for this to vanish from U.S. theaters pretty quickly. $65 or $70 million seems like the probable domestic total, or roughly half of what “Borat” finished with.

    If you’re looking for an explanation, I’ve got one for you: Gay Sexual Content = Box Office Poison in 60% of the country.

    “Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs” retains the runner-up position with a slim 33% drop from its somewhat disappointing debut. Another $28.5 million in the bank brings the running total to $120.6 million and sets the film on track to finish in the $175 million range, or exactly what was expected of it. Ray Romano may actually have himself quite the successful film career, as long as we never have to see his face again.

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  • WEEKLY WRAP: Buried treasure, reading pleasure

    Leonardo DiCaprio and Michelle Williams in Shutter IslandEntirely slipped my mind to do this on Friday, but here’s what we (and you) were talking about this week:

    • At 2009’s halfway mark, this week’s list shone a light on the year’s most undersung films thus far.

    • In Page to Screen this week, we eagerly sank our teeth into Dennis Lehane’s “Shutter Island.”

    • As the respective “Ice Age” and “Transformers” rehashes battled for box-office glory, “Up” quietly became Pixar’s second-highest grosser.

    • Meanwhile, soon-to-be titan “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince” garnered mixed-to-positive notices.

    • Burton, Lasseter, Miyazaki, Zemeckis … the upcoming Comic-Con just got a lot more auteur-heavy.

    • Speaking of comics, “The Green Lantern” has a lead … and his name is Ryan Reynolds.

    • Away from the big screen, we discussed the joys of bargain-bin DVDs.

    • And stirred up debate with a celebration of Mel Gibson’s “The Passion of the Christ.”

  • TECH SUPPORT: Kicking the tires on a new season

    Daniel Day-Lewis in NineToday marks the beginning of a fourth year of Tech Support here at In Contention. Over the past four years, we’ve sought to bring the otherwise under-reported crafts categories and crafts artists the attention they seldom receive, despite their enormous contributions to the art of cinema.

    This year, we plan on looking at nine of the categories – Art Direction, Cinematography, Costume Design, Film Editing, Makeup, Original Score, Sound Editing, Sound Mixing and Visual Effects – twice thoroughly between now and the morning the nominations are announced. Best Original Song will be previewed once, when we have a better idea of eligible contenders.

    I will be offering the analysis of these categories but Kris will also be joining me for the first time this year with Tech Support features and interview pieces throughout.

    Last year, a contemporary film – “Slumdog Millionaire” – managed to triumph in five of the 10 categories, a truly remarkable achievement, while “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” unsurprisingly took three others.  (Meanwhile, the year’s blockbuster “The Dark Knight” managed one.)  It will be interesting to see whether this year will be seen as having tech sweepers like “Millionaire” and “Button” or a greater spreading of the wealth, as we saw in 2007, when eight different films shared the 10 crafts awards!

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  • 7/8 Web Round-up

    Woodstock• AMPAS elects its governors. Among those returning to the board: Tom Hanks, James L. Brooks and eternal Oscar bridesmaid Kevin O’Connell. [Variety]

    • Nat Rogers reflects on his favorite thesps of the decade’s first half… and how they’ve fared since. [The Film Experience]

    • Martin Scorsese looks back on Woodstock. A good read, this. [Times of London]

    • Ebert has some choice words for the “Transformers” defenders. [Roger Ebert’s Journal]

    • Noah Forrest boards the “Hurt Locker” train. [Movie City News]

    • Ahead of “Frozen River”‘s long-delayed UK release, Melissa Leo talks about how an Oscar nod has changed her career. [Times of London]

    • Celebrating the delights of the movie-mangling “Cinemash” web series. [Los Angeles Times]

    • Why Nicolas Cage should still be in the conversation for Superman. Uh, right. [The Guardian]

  • Small victories

    As “Transformers” hangs on by a hair to the the top spot for another week Stateside, there’s at least some minor consolation for the film’s detractors (and Michael Mann champions) in the weekend figures for the UK box office, where it wasn’t even a contest for the win:

    Title Weekend Takings Total to Date
    1. Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs £7 639 884 £7 639 884
    2. Public Enemies £2 228 291 £2 228 291
    3. Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen £2 214 505 £20 785 050

    .

  • 7/7 Web Round-up

    Mark Duplass and Joshua Leonard in Humpday• Good piece from David Poland about the age-old disconnect between audiences and critics. [The Hot Blog]

    • Marshall Fine implores you to see “Humpday” instead of “Bruno.” Why not see both, I say. [Hollywood & Fine]

    • While we’re on that subject, “Transformers” won the weekend box-office battle after all. Ew. [New York Times]

    • At the mid-year point, Peter Knegt reflects on the indie box-office winners and losers. [indieWIRE]

    • Cute feature, this — a rundown of the greatest credit sequences. Today: “The Good, the Bad and the Ugly.” [Cinematical]

    • On the web’s smartest new blog, a panel of critics re-evaluate Michael Mann’s “Miami Vice.” [The Auteurs’ Notebook]

    • Pamela McClintock contemplates the implication of the PG rating — after the franchise’s dip into PG-13 waters — for the latest “Harry Potter” effort. [Variety]

    • Speaking of which … my, how they’ve grown. [The Guardian]

  • SUNDAY CENTS: Photo finish on ‘Ice’

    Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs*Historical figures quoted are adjusted to today’s dollars.

    It was another close race at the box office this weekend with estimates calling it an exact tie between “Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs” and “Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen,” but Monday actuals might tell a different story.

    The third entry in the animated series (only the second major animated franchise to reach three films) earned $42.5 million for the three-day weekend and $67.5 million since opening on Wednesday.  Independence Day falling on a Saturday was always going to hurt but given the fact that the first two “Ice Age” films opened with $57.2 million and $74.6 million respectively, this is a bit on the low side.

    There really wasn’t enough material with these characters for one movie, let alone three, so it’s not surprising that the shine is wearing off.  But Fox will still cross $400 million worldwide with this sucker so it’s no big deal to them.

    Hot on its heels was “Transformers.”  A 62% dip to $42.5 million gives Michael Bay’s magnum opus $293.5 million after 12 days.  Uptight movie nerds need not worry though because at 12 days “The Dark Knight” had already amassed $333.9 million, so there’s no chance of Shia rubbing elbows with the bat’s total gross.  It does have a great chance of becoming the 12th film from this decade to cross $400 million though, and that’s a damn shame.

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  • WEEKLY WRAP: Academy expands, Malden passes

    Karl Malden and Claire Trevor at the 1951 Academy Awards• This week’s Off the Carpet column took a long, hard look at the ramifications of a 10-nominee Best Picture race.

    • As the popular game of expanding past fields to ten continued, we joined in the speculation.

    • Meanwhile, AMPAS added 134 members to its voting body, from Seth Rogen to Danny Boyle to Peter Gabriel.

    • And they furthered their controversial remodelling, scrapping all honorary awards from the Oscar telecast.

    • We bade a sad farewell to Oscar-winning actor and former AMPAS president Karl Malden.

    • In other disheartening news, Michael Bay’s “Transformers” sequel rocked the box office.

    • We championed “An Education” and its star Alfred Molina, while the film was the subject of this week’s Page to Screen column.

    • With “Public Enemies” on everyone’s mind this week, we counted down the best performances from Michael Mann films.

    • The Edinburgh Film Festival wrapped, handing its top award to Duncan Jones’s “Moon.”

  • Mixing Autobots with Decepticons

    Transformers: Revenge of the FallenWhile “Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen” tears up the box office while simultaneously rubbing the critical fraternity wrong, some of us can’t help but wonder how the money will effect its performance in the technical categories (a concentrated focus of In Contention in Gerard Kennedy’s seasonal Tech Support columns) come year’s end.

    Tom O’Neil is pondering the film’s potential for winning kudos both at the Oscars and the Razzies, which could be an ironic twist for the film.  But no matter how you feel about the film from a critical view, there is no denying the craft on display below the line.

    Most especially, the sound editing and mix is absolutely state of the art.  Nothing compares.  The intricacies of the soundtrack, the balance of heavy metal and tinny particulars, all of it is absolutely award-worthy.  That it is such a dense mix without overwhelming the senses is, I think, a real testament to the work of mixers Gary Summers and Greg P. Russell.

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  • Uh, Roger?

    Peter Cullen (voice) in Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen

    The day will come when “Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen” will be studied in film classes and shown at cult film festivals. It will be seen, in retrospect, as marking the end of an era. Of course there will be many more CGI-based action epics, but never again one this bloated, excessive, incomprehensible, long (149 minutes) or expensive (more than $200 million). Like the dinosaurs, the species has grown too big to survive, and will be wiped out in a cataclysmic event, replaced by more compact, durable forms.

    From Roger Ebert’s recent write-up on “Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen.” Even though he mentions an expectation for boffo business in the next graph, I have to ask: Do you really think a $203 million opening isn’t going to yield more and more unrelenting, big budget, massive event films developed from successful franchises with built-in fanbases? It’s only a matter of time before “Voltron” makes it to the screen. And if they had figured out a live action “Thundercats” by now, I’m it would have hit the multiplexes already, too.

    And the bit about “many of those who do see it will find they simply cannot endure it.”  I wonder when was the last time Mr. Ebert saw a film with an audience.  Against all odds, the public is head-over-heels for this thing.

    Anyway, extinction is wishful thinking, my friend.

  • SUNDAY CENTS: Box office ‘Trans’-stormed!

    Transformers: Revenge of the FallenAfter a critical mauling the likes of which is usually reserved for Uwe Boll, Michael Bay’s mega-budget sequel “Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen” opened to the second largest five day opening of all-time behind “The Dark Knight.” Is that surprising? Not really.

    The original film is one of only two non-sequels in the last three years to make over $300 million at the box office and was the highest selling DVD of 2007, beating the much-higher profile third films in the “Spider-Man,” “Shrek” and “Pirates of the Caribbean” franchises. In short, for whatever reason, people loved that film and the two years that passed was short enough to strike while the iron was hot, but long enough to significantly improve effects and get bigger, badder robots on screen for longer.

    $112 million for the three days and $201.2 million since opening Wednesday are the official estimates and that is astounding. Word of mouth could be absolutely poisonous and the film would still out-gross the original and collect over a half billion worldwide. This was the blockbuster that summer has been waiting for and it will take less than 10 days to pass “Up” as the highest grossing film of the year so far.

    The only other new action came from “My Sister’s Keeper” at number five with $11.8 million. For a cancer drama, that’s a fine start, but a troubling amount of it came from Friday, indicating some kind of fanboy rush. Are there groupies for this book like there are for “Twilight?” Just couldn’t wait to see if they added a cancer-free twist at the end? Very odd.

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  • WEEKLY WRAP: Bombshell upon bombshell

    Michael JacksonWeird, unsettling week, this. Here’s how it went down:

    • In the week’s biggest movie news, the Academy threw us all for a loop by announcing a 10-nominee slate for the Best Picture category.

    • But even that shock was dwarfed in scale by the stunning news of Michael Jackson’s passing.

    • And in a rather bleak week for losing talent, we also said goodbye to Farrah Fawcett and Ed McMahon.

    • On a happier note, we laid eyes on two of our most eagerly awaited films of the year — “Public Enemies” and “Antichrist” — and liked what we saw.

    • AMPAS continues its tinkering, this time in the Best Original Song category.

    • The “Transformers” sequel opened to critical scorn even accusations of racism, but is the film totally indefensible?

    • With “The Hurt Locker” finally going public today, we caught up with the film’s breakout star Jeremy Renner.

    • We revealed our age by celebrating the 20th anniversary of Tim Burton’s “Batman.”

    • Continuing the reflective mood, this week’s list considered the greatest directorial debuts of the decade.

    • Speaking of debuts, “The Proposal” gave Sandra Bullock the biggest of her career.