To put it in VH1-like parlance, Paramount Pictures are having the worst week ever. On Friday, two of their top execs — John Lesher and Brad Weston — were ousted.
And maybe this is part of the reason why? Aside from “Star Trek,” admittedly a big hit, the year’s biggest so far, Paramount, like many major studios, are having a hard time finding consistent hits. Eddie Murphy’s “Imagine That” recently tanked big time and now an angry email memo allegedly from “Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen” director Michael Bay has surfaced, and the filmmaker is purportedly pissed about the mishandled and lame marketing on the picture so far.
“I have been waiting, and waiting for the anticipation of an ‘event movie’ to make it into the ‘public zeitgeist,’ Bay supposedly wrote according to TMZ, who says they scored a copy of the memo. Bay calls the print campaign an”abject failure,” with a “pathetic presence” in the L.A. Times and was unhappy with the film’s almost non-existence at the the MTV Movie Awards. “So lame,” he wrote (that sounds like something Bay would say, no?)
“A studio that does not make [the opening of a movie] an event…. will get bitten in the ass. Besides my good friend Steven [Spielberg], Jerry [Bruckheimer] has made a lot more successful movies then (sic) all of us. Is this is a cash issue with your company? Is there some clever idea why are we not spending? I’m not sure.” Vulture cheekily notices how Bay butchers the English language with more quotes. A good laugh.
“Transformers 2” is already getting mixed reviews overseas and apparently there are grumblings even within the geek community here in the U.S. from writers generally into Bay’s work. Although embargoes on reviews are presumably still in place, some can’t resist the urge to throw digs in related articles. “Transformers 2 is hugely bloated, incoherent, stupid and boring, seemingly all because Bay was free to indulge in his most Bayish impulses. The first film is rescued by the restraining hand of Spielberg; that hand is noticeably gone here,” Devin at Chud writes.
However, is “Transformers 2” critic proof even if all its constituents turn against it? Feels like it. We’ll find out soon enough, the movie opens this Wednesday.
I can't believe that this was actually accidentally leaked. Seems more like a marketing ploy, IMHO. After all, everyone's talking about it on the web. And how timely, given that the film opens this week…
Regardless, I'll be there on opening night.
I'm gonna have to agree though. Releasing a million Tv Spots doesn't cut it. Tf07's marketing felt much more epic than this one.
"Releasing a million Tv Spots doesn't cut it"
ha, really?
no. You can release as much as you want but that doesn't mean people will care. The Tv spots so far feel all the same. Tf07's spots were unique and exciting. There's something about this one that just feels boring. Maybe because there are too many robots yet they're still using that tactic of contrasting awesome robot life with normal human life. There are too many fucking robots here, they need to pick a side–all robot movie or all human movie–that tactic is also nullified when some robots themselves are comedic
Actually I think it 'cause in TF07 you saw alot of personality in the robot moves WHILE they're doing something cool. Like Bonecrusher crashing into the bus. You can tell he's a rageful bastard AND you get to see something cool. The part they use over and over here is the demolisher-eating-all-of-our-sand one. What does that say about the robot, besides that he's big?
Maybe the spots are boring because the movie sucks like all reports are saying so, even from the nerd community.
Trippman, I like how you remember the names of those personality-less robots who weren't developed at all. But I agree, Bonecrusher gave the best performance.
The Playlist It would be great if I could see different handles for different writers who all huddle under the "The Playlist" name, 'cause some of you are real retards while others are damn near intellectuals.
Anyway, you can make a great spot. But you must be an economist:
http://is.gd/19ALI
Mickey Pagels No development doesn't constitute no personality. Bay uses pretty much the same tactic Nolan did in Batman Begins and Dark Knight, where he tries to establish a character in the few seconds he's onscreen with distinguishing archetypal traits. And there's no way you can say that have NO personality, they have lots of personality, but cliche one, but not NONE. Quite the opposite
In fairness, about three robots in Transformers registered as having some sort of personality, which is more than can be said about ANY human in that movie.
I'm so fucking done with Michael Bay, I'm not even gonna watch this shit on cable. I realized I'd seen all his movies, and only recently had it dawned on me that the only one I liked, Bad Boys 2, was simply because it was so audaciously obnoxious, rude, crude and violent that it was mostly admiration than any real pleasure. Seriously, he's shown us all his tricks now- can Michael Bay go away?
about three robots in Transformers registered as having some sort of personality, which is more than can be said about ANY human in that movie
WRONG AGAIN. I really hate when people try to fix irrationalities with more irrationalities. Please get your vendetta-driven heads out of your asses if you want your posts to be anything more than nonsensical bitching.
Besides Megan Fox, ALL the characters had personality, from robot to human. You keep confusing personality with development.
So I guess "personality" is defined as "being of a different color."
I really like the personalities in Tyler Perry movies.
Trippman, you're defending eighth rate junk food.
While you're defending the right to stay stupid. At the end of the day I make sense while you're lying simply to be more anti-Bay. Which is odd because one only needs to tell the truth about Bay to be anti-Bay, so you're pretty much making an ass of yourself for nothing.
Right. I'M the retard here. God. Nice discourse, guys.
I've lied about my opinion? I've lied that Transformers is a movie for retards? Trippman, are you sure you're at the right website?