Posts by Anthony Smith3

And this is just more of the same...

rustyscout34 said:Personally, I thought all The Ring movies were great. Even the third part had a perfect fantasy ending, though I know plenty of purists and fans of Tolkien will probably argue against it (they miss the showdown with Sauron and the whole industrialization angle, which honestly would've been a pretty bad ending in my book). Thinking about this topic, some random movie just popped into my head: I Am Legend with Will Smith. Not only did the ending let me down (including that alternative version), but the entire second half—all that religious nonsense with the daughter and the fighting monsters... man, the movie could have been so much better if they just stuck to the book. Cast Away with Tom Hanks also had a totally crappy Hollywood ending. I mean, who actually falls for the joke that after a dangerous ocean voyage on a raft, you're suddenly saved and perfectly adjusted to civilization after just one camera cut, despite having spent months talking to a VOLLEYBALL!?! War of the Worlds with Cruise started off great too; the plot was developing nicely until it hit that endgame stretch filled with mindless bombs, action, and an ultimately disappointing happy ending (the idea that aliens traveling at light speed in spaceships were killed by microbes (!) — if that isn't the peak of stupidity, I don't know what is. Sure, it's like that in the 1898 book, but science has progressed since then, and so has the average viewer...). Batman Begins also really disappointed me with its finale. The movie spends the whole time on character development and psychological depth, only to turn into a brainless rock concert full of flashy explosions and stupid train scenes. I'll also mention Knowing which I watched recently, featuring Cage. It starts off so well and builds tension, only to force in the whole formula involving aliens, some crazy lady and her daughter, Noah's ark, Adam and Eve... it was just a disaster and the epitome of stupidity. I can think of others, but I'll add them later.

I don't buy it. IMO, the ending was actually pretty solid and realistic, even if some people want to overanalyze everything. I don't get why everyone is making such a huge deal out of one tiny detail. I wouldn't even know where to start trying to figure out a superior race.Just because they're smarter doesn't mean they're right. Either their immune systems are on autopilot or they’re just built tougher than us.I honestly don't see where you're getting this from... we aren't even talking about ID4 here. It wasn't like Cruise personally wiped out every single alien at the end like Will Smith; the military fought them, which goes without saying... they just failed miserably. To be real, Cruise didn't do anything in that movie that an average guy wouldn't have done... he was just fighting to stay alive and protect his kids. The only part where... The guy who survived. He shouldn't have...

Not that I'm looking for a fight... just putting my two cents out there.👍

Two interactive posters...

POSTER 1
POSTER 2

Here’s an official site preview for the one launching tomorrow...

OFFICIAL SITE PREVIEW

A few more updates...

A few more just popped up...

Better quality shots here...

Straight from Entertainment...

A few more unofficial posters...

Richard Wilson4 said:O'Donnell was in two Batman movies, Thelma & Louise, and that one John Grisham adaptation...

And Alicia has starred in way more A-list flicks than the guys mentioned here, who were always just B-list actors...

LOL...like I said before...he popped up as a total nobody in Batman Forever, then showed up in Batman & Robin (not exactly a flex), wandered around Hollywood for a bit...and then vanished after Vertical Limit. Sorry...but he was never an A-lister...just another pretty face from the 90s (unlike Brad Pitt, who actually put in the work to become a legend). Same goes for Alicia Silverstone...she blew up with Clueless, showed up in Batman & Robin (which doesn't help her case), did her one good thing in Blast from the Past, and then basically faded into B-movies and TV stuff...honestly, I haven't watched anything of hers since. Those are actual A-listers...come on...

The only names here actually worth mentioning as real A-listers who either disappeared or weren't big until recently are Mickey Rourke, Helen Hunt, Kevin Spacey, Cuba Gooding Jr., Michael Keaton, Bill Paxton, Val Kilmer, and a few others...those were real stars, top-tier talent...

Richard Wilson4 said:Look, don't drag guys like Dolph or Dudikof into this discussion, because let’s be real—they were never top-tier A-list talent...

It's pretty simple: if you had their posters tacked up on your bedroom wall when you were just some 14-year-old kid, it just means they were B-list actors... 😂😂😂

What does that even have to do with anything? LOL

Like I said before... Dolph was always a way bigger star than someone like Chris O'Donnell or Alicia Silverstone... and even Dudikoff used to mean more to audiences back in the day than those two combined...

John Taylor19 said:Well, if we’re playing by those rules, then Dolph Lundgren never actually retired either. The guy is constantly on some set somewhere—and sure, half of it isn't even worth watching, but hey, he's working... I was really talking about that specific "A-list" presence, that omnipresent aura where their names just echo in everyone's head the second you mention the genre.
When you brought up action, I assumed you had Schwarzenegger and Stallone etched into your brain, or maybe Jim Carrey for comedy... but things aren't quite like that anymore. Honestly, we wouldn't even be having this debate if things hadn't shifted.

Take those two idiots, Haim and Feldman, for example. They were basically the teen idols of America; nothing could move without them. It was all popcorn, hamburgers, chocolate, and milkshakes, man... and then, suddenly, it's like they were abducted by Mulder’s aliens or something. Just vanished. Like they ran some sort of experiment on them and tossed them back down to see how they'd react—one burned up on reentry and the other made a pretty messy landing.

But looking now... there's definitely something to talk about here. To be fair, he's actually improved a ton lately. It’s still not peak cinema—we're still talking about B-tier action for a specific crowd—but there's a clear upward trend... especially since he started directing his own stuff. I see action fans reviewing him, and they're actually pretty happy. Now that he's back in the spotlight with The Expendables, people act like he was always their favorite hero... nothing but praise.

Kurt basically stepped away from acting after crushing it in Death Proof. He’s got some stuff lined up for 2010, but honestly, looking at his resume, there's zero reason to feel bad. He’s got hits like The Thing, Escape from New York & Escape from LA, Big Trouble in Little China, Tango & Cash, Backdraft, Tombstone, Stargate, and Breakdown under his belt... pretty solid run if you ask me.

Sly actually tried to get him on the Expendables cast... but unfortunately, he turned him down.

Official US website trailer and poster...



Official US website

Official US website trailer

northerncrane4 said:And why does this idea keep dragging on—that Michael Bay just isn't "given" a decent script? Who exactly is "withholding" it from him? Does he even actually want a good script in the first place?

And why wouldn't they?! Look, the foundation of any movie—whether it's a massive blockbuster or some indie drama—is the story. It should be the starting point, though clearly, people don't prioritize it until they're already on set. At the end of the day, Bay isn't the one writing these things; he just takes the offers that land on his desk, which are almost always just big-budget spectacles. I'd ask if you think Transformers 2 had a good script, but let's be real, you probably haven't seen it, so why bother? My take: absolutely not. And I'm not just talking about the plot; the characters, the development, the actual dialogue... it’s all basically zero.
The real question is whether the producers behind Transformers 2 actually give a damn about the writing. Clearly not. Because Bay himself has had access to scripts that actually make sense and have substance—I'm talking about his first three films.

Jessica Gonzalez said:Look, when a movie costs 200 million dollars, the final product really needs to be top-tier in every single department. I think it's pretty obvious that these massive blockbusters end up hurting other film projects, and it's clear that the advertising for these movies takes up all the space meant for everything else, making these kinds of mindless spectacles the default choice for theaters. I'm 26, so I'm still pretty young and I absolutely love action movies, but I guess my brain still works enough to want something more than just 150 minutes of endless noise and explosions. If that's all I wanted, I probably would've just spent a few hundred bucks on fireworks and set up my own mindless spectacle in the backyard. I just can't get behind an industry where Michael Bay is the main attraction.

Look, we all end up dead eventually... everything else in life is just subject to being manipulated or screwed over one way or another, good or bad. And even if that sounds illogical, we've been proven wrong a dozen times over the last few years. Just look at Spider-Man 3, The Incredible Hulk, Pirates of the Caribbean 2 & 3, The Matrix Reloaded & Revolutions, the new Star Wars trilogy, and a whole list of others I won't bother naming. They're all massive summer blockbusters—some even cost more than Transformers—but they sure as hell didn't work perfectly.
Besides, why should I care if something else suffers because of this? It’s not like I pulled $200 million out of my own pocket, so frankly, I don't give a damn. Plus, nobody can honestly guarantee that whatever else they make would be any better than this. We all know why Hollywood cuts those massive checks; they aren't about to stop churning out ultra-expensive summer blockbusters when they're clearly printing money. If producers thought putting $200 million into a different project was a smarter move, they'd probably do it. But looking at the box office numbers after just five days, it's obvious they made a solid investment since they've already recouped their costs. Whether you want to be part of the crowd that handed them that cash or how you choose to spend your afternoons is entirely up to you—clearly, we both made the same choice to see the movie, even if we have different takes on it. You're whining about it... me? I couldn't care less. Life goes on.
Same here... since the movie did okay—which counts as a win—a third one is a total lock in two or three years. But from what I've heard, Bay won't even be directing it; they'll just hire some other guy to keep the gears turning. At the end of the day, Bay is just a cog in the machine, not the main attraction. The real stars are the Transformers, and people will show up to see them in a few years regardless of who's behind the camera.🤷

At the end of the day... I can only say I agree with one comment I stumbled upon regarding Transformers 2 recently, which basically goes like this...

The plot is total trash, and honestly, the acting and dialogue are just as bad. Transformers 2 is basically just two and a half hours of loud CGI and explosions—nothing more. If you're down for that, go for it, because there’s zero substance otherwise.

Michael Bay kills it with action, but for the love of God... someone just give him a decent script!

briskhound2 said:Look, Bay has his strengths, sure, but I wouldn't quite label him just a "craftsman"... When he's handling independent projects—which, so far, has mostly been in a producer role—he shows a real knack for turning out stuff that actually holds up quality-wise (like that remake of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre)... And while his movies are definitely visual spectacles, he always tries to sneak a bit of his own DNA into those big, flashy frames. The first thing that jumps out at me is his use of the "rotating shot"—he can take a totally static scene and inject some actual life into it... Sadly, though, his creative spark still seems stuck on the surface level, purely visual. Maybe if he stepped away from the massive producers and those bloated Hollywood budgets for a bit...

Yeah... who knows... maybe things would change then. He started out with a relatively small budget for Bad Boys—around $23 mil—crushed it at the box office, and once you're on that level, they basically let you off the leash. As his films kept raking in more cash, his budgets just kept ballooning... which led to his movies getting progressively worse (though I wouldn't put The Rock or Armageddon in that camp). They started paying less attention to the story and more to the style... experimenting more and more with camera work and effects with every new release... but honestly, IMO, he always manages to deliver at least some entertainment (depending on what you're into). Take Transformers 2, for example... watched them the other day... man, that movie has less brainpower than Terminator Salvation and Wolverine combined, and even those aren't exactly geniuses. There's so much stupidity, continuity errors, and cheesy sentimentality in there, and you could summarize the plot in three short sentences (Sam finds a piece of the AllSpark, the evil Transformers find Sam, and Sam runs from the Transformers while the good ones protect him)... but personally, those 150 minutes flew by and I actually had a good laugh.

Something current...

A toast to Bay!

Internet trends show that people love hating on certain directors. Namely: Uwe Boll, Paul Anderson, Stephen Sommers and Michael Bay. I’ve got my own useless takes on them, obviously, but I’m focusing on Bay right now—yeah, I said it—MICHAEL F*CKING BAY.

I've never really gotten why everyone hates the guy, especially since he’s easily one of the top action stylists in Hollywood. Look, my total dislike for TRANSFORMERS 2 hasn't changed the fact that I respect Bay and how he stages insane, hair-raising action. Nobody in Hollywood today does grand scale mayhem like Michael Bay (not to mention making every actress look like a goddess), so I figured it was time to give him some credit.

Directing-wise, my top Michael Bay films have to be: THE ROCK (it's his best, and that scene below still gives me chills), ARMAGEDDON, THE ISLAND and TRANSFORMERS. They're all solid watches with sharp cinematography, massive scores, and, of course, mind-blowing destruction. Even as a producer through Platinum Dunes, whether you like the remakes or not, you can't deny that THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE and the Friday the 13th remakes tower over other non-Bay versions like ONE MISSED CALL or THE OMEN. He's clearly hitting the mark there.

I'm not trying to be a hater; I'm just giving credit where it's due because Michael Bay doesn't get nearly enough praise online. Even though his last movie let me down harder than a bad breakup, I'm still pulling for him and can't wait for the next Michael Bay films demolition derby. To wrap things up, here are some of my favorite action clips directed by Bay! Enjoy!

More at this LINK

Carug... and then both the living and the dead... that's the first thing that pops into my head.