Results tagged “Shia LaBeouf” from Modern Mythology

US film director and executive producer Michael Bay, right, US actress Megan Fox, center, and US actor Shia Labeouf, left, arrive for the German premiere of their movie 'Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen', in Berlin, Germany, on Sunday, June 14, 2009. (AP Photo/Maya Hitij)

CHRISTY LEMIRE
AP Movie Critic

LOS ANGELES (AP) -- A joyless cacophony, an insistent and seemingly endless onslaught, "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen," director Michael Bay's follow-up to the 2007 smash "Transformers" plays more like a parody of a Bay movie.

You name it, it gets shot up, blown up or otherwise obliterated in a massive fiery ball, from suburban homes and cars to aircraft carriers and even an Egyptian pyramid. Along the way, our sense of sanity and humanity also get destroyed, as we feel as if we are being held captive by these walking, talking, shape-shifting robots -- both the good guys and the bad.

The Autobots and Decepticons aren't the only ones assaulting us in their epic battle: Regular people are just as obnoxious -- probably more so -- with their nonstop yelling and yammering. Everyone is overcaffeinated, everyone screams their lines, perhaps so they can hear each other over the explosions and the thunderous score.

Who knows, and more importantly, who cares? It is impossible to become emotionally invested in the Transformers, cool-looking as they may be when the movie settles down for a rare moment (the work of the venerable Industrial Light & Magic), because it's impossible to tell who's doing what to whom. It's all one messy amalgamation of twisted steel and shattered glass, accompanied by generic crunching and shrieking sounds. The only robots with any discernible personality traits, aside from bravery or antagonism, are the Autobot twins, Mudflap and Skids. These are shockingly crass and unfortunate black stereotypes, jive-talking fools who can't read and bumble their way from one mishap to the next. They are Jar Jar Binks in car form.

After only an hour, it all feels boring and numbingly repetitive, and one glance and the watch tells you you've got another solid hour and a half to go.

What's that, you say? You want to know what the "Transformers" sequel is about? How quaint. Basically, it follows the further adventures of plucky, young Sam Witwicky (Shia LaBeouf, seriously straining his likability), who is yet again stuck in the middle of the eternal fight between the noble Autobots and the evil Decepticons.

The mythology is much more dense than that, though, as we learn from several self-serious, expository speeches delivered by Autobot leader Optimus Prime (voiced as always by Peter Cullen), Decepticon leader Megatron (Hugo Weaving) -- oh yes, he's back -- and the elderly Brit, Jetfire (Mark Ryan). Something about millennia of history and oppression, and capturing the energy of the sun. (Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman returned to write the script, along with Ehren Kruger, inspired by the Hasbro Transformer toys and the animated '80s TV show.)

Megan Fox is also back as Sam's impossibly hot girlfriend, Mikaela, with whom he hopes to maintain a long-distance relationship as he heads off to college. (The first time we see her, it's from behind in a pair a Daisy Duke shorts as she's bent over a motorcycle seat; this, and running across the desert while maintaining perfect lip gloss, are all she's asked to do.) Josh Duhamel and Tyrese Gibson also provide eye candy as commanders of a secret team that works alongside the Autobots to hunt down any remaining Decepticons; this requires them to look hot in camouflage as they squint pensively into the sunset.

Laughs are unusual in this brawny endeavor, but if anyone gets them, it's John Turturro as a former secret agent who gets hauled back into the fray. You'll feel as if you've been dragged in, too.

"Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen," a DreamWorks and Paramount Pictures release, is rated PG-13 for intense sequences of sci-fi action violence, language, some crude and sexual material, and brief drug material. Running time: 150 minutes. One and a half stars out of four.

In correspondent Kent Jones' video segment on MSNBC's Rachel Maddow Show last week, he gives his take on actor Shia LaBeouf's  reported mention of an "Indiana Jones" sequel.

The movie industry has suffered from the sequel virus for years.  While I expect the studios to discuss another Indiana Jones flick, I agree with Kent Jones that it may be a step in the wrong direction if they do one.

"Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull" made a boatload of money (more than $780 million worldwide).  That's all well and good but there's a downside: The side effect of grinding out yet another film that turns out to be critically shaky, like Crystal Skull, is that it may degrade a fine collection of movies (before Skull) and an awesome character like Indiana Jones.

Ah, just watch the video -- it's funny.

You can never hear enough interesting stuff about "Y: The Last Man" from me, so here's some more.

The comic book club meeting at Geoffrey's Comics tonight will cover the first volume of the graphic novel series.

But that's not the only reason why I'm here.

I have info on some casting and story hints by likely film director D.J. Caruso revealed last week that are worth noting.

"Y: The Last Man" published by DC Comics shingle Vertigo ran 60 issues and ended its five-year run last summer. The comic by writer Brian K. Vaughn and artist Pia Guerra has been in the hands of New Line Cinema (now part of Warner Bros.) and is to be adapted into a film.

I have already mentioned Caruso reportedly wants to cast his "Eagle Eye" star Shia LaBeouf for the role of Yorick, the last man on earth after a holocaust that kills just about every male on the planet. The name of singer-musician Alicia Keys was floated to play Agent 355.

For the record: I love you Alicia but not as three-fifty (Edit: You guys know I'm talkin' about 355, right?).

Anyway... As the last man Yorick is a living target. 355 is a member of a secret special forces unit who crosses Yorick's path in the story and is charged with protecting him.

But it isn't that cool fantasy-women chasing after you thing depicted in those Axe body spray commercials; this is real danger here. And some would even call the story a little controversial considering that this devastated world run by various factions of women, at least in the initial stages, is borderline terrifying. The book reminds us though that this is what could happen to almost any society after a worldwide disaster.

Expect a wish-casting list for the film version of "Y: The Last Man" with some help from the book club at Geoffrey's later this week. And word has it that "Y" is planned to be a movie series speculatively starting in 2010. If you can't wait, there are reprinted collections of the series that can be ordered at most comic shops and major book stores.

There is a more detailed rundown on "Y" at Splashpage and an interview with D.J. Caruso at UGO.