Random Movie News to Know – The Week of June 27-July 3 2011

With this weeks release of his third piece in the Transformers saga also comes word of director Michael Bay's intended next project. Anyone who takes in the yearly blockbuster summer films is likely aware of the large scale explosion ridden style of Bay's films but it may come as a bit of a surprise that his next work will dial back the action to make room for a lower budget dark comedy tone. Bay's $20 million budget would go into creating Pain & Gain; the story of a pair of body builders who get caught up in a kidnapping gone bad. It is hard to guess exactly what to expect from Bay's stray from the extravagant path but I for one am always open to seeing a director break free from their current rut and try something out of the norm for them.

Comic book fans and those who follow their big screen counterparts have likely heard the rumors over the past year of Marvel's plans to create short films with lesser known characters to accompany their main feature titles. This plan seems to have been little more than conjecture among fans despite gaining the attention of Marvel studio head Kevin Feige. That will however change with the release of this years big Marvel films Thor, and Captain America: The First Avenger on DVD/Blu-ray. Each release reportedly will contain a short featurring SHIELD Agent Phil Coulson who has appeared throughout the Marvel films leading up to the upcoming Avengers film. Lirrle more is known about the shorts other than their exsistence and that they will be on DVDs but the mere idea that Marvel is embracing the short format for added content leaves many possibilities open for the future of comic book films.

This week also brings about a reworking of two of Hollywood's heavy hitting director's upcoming films. Martin Scorsese‘s current project Hugo Cabret is no longer. Do not fret it is only dead in title as the director has opted to streamline the name dropping the Cabret in favor of a more simple "Hugo." Much like Scorsese, Francis Ford Coppola's Twixt Now and Sunrise will be seeing its release as the dialed back title "Twixt."

Okay maybe not so much a piece of news this week as it was an amusing look at once again director Michael Bay's use of stock footage in his films. /Films presents in their post video and photo proof of shots and sequences Bay has borrowed from other films including The Island and Pearl Harbor.




Lastly and possibly the sole reason I wait until Sunday before I write this last part of my news posts is is in case something stands out to me later like a trailer I saw alongside the screening of The Tree of Life today for the film Another Earth. Distributed by Fox Searchlight Another Earth currently has a rather vague release date of select theaters this summer, and seemingly no intent on revealing which theaters and when at this time.