"Transformers: Dark of the Moon" App Now Available

Paramount Pictures Unveils Interactive Poster for TRANSFORMERS: DARK OF THE MOON App on the App Store

HOLLYWOOD, CA (June 24, 2011) – Paramount Pictures today introduced a TRANSFORMERS: DARK OF THE MOON App that lets iPhone and iPod touch users convert traditional movie posters into an augmented reality experience before their eyes.

The app, TF3: DEFEND THE EARTH, allows iPhone and iPod touch users to locate the closest theaters that have these exclusive interactive posters on display. Upon activation, the poster comes to life via the app and consumers can participate in an immersive game play on their iPhone or iPod touch via the poster’s first-person view of OPTIMUS PRIME. iPhone and iPod touch users simply download the TRANSFORMERS: DARK OF THE MOON App, and they are able to play the game wherever they are in the world and compete on a global level for the top spot. The interactive movie posters will be located in over 250 IMAX® and AMC theaters across the country.

TRANSFORMERS: DARK OF THE MOON is directed by Michael Bay, written by Ehren Kruger and produced by Don Murphy & Tom DeSanto, Lorenzo di Bonaventura and Ian Bryce. The executive producers are Steven Spielberg, Michael Bay, Brian Goldner and Mark Vahradian. When a mysterious event from Earth’s past erupts into the present day it threatens to bring a war to Earth so big that the TRANSFORMERS alone will not be able to save us. The movie stars Shia LaBeouf, Josh Duhamel, John Turturro, Tyrese Gibson, Rosie Huntington-Whiteley, Patrick Dempsey, Kevin Dunn, Julie White with John Malkovich and Frances McDormand. It will be released by Paramount Pictures worldwide on June 29th. © 2011 Paramount Pictures Corporation. All Rights Reserved.

HASBRO, TRANSFORMERS and all related characters are trademarks of Hasbro. © 2011 Hasbro. All Rights Reserved.

The TRANSFORMERS: DARK OF THE MOON App is available for free from the App

Store on iPhone and iPod touch or at itunes.apple.com/us/app/transformers-3-defend-the/id440535402?mt=8 and http://www.tf3ar.com/.

For more information, go to http://www.transformersmovie.com/.

Follow TRANSFORMERS: DARK OF THE MOON on Twitter at www.Twitter.com/TF3Movie.

Like us on Facebook at www.Facebook.com/TransformersMovie.


About Paramount Pictures Corporation
Paramount Pictures Corporation (PPC), a global producer and distributor of filmed entertainment, is a unit of Viacom (NYSE: VIA, VIA.B), a leading content company with prominent and respected film, television and digital entertainment brands. The company's labels include Paramount Pictures, Paramount Vantage, Paramount Classics, Insurge Pictures, MTV Films and Nickelodeon Movies. PPC operations also include Paramount Digital Entertainment, Paramount Famous Productions, Paramount Home Entertainment, Paramount Pictures International, Paramount Licensing Inc., Paramount Studio Group and Paramount Television & Digital Distribution.

About Hasbro
Hasbro, Inc. (NASDAQ: HAS) is a branded play company providing children and families around the world with a wide-range of immersive entertainment offerings based on the Company’s world class brand portfolio. From toys and games, to television programming, motion pictures, video games and a comprehensive licensing program, Hasbro strives to delight its customers through the strategic leveraging of well-known and beloved brands such as TRANSFORMERS, LITTLEST PET SHOP, NERF, PLAYSKOOL, MY LITTLE PONY, G.I. JOE, MAGIC: THE GATHERING and MONOPOLY. The Hub, Hasbro’s multi-platform joint venture with Discovery Communications (NASDAQ: DISCA, DISCB, DISCK) launched on October 10, 2010. The online home of The Hub is www.hubworld.com. The Hub logo and name are trademarks of Hub Television Networks, LLC. All rights reserved. Come see how we inspire play through our brands at http://www.hasbro.com. © 2011 Hasbro, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Third "Transformers" Movie Has Special 3D and IMAX Advanced Showings

“TRANSFORMERS: DARK OF THE MOON” TO OPEN EXCLUSIVELY IN 3D AND IMAX AT 9PM ON TUESDAY, JUNE 28TH

HOLLYWOOD, CA (June 17, 2011) – Paramount Pictures announced today it will open Michael Bay’s TRANSFORMERS: DARK OF THE MOON exclusively at 3D and IMAX locations across the country beginning at 9PM local time on Tuesday, June 28th, allowing moviegoers nationwide to be among the first to see the latest installment in the hit franchise, and the first to be shot in 3D. The movie will open wide beginning at 12AM on June 29th.

“Michael Bay has created an incredibly engaging and immersive 3D experience with this latest movie, one that will undoubtedly be among the most entertaining movie going experiences of the summer,” said Paramount’s Vice Chairman Rob Moore. “Providing fans an opportunity to see it early in 3D is a great way to kick off the movie’s opening.”

TRANSFORMERS: DARK OF THE MOON is directed by Michael Bay, written by Ehren Kruger and produced by Don Murphy & Tom DeSanto, Lorenzo di Bonaventura and Ian Bryce. The executive producers are Steven Spielberg, Michael Bay, Brian Goldner and Mark Vahradian. When a mysterious event from Earth’s past erupts into the present day it threatens to bring a war to Earth so big that the Transformers alone will not be able to save us. The movie stars Shia LaBeouf, Josh Duhamel, John Turturro, Tyrese Gibson, Rosie Huntington-Whiteley, Patrick Dempsey, Kevin Dunn, Julie White with John Malkovich and Frances McDormand. © 2011 Paramount Pictures Corporation. All Rights Reserved.

HASBRO, TRANSFORMERS and all related characters are trademarks of Hasbro. © 2011 Hasbro. All Rights Reserved.

For more information, go to http://www.transformersmovie.com/

Follow TRANSFORMERS: DARK OF THE MOON on Twitter at www.Twitter.com/TF3Movie

Like us on Facebook at www.Facebook.com/TransformersMovie


About Paramount Pictures Corporation
Paramount Pictures Corporation (PPC), a global producer and distributor of filmed entertainment, is a unit of Viacom (NYSE: VIA, VIA.B), a leading content company with prominent and respected film, television and digital entertainment brands. The company's labels include Paramount Pictures, Paramount Vantage, Paramount Classics, Insurge Pictures, MTV Films and Nickelodeon Movies. PPC operations also include Paramount Digital Entertainment, Paramount Famous Productions, Paramount Home Entertainment, Paramount Pictures International, Paramount Licensing Inc., Paramount Studio Group and Paramount Television & Digital Distribution.

New Transformers Trailer Hot Stuff

New Trailer for Michael Bay’s “Transformers: Dark of the Moon” Downloaded Over 6 Million Times in First 24 Hours on iTunes Movie Trailers, Breaking Previous Record

HOLLYWOOD, CA (May 6, 2011) - The new trailer for Michael Bay’s “Transformers: Dark of the Moon” has been downloaded more than 6 million times in its first 24 hours on iTunes Movie Trailers (http://www.apple.com/trailers), becoming the most-viewed trailer in the site's history.

The trailer, which recently debuted exclusively on iTunes Movie Trailers, gives fans a visually stunning sneak peak at this summer's highly anticipated “Transformers: Dark of the Moon."

When a mysterious event from Earth’s past erupts into the present day it threatens to bring a war to earth so big that the Transformers alone will not be able to save us. The third installment of the hit franchise, “Transformers: Dark of the Moon” stars Shia LaBeouf, John Turturro, Josh Duhamel, Tyrese Gibson, Rosie Huntington-Whiteley, Patrick Dempsey, Kevin Dunn, with John Malkovich and Frances McDormand.

“Transformers represents big summer fun at the movies and iTunes Movie Trailers was the ideal place to debut the latest installment to a global entertainment audience," says Amy Powell, Paramount Pictures' Executive Vice President Interactive Marketing & Film Production.


About Paramount Pictures Corporation
Paramount Pictures Corporation (PPC), a global producer and distributor of filmed entertainment, is a unit of Viacom (NYSE: VIA, VIA.B), a leading content company with prominent and respected film, television and digital entertainment brands. The company's labels include Paramount Pictures, Paramount Vantage, Paramount Classics, Insurge Pictures, MTV Films and Nickelodeon Movies. PPC operations also include Paramount Digital Entertainment, Paramount Famous Productions, Paramount Home Entertainment, Paramount Pictures International, Paramount Licensing Inc., Paramount Studio Group and Paramount Television & Digital Distribution.

Review: "Burn After Reading" is the Best Moron Movie

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 10 (of 2011) by Leroy Douresseaux

Burn After Reading (2008)
Running time: 96 minutes (1 hour, 36 minutes)
MPAA – R for pervasive language, some sexual content and violence
WRITERS/DIRECTORS: The Coen Brothers
PRODUCERS: Joel Coen and Ethan Coen
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Emmanuel Lubezki
EDITORS: Roderick Jaynes (Ethan Coen and Joel Coen)
COMPOSER: Carter Burwell
Golden Globe nominee

COMEDY

Starring: George Clooney, Frances McDormand, Brad Pitt, John Malkovich, Tilda Swinton, Richard Jenkins, J.K. Simmons, Olek Krupa, Michael Countryman, Kevin Sussman, Elizabeth Marvel, and David Rasche

I certainly like Coen Brothers movies like No Country for Old Men and True Grit. These are classically formal, traditional Hollywood tales of murderous men and frontier justice done in the Bros.’ idiosyncratic style. These are the kinds of movie that will appeal to broad audiences and attract Oscar attention.

However, I prefer to watch the Bros.’ films that reflect their assumed quirky sensibilities: movies like The Big Lebowski, Intolerable Cruelty, and the 2008 flick, Burn After Reading. “Quirky” may not necessarily be the appropriate word. Coen Bros.’ films like Burn After Reading and the Academy Award-winning Fargo seem strange because, from top to bottom, the characters in these movies are unusually fascinating, especially compared to the characters that appear in most American movies.

Burn After Reading takes place in Washington D.C. It begins with Osbourne Cox (John Malkovich), a CIA analyst who quits his job in a huff and decides to write his memoirs. A compact disc copy of the memoirs ends up in the hands of two moronic employees of Hardbodies gym. After perusing the contents of the disc, Chad Feldheimer (Brad Pitt) and Linda Litzke (Frances McDormand) decide that Cox should pay them money to get it back. Meanwhile, Osbourne’s wife, pediatrician Katie Cox (Tilda Swinton), is having an affair with Harry Pfarrer (George Clooney), a womanizing U.S. Marshal and agent of the U.S. Treasury. When Osbourne refuses to pay them, Chad and Linda try to sell the disc to the Russian embassy, but that only makes things worse.

Joel and Ethan Coen are supernaturally good at creating characters that seem eccentric, odd, and even peculiar. When you look at them closely, however, you may discover how maddeningly, poignantly, and hilariously human they seem to be. Their motivations are petty and absurd, but oh-so familiar. Their lives are exciting, strange, and sometimes boring, and the characters are as dull as they are fascinating. The Coens fill Burn After Reading with such characters. This tale of Washington D.C. insiders and outsiders playing a poorly executed game of espionage is an unforgettable farce because of them.

As usual, the Coens get excellent performances from the cast, acting that brings such atypical screen characters to life. Once again, George Clooney is dead-on as (for the third time) a Coen Bros. fool. Frances McDormand’s sparkling dramatic turn is pitch-perfect for this farce, and she has marvelous screen chemistry with Brad Pitt, who once again proves that he is exceptionally good in supporting roles and character parts.

Burn After Reading creates a confederacy of dunces for our entertainment. This savage comedy about vain idiots who always think they have the goods on everyone else may one day be an American classic. Today, it is a slice of America that captures the entire American pie.

8 of 10
A

NOTES:
2009 BAFTA Awards: 3 nominations: “Best Screenplay – Original” (Joel Coen and Ethan Coen), “Best Supporting Actor” (Brad Pitt), and “Best Supporting Actress” (Tilda Swinton)

2009 Golden Globes: 2 nominations: “Best Motion Picture - Comedy or Musical” and “Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture - Comedy or Musical” (Frances McDormand)

Tuesday, February 01, 2011

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Review: Nicholson, Keaton Sparkle in Excellent "Something's Gotta Give"

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 176 (of 2003) by Leroy Douresseaux

Something’s Gotta Give (2003)
Running time: 128 minutes (2 hours, 8 minutes)
MPAA – PG-13 for sexual content, brief nudity and strong language
WRITER/DIRECTOR: Nancy Meyers
PRODUCERS: Bruce A. Block and Nancy Meyers (uncredited)
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Michael Ballhaus (director of photography)
EDITOR: Joe Hutshing
COMPOSER: Hans Zimmer
Academy Award nominee

COMEDY/ROMANCE with elements of drama

Starring: Jack Nicholson, Diane Keaton, Amanda Peet, Keanu Reeves, Frances McDormand, Jon Favreau, and Paul Michael Glaser

In his new film, Something’s Gotta Give, Jack Nicholson plays Harry Langer, a 63 year-old New York City music executive with a taste for younger (than 30) women. He follows his latest trophy, Marin (Amanda Peet), to her mother’s East Hampton beach house, where he meets her 50-something mother, Erica Barry (Diane Keaton), who takes an immediate disliking to him. However, Harry’s world is turned upside down when he suffers a mild heart attack. When Marin goes back to the city, she leaves Harry at the beach house in the care of her mother and his doctor, Julian (Keanu Reeves). Soon Harry and Julian are competing with each other for Erica’s affections. For Harry, it’s a new stress in his life, as he’s never dated a woman Erica’s age, and Erica hasn’t loved in the decade since her divorce. Awkwardness and hijinks ensue as Jack’s film becomes Jack and Diane’s film.

Simply put, this is a fantastic film, and I enjoyed nearly every minute in; in fact, there are very few missteps in this film. Nancy Meyers, who directed the smash hit What Women Want, has proved herself to have a deft touch with romantic comedies made for the adult sensibilities. Her script is confident and exudes the assurance of a writer who knows exactly where she’s going. You can see the ending coming, but the trip there is a hoot. When it all wraps up, SGG will still surprise you with how it closes the curtain on this very nice love story amongst the senior set.

Jack Nicholson gives yet another of his great performances as an actor. This isn’t one of those times when “Jack’s being Jack.” He really tries to bring a character to life and yet still color it with the charm of his film personality. The surprise is a surprise that she’s a surprise – Diane Keaton. When it comes down to it, this is her film, and the character and situation are very similar to Woody Allen’s Annie Hall, which earned Keaton a Best Actress Oscar. She grabs Erica by the hair and gives it her all – funny, charming, witty, self-deprecating, smart, strong, vulnerable, and human.

Amanda Peet and Frances McDormand are very funny. Peet’s character is more or less just a vehicle to get the leads together, but Ms. Peet makes herself a strong presence in every scene in which she appears. The biggest pity is that Ms. McDormand could have made this film great; not only is she a fine actress, but her character is strong enough to steal scenes no matter who else is around. Each time she’s in the film, she leaves you wanting more. As for Keanu, he is what he is – a pretty face that tries hard, but fails half the time. It’s a good thing that his part is small; there’s no way he could have kept up with Nicholson and Ms. Keaton.

Something’s Gotta Give is a fine romantic comedy filled with love, loss, confusion, passion, and redemption. It’s about the surprises life, both painful and pleasurable, that life has. It’s a fun film for people with grown up minds.

8 of 10
A

NOTES:
2004 Academy Awards: 1 nomination: “Best Actress in a Leading Role” (Diane Keaton)

2001 Golden Globes: 2 nominations: “Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy” (Diane Keaton) and “Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy” (Jack Nicholson)

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Review: North Country is the Legal Thriller as a Gritty Drama

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 44 (of 2006) by Leroy Douresseaux

North Country (2005)
Running time: 126 minutes (2 hours, 6 minutes)
MPAA – R for sequences involving sexual harassment including violence and dialogue, and for language)
DIRECTOR: Nick Caro
WRITER: Michael Seitzman (from the book Class Action: The Landmark Case that Changed Sexual Harassment Law by Clara Bingham and Laura Leedy Gansler)
PRODUCER: Nick Wechsler
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Chris Menges
EDITOR: David Coulson
Academy Award nominee

DRAMA

Starring: Charlize Theron, Frances McDormand, Sean Bean, Richard Jenkins, Jeremy Renner, Michelle Monaghan, Woody Harrelson, Sissy Spacek, Thomas Curtis, and Elle Peterson

Josey Aimes (Charlize Theron) was stuck in a failed marriage, but this last time her husband beat her is the last time, she tells herself. Josey takes her two children, Karen (Elle Peterson) and Sammy (Thomas Curtis), and returns to her Northern Minnesota home, where she moves in with her parents, Hank (Richard Jenkins) and Alice Aimes (Sissy Spacek). Hank still carries an old grudge with his daughter Josey because Sammy was born out of wedlock when Josey was a teenager.

Encouraged by Glory (Frances McDormand), an old friend, Josey takes a job in the area’s predominant source of employment, the iron mines, where her father also works. However, times are tough, and jobs are scarce. The iron mines are traditionally a man’s job, and the men don’t want women there taking jobs from other men. Hank considers his daughter’s presence a threat to him and one more embarrassment on his family. The male workers let their feelings be known by making the mines an exceedingly tough place to work, and they do that through various forms of harassment – in particular sexual harassment.

Josey speaks out against the hideous treatment she and the other women face, but the mine’s owners, management, and fellow workers, including the other women, meet her with resistance. Her difficulties and the scorn she faces affects her relationship with her children, especially her sensitive teenage son, Sammy, who must not only deal with his mother’s sudden infamy, but also with embarrassing details of Josey’s past that she hoped he’d never have to know. When Bill White (Woody Harrelson) a local lawyer and former hometown hero takes Josey’s case on as a potential class action lawsuit, they’re forced to go it alone until dark secrets from the past come forward and open the eyes of those who should have supported Josey all along.

North Country is based upon and is a fictional account of the first successful sexual harassment lawsuit, Jenson vs. Eveleth Mines, which began in the 80’s and was settled in 1998. The courtroom scenes are TV movie quality (complete with the 11th hour miracle), but resonate when Charlize Theron is on the stand. While North Country certainly has compelling subject matter, the script seems to cherry pick scenes that go for maximum emotional impact or shock value. There is nothing subtle here, or new for that matter: men angry that there space and manhood have been challenged; assorted rednecks, cowardly women who won’t stand up for themselves, the pissed-off teenage son, the evil mine owner, the self-righteous and judgmental townsfolk, etc.

However, North Country takes a hard look at how honorable people keep quiet and let wrong go unchallenged for fear of drawing unpleasant attention to themselves. That’s why it would have been nice if the film focused less on giving the lead actress scenes she can chew up to get the attention of award voters and more on developing the other characters. Even the worst characters in this movie come across as interesting with something to say – their side of the story. Sometimes the villainy in North Country is just too thick, even if the villainous actions are not only in the realm of possibility, but actually happen in the real world. Fleshing out the “bad guys” would have so enriched the narrative, giving its central message and ideas some real, forceful impact.

Charlize Theron is so beautiful that a movie’s makeup department has to pile on the ugly to make her look plain. That worked in Monster, the 2003 film that earned her an Oscar, but here, her beauty shows through. She’s the working class babe – a diamond in coal dust. Sometimes, those good looks seem out of place, but when Theron takes an average script and believes in it, she can improve a movie. It’s OK that sometimes what the audience is supposed to think about Josey’s trials and tribulations seem plastered on a big signpost for the audience to see because Charlize looks good even when she’s hamming. Here, she’s mixes drama with a flair for the melodramatic.

North Country viscerally the film plays its subject matter. Director Nick Caro (Whale Rider) might be dealing in stereotypes, but she’s also dealing in truth. The way Caro portrays small town ignorance and bigotry gives her film sharp teeth and a razor-sharp edge. The meanness of a small town populace that capriciously picks its outcasts; the meanness of women who should be sympathetic to other women; and the meanness of co-workers who go overboard in their harassment of fellow workers take a limp courtroom drama with shoddy supporting character development and propel it to truth. Caro and screenwriter Michael Seitzman may often rely on old dramatic relationship formulas – the kind of relationship dynamics that sell soap operas. Still, North Country is an honest drama that takes no prisoners in depicting cowardice and evil. That is enough to take the edge off its faults.

7 of 10
B+

NOTES:
2006 Academy Awards: 2 nominations: best actress (Charlize Theron) and best supporting actress (Frances McDormand)


2006 BAFTA Awards: 2 nominations: best actress (Charlize Theron) and best supporting actress (McDormand)


2006 Golden Globes: 2 nominations: motion picture actor-drama (Charlize Theron) and supporting actress in a motion picture (Frances McDormand)

Saturday, February 25, 2006