1. The funniest quote of the week has to go to Michael Bay. “After the three and a half years I’ve spent making these movies, I feel like I’ve had enough of the ‘Transformer’s' world,” the filmmaker told WENN. “I need to do something totally divergent, something without any explosions.”
Indicating he wanted to do something smaller and more intimate, he added: "It's easy to go shoot an art movie in a winery in the South of France. But people have no idea how hard it is to create something like 'Transformers.' They (the critics) review me before they've even seen the movie."
Yes, we do, because you make movies about giant robots and you give ‘em testicles for light relief. But Mikey, do you really think it’s that easy doing a Euro art-wine movie? Just ask Sir Ridley Scott, who had a very bad year indeed with critics and audiences when he and Russell Crowe tried a sophisticated quaffing comedy.
The real rub is that Bay has explosions hard-wired into him. But personally, I’d sanction him doing a few action-infused remakes of stuffy dramas, starting with the musty-old Merhcant-Ivory back catalogue.
"Room With a View to a Kill"?
"Howard’s End of Days"?
"The Remains of the Day After Tomorrow?
2. I have a feeling Bay might’ve made his decision to bow out after seeing the trailer for “2012," in which Roland Emmerich -- who’s been at this sorta stuff since Bay was directing sexytime music videos for Aussie bands -- ends the world in just under three minutes from every conceivable angle. Just wondering, um, what’s left for the movie to do? Still, I’m there for it. My only qualms: (a) end-of-the-world overload might snuff out the commercial chances of “The Road” and (b) it looks like an uncredited remix of 1951’s “When Worlds Collide."
3. I read Pauline Kael’s review of 1987’s “The Stepfather” recently and was delighted to see that she adored it. And with good reason. It’s a brilliant thriller shot through with rich black comedy. And Terry Quinn’s fantastic as the nutty title character. The remake, on the other hand, looks like reheated dog food. And it’s funny how they’re even using a cover of the Cars' "Drive" for “mood." If only all this recycling was somehow environmentally friendly.
4. “The Bride of Frankenstein” is apparently to be remade from a script by Neil Burger, the gent who wrote the decent but sub-“Prestige” duelling magicians flick “The Illusionist." “Bride” is one of my all time favorite films -- a fabulous mix of horror, camp wit, brilliant Gothic set design and Golden Age sophistication -- and thus I’m heartily hoping that this misbegotten resurrection project meets the same dead end that a similarly planned remake from the “American Splendor” team did a few years back.
