Filmonic » Transformers

China’s answer to Transformers: Kung Fu Cyborg

Liam — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 22:07:33 +0000

The Transformers movies have provided a lot of laughter, whether it was the comic relief from the parents, the poor storyline, or the robot testicles. However, where as most people just shrug it off as a fun popcorn flick, others go a step further and decided to make their own movie involving kung-fu robots.

From The Guardian:

Anything Michael Bay can do, Hong Kong film-maker Jeffrey Lau can do better. At least, that’s the theory behind Kung Fu Cyborg, China’s answer to the Transformers phenomenon.
Lau, one of the producers on Stephen Chow’s Kung Fu Hustle, came up with the idea after watching Bay’s films and noticing that the various Autobots and Decepticons lacked martial arts skills. “I burst out laughing when watching Transformers,” he says. “The effects were amazing but the robots didn’t know how to fight. So I decided our Chinese superheroes should be kung-fu experts.”
Kung Fu Cyborg was reportedly made on a budget of $14m (£8.5m), a third of which went on motion-capture and CGI technology to produce the robot action. That’s an awful lot less than the most recent Transformers movie, Revenge of the Fallen, which cost an estimated $200m.

So what does a $14 million kung-fu Transformer knock-off look like? This:

Which would you rather see? The Transformers we have now, for Kung Fu Cyborg’s?

Orci and Kurtzman Back Away From T:ROTF’s Racist Bots

Dave — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 18:11:01 +0000

Screenwriters Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman are having a pretty good year, regardless of what you think of their most recent releases, Star Trek and Transformers: Revenge Of The Fallen. Without a doubt, these two are the biggest screenwriting duo currently working, with their next screenplay being the blockbuster-sized Cowboys and Aliens for Dreamworks.

However, Revenge Of The Fallen happens to feature two possible racist robots, Skids and Mudflap, who talk in ebonics, constantly bicker, can’t read and one even has a gold buck-tooth. Add their ape-like build and the fact that T:ROTF is aimed at children, and the internet goes up-in-arms about racial stereotypes that have no reason being in the film.

As quickly as possible, the PR machine has hit the digital streets to quash the uproar the likes of which I haven’t seen since Jar Jar Binks. AP managed to corner Bay:

Director Michael Bay insists that the bumbling ‘bots are just good clean fun.
“We’re just putting more personality in,” Bay said. “I don’t know if it’s stereotypes — they are robots, by the way. These are the voice actors. This is kind of the direction they were taking the characters and we went with it.”
If these characters weren’t animated and instead played by real black actors, “then you might have to admit that it’s racist,” [Tasha Robinson, associate entertainment editor at The Onion] said. “But stick it into a robot’s mouth, and it’s just a robot, it’s OK.”
But if they’re alien robots, she continued, “why do they talk like bad black stereotypes?”
Bay brushes off any whiff of controversy.
“Listen, you’re going to have your naysayers on anything,” he said. “It’s like is everything going to be melba toast? It takes all forms and shapes and sizes.”

Bay obviously doesn’t care if he’s created racist characters and pointed those stereotypes directly at an audience of children, but Orci and Kurtzman seem to be distancing themselves from the decision to include the Twins, something they insist Bay told them to put in the script (hence their near-total absence from the finale sequence).

From Film School Rejects:

They’ve already claimed in other interviews that the gold tooth and several other elements were Michael Bay’s idea, but when I talked to them, they moved beyond that to claim they were disappointed by the characters.
Cole: I heard that the gold tooth was Michael Bay’s idea, but do you have any response to those who found The Twins offensive?
Orci: Number one, we sympathize. Yes, the gold tooth was not in the script, that’s true.
Kurtzman: It’s really hard for us to sit here and try to justify it.I think that would be very foolish, and if someone wants to be offended by it, it’s their right. We were very surprised when we saw it, too, and it’s a choice that was made. If anything, it just shows you that we don’t control every aspect of the movie.
Cole: Were you offended by them?
Kurtzman: I wasn’t thrilled. I certainly wasn’t thrilled.
Orci: Yeah, same reaction. I’m not easily offended, but when I saw it, I thought, ‘Someone’s gonna write about that.’”

Smart move, guys, just point towards your director and run the eff away! Live to write predictable tent-pole films another day!

Britain’s Got Talent winners Diversity incorporate Transformers, Superman and X-Men into routine

Liam — Sat, 30 May 2009 21:50:37 +0000

The big event this weekend in the UK was the final of Britain’s Got Talent. The winners were a dance act called Diversity, however the reason I am posting this is because they managed to incorporate some well known superheroes and robots into their winning routine. At the beginning the group ‘transform’ to form a human Transformer, then for a few seconds we hear a remix of the X-Men: The Animated Series theme tune, and then half way through we get a visit from Superman. The choreographer obviously has a bit of a fanboy side to him. Watch below!

Diversity will perfom in front of The Queen in a few months time. Maybe they could throw some Iron Man, Spider-Man and Batman into the routine. I’m sure The Queen will like it.

Megan Fox’s Audition Tape From Transformers

Liam — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 17:20:46 +0000

Walmart have kindly released Megan Fox’s audition tape from the first Transformers movie. At first I was surprised that she even had to audition, but what surprised me even more was that there was no nudity involved. You’d have though a young actress would have to show a bit of flesh to get a part in a Michael Bay movie. It turns out things are a bit more professional than previously thought.

Behind The Scenes Of Transformers 2

Liam — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 15:45:48 +0000

As part of its promo for the upcoming Transformers DVD (the boxes with the Bumblebee mask, the Optimus Prime mask, and the Transforming Megatron), Wal-Mart are showing behind-the-scenes videos from the set of Transformers 2.

The first video you’ll see is footage from the first day of filming at Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, and the second video shows how ILM created the robots in the first film.

Coolness: Metal Optimus Prime Sculpture

Liam — Mon, 26 May 2008 11:01:30 +0000

If you have $4,838.71 spare why not get yourself a seven foot Optimus Prime sculpture?

Who would have thought that old pieces of junk could be worth that much?

Buy yours here!

Sources: /film and NerdApproved

Transformers Alternate Ending

Liam — Fri, 09 May 2008 17:20:22 +0000

I didn’t even know this existed, but an alternate ending for Transformers has appeared online. It’s a lot better than the ending we got last year, and makes Transformers 2 seems strangely more exciting.

Check it out below!

Michael Bay Gets Kicks From Confusing Fans Over Transformers 2

Liam — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 17:47:28 +0000

Transformers director Michael Bay has updated his blog, which reads as follows:

Dear Transformer Fans,
As you may know, last time a number of things happened during the making of Transformers. One of which was a script leak that let you all know what was going to happen in the film. This time we are more prepared. I am going to tell you that everything you read about Transformers 2 may be false, so that if the script leaks again you will not believe it. Mwah!
Sincerely,
Michael
xxx

That was not what he said at all…I just made that up.

Here is what he actually said:

Sorry everyone, everything you are reading (other then we are shooting in Philly) is false. We are going to give so much disinformation on this film to confuse everyone -
Michael

So beware Transformer fans, there may be some bullshit going around the internets! (Or it may actually be true, but because we are told it may be false we may think it is bullshit)