Results tagged “transformers”

Last summer The Dark Knight earned $18.5 million in midnight screenings. Then came along Harry Potter last night bringing in a record $22.2 million. Earlier this summer, the horribly-awesome-but-really-horrible Transformers made $16 million on its first night of midnight screenings followed by the "second biggest single day gross in history of $62 million," according to Hollywood.com who notes that reviews for the new Harry Potter "have been the strongest for any film in the franchise and that means word-of-mouth buzz will be strong and will propel the grosses on an upward momentum rather than the typical drop-offs." All that could mean more records to be broken this weekend.

Start off the morning with a nice casual two hour hike/walk starting at Malibu Bluffs Park and heading to the beach led by the California Native Plant Society who will teach you about wildflowers, native grasses and invading weeds. Begins at 10 a.m.

The Sayre fire, which began around 10:30 last night in Sylmar has caused several transformers in the hills above the San Fernando Valley to explode, and as a result, the DWP has taken action to ensure the public's safety and to help the firefighters battle the blaze. According to a press release from early this morning:

The Los Angeles Department of Water and Power began taking major power transmission lines near the Sayre Fire out of service at 5 AM today as the fire moved west toward the I-5 Corridor in Sylmar. Transmission lines were taken out of service due to the threat posed by the fire in order to assist firefighters and protect the public's safety. The I-5 corridor through Sylmar serves as a major utility corridor for the LADWP and other utilities, bringing imported power to Los Angeles from power plants in the Pacific Northwest and Southwestern US. As the fire moved toward the high-voltage transmission lines, the LADWP turned off these lines to ensure the safety of firefighters and the public.

Brutal Massacre: A Comedy

For over six months, since the last trailer before downtown Los Angeles was obliterated in Transformers, there was a preview for an untitled movie. It was intense, we knew was we wanted to see it and it came out on 1-18-08.

Since its teaser trailer screened in front of at the end of an insanely tense sequence in a subway tunnel.

Driving down La Brea today, I spotted a giant yellow Transformer. Let me guess, DVD release promotion? The Transformer towers over an MTA bus at the West Hollywood Gateway When I stopped to get a closer look I found several people standing around it, pulling out camera phones, and taking photos with a real Hollywood action character. More photos after the jump....

Transformers would have been perfect as a 20-minute demo reel for ILM. Instead, it's a long, dull live-action cartoon. And I still don't understand all the fuss about Shia LaBeouf. He's good. Not amazing. Good. No one saw A Mighty Heart at the theater, but it's worth a rental. Angelina Jolie the Actress has been replaced by Angelina the Star, but she doesn't get in the way of a gripping, horrifying story. No one...

I know you stay true when my world is false / everything around’s breaking down to chaos Even after a year and a half of following Mute Math, it still feels like I know a huge secret. People still ask, "what math?" You haven't heard of the electronic, ambient, prog rock, jazz and classically influenced rock quartet making headway through the music industry with a sound that resembles a mix of Sting, Radiohead, Mars...

Ohhh, that was a nice 20 to 30 second rumbler too. Tonight's 4.5 earthquake, minutes before 1:00 a.m., comes on the heels of last night's 7.5 quake in Indonesia, Southern Japan's 6.4 earthquake and a Earthquake Conference, sponsored by SCAG, that took place yesterday morning in Ontario. The epicenter is in the Santa Susana Mountains north of the intersection of the 118 freeway and Topanga Canyon Blvd. near the split of the San Fernando and...

Michael Bay, the #11 box-office earning film director, testified for the prosecution in the Phil Spector trial Monday. His appearance sent a shock of excitement through the ice-cold courtroom; I swear even Dominick Dunne perked up. Michael Bay said he remembers Lana Clarkson. He knew her from his days directing videos and commercials for Propaganda, back when he was the kind of guy who had to direct TV ads instead of blowing shit up,...

In what the Wall Street crowd might call a flight to quality, North American audiences made nose-dived 65% after an auspicious opening, adding 25.6 million to run its total to 128.5 million.

For what seems like the first time in years, The Simpsons actually exceeded expectations. The first movie of America's first animated family took in a whopp(er)ing 71.8 million dollars at the box office this weekend, demolishing even the most optimistic of estimates. Credit Fox's clever marketing campaign and the opportunity to finally see Bart's shrimpy doodle. I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry finished a distant second, making 19 million bucks to raise its total to a dismally robust 71.6 million after two weeks. Why, America? Why?

I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry eked out a win this weekend, just besting Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. The moronic Sandler vehicle earned 34.7 million versus 32.1 million for the latest, infinitely superior Harry Potter installment (now at 207.5M). My guess is that the release of Deathly Hallows cost Order of the Phoenix a second consecutive weekend crown (I still can't believe that Voldermort turned out to be Harry's father!). The other new wide release, Hairspray, pulled in a decent 27.8 million. Travolta is back! Again.

This week ended with the launch of the seventh and final Harry Potter installation. But while the world was consumed with Pottermania, it's important to remember that there were more serious things going on in the world, too - two of them in -Ist cities.

My friend Dawn recently moved to Highland Park and we quickly discovered that there is a theater on Figueroa near Avenue 56 that has movies for $3 on Tuesdays and Wednesdays -- and not second-run movies either, real, live, first-run movies. In the last month we have gone four or five times and saw "Shrek the Third," "Evan Almighty," "Ratatouille" and "Transformers." (Some pros and cons of the Highland Park theater after the jump)...

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix blew away not only the competition, but its own previous franchise records this week with a 140 million dollar opening 5 days. Expect Potter mania to reach its full flowering later this week when the 7th and final book, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, reaches stores. Transformers held steady at number two, dropping only 49% from the previous week (movies typically drop well over 50% after week one) and adding 36 million to its already fat pile of cash. Transformers now sits at 222.9 million and should become the 4th movie this summer to reach 300 million (assuming Order of the Phoenix doesn't do it first).

A review of the Fox Searchlight movie, Sunshine. The movie is directed by Danny Boyle and written by Alex Garland, and stars Cillian Murphy, Chris Evans, Cliff Curtis, Michelle Yeoh, Hiroyuki Sanada, Rose Byrne, Benedict Wong, Troy Garity, and Mark Strong.

To those glorious fools who had hoped against hope that The Island might mark the beginning of the end for Michael Bay's filmmaking career, I am loathe to tell you that such wishes now appear to be in vain. Transformers left the North American box office in a twisted wreckage of smoking metal this week, taking in a (groan) record-setting 152.5 million dollars in its opening 7 days. With regard to Mr. Bay, it seems that The Island was but the end of the beginning. He is now free and able to issue forth Transformers sequels well into the next decade. It is a dark time for the Rebellion.

Transformers: The Game Travellers Tales X-Box 360, PS2, PS3, PC, Wii Possibly the biggest of all the summer movies is the Michael Bay giant robot extravaganza, Transformers. And, as with all Hollywood popcorn movies, there is a new video game to go with the flick. The creatively titled “Transformers: The Game” is, unfortunately, a typical movie game. Short, with crappy controls, and just a little bit of fun, that saves it from totally sucking....

LAist was comped front row seats by the Dodgers due to Malingering being struck by a foul ball last week, and she came back with some great photos, and earlier made fun of 4th of July on Venice Beach. But the biggest stories of the week was that the Mayor's Hot Tamale was revealed, and that a Kwik-E-Mart was erected in Burbank. Phillyist was busy doing the Fourth of July up right, exercising their...

Dear Mr. Bay, I have been waiting for a kick-ass Transformers movie to come out since I was a little kid. I love the Autobots. At one point, I even had plans to marry Optimus Prime, except that he died during one of the Transformers episodes before I had the chance to tell him of my love. When I turned five, I had a Transformers birthday cake. Sometimes I would pretend that my Malibu...

Viral marketing, when done right, can be an absolute blast. Case in point, a pre-Transformers preview for a new J.J. Abrams film, tentatively titled "Cloverfield". What starts out as an innocent, hand-held video of a going-away party quickly descends into front-row footage of the apocalypse, with people running through the streets of New York City dodging flying cars hurled by an unknown source... not to mention a closing shot that already has people talking...

My inner 10-year-old just had an amazing time at "Transformers", while my 26-year-old self took a break from worrying about plot-holes and decent acting. All said, it was everything I wanted it to be. Give reality a break for 2 hours and go enjoy yourself. But if alien robots aren't your thing, there are a few other options opening Friday. Transformers - It isn't even the weekend and this movie has already brought in...

While most of the country was out watching Transformers over the holiday, we in Los Angeles were lucky enough to have the chance to see Rescue Dawn. Directed by the great, mad German Werner Herzog (and inspired by his own 1997 documentary Little Dieter Needs to Fly), Rescue Dawn tells the story of Dieter Dengler (Christian Bale), an American fighter pilot who was shot down over Laos in 1966, captured and tortured by Pathet Lao forces and eventually imprisoned in a POW camp. Given the title of the film (and its rather pointed one-sheet), I don't think I'm spoiling anything by mentioning that Dengler does, in fact, escape from the camp. Knowing that, though, doesn't limit the enjoyment of the film one bit.

Sara Bareilles - Little Voice (Epic) Velvet Revolver - Libertad (RCA) Iron and Wine - Boy With A Coin [SINGLE] (Subpop) Various Artists - Transformers: The Movie Soundtrack (Warner Bros.) 2 Many DJs - 50 Million Soulwax Fans Can't Be Wrong [LIMITED EDITION] [IMPORT] (Waxed Soul) Rilo Kiley - The Moneymaker [SINGLE] (Warner Bros.) Queensryche - Mindcrime at the Moore [LIVE] (Rhino) Face the Music - 2007 Encores! Cast Recording (Drg) Widespread Panic- Capricorn...

You've already gotten the honest mixed reviews of Transformers from Peggy and Robert, but here comes the biased review of a kid who spent his childhood getting smacked around by his mother after begging for these plastic little toy robots on a daily basis. You see, older generations were raised with good old-fashioned family values -- while my generation was taught about the forces of good and evil from a talking robot army sent...

Before I even start this, let me just say that I fall WAY outside of this movie's target demographic, so I'm expecting to be shouted down by hoards of Red Bull-addled teenage boys about this. Also, this movie will probably make more money than we've spent on Iraq in the past three years, but what the hell. Transformers sucks....

Dreamworks and Paramount moved up the release of their summer blockbuster Transformers from 7/4/7 to 7/2/7 when someone realized that opening on Monday instead of Wednesday means you have what may be the very first seven-day opening weekend. If you're like me, you saw the trailers a few weeks ago and thought, "Hey, that looks cool." If you did think that, you won't feel cheated when you celebrate your independence from British rule by...

The Michael Bay-directed, gigantic budget, summer blockbuster comes out today, but some may remember the 1986 animated feature Transformers: The Movie. Released the same year the current film's star Shia LaBeouf was born, the animated classic cast the vocal talents of Orson Welles, Leonard Nimoy, Eric Idle, Judd Nelson and Casey Kasem. The movie also featured the song "The Touch" by Stan Bush. Director Paul Thomas Anderson gave a tongue-in-cheek nod to the anthem...