Year: 2009
Running Time: 107 Minutes
Rated: R
SRP: $ 39.99
Studio(s): 20th Century Fox
Release Date: January 3, 2010

Film/Feature: C
Jennifer’s Body doesn’t aim much higher than a B-movie throwback, but unfortunately doesn’t get out of the C-class of mediocre shlock. It is written by Diablo Cody who arrived on the scene and won an Oscar for the sharp-witted indie drama, Juno (2007) and is directed by Karyn Kusama who earned her own accolades with Girlfight (2000). So Jennifer’s Body gets the unique opportunity of being a horror film that’s driven creatively by two women. What was the most terrifying thing they could come up with? High school girl-on-girl hate–something that can be truly terrifying, and can reach incredulous levels of cattiness, but doesn’t pay off as one would hope.

The setting is Devil’s Kettle High School and Jennifer Check (Megan Fox) and Anita “Needy” Lesnicki (Amanda Seyfried) are childhood friends who grow up to be BFFs (Best Friends Forever) but realize that they may have outgrown their bond. Jennifer keeps her around because her good looks allow her to stand out even more against Needy’s frumpy Ugly Betty syndrome. Needy has a stable and faithful boyfriend, Chip (Johnnie Simmons) who struggles with her timeshare away from Jennifer. One night, Needy is dragged out by Jennifer to see a band called Low Shoulder at the nearby Melody Lane tavern. The girls are separated after a fire brings down the bar. Jennifer goes with the band, led by front man Nikolai (Adam Brody) leaving Needy to drive home alone. The band mates intentions are not good, and it’s not what you think. Trying to ensure they hit it big, Low Shoulder wants to sacrifice Jennifer because they think she’s a virgin. And this is where the wheels come off the tricycle.

It takes a great suspension of disbelief to think that Megan Fox can play the role of a girl in high school–no one walks around with that kind of confidence, even when they look like Fox. But to convince me, that this band thinks that Jennifer is a virgin when she’s built like that, and chooses to sacrifice her, is one of the several far reaches this story makes. The town “goes to shit,” so to speak, when she survives, and surprise-surprise, Jennifer’s not a virgin. Instead of performing a proper sacrifice, Low Shoulder unleashes the succubus onto the boys of Devil’s Kettle. Jennifer seduces those willing boys into her various lairs around town and makes them look like like a pile of pizza vomit.

After Jennifer explains what happened to her, Needy gets the inkling to search the “Occult” section of their library–because every school library has one of those–and realizes that she’s the only one who can stop her. From there the film kind of falls apart and doesn’t know when to end. It suffers from Cody’s all-too-cute dialogue with dated references that will make future viewings groan-worthy. I liked that boys were the prey, and the sexual tension between Needy and Jennifer made for both an interesting complication and teasing motive, but Jennifer’s Body needed to go either more on the shlock, or more on the serious horror. There’s too much of a juggling act that’s being performed here with attempts at witty high school comedy, gothic stylings, and absurd situations and it’s really unclear what kind of film Kusama and Cody were trying to make.

The one saving grace of the film for me came at the end when Needy hunts down Low Shoulder and gives the film a proper ending. Sincerely, it’s one of the slickest closing credits I’ve seen all year, shot mostly in high contrast and super-saturated still images of the revenge scene in its aftermath. Had a majority of Jennifer’s Body was shot like that, I’d be raving about this film. Contrary to Fox-haters, she isn’t bad in the film, and neither is the more talented Seyfried (Mamma Mia), but this script is pretty bad. I stood on the side of the fence with those who enjoyed Cody’s script in Juno, and still do, The United States of Tara is clever, but Jennifer’s Body is a real letdown.

Video: B+
Megan Fox fans will have plenty to droll over seeing her in this high definition 1080p AVC-encoded transfer in 1.85:1 aspect ratio. Viewers will also find a color-rich picture that’s flips between high-detail images and stylistically soft shots. Primary and secondary colors jump out nicely on the screen, skin tones and the varying complexion quality in the high schoolers are clearly visible. In certain scenes, there is some filtering and de-saturation going on, my favorite scene is when we see Needy in the correction facility where everyone is wearing orange jumpsuits in this dank and dirty jail. Lighting is well-balanced whether the scene is outside during the middle of the afternoon or under moonlight. Night scenes are very good but admittedly could go a tad darker. Contrast is especially strong at daytime and naturally lit scenes and shadow delineation is spot on where it needs to be.

Audio: B+
Stomping into your home theater, Jennifer’s Body gets a 5.1 English DTS-HD Master Audio track. It starts out subtle with a front and center channel-heavy, dialogue-driven but bursts into style when the fire at the Melody Lane tavern eventually builds to a first-class explosion. After that there lots of activity in all five channels to add atmosphere in each scene. I liked how there wasn’t too many horror score cues to tell you when something scary was coming. That can be really overused, but the songs in the soundtrack are pumped up and aggressive whenever they make their way into the film. While the film is hit or miss, this blu-ray is technically on solid ground. Other audio selections include: French, Spanish, Portuguese 5.1 Dolby Digital tracks and subtitles are available in English SDH, Spanish, Portuguese, Mandarin, and Thai.

Extras:C+
If you really love this film, there are two commentary tracks to sift through, but what made this category suffer in the rating was the quality of the remaining supplements as well as the lack of replay value.

Audio Commentary by Director, Karyn Kusama and Screenwriter, Diablo Cody Kusama pushes the commentary and Cody adds to her comments. These two truly believe in this film, and that’s a good thing, but they tend to have a very high opinion of every detail of the theatrical cut of Jennifer’s Body. One of the more refreshing things, however, is getting the perspective of the genre through the eyes of two women.

Audio Commentary by Karyn Kusama is found on the Unrated extended version of the film and her comments are preceded by a small red clapper icon at the bottom right in scene specific moments. Kusama discusses mostly the differences between the two versions of the film and I found this to be a tighter, more concise and more enjoyable.

There are six Deleted Scenes HD (13:55) reveal a handful of scenes that don’t add a great deal but the inclusion of them shows how they slowed down the pacing even though they added information that helped to connect a few scenes in a more coherent manner.

Video Diaries HD (12:51) These aren’t as cool as they sound or as inclusive as one would hope. It’s mostly clips done by a hand-held camcorder with poor quality shooting behind-the-scenes stuff following cast members and Diablo Cody around the set. There’s not much worth a second viewing here honestly.

Jennifer’s Body: The Dead Pool HD (14:00) Is a breakdown of the climax of the film, the pool scene. Interviews are done with Kusama and Cody but there’s an in-depth look at how the Fox’s special effects “jaw” was created.

Megan Fox is Hot HD (0:56) An absolutely pointless montage of Megan Fox scenes.

Megan Fox “Peer Pressure” PSA SD (0:40) Okay, while the last extra was lame, this though, was funny.

Gag Reel SD (4:55) Again, not usually an extra that’s going to get a lot of viewings past the initial screening, the gag reel shows the cast and crew clowning around but too much of the “gags” are drowned out by the “Low Shoulder” song used in the film.

Fox Movie Channel–Life After Film School With Diablo Cody SD (26:26) is one of the more substantial extras. I’ve never been a fan of these Life After specials as the questions are usually softball questions served up by three film students and in this episode, they interview Cody about her career path, her creative writing process and the inspiration behind Jennifer’s Body.

Trailers for Wrong Turn 3: Left for Dead, (500) Days of Summer, and Something, Something, Something Darkside.

Disc 2 is a Digital Copy Disc for downloading Jennifer’s Body into laptops, iPhones, and other portable media devices. The expiration date is 12/28/11.

Overall Shock Value: C+
Jennifer’s Body tries to toe that line of 80′s shlock and modern-day trips down horror lane but misses the mark on both fronts. While Cody’s pop culture-filled script and voice worked in Juno, that same kind of poetic flair didn’t match the tone of Jennifer’s Body, which tries very hard to create brooding fright through style and atmosphere. Technically, the film shines, but the extras are best explored by devoted fans of Jennifer’s Body. This isn’t a total loss, but I’m reserved to recommend this blu-ray (or DVD) as a Rental.

Movies:

Megan Fox (Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, Jennifer’s Body)

Shola: I know that Megan Fox is the girl that you’re SUPPOSED to dig, but she earned points with me for Jennifer’s Body. She could’ve followed Transformers with something more overtly sexual, but instead opted to dive directly into the realm of Diablo Cody’s geek horror movie which, remarkably, isn’t as sexual as you think. Think what you will about the movie (it gets my vote for most underrated cheap thrill of the year), but Megan Fox did a fantastic job as the High School cool girl with a demonic twist. Really!

Matt: It would be a shame to let something like overexposure get in the way of acknowledging that the woman has got the tools to make us drool. Yeah, I wrote that.

Kayode: Jennifer’s Body certainly could have been better in general, but Fox definitely had her moments where she was downright scary.

Zoe Saldana (Star Trek, Avatar)

Kayode: I actually remember her from her bit role in the first Pirates of the Caribbean, and even back then, I knew I wanted to see more of her. She’s definitely been putting in work the past few years, and having major roles in two of the biggest films this year, period, certainly puts her ahead of the curve.

Shola: Zoe started pulling ahead of my former favorite, Rosario Dawson, shortly after she started doing more geek roles. Star Trek started the heart palpitations, but Avatar definitely sealed the deal. Anyone that sees that spirited Na’vi princess fighting fiercely to protect her land (and her dude) would have a hard time saying no to anything this woman wanted. Simply amazing…just don’t count our Rosario yet.

Naomie Harris (Ninja Assassin, 28 Days Later)

Kayode: Eventually, people are gonna have to start giving this woman her due. That girl from 28 Days Later is still there, and if you go crazy on her, she take you out in a heartbeat!

Shola: Yes, she was super hot in 28 Days Later. She had that natural beauty that I tend to fall for. No make up with a tad of around-the-way normalcy. She was ride-or-die violent in 28 Days Later, which made her perfectly suited for a zombie-killing guy like me.

Television:

Jasika Nicole (Fringe)

Shola: Did you know that she’s an accomplished artist as well as a geek? No? I did after seeing this beauty week after week in Fringe, and she certainly became a compelling reason to watch the show. I mean, sure Fringe is GREAT, but Jasika Nicole makes everything that much better….nevermind the fact that maybe she likes the female attention a little more than she’d like MY come-ons. Alas…

Kayode: She definitely does wear her geek heart on her sleeve. They’re giving her a little more to do this season, thankfully. . . .but I wanna see her shoot somebody! Or, knowing Fringe, somebody that turns into someTHING!!!

Morena Baccarin (V)

Kayode: Being sexy AND creepy at the same time isn’t that easy to pull off. So when Morena Baccarin does it so effortlessly on V, you definitely have to pay attention. It’s a credit to her ability as an actress, especially in contrast to her role on Firefly.

Shola: She’s certainly a reason to keep turning into V on the rare occasion the show airs. As an alien high queen thingy, she’s stunning. I can see why the earth is enchanted. Here’s hoping she can pull off evil as well as she pulls off sexy.

Lauren Velez (Dexter)

Kayode: What can I say, I’m a sucker for an authoritative lady.

Matt: really? I’d go with Trinity’s daughter, whatserface, from Dexter, if anything. She was all nekkid and domestic and murdery. Discuss.

Kayode: Well, I’ve been about Lauren Velez since I Like It Like That/New York Undercover days, but she’s still a sexy MF’er, in my opinion. The whole subplot with her and Batista (and both actors are Oz vets!), I thought it was nice. And I’m a sucker for authoritative ladies. Not that Trinity’s Daughter wasn’t hot to death . . . literally!

Shola: Meh. Wasn’t really feeling her too tough back in New York Undercover either. Still, she’s probably the hottest thing going on Dexter so if it’s between Jennifer Carpenter and Julia Benz, I guess I’d pull Lauren over for some midnight detective work.

Abby Elliot (Saturday Night Live)

Matt: Inherited her father Chris Elliot’s sense of humor; thankfully, she did not inherit his looks.

Kayode: Thank God for that!

Music:

Rihanna

Kayode: The beginning of the year certainly wasn’t kind to Rihanna, but she’s managed to keep moving forward, not really missing a step. And she just keeps gettin’ dirtier!! That “So Hard” video is no joke!

Shola: I’m old now, and she’s looking like jail bait, man. Admittedly, if i were 18, maybe I’d have her posters all over my dorm walls. Now, I like a little more seasoning. Ask me again in five years, though.

Yukimi Nagano (Little Dragon)

Kayode: Actually getting to meet and interview the talented Swedish songstress was certainly one of the high points of the year for me. Few performers are as vibrant and energetic as her.

Beyonce

Matt: The video for “Video Phone” put me through puberty again.

Kayode: I was just happy it wasn’t a black and white vid with just her flanked by two backup dancers in an open white space. But I agree, it certainly had its “moments”.

Shola: I still have a hard time believing that Jigga is tapping this. She’s fine. Even when she’s not all photoshopped up, she’s still one of the sexiest-looking divas on the pop scene. Now personally, I’m leaning more towards the lovely and underrated Chrisette Michelle, but Beyonce Knowles Jigga is certainly the crowd favorite.

Sade

Kayode: No one does like “Love = War” songs quite like Sade, and “Soldier Of Love” is no different. Arguably my favorite song of the year, it makes the wait for the new album that much more agonizing. And dammit if she isn’t puttin’ some young chicks to shame, still looking mighty fine if I may say so!

Shola: This woman is ageless and will forever remain gorgeous. I’m uncertain if her beauty comes from the sexiness of her vibe or the music itself, but Sade is a gem.

Multimedia Division:

Felicia Day

Matt: The Guild blew up this year

Kayode: Confession – I’ve yet to see Dr. Horrible’s Sing-A-Long Blog in its entire, and I’ve never seen The Guild at all. But her Dollhouse episode was pretty good!

Shola: Dr. Horrible’s Sing-A-Long was fantastic, Kayode, and the little bit i’ve seen of The Guild makes it pretty obvious why geeks love her. She’s totally nerdy looking in that believable way, Like she’s really playing World of WarCraft on the other side of the screen. And unlike some of these female gaming celebs, she really, REALLY is. She’s the real deal from interviews I’ve seen. She flows off the cuff with enough gaming references to make you want to do a co-op game with her…which is just enough to balance that goofy awkwardness.

Olivia Munn

Matt: Turned Attack Of The Show into a bunch of magazine covers, Playboy, an autobiography, and a role in Iron Man 2.

Kayode: Whether her geek persona is real or not, you can’t have that much shame if you’re gonna do even HALF of what she does on Attack of the Show! And that’s my kind of woman!

THE PCS Future Ex-Wife of the Year: Zoe Saldana

Matt: Zoe gets my vote for book-ending the year with big nerdtastic movies, and for forwarding the cause of furries everywhere. ew.

Shola: So yeah, she kind of earned it with that Avatar/Star Trek combo. I’ve been appreciating her since the indie flick, The Blackout, and although she could probably stand to eat a few meals, there’s no denying that the woman is the new ‘in’ thing with looks, talent, and charm. Kerri Washington and particularly Thandie Newton, should be a little worried. They’re not the hot new skinny black chicks anymore!

Kayode: There’s just no stopping this woman. Can’t wait for The Losers. The whole cast is pretty badass, but Zoe packin’ heat? Advance ticket purchase for me!

9. Hayden Penetierre – Can’t say I really agree with this choice, but the Heroes geeks are still alive and well here at PCS. She skews a bit young, but it may actually work depending on what liberties the filmmakers were to take with the character. As long as it’s been in the movie timeline, have Peter be a teaching assistant (moving onto pursuing a Masters Degree), with Felicia Hardy as an undergrad in his class. Much of the romance is between her as Black Cat, and him as Spider-Man anyway, with her not really noticing anything special about him when they’re in class.

» CONTINUE TO #7 & #8

Megan also had a couple recent photo shoots in the New York Times and Rolling Stone, which you’ve probably seen online by now. But for those of you who just can’t get enough Megan Fox, we’ve got outtakes from the RS shoot — 31 pics to be exact!

There are also outtakes from the NYT shoot floating around the net (more recently than the RS outtakes in fact), but we’re skipping those because they were kind of artsy and pretentious. Well, except for the one with Megan holding her leg over her head demonstrating her flexibility — that one was just kind of weird.
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Year: 2009
Running Time: 149 min.
Rated: PG-13
SRP:$ 29.99
Studio(s): Dreamworks, Paramount
Release Date: October 20, 2009

Pop Culture Shock usually gets the blu-ray of such big studio releases but due to limited material PCS was given the DVD to screen. I will try to list the differences where possible.

Film/Feature: C-
To run the plot down quickly, Sam Witwicky (Shia LaBeouf) is trying to move on with his life and enjoy the normalcies of a young adults. Go to college, go through a rites of passage, etc. but his relationship with the Autobots, and especially his grandfather involve him in things out of his control. He must live out a destiny, reluctantly, and accept it to save the human race against one of the original Decepticons, The Fallen who last visited the Earth thousands of years ago.

Megatron is revived, and gets his troops back together with the help of a very cool update of Soundwave and Ravage who retrieve the last known piece of the Cube from the last film. Sam though has the rest of the key for a great big weapon that will call the Fallen back to Earth, and arm a weapon that will destroy the sun, ending all of humanity as we know it. They set a trap for Optimus who gets ambushed and slaughtered in a righteous forest battle. Sam escapes and regroups with the help of his girlfriend Mikaela (Megan Fox), his college roomate, Leo (Ramon Rodriguez), and Seymour Simmons (John Tuturro) and an ancient Decepticon turned good, Jetfire who they find hanging out at the Smithsonian, warp to the middle east where the Matrix of Leadership is hidden and must be retrieved to revive Optimus Prime. Everyone converges upon the great Pyraminds of Egypt that are covering the weapon the Decepticons want to unleash. Can Sam get the Matrix to Optimus in time? Can he rescue the day? Can he please rescue this film from it’s paper-thin plot? I wish.

This says it all doesn't it? LaBeouf on the left, Bay on the right

The thing that aggravated me about this film was the same as the first, and that’s too much of the Witwickys, too much of the college roomate, Leo, and all of these arbitrary things that are put in because apparently I’d be too dumb to be able to follow an entire film about just the Transformer characters. Sam’s mother in particular is one of the most annoying characters in mainstream film since Jar-Jar Binks. She’s that bad. I watched a cartoon for several years that was just that that only had Spike, his dad, and his friend in a wheelchair as most of the human interaction. I don’t need much more than that, honestly. I came to see a film about the Transformers, not Sam Witwicky. I don’t care about whatever rites of passage he needs to take on, and I don’t believe that this kid is the only one who can bail the Transformers out every time. I was so annoyed by the above that I wasn’t even phased by the completely unnecessary “Autobot Twins” Skidz and Mudflap who are unintelligible, street-talking, doofuses who just get in the way. There are hundreds of characters Bay could have used instead of creating two throw-aways who also sparked a racial controversy.

There were improvements made to the film franchise like the redesign and silhouettes of the Transformers which make them easier to distinguish from each other. Also the animation was much more aggressive by having most of the transformations happen while on the move. This review has no beefs with the technical side of the film, and Bay does know how to make an explosively huge film that flocks of people want to see. Of note there were some excellent voice talent that came back for the second film. Peter Cullen who everyone knows as the voice of Optimus Prime and Hugo Weaving (LOTR, Matrix) played Megatron in the first film, both reprise their roles, and Frank Welker who played Megatron and Soundwave amongst many others in the 80′s cartoon was brought back to play Soundwave, Devastator, Reedman and Grindor. So it’s not all doom and gloom.

This story suffers from much bigger things and that’s creating a Transformers story where if you take LaBeouf’s Sam out of the picture, the story has nothing else built up about the actual transformers that could carry the film. We have these great characters, regal, proud race of robots that depend on a human every single time to save the day. The Autobots lived long before and will live long after the humans, so why is there such a dependent crutch in Sam? Because of that, I feel that the writers and Bay just do not understand what the Transformers are about. Ultimately the studio gives them free reign to make a big moneymaker but as far as the film goes, it’s a running joke. The Transformers should be independent of the humans, and not be suffocated or be held back based on what’s written for LaBeouf and Fox. Give me a point of interest that doesn’t involve either one of these characters, and eliminate the parents, and that will be the start of a Transformers movie that’s done right. Revenge of the Fallen though will be one of those films that people show off all the bells and whistles of their home theater, but because of how the film itself disappoints, the DVD and Blu-ray for that matter will probably not get as much replay value as one would hope.

Video/Audio: B+/B+
Revenge of the Fallen on DVD is presented in a 480p MPEG-2 encoded transfer in 2.40:1 aspect ratio that’s full of rich and vibrant colors and detail maximized as best as can be on standard definition. Blacks are nice and dark, grain is present throughout, and while the DVD may satisfy the less critical eye, it lacks the clarity and crispness of high definition. The impressive shock and awe of a blu-ray is incomparable so that’s why the grade isn’t higher, but make no mistake, this is still a fine looking DVD. The audio soundtrack is a 5.1 English Dolby Digital audio track can be defined as the very best that can be heard in DVD. This is a Michael Bay film and so goes the subwoofers and surrounds with all of the activity that will travel round in this viewing experience. The dynamic body blow effect isn’t as prominent as it would be in blu-ray so I temper my grade accordingly. Other audio selections include: 5.1 Dolby Digital French and Spanish tracks and subtitles are available in English, French, and Spanish.

If you do have blu-ray, know that it is presented in 1080p high definition with an English 5.1 DTS-HD lossless Master Audio track and is an incredible reference disc for your home theater.

Ravage Reimagined

Extras: A

Disc 1
Audio Commentary by director, Michael Bay and writers Roberto Orci, Alex Kurtzman is actually two tracks in one. Bay’s comments come in sparingly while the writers talk at length about different parts of the filmmaking performance. If you’re looking to hear more from Bay, be patient because you’ll get plenty of him on the rest of the extras, trust me.

Disc 2
The Human Factor: Exacting Revenge of the Fallen is a huge 2 hour and 15 minute documentary chronicling the entire production, (pre, principal and post) complete with cast and crew interviews. This is a first rate making-of, almost exhausting investigation of how this film was made and perhaps a little too much glorification of Michael Bay. Still, it’s one of those extras that are a must-see, if only to see just what kind of strings Bay can pull in the movie industry.

• Seeds of Vengeance-Development and Design SD (30:04) reviews the first Transformers film as the boy who gets car and then gets girl story, then trying to jump the hurdel of the writer’s strike to get a script done on the sequel.

• Domestic Destruction-Production: United States SD (24:20) Cast and crew find out or tell all what a tyrant Bay can be to work with jumping around to location shoots in New Mexico to Pennsylvania.

• Joint Operation-Production: Military SD (10:02) This part really blew my mind. To see what Bay is able to do as far as military access and full carte blanche almost, is insane. But the military sees Transformers as a big commercial and recruiting tool, so everything is okay.

• Wonders of the World-Production: Middle East SD (13:17) Again Bay uses his and Spielberg’s pull to get access that’s unheard of by any other filmmaker by being able to film the pyramids and be able to have actors climb on the actual Wonders of the Earth boggles the mind. They go from Egypt to Giza and to Luxor in magnificent sights that need to be seen in one’s lifetime. This is one section where I really wish I had the blu-ray.

• Start Making Sense-Editing SD (9:20) reveals how Bay edits a film using four editors who simultaneously work on the same scenes in an unorthodox tag-team method.

• Under The Gun-Visual Effects SD (29:03) With Revenge of the Fallen shooting to be bigger than the first film, Industrial Light and Magic undertook the taske of creating the most complicated VFX movie in history. The Devastator VFX alone requried 83% of the ILM render farm capacity.

• Running the Guantlet-Post Production and Release SD (16:34) the exhaustive documentary comes to a close that has color timing and sound design in the eleventh hour before the premiere and then shows the stars on the red carpets all around the world.

A Day with Bay: Tokyo SD (13:28) is a day in the life of Bay while on the foreign press tour as they premiered the film in Japan. He even takes a dig at McG and Terminator 4 in the press junket.

25 years of Transformers SD (10:49) is not as long as one would hope but Aaron Archer of Hasbro is interviewed to talk about updating the classic characters to the film, giving Bay and design crew access to the entire catalogue as well as creating new characters.

NEST: Transformer Data-Hub allows viewers to look at all of the conceptual artwork for Optimus, Bumblebee, Ironhide, Jetfire, Skidz, Mudflap, Megatron, Starscream, Ravage, Soundwave and Devastator.

Deconstructing Visual Bayhem with Commentary by Pre-Vis Supervisor Steve Yamamoto SD (23:35) is a series of pre-vis animations that were used as the starting blocks for many of the action sequences in the film. Bay also gives an introduction (0:27) to the special.

There are three Extended/Alternative Scenes SD (6:15) that show Sam and Alice at the dorms, The Witwickys in Paris, and Leo refusing to go to Egypt.

Using the box and a web cam, you can activate a 3D holographic experience where ou can piece together the Matrix of Leadership to bring back Optimus Prime back to life. You’ll be allowed to repair his armer and calibrate his weapons.

There’s the theatrical trailer (2:38) and a music video of Linkin Park’s song “New Divide” SD (4:43) that closes out the second disc of extras.

Blu-Ray Exclusives
Sadly I am unable to review the blu-ray exclusives but can announce that they include The ALLSPARK Experiment, an interactive feature to allow viewers to customize their own robots and apply the Allspark to it and get a glimpse at a rogue robot. One combination will unlock an exclusive interview with Michael Bay and his plans for the next Transformers movie. The NEST Data-Hub on the blu-ray incorporates 3D spin galleries of each robot and a timeline for each character charting its origin, back story and design. Giant Effing Movie is a very personal look in the making of the movie, and the Matrix of Marketing includes posters and television spots along with the trailers.

Overall Shock Value: B-
There’s no denying what a mess the film is, but even marginal fans will be impressed by the technical treatment and treasure chest full of extras on the second disc. If it were me, I would make the jump up in blu-ray knowing what reference material potential this film has in a home theater. It looks absolutely stunning and sounds incredible in high definition but for the sake of this DVD review, it’s pretty darn good too. Despite any disparaging things I may have to say about the film, it has its fan base and much more devoted apologists. I can bring myself to fully endorse the film itself but the action, the effects, and the transformers themselves have all been improved from the first film, but like the first, the human story just doesn’t hold me in. Why we are still seeing anything with Sam’s parents is beyond me but Bay seems vigilant in ramming these and characters like the Autobot Twins down our throats to the point where they can almost turn viewers off. If you’re able to overlook all of that, there is a big spectacle under all of that wreckage and the folks at Industrial Light and Magic are the real stars of this franchise once again. The audio and video treatment, along with the extras save this DVD/Blu-Ray release big time from a lower score and is a great value on DVD, but given how the prequel thrived in high definition, the blu-ray is even better.

I mean seriously, it’s a high school movie that’s rated “R”–of course it wasn’t going to take world by storm. I was pretty impressed with Diablo Cody’s (Juno) writing, and for as much flack as Megan Fox has gotten in the media, I think this was the perfect movie for her to star in. The acting all around was great, and the movie was just, well, fun. I think this one’s destined to be one of those cult classics that just didn’t live up to expectations during its theatrical release.

Nobody’s gonna buy a $20 hardcover for the funnybook adaptation of a movie they’ve never seen. But if you’ve already seen the movie and dug it like I did, you’ll probably want to pick up Jennifer’s Body HC.

If you haven’t seen the flick yet, I’d say check out the matinee this weekend. Now through 10/9, nab Jennifer’s Body HC for the pre-order price–just $19.99!

Check out other horror books here

So what did you think of Jennifer’s Body? Think I missed the mark? Let us know below.

But no matter how obviously and desperately the filmmakers want Jennifer’s Body to be the new Heathers or Buffy, the similarities end with that one strong, well-rounded character–the one played by Amanda Seyfried (Mean Girls, Big Love).

Megan Fox is the one getting all the attention, what with her playing “Jennifer” and being stalkably attractive…but she’s a better interview and pin-up girl than an actress. She’s very convincing as “hot chick staring seductively/menacingly into camera,” and absolutely Oscar-worthy as “hot chick walking slowly toward camera,” but every time she opens her mouth you get a blank monotone line reading or stumbles and mumbles over Diablo Cody’s too cool for school dialogue.

Yeah, this is the obnoxiously in need of editing Juno version of Diablo Cody, not the dialed down genius behind The United States of Tara. This is the Diablo Cody who overwrites every line even more than her own overwritten name in order to squeeze as much unnaturally clever lingo into every scene as Whedonly or Tarantinoly possible. But where Quentin Tarantino has the discipline to make his dialogue–kitchy or not–character appropriate, and Joss Whedon remembers to follow his conversational quirk with the necessary number of winks and nudges, Cody writes every character like a hive-mind collective competing for most popular ironic T-shirt slogan. It’s distracting and grating, and in this movie it managed to deflate the big climactic moment that could have otherwise added depth to the flat personality of Jennifer.

J.K. Simmons was good at what he was asked to do, but his oddball character–a hook-handed teacher with a curly fro–was too inexplicably weird to not feel as forced as most of the film’s dialogue. I also got a kick out of the basic premise that drives the story: loser emo band botches a satanic ritual meant to give them fame and fortune…bloodbath ensues.

And finally, while it’s not a comic book movie, it does have a tie-in comic that I hear isn’t awful, so it’s got that going for it.

I didn’t hate the movie, but there’s too much distracting kitche and not nearly enough balls or bite to give it the instant cult status it thinks it deserves. I suspect the inevitable direct-to-video sequel will be far more satisfyingly trashy and hopefully won’t suffer from a screenwriter trying to ape the overwriting of the original.

Already set to star in Jonah Hex in June 2010, and in Michael Turner’s Fathom in the same year, according to British Tabloid, The Sun reports the current “It Girl” and Transformers star has possibly signed on to be in Christopher Nolan’s third Batman film set to hit theaters in 2011 along with Christian Bale, Michael Caine, and Gary Oldman.

Read the whole article on The San Diego Movie Examiner

Deadpool by Arthur Suydam, cover of Deadpool: Merc With A Mouth #3

Megan Fox in Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen

Paramount’s Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen powered its way to an amazing estimated total of $201.24 million over its first five days. The new Transformers film, which has also earned an outstanding $187 million overseas, pushed the box office total a solid 9% over the same weekend last year when Pixar’s Wall-E debuted to $63 million. Transformers’ three-day total of $112 million is the seventh best 3-day opening of all time and the best ever for a film that didn’t open on Friday. Its five-day total trails only The Dark Knight’s total of $203.8 million. Its $60.6 million Wednesday opening, aided by $16 million in after midnight openings, was the second biggest opening day ever, bested only by TDK’s $67.2 million.

Canada’s leading pop culture event presents sizzling exclusive products Toronto, Ontario, June 25, 2009 – Fan Expo Canada, will celebrate its 15th anniversary in style, August 28-30 2009 at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre, South Building. The country’s powerhouse entertainment event brings together an array of celebrities, exclusive products, exhibitors, retailers and visitors from all over the world.

Fan Expo Canada has just announced its incredible list of EXCLUSIVE products, which will only be available for sale at the 2009 Edition for $10 each. Items include the first ever MEGAN FOX photo cover variant for issue one TRANSFORMERS: TALES OF THE FALLEN comic book! Limited to only 1000 copies! MEGAN FOX can be seen in this summer’s block-buster movie TRANSFORMERS: TALES OF THE FALLEN. Other FAN EXPO CANADA exclusive items that will only be available at the show include:

§ STAR TREK: NERO comic, issue number one, “Spock Variant” edition – Limited to 1500 copies
§ ULTIMATE AVENGERS comic #1, “Sketch cover variant” edition – Limited to 1500 copies
§ GREEN LANTERN: BLACKEST NIGHT Art Lithograph – Limited to 1500 copies

FAN EXPO CANADA will also be rolling out their new ‘GREEN’ shopping tote this year, made from 100% recycled materials. Designed specifically for fans to take all these goodies home!

Show Details:
WHEN: AUGUST 28-30th 2009
Friday, August 28th (special preview) 2:00 p.m. – 4:00 p.m. / 4:00 p.m. – 9:00 p.m.
Saturday, August 29th 10:00 a.m. – 7:00 p.m.
Sunday, August 30th 11:00 a.m. – 6:00 p.m.

WHERE: Metro Toronto Convention Centre South Building

222 Bremner Boulevard, Toronto Ontario
EVENT TICKETS: for dates, times and prices please call Ticketmaster 416-870-8000 after July 1st or visit www.fanexpocanada.com

Covering over 270,000 square feet, Fan Expo Canada focuses on five pop culture genres including: The Comic Book Expo; SFX – Science Fiction Expo; The Rue Morgue Festival of Fear – Horror; CNAnime – Japanese Animation and GX – Gaming Expo. Over 50,000 genre fans from all over the world are expected to attend this year’s event.

Enjoy. Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen invades your multiplex on June 26, 2009. And yes, this is from the new promotional tour for the movie.

You’ve been going for this men’s magazine angle for long enough that you should have the basics down — is this really the best you can do with Megan Fox?

I like cleavage as much as the next guy, but this is just more odd than sexy.