Michael Bay's Platinum Dunes to produce new Turtles movie

[TheShowstoppa]

What really sucks is the process that uncredited screenwriters do. Some of the most putrid lines from the movie Freddy Vs. Jason were written by David "I made Blade and Batman look like badasses" Goyer. I mean horrible. No matter what way those lines would have been directed, they would have been horrible. It happens with every movie. There are on set writing changes, back room writing changes, even pre-shooting that day script changes.

I also have little faith in Nickelodeon. This is a network obviously aimed at young children and preteens. Some of their shows have hit the mark - because I've grown up with them. Others are so horrible they make me want to gag. If you're telling me you want to deviate, again, from the source material and bring back Krang, the blasphemy mutants, and whatever else you're wanting for this movie/new cartoon, it makes me sick. I could live with the deviations from season 1 of the OT. I love that season. It went downhill after that. When we got something good, something reliable and something that wasn't 36 episodes a season of nothing but filler eps, it was amazing! I love substance. I love my season finales to have cliffhangers and overlapping storylines! That's what keeps me into it! 2K3 did it well, TMNT carried on the movie series by making subtle, but amazing nods to their previous movies. We need something like that again for both the new movie AND cartoon. But plainly - just some badassery for the new movie. Insert Platinum Dunes and we'll see how well that goes.

And for the above quotes about Troll 2 being more entertaining and watchable than The Rock and Bad Boys 2, and even Transformers - Please don't EVER suggest movies to me. You're both probably the same people who thought American History X was a biography about Malcom X or that MASH is an excellent representation to the Vietnam war compared to Apocalypse Now.

[Volvagia]

I love both Transformers movies and I don't mind Bay producing if he can bring in the big money to the movie.

The worst thing that can happen is that they do like the old cartooned Transformers movie and kill off everyones favorites to make room for a new toy line.

[Gyt Kaliba]

Originally Posted by Volvagia

The worst thing that can happen is that they do like the old cartooned Transformers movie and kill off everyones favorites to make room for a new toy line.

They don't have to do that with TMNT though. They just shove the Turtles into different outfits - WHAM! New action figure.

[Volvagia]

Originally Posted by Gyt Kaliba

They don't have to do that with TMNT though. They just shove the Turtles into different outfits - WHAM! New action figure.

Yup and thank god for that

[ooglafina]

If they are truly doing a reboot then they should have more than enough source material from the comics without bringing in lots of unnecessary filler stuff, but that would be in a perfect world I suppose.

And I've never seen Troll 2 and have had absolutely no desire to do so. Bay's movies are meant to be watchable fun, not profound works of meaningful philosophy and I think they achieve their purpose. I've never really understood why people are so derisive about him.

I don't know too much about Nickelodeon, but I wonder if they'll realize that the web is crying out for a grown up movie finally. Maybe if we all complain loudly enough, they'll get a clue. hehe

As to the importance of directors and writers, I remember hearing Neil Jordan say that he wrote the entire last scene of Interview With the Vampire because he thought that Lestat needed to go out with a more memorable bang. So I think directors do have that power, but most of them are too lazy to exercise it. Or else they are too incompetent of writers/ storytellers in their own right. In which case they shouldn't be directing. This line of thought is making me depressed.

[redsai4lex]

When I heard the news that Michael Bay was going to be doing the new Turtles movie, the first thing that comes to mind is what he did with Transformers (of course) The aspect of filming a live action movie with the main characters being mostly CGI... This is the best thing they could've done for a new Turtles movie, and Nickelodeon will run wild with TMNT characters after the new show comes out too...

[ooglafina]

I can see plusses with both live men-in-suits turtles and full on CGI turtles. So far the only rumor I've seen is the men-in-suits with face replacement strategy. They used it in Where the Wild Things Are. I haven't seen it, but probably should. I know the suits in the three live action movies had a phony factor before, but animitronics have come a long long way since then. Del Toro's stuff and Jurassic Park III are the first things that come to mind. I think the suits this time around could be made to be quite elegant and accomadate a performace from an actor much better this time around. And face replacement would definitely help with the acting. That's something that always dispappointed me before.

Also, I'm getting sort of tired of seeing people in movies, looking at the wrong thing when they are supposed to be looking at an alien. Acting to a tennis ball doesn't enhance performance and there's sort of a new green screen acting style that's cropping up.

I can't decide if full CGI turtles would be more expensive than the live turtle method or not because animitronics can be so expensive.

As for full CGI turtles. It would be helpful at controlling their full physiological makeup. Humans in suits are restricted by human anatomy. A CGI turtle could do pretty much anything. Also they would not be restricted by gravity and wires for their stuntwork. Also, I could see how they could just look a lot prettier if they were CGI because they would control all of the texturing and lighting in the computer.

[plastroncafe]

Oh you really should, "Where the Wild Things Are" was just beautiful in terms of effects. Story-wise it's a big budget "indie" film, which I know people either love or hate, but check it out for the Wild Things.

I wasn't exactly jumping out of my chair when I heard the next turtle flick was going to be of the men-in-suits variety. Like you said, there's just a limited range of motion available to a guy in a suit. TMNT may had it's issues, but how the turtles moved was not one of them.

But after having seen "Where the Wild Things Are" I'm far more excited for the upcoming movie. A blend of CG and 3D Men-in-Suits could really get things right.

[turkishproverb]

Originally Posted by TheShowstoppa

And for the above quotes about Troll 2 being more entertaining and watchable than The Rock and Bad Boys 2, and even Transformers - Please don't EVER suggest movies to me. You're both probably the same people who thought American History X was a biography about Malcom X or that MASH is an excellent representation to the Vietnam war compared to Apocalypse Now.

It is more entertaining. Just not in the way the creator intended.

[ooglafina]

Originally Posted by plastroncafe

Like you said, there's just a limited range of motion available to a guy in a suit. TMNT may had it's issues, but how the turtles moved was not one of them.

I was thinking about that after I posted. I think the problem I had was that the actors seemed to be compensating for the poor acting ability of their animitronic heads with this exaggerated mime acting that sort of bugged me. It didn't bother me when I was younger, but it's really noticeable to me now.

[TheShowstoppa]

I thought that there was a filter somewhere where the stage actors could see out of the heads. Maybe I was wrong.

I think that PD coming in helps credibility since they've had a string of successful reboots, but the only problem is that they have a huge reputation of sinking off in the second weekend by 50% or more. Friday the 13th fell off 57% + in the first week following its release. Nightmare dropped off even more because the week following was Iron Man 2. What's more is that they also have a huge succession rate of adding additional features or doing a Director's Cut of their films when transferred to DVD. That's always a plus because there could be a whole separate film out there!

Marcus Nespeil (sp) is credited with at least 2 of PD's reboots and he has a damn good eye for action and suspense. I thought F13th had some excellent shots and I think if it's done live action with a CG based turtle - He could add some amazing views as to how the action is done, especially a final battle with Shredder.

Unfortunately, I don't think he'll come on for a "kiddie" franchise. If PD brings in someone to helm this, it's going to likely be a not-so well known person. Who would I like to see? Neill Blomkamp. District 9 was not only an amazingly well written story (by him as co-writer) but the Prongs looked so damn real it was unbelievable! Not to mention that him and Producer Peter Jackson wanted to do the Halo movie and did a quick rendition that can be found on YouTube. If you haven't seen it, go watch it and you'll understand where I'm coming from. I also highly reccommend District 9. AMAZING movie all around.

I also think the thread title needs to be changed. It's driving me more than insane that people are continuing to say it's Michael Bay coming in to do anything with this project. As of right now - It's just Platinum Dunes.

[ooglafina]

I was just reading something about Blomkamp the other day, but I can't remember what. District 9 is another movie that I've been sitting around thinking about and not watching. I was wondering the other day if Peter Jackson's having any luck with his projects because The Hobbit was just dropped indefinitely and I've heard zero about Halo. If Jackson has faith in this guy, then I would definitely have faith if he was chosen. But we shall see.

You're right about the heads. They could see out of them. I think I mean that they knew that the acting capability of the electronics in the head was limited so they compensated in their performance ahead of time to balance that with exaggerated body movements. Like they knew that the heads couldn't emote very well. Maybe that's a better way to put it. And so they did the emoting through exaggerated body language.

[Venom]

Halo is dead indefinitely and Jackson is no longer attached.

[Walkabout]

Im a bit slow here I know...

but I think this is positive news here (Bay as producer)

I love the Transformers (G1) and as it happens the Friday The 13th and Nightnmare On Elm Street franchises (and the Tobe Hooper Texas Chainsaw Massacre) and despised what the remakes did to them but I have faith that TMNT could break that trend.

How can you go wrong with the TMNT?

Ok, dont answer-we all saw TMNT 2 and 3 (last movie wasnt so bad IMO) but I think they could really do the Turtles justice...heres hoping anyway.

I thought the first Transformers movie was pretty sort of okay besides the what I considered changes for the sake of change (like Frank Welker not being Megatron...I mean CMON!!!) the special effects were awesome and the hand to hand fights were very good.

Im super pumped for a new TMNT movie-good or bad!!!

[redsai4lex]

Originally Posted by ooglafina

As for full CGI turtles. It would be helpful at controlling their full physiological makeup. Humans in suits are restricted by human anatomy. A CGI turtle could do pretty much anything. Also they would not be restricted by gravity and wires for their stuntwork. Also, I could see how they could just look a lot prettier if they were CGI because they would control all of the texturing and lighting in the computer.

Very well said...

I love the idea of seeing them in a real city though instead of a CG one.

[ToTheNines]

Originally Posted by Walkabout

Im super pumped for a new TMNT movie-good or bad!!!

You make me quite sad.

[Sage Ninja]

I guess i don't know what to think of this because I never saw any of the transformers movies so I have no idea how raped the second movie was compared to the first to form an opinion. All I know is that everyone hated the second one because of bay. I'm just hoping it does well this new movie.

[ooglafina]

Well, he laid the blame on the writers. Because he always blames somebody else. I like to listen to his commentaries because he will inevitably blame somebody for failing him somehow.

But I don't think we have that much to worry about from Bay because I think his involvement will be limited. Also there are four other people on the project so far, including Galen Walker, who produced TMNT and Scott Mednick who produced 300 and bunch of other junk. I wasn't a big fan of 300 because I'm bored easily by guys who just run around talking about how great they are, but they may exert a positive influence on the other three.

[Walkabout]

Originally Posted by ToTheNines

You make me quite sad.

Because you are a fat beardy who has lost his passion for TMNT?

Nah Im being super pumped for a new TMNT film now before it actually comes out and I see it and find it the biggest pile of Bay laced garbage since Revenge Of The Fallen...

[Koi]

Originally Posted by Walkabout

Because you are a fat beardy who has lost his passion for TMNT?

You make ME quite sad.