Transformers 3
Director: Michael Bay
Starring: Shia Lebeouf, Josh Duhamel
The buzz: Every schoolboy knows that Detroit's city motto is "If you seek a pleasant postindustrial apocalyptic wasteland, look around you." No one has taken this slogan more to heart than mega-budget schlock-master Michael Bay, who happens to adore Detroit's mix of neo-gothic and art deco architecture — especially when it already looks like giant robots have used it for missile target practice.
For the third Transformers go-round, Bay and crew have rolled out and, um, transformed locations around New Center — and at the Falwell building in Capitol Park — into suitable sites for mechanical mayhem. Where else but the Motor City are you going to make a flick about cars that come to life and start blasting the crap out of the terrain? Fortunately, our local watering holes and nightclubs are safe from utter destruction, because series regular bimbo Megan Fox has been replaced.
Vamps
Director: Amy Heckerling
Starring: Alicia Silverstone, Krysten Ritter, Sigourney Weaver, Malcolm McDowell
The buzz: The long-in-the-tooth Dracula myth gets a much-needed boost of excitement by morphing into a peppy romantic comedy about the wacky relationship troubles of two sexy ghouls turned modern NYC career gals. The ever-chipper vegetarian icon Alicia Silverstone gets into the bloody swing of things in this Amy Heckerling-directed romp, which has been filming in Times Square and other downtown spots since early August. Our beloved D has been tasked with subbing for midtown Manhattan, which may explain the mock subway stop the crew built here a few weeks ago. It was a fake. (And here we thought rail advocates were finally getting somewhere.) The cast also includes vets Sigourney Weaver — who may want to invest in some real estate because she seems to be here all the time — and the incredibly awesome trio of Richard Lewis, Wally Shawn and Malcolm McDowell, a grouping which must make for one hell of a great dinner party.
Scream 4
Director: Wes Craven
Starring: David Arquette, Courteney Cox
The buzz: Horror King Wes Craven returns to prove that you just can't keep a good franchise down, no matter how many times you stab it and cast David Arquette. Having bled Freddy Kruger dry, Craven hopes to squeeze a few more jolts out of old Ghostface and company, though it's been a decade since the last installment of his wink-wink slasher satire. Since young foxes Campbell and Cox are now cougs, this edition brings in a new crop of kids to dice into teen tartar, led by the fresh-faced likes of Rory Culkin, Hayden Panettiere and Alison Brie. Hacking and slashing has been under way most of the summer all around Ann Arbor, downtown Plymouth and finally in the ever tony burb of Northville.
