Megan Fox Dropped From Cast of Transformers 3

News spreading like wildfire across the Internet today is that Megan Fox will not be appearing in the Transformers 3 movie which has just started shooting under the guiding hand of director Michael Bay.

The story has been reported in a variety of places online, and speculation is rife as to whether she quit, or whether she was fired by Paramount. Either way, her comments about Michael Bay's behaviour on set in the wake of the last Transformers film certainly would not have endeared her to the director.

http://uk.eonline.com/uberblog/b181956_megan_foxed_out_of_transformers_3.html

http://www.accesshollywood.com/updated-megan-fox-dropped-from-transformers-3-rep-says-actress-chose-to-leave_article_32571

There is also a great deal of speculation as who might replace Fox as Shia LaBeoff's love interest in the film. British actress Gemma Arterton's name has been raised and seems to be a favourite.

http://www.slashfilm.com/2010/05/19/let-the-transformers-3-recasting-rumors-begin-gemma-arterton-may-be-new-love-interest/

Soft Review

Recently, I watched a short movie as part of my journalism studies - a class that focused on reviwing that week, interestingly enough. Unfortunately I couldn't just hand in one of my previous pieces of work, and so this review came about.

Soft is a short film, a medium that is surprisingly underrepresented when it comes to reviews. I haven't seen a lot of short films myself, true, but the few I have seen (such as Paths of Hate, or The Facts in the Case of Mr Hollow) tend to be finely made, with a certain visual flair to leave a lasting impression. Few such movies are over 15 minutes long, and so tend to be far more focused on grabbing the audiences attention. For many directors, a short film is their chance to garner attention and potential backing from financers for a ful length feature.

Soft is fairly typical in this respect - it is an urban drama exploring the issues of bullying and violence in youth. Some reviewers, like Peter Bradshaw of the Guardian Film Blog favourably compare it to A Clockwork Orange. The plot revolves around a father, his son, and the gang of teenagers who harass them. The course of events is almost entirely predictable, starting off with the son being assaulted and fleeing home, before the gang intimidates the father and then besieges the pair of them in their house. That's about it really - it's readily available on Youtube so feel free to check it out for yourselves.

There is a nice variety when it comes to techniques in this movie - camera phone footage is used in key sections, particularily when the gang is dealing out violence, whilst the rest of the film is presented in a typical fashion. To put it simply, there is nothing new or groundbreaking in this film, but it is a well crafted story told in a minimalistic way, and does a LOT with very little.

Made by Simon Ellis, this short movie has won the International Short Filmmaking Award at the Sundance Film Festival and was nominated for a BAFTA in 2008. Like many short movies, it's readily available on the internet, so do check it out.