Mr. Brown's Trailer Reviews: Pain and Gain

Hello again, Michael Bay.

Hollywood's biggest hack has returned, and this time, we're not being treated to robot-on-robot CGI carnage, robot testicles, dog humping, or a dude stuffing an animal cracker down a woman's pants. This time, he's making a smaller, low-budget character piece that's borrowing from Quentin Tarantino and Joel & Ethan Coen flicks.

No, really. That's what Pain and Gain looks like, and it's what Bay was aiming for: an unholy union of Tarantino's lurid and hypnotic dialogue, the Coen Brothers' idiosyncratic characters, and Bay's own directorial traits of fast editing cuts, slow-motion shots of sunrises and sunsets, and Bay's camera lusting over beautiful women in bikinis, skimpy outfits, ass shots, etc. The only thin missing is his signature trademark of racial stereotypes being trotted out for cheap laughs, though I'm certain it'll be in the finished product. Anywho, here's the red-band trailer for Pain and Gain, due out April 26.

Despite everything i've said about this hack, i'll probably see this film, solely because i'm a fan of both Mark Wahlberg and Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson. and maybe the duo will be entertaining, despite Bay thinking he can rip-off Fargo and Reservoir Dogs and dumb it down for his audience.

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Lost in Translation

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Then, the actual film was released.

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Oh, Michael Bay. You and I have had a long, contentious relationship - most of it (extremely) negative. However, I do think his talent, purely from a visual aspect, is to be commended: every last one of his films has a slick Hollywood feel and shine…

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