Michael Bay
Michael Bay Charged With Killing Pigeon on Italian Film Set
Michael Bay is in legal trouble in Italy, where a pigeon — a protected bird in the country — allegedly died on his film set. According to TheWrap, a homing pigeon was killed by a dolly during the filming of the 2019 Netflix film 6 Underground. An unnamed individual took a photo of the incident and reported it to the Italian authorities due to a national law that prohibits harming, capturing, or killing any wild bird. As the director of the film, Bay is being held responsible for the pigeon’s death. Italian authorities offered to allow Bay to pay a small fine and settle the case, but he has repeatedly declined the offer, maintaining his innocence in the incident. “I am a well-known animal lover and major animal activist,” Bay told TheWrap. “No animal involved in the production was injured o...
Ambulance Review: Some Deranged Grandeur, Courtesy of Michael Bay
The Pitch: In his 2019 Netflix film 6 Underground, Michael Bay stages an opening car chase where his heroes smash through the streets of Italy, goring bad guys and yelling nonsense at each other. “I’m conducting surgery!” one character screams while, essentially, just tending to a wound. But maybe that moment stuck in Bay’s head. Maybe he regretted not making that set-piece more surgical, to the point where he built an entire movie called Ambulance around the premise: What if you were performing life-saving surgery during a car chase? Technically, Bay did not come up with this premise. Ambulance is a remake of a 2005 Dutch film, and Bay is not a credited screenwriter. But his penchant for breaking tension with over-explained jokes, or breaking jokes with melodramatic bombast, transcend any...
The 100 Greatest Summer Blockbuster Movies of All Time
“Cool.” “Riveting.” “Gripping.” “High-Octane Thrill Ride!” All cliches of film criticism and yet all feelings we’ve experienced while watching a crackerjack summer blockbuster. Oops, there we go again. All things considered, any moviegoer can speak to the divine feeling of sitting in a cool, packed theater in the heat of the summer and being united by narrative. Not just united, but hypnotized, mentally convinced that the fate of the world is before your eyes, and there is nothing more important in that very moment. It’s escapism. It’s popcorn. It’s Chinatown. But also, it’s the power of spectacle. Over the years, Hollywood has certainly run that concept through the ringer, having turned what used to be a summer blockbuster season into, well, an entire calendar year. Now, all those aforeme...
