When the first bit of footage from the set of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles reboot is star Megan Fox jumping on a trampoline, you’d be within your rights to throw all credibility out the window.  But for those of you who like that sort of thing, we now have video of said same event, plus new images that reveal the logo for director Jonathan Liebesman’s remake and Fox in her more April O’Neil-appropriate attire.

Also starring Will Arnett, Danny Woodburn, Alan Ritchson, Pete Ploszek, Jeremy Howard, and Noel Fisher,  Ninja Turtles opens on June 6, 2014.  Hit the jump to check out the new set images and video.

Starz has announced a premiere date and unveiled the first poster for the Michael Bay-produced pirate drama series Black Sails.  The show takes place 20 years before the events of Robert Louis Stevenson’s classic novel Treasure Island and centers on Captain Flint (the deceased pirate who literally put the treasure in Treasure Island) and a young Long John Silver as they fight for the defense of notorious criminal haven New Providence Island.  The series has been slated for a January 2014 premiere, and it should make for a nice pairing with the network’s period-centric Da Vinci’s Demons, which premiered to successful ratings earlier this year and has already been renewed for a second season.

Hit the jump to check out the first poster and two teaser videos for Black Sails, and click here to watch the debut trailer.  The series stars Toby Stephens, Luke Arnold, Zach McGowan, Toby Schmitz, Hannah New, Jessica Parker Kennedy, Clara Paget, and Tom Hopper.

With just days to go before the summer movie season blasts off with Iron Man 3, the domestic box office offered up another decidedly ‘meh’ moment. Paramount’s Pain & Gain was on top with a respectable $20 million while the new rom-com The Big Wedding badly underperformed. The real excitement came on the global market, where Iron Man 3 broke records with its international launch.

Last night I had the opportunity to check out a late showing of Pain & Gain during which I encountered a few thoughts that I couldn’t shake: 1) I wish Michael Bay would make more films like this and less of the transforming car variety. 2) Why can’t Dwayne Johnson be in every movie? 3) This is probably the craziest “Based on a True Story” movie I’ve ever seen. I’ve heard Bay say that some of the most extreme elements of the plot are also the most true to the original story. This is good to know because had someone written a lot of what shows up in the film I would likely call it too farfetched for my suspended disbelief to withstand. Make no mistake, this is a wild, entertaining ride that utilizes layers of action, crime, comedy, sex, and even a touch of sadism to keep you invested from beginning to end.

My mini-review aside, this week’s Top 5 includes the first trailer for Thor: The Dark World, Pain & Gain interviews with Michael Bay, Mark Wahlberg, and more, a recap of our visit to Pixar for Monsters University, news that Zack Snyder could take the helm of Justice League pending Man of Steel‘s success, and the first entry in a new interview series from Steve: “Breaking Down the Movie” with The Place Beyond the Pines director Derek Cianfrance. As is customary, a brief recap and link to each of the above is ready and waiting after the jump.

Entitlement is a central facet of the American Dream. If you work hard, you should be rewarded. We believe we live in a meritocracy despite all evidence to the contrary. In some walks of life, you can get out what you put in. It’s a truth in exercise, and it’s mostly been a truth for the films of Michael Bay. He is a director completely without subtlety and grace, and is one of the most financially successful directors in American history. His films are cinematic excess in their purest form; indifferent to story and character, they have disgustingly large budgets pumped in and grandiose spectacle pumped out. His new film, Pain & Gain, may not have the funds of his recent blockbusters, but it wholeheartedly shares the cocky and reckless spirit of his controversial oeuvre. Sympathetic to his meathead protagonists, Bay has crafted a picture that is energetic, fun, and almost too large for life.

Opening this weekend is director Michael Bay’s fantastic dark comedy Pain & Gain.  The film is based on a crazy true story and stars Mark Wahlberg and Dwayne Johnson as two bodybuilders who get caught up in an extortion ring and kidnapping scheme that goes terribly wrong.  Pain and Gain also stars Anthony Mackie, Rebel Wilson,  Tony Shalhoub, Ed Harris, Rob Corddry, Ken Jeong, and Bar Paly.  For more on the film, watch some clips or the red-band trailer.

Last week at the Miami press junket, I landed an exclusive interview with Michael Bay.  He talked about balancing the truth while making a movie, why it took so long to make the film, deleted scenes, whether he will release an extended cut on Blu-ray, test screenings, and a lot more.  In addition, beside telling a crazy true story involving the real people involved, I got an update on director Jonathan Liebesman‘s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.  Hit the jump to watch and definitely check out Pain and Gain this weekend.  It’s absolutely worth seeing.

Starz recently launched the new drama series Da Vinci’s Demons from executive producer David Goyer, but today the network has unveiled a first look at one of its other new shows set to debut in 2014: Black Sails.  Executive produced by Michael Bay, the drama series takes place 20 years before the events of Robert Louis Stevenson’s classic novel Treasure Island and centers on Captain Flint (the deceased pirate who literally put the treasure in Treasure Island) and a young Long John Silver as they fight for the defense of notorious criminal haven New Providence Island.  Based on this early trailer, it’s very clear that the show is influenced by the monster success of HBO’s Game of Thrones.  Black Sails does promise to have a swell production value, but it’s too early to tell how fascinating the characters are.  Since filming is still underway in Cape Town, South Africa, this footage is likely from the pilot, which was directed by Neil Marshall (The Descent).

Hit the jump to watch the trailer.  The series was created by showrunner and executive producer Jon Steinberg (Jericho), and stars Toby Stevens as Flint and Luke Arnold as the young Silver.  The eight-episode first season of Black Sails will premiere on Starz sometime in 2014.

Michael Bay is delivering the news tonight at CinemaCon.  Bay revealed to Steve that he will shoot the big showcase scenes in Transformers 4 with the new, smaller IMAX 3D digital camera.  Now, at Paramount’s CinemaCon presentation, Bay announced Stanley Tucci will join the cast.  Tucci is the fourth confirmed cast member alongside Mark Wahlberg, Nicola Peltz, and Jack Reynor.  As with virtually every movie, Tucci is a great addition.

The most recent synopsis says the sequel centers follows “a group of powerful, ingenious businessman and scientists [who] attempt to learn from past Transformer incursions and push the boundaries of technology beyond what they can control—all while an ancient, powerful Transformer menace sets Earth in his crosshairs.”  Transformers 4 opens June 27, 2014.  Hit the jump for more.

While IMAX delivers an amazing, immersive experience in movie theaters, the cameras are awfully difficult to use.  The problems are numerous: they’re huge, they weigh a lot, it costs a lot more for the film stock, and they’re so loud that any dialogue sequence has to be redone in post production.  So while the end production is amazing, only selected filmmakers get to play with the format (J.J. Abrams, Michael Bay, Christopher Nolan).

However…that might be about to change.

Over the last few years, IMAX has been quietly developing a smaller digital camera with amazing resolution.  And while that would be great on its own…the new camera would also shoot in 3D!  However, since no one had been talking about it recently, I figured IMAX was stuck trying to get the tech to work and it’d be years before we’d see it in action.  I thought wrong.  Tonight on the CinemaCon red carpet for Paramount’s presentation, Michael Bay told me he’s going to be shooting the big showcase scenes in Transformers 4 with the new, smaller IMAX 3D digital camera!  Hit the jump for more.

Christopher Nolan shot 28 minutes of The Dark Knight with IMAX cameras.  He followed with 72 minutes of IMAX footage for The Dark Knight Rises.  We learned with the release date announcement that his next project, Interstellar, is destined for IMAX.  At CinemaCon tonight, Greg Foster, Chairman and President of IMAX Entertainment, revealed Nolan will shoot a significant portion of Interstellar with IMAX cameras.  I imagine Nolan wants to test the limits of the technology and film as much of this “heroic interstellar voyage to the furthest reaches of our scientific understanding” as possible in his ideal format.  We will see if he can push it to 100 minutes or more this time around and—fingers crossed—shoot an entire feature film in IMAX in the near future.

In addition, IMAX announced Michael Bay will shoot selected scenes in Transformers 4 in IMAX.  This is all part of Paramount’s five-picture deal with IMAX—the three remaining titles have yet to be announced.  Hit the jump for the press release with the details.

Paramount Pictures has released the first two clips from director Michael Bay’s dark comedy Pain & Gain.  The film is based on a true story and stars Mark Wahlberg and Dwayne Johnson as two bodybuilders who get caught up in an extortion ring and kidnapping scheme that goes terribly wrong.  The first clip focuses more on the film’s humor than its flashy visuals, as we see Anthony Mackie’s bodybuilder character receiving questionable health care from a characteristically humorous Rebel Wilson.  The second clip shows the three of them trying to kidnap someone.

Hit the jump to watch the clips.  The film also stars Tony Shalhoub, Rob Corddry, and Bar Paly.  Pain & Gain opens on April 26th.

Paramount has released a bunch of new images for Pain & Gain.  Director Michael Bay turned up the saturation for the sun-soaked Miami setting, and it looks great, especially with the bulked-up stars Mark Wahlberg, Dwayne Johnson, and Anthony Mackie holding the frame.  They play “three personal trainers in 1990s Miami who, in pursuit of the American Dream, get caught up in a criminal enterprise that goes horribly wrong.”

Ed Harris, Tony Shalhoub, Rob Corddry, Rebel Wilson and Bar Paly also star.  Pain & Gain opens April 26.  See the images after the jump.

Paramount Pictures has unveiled some new images and a couple of TV spots for director Michael Bay’s upcoming dark comedy Pain & Gain.  Based on a true story, the film stars Mark Wahlberg and Dwayne Johnson as two bodybuilders who get caught up in an extortion ring and kidnapping scheme that goes terribly wrong.  We recently got a look at a red-band trailer for the film that highlighted the pic’s more comedic aspects, and these images tease the characters played by Rebel Wilson and Ed Harris as well as inform us that Wahlberg and Johnson are indeed cool guys who don’t look at explosions.

Hit the jump to check out the images and TV spots.  The film also stars Anthony Mackie, Tony Shalhoub, Rob Corddry, and Bar Paly.  Pain & Gain opens on April 26th.

When director Michael Bay’s sequel Transformers 4 hits theaters next year, we’ll be seeing plenty of robot destruction overseas on the screen.  We learned last November that Paramount was hoping to partner with a Chinese production company on the tentpole and set a fair amount of the film’s action in the country in order to boost its box office prospects in the lucrative country.  It appears that plan has now come to fruition, as Paramount announced today that it is partnering with China Movie Channel and Jiaflix Enterprises on Transformers 4, with production set to take place in China and the film poised to feature a number of Chinese actors and actresses.  Hit the jump for more, including the full press release.

Before I dive into the main topic of this week’s opening paragraph, just a quick disclaimer that the Top 5 will be taking a week off next Saturday to accommodate the first, and perhaps only, trip to Hawaii I will ever take. Here’s to hoping it’s less awkward but equally as life-changing and Kristen Bell/Mila Kunis-filled as Forgetting Sarah Marshall depicted. That said, while it fell just short of the cut this week, I still want to draw attention to the first trailer for director Adam Wingard‘s You’re Next that debuted on Thursday. As a horror fan, I’m always excited when a new entry in the genre gets lauded from both sides of the aisle (horror fans and those who aren’t as giddy about movies that make them think twice about turning out the lights). As far as I’m concerned, August 23rd can’t get here soon enough.

All Hawaii and horror fanboy talk aside, this week’s list offers up the first trailer(s) for The Wolverine, interviews with Dwayne Johnson and more for G.I. Joe: Retaliation, the first trailer and posters for White House Down, a new red-band trailer for Pain & Gain, and The Host interviews with Saoirse Ronan and more. As you’re probably expecting, a brief recap and link to all of the above can be found after the jump.