Film: Transformers

[Chaos Butterfly]

^^

which it did.

If giant robots fighting each other and explosions don't catch your attention, then you have more than 3 brain cells to rub together and like going to see 'films'

That said, I love cerebral films as well, but I need the odd smash and boom experience every now and then

 

[Banquo]

In case you didn't know that Qatar was in the Middle East, Michael Bay is kind enough to remind you twice in the subtitles of this movie. Also -- black people are funny. That's right. When a film starts to get bogged down in story exposition or character development, it's time to bring in a sassy African-American. Maybe I'm just too racially sensitive, but Michael Bay does this without fail in most of his movies.

But, what about the "popcorn" test? I think Transformers passes. The special effects are really neat. There are hot chicks. The Secretary of Defense uses a shotgun. If you can sit still through 15 minutes of U.S. military recruiting footage and 45 minutes of camera pans, the action sequences pay off in a big way. Shia LeBeouf does a good job in the lead role, and while John Turturro seems uncomfortable (here, playing the Steve Buscemi Armageddon part), most of the performances are passable.

 

[L2R]

In case you didn't know that Qatar was in the Middle East, Michael Bay is kind enough to remind you twice in the subtitles of this movie. Also -- black people are funny. That's right. When a film starts to get bogged down in story exposition or character development, it's time to bring in a sassy African-American. Maybe I'm just too racially sensitive, but Michael Bay does this without fail in most of his movies.

i fuckin HATE that.

 

[Zagenth]

Cheesest fuckin dialogue ever. I was actually cringing towards the end off it.

Jesus christ people, did you even watch the original series? The dialogue in the movie was far less cheesy than the cartoon. I think they did a great job in bringing this cartoon to the big screen. It was damn entertaining, that's all I was expecting going in.

As far as the whole "michael bay hate" going on...

Bad Boys, Bad Boys 2, Armaggedon, The Rock, Transformers; they were all entertaining movies. Never watched Pearl Harbor or The Island cause those didn't look like something I would like. All I ask when I watch a movie is that I get entertained, I don't expect a work of art everytime I watch a movie. If I watch a work of art, I consider that a bonus, but as long as I am entertained, then it's all good IMO.

 

[tambourine-man]

Finally, most of the action shots were cheap, because the camera was so close to the action that it just looked like metal fighting metal.

This is very true. They kept the CGI up close in the action shots and I think they suffered because of it. It was just a metallic blur for the most part.

Other than that though, the rest was top notch.

the only thing i think of when someone says it sucks is that they are total transformer geeks, so pissed over silly shit like bumblebee is not a VW or that the decepticons don't get enough personalization. otherwise, i don't get any "hatin"

overall, really fucking good.

Well, in the scene where bumblebee is 'bought', the car salesman tries to sell the kid a VW. But, to be honest, it's this kind of self-referencing that I've come to loathe about remakes and nostalgia drives.

The second bit of self-referencing was where one of the characters commented on another Michael Bay film, Armageddon. I could quite literally have imploded with embarrassment when I heard that. I mean... what kind of self-absorbed director prick do you have to be to reference your own films as a joke? Ugh... makes my skin crawl.

Megan Fox is one sexy ho thats for sure

QFT

i found the latter.

a mate downloaded it and passed a disc onto me. fucking worse than i expected.
that entire "looking for the glasses" scene was horrendous

i hate bay's directing style and his stories are pathetic. alcohol didn't even help much. well, it did help a little. instead of being pissed off, i laughed at the film's stupidity.

but what is it about Bay that is worse than any other popcorn action flick?

See above (and below). :D

As far as popcorn flicks go, I quite enjoyed it. It was pretty laid back: a no-brainer with plenty of stupid meat-headed bravado, dumb slow-mo shots, unnecessarily pre-packaged cliché teen relationships, viagra-in-the-form-of-military-hardware, and misplaced masturbatory nationalism. In any other setting, the same Bay qualities would have angered me, but it set itself apart from the rest of Bay's flicks in that the overt sci-fi element meant that it didn't try to make much ham-fisted historical or social commentary - something that Bay is dreadfully inept at (yet he usually feels compelled to add in to his films with the grace and deftness of a gorilla with additional chromosomes).

In case you didn't know that Qatar was in the Middle East, Michael Bay is kind enough to remind you twice in the subtitles of this movie. Also -- black people are funny. That's right. When a film starts to get bogged down in story exposition or character development, it's time to bring in a sassy African-American. Maybe I'm just too racially sensitive, but Michael Bay does this without fail in most of his movies.

Aaaaiiiight. 8)

In terms of the film itself, I thought Shia LaBeouf did a good job in his role and Megan Fox was suitably and pant-tighteningly sexy. I doubt she can act for toffee... but who cares? :D John Turturro was horribly miscast as the Sector 7 agent and didn't fit the role well at all.

3 stars.

 

[Klue]

I gave it a 4. Pretty much liked it all.
The pimpley kid in the video shop made a few comments about how he loved it. He said he bought it on dvd as soon as it was released. He wouldnt;ve been more than 17 though, so I doubt if he would've watched the original cartoon. I am 26 and barely remember it. (do remember all my transformer toys though)

I loved in the movie the scenes where the transformers were in the vehicle states. Crusing around together, such cool cars!

:D

 

[dshock]

I loved in the movie the scenes where the transformers were in the vehicle states. Crusing around together, such cool cars!

:D

true

 

[L2R]

for all the stoners who care

Transformers" director Michael Bay says that he's already written the sequel to last year's mega blockbuster reports Rotten Tomatoes.

Speaking at the recent VES awards, Bay said "I've been writing Transformers 2. We've got our characters all designed. I always write all my scripts, my movies anyway so at least I've got something to give the writers. It's like a template. We have a really good outline so I worked on that."

Why'd he do it that way? "We had to because I want to make my date. I'm not going to let the strike take me down" he says.

Bay also tells The IESB that there will be no Dinobots, but there will be a lot more robots this time.

put your hands up in the air

 

[Finder]

The second bit of self-referencing was where one of the characters commented on another Michael Bay film, Armageddon. I could quite literally have imploded with embarrassment when I heard that. I mean... what kind of self-absorbed director prick do you have to be to reference your own films as a joke? Ugh... makes my skin crawl.

Just watched this last night and didn't realize it at the time, but wow, a truly cringe-worthy comment.

I thought the movie was ok for what it was. I was mostly concerned with testing out my new surround sound setup and hadn't had a chance to see this yet. Sound-wise the movie delivered, in the other areas...well, I got what I was expecting. I did quite like the helicopter Decepticon.

 

[Belisarius]

^
Blackout.

Starscream was my personal favorite, as was also the case in the original series....

 

[MynameisnotDeja]

Jesus christ people, did you even watch the original series? The dialogue in the movie was far less cheesy than the cartoon. I think they did a great job in bringing this cartoon to the big screen. It was damn entertaining, that's all I was expecting going in.

As far as the whole "michael bay hate" going on...

Bad Boys, Bad Boys 2, Armaggedon, The Rock, Transformers; they were all entertaining movies. Never watched Pearl Harbor or The Island cause those didn't look like something I would like. All I ask when I watch a movie is that I get entertained, I don't expect a work of art everytime I watch a movie. If I watch a work of art, I consider that a bonus, but as long as I am entertained, then it's all good IMO.

I agree. I love Michael Bay personally. I was super excited when I saw he was the one doing Transformers. Armageddon was one of my favorites when I was younger. Badass, pretty looking action. Cool effects. SOme type of cheesy love story. I love that stuff. It makes you feel good watching it. I love deep, artsy, trippy, sad, scary, etc etc type of movies too. I love all movies that are good.

I could have sat there and picked a part transfomers too I guess..but Id much rather just relax and enjoy the movie. I was super into it. So were all of my friends, everyone in the theater actually. It boggles my mind that anyone would walk out of this movie.

 

[L2R]

^diff'rent strokes i guess, cuz it boggles my mind why anyone would subject themselve to the entire runtime of any michael bay film, let alone pay for the ordeal.

his films are akin to a bunch of corporate executives urinating on my face for a hundred minutes or so.

 

[MynameisnotDeja]

lol..I love them. They are sexy! Granted though, I am not hard to please.
Im just curious, L2R, do you like any of these type of action films? If so, what directors/producers do you like in this genre?

 

[L2R]

by genre do you mean sfx heavy actioners?

well, i dig the star wars series, the matrix trilogy, the lord of the rings trilogy, the alien films, the first two terminator films, crouching tiger hidden dragon, batman begins, and scores of others. some of these are my favourite films of any genre.

you know, others that don't resort to cliche packed plot devices and overly stereotypical humour (bleh).

 

[MynameisnotDeja]

I didnt like the matrix movies much. I couldnt even bring myself to watch the third one.

I agree with you on the Aliens movies. I them.

 

[Belisarius]

^
Just remember that there are only two Aliens movies.

 

[L2R]

^ i'll presume you just mispelt terminator or godfather there bel.

i like all the alien films. that franchise tickles me in their unique approach, being each film by a different director and as a different genre. my ideal fifth and finale one would be done by katsuhiro otomo so that he could instill his unique version of biomechanical designs and concepts.
ZOMG that would be epic!

 

[L2R]

I didnt like the matrix movies much. I couldnt even bring myself to watch the third one.

I agree with you on the Aliens movies. I them.

you might like the matrix films more if you knew that you can see your trusty moderator in the first one :D %)

 

[Benefit]

In any other setting, the same Bay qualities would have angered me, but it set itself apart from the rest of Bay's flicks in that the overt sci-fi element meant that it didn't try to make much ham-fisted historical or social commentary

Bingo.

I thought a lot of the dialogue and performances were pretty funny too, like when Shia LaBeouf crashes the pink bike he's riding right in front of his crush and says, "No, I'm not okay alright? I'm losin' my mind a little bit. Gettin' chased by my car right now, gotta go!" Shia's got great delivery. If you can just forgive the cliches and badly drawn characters and the plot holes and the fact that there is apparently a major metropolitan city that looks EXACTLY like downtown Los Angeles about 20 miles away from the Hoover Dam... then it's all good.

It would have been cooler if this had been a movie about Optimus Prime, and not "a boy and his car."

I enjoyed it.

 

[L2R]

^see what you're describing seems like what i enjoyed most about "snakes on a plane".
imo, no bay film can compete with SOAP's comedic brilliance.