perfect for TF then.

Get it right next time.

Or can he?

Not that hard!

Being waiting for another TF's TB! For any of you that remember me from the original TF TB Battlegrounds, I have now - of course - seen TF's. My verdict?

Wellllll.... (bearing in mind I am supposedly a 'Studio Plant'), I enjoyed it very much. Was blown away by the action, had no trouble telling the robots apart, enjoyed the humour, wanted to boff Megan Fox, and thought it was a big, silly, entertaining explosion of a film. Considering I expected nothing else, I wasn't disappointed.

I have subsequently ordered it on HD. That's right - Pawprint has chosen HD!

I did, however, think that while amusing, the idea of the cube making inanimate machinery into 'Transformers' was a bit of a stretch, but it didn't ruin the film for me - or my life, come to think of it.

Bring on the sequel!

Big Fucking Robots Hitting Each Other II: Bunson Burner Boogaloo. Works for me. Get ready for the obligatory Monchichi's cameo.

jump to TRANSFORMERS 2. you could have completely removed the robots from the movie, and it would have held the same "entertainment" value. which is to say meagan fox is hot. military guys running around like chickens with their heads cut off is funny. throw anthony anderson into it cuz everyone likes to laugh at him, right? and oh yeah, let's do something with john tuturo. he's supposed to be a quality actor. let's give him the most humiliating role in his career.

my first thought was that it wouldn't exactly be difficult to improve on TRANSFORMERS. but I think the director was the reason it was ridiculously bad. maybe they'll slow down the action for the sequel. I can't not watch it; it's transformers! but I can at least get my fix if only - please god! please! - the retarded director known for balls to the wall action can actually produce some good ROBOT fight scenes. the last movie was just a ball of metal rolling across the screen each time. or worse, that annoying fucking silver ewok.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

Add a few more "hero shots" of everyone's favorite bots.

Remove pointless subplots involving computer hackers.

Add a ton of robot dialog.

Remove jokes involving bodily (human/robot) functions.

Insert a sex scene involving Megan Fox/Rachel Taylor in mid-69.

Stir in maximum robot carnage and...

...PRESTO!

"Waaaah, Michael Bay sucks no matter what! I will hate any writer they hire for this, and he will automatically become a hack and a sell-out! It will ruin cinema as we know it! Robert Orci ran over my dog! Flames on Prime raped my childhood! Waaaaaah! I am automatically smarter than anyone who even thought of liking a big robot-carnage movie! Anyone who likes what I hate is a brainless "apologist"! I am also bitter because no one will read MY draft of Transformers 2, in which Optimus Prime finds himself while picking grapes in the French countryside!"

I also love how a movie that's raking in hundreds of millions of dollars is supposed to ruin Shia's career. Newsflash - it's only fashionable to hate him among the elitist snob variety of geeks. The rest of us geeks, the ones who can separate thoughtful cinema from summer blockbusters and enjoy both equally - we've got no problem with him. And I'm pretty sure we outnumber the elitists.

Was it live action?

When?

Was it good?

How much did it cost making a film in which the main characters were CG?

I mean they would have had to be on screen and active for most of the film if they were the main characters.

Oh man, I really wish I had seen this new Transformers movie, but I guess it didn't play in my town.

All we got was some shitty movie about some kid with tons of explosions and other nonsense happening on screen. I think it was the bi-annual Bay film... you know... zero plot things go boom!

I don't recall there being any transfomers in that movie. I think there was some semi-cool junk robots, but they were background to the lame story with that kid from holes.

I saw the movie twice in theaters (once at an early-release midnight show and once in a boisterous JAM-PACKED opening weekend show) and I probably enjoyed it more the second time around. However, I was rather disappointed with the film's obvious flaws. My biggest complaint being the manner in which the major action sequences were shot. I found this to be extremely frustrating considering all the time & hype that went into the rendering of the robots.

It's kind of funny. I think some of our fellow Talkbackers who piled on the pre-release hate (i.e. messi, YackBacker, etc.) may have ended up liking the movie more than I did! But I enjoyed it for these 3 reasons:

Peter Cullen and the Return of Optimus Prime.
The arrival of the Autobots sequence.
John Turturro's "S7" underwear = One of the most hairbrained gags I've ever seen. It actually made me laugh out loud.

Nearly 100 posts and no sign of M-O-M.

But will Bay return????

Let's see, I got:

A)giant robots fighting

2)Explosions galore!

and D) The story of a semi-nerdy/semi-cool high school guy (not unlike our collective selves at his age)and his car and his girl.

I didn't hear anybody quoting the dialogue but I didn't cringe, so I'm wondering what people could have possibly wanted.

Don't tell me. I don't want to know.

Suffice it to say, I haven't seen a single flick by Kitamura that has sucked. My opinion of course. Midnight Meat Train sounds fun especially if Barker is pleased with it. I would say Azumi is my favorite of Kitamura's films for guilty pleasure reasons. That opening shot/sequence was just so great to me. I'm a sucker for jidaigeki films.

Oh, and Miike is indeed the greatest living director alive. I can't tell you how many times I have watched Kikoku.

Agitator - The Cinema of Takashi Miike is a great book to pick up if you haven't done so already. I love it. Objective and full of info/insight.

My kid loves The Great Yokai War. Miike desearves all the praise he garners. Sukiyaki Western Django is going to rule.

Keep it tight.

I wanted to like this movie. I was indifferent about the story, characters, designs..whatever. As long as it was entertaining and looked great. Like the trailers. I wanted a fun action movie, with great, memorable scenes. Hell, I even love THE ISLAND, and watched it hours before seeing TRANSFORMERS. It was a horrible mistake.

Somehow this movie took all my indifferent optimism and tore it to shreds within minutes. Nevermind the shitting, farting, pissing, and masturbating jokes. Nevermind the ridiculous dialogue and insane camera moves. I can let that stuff go if I really try to "leave my brain at the door". What ruined the movie for me was the CONTINUITY.

An example or ten: The cop car Transforms and chases Bumblebee and the kids down the street. Maybe 20 seconds pass, and it's suddenly 100% NIGHT. What?! It was daytime and suddenly now it's the middle of the night in a matter of 20 seconds? It would only make sense if that chase was about an hour long, and we simply cut away from all of it.

Then what the fucking hell happens at the end, right before Bonecrusher fights Optimus, in their epis 10 SECOND battle, when AGAIN we see the cop car, Shia Labeouf screams "That evil cop car's back!"...and then we never see the cop car again. WHERE THE FUCK DID IT GO!? Where the fuck did the Mountain Dew Transformer go?! How are these things just fucking disappearing!? How can Bumblebee talk again? Why would Megatron want the AllSpark, since if it TOUCHES HIM..he DIES?! WHAT THE FUCKING FUCK!?

I could handle all the annoying shit everyone hates about the movie if it just made ANY KIND OF SENSE. How someone could enjoy a film with such massive plot holes is beyond me. Please, please tell me.

It's the FX crew that's writing this movie, pure and simple. You all will see it. You'll secretly love it. In typical poseur fashion you'll decry it's soullessness. You will cook two Hot Pockets and attend to your bongs.

Dude, stop rubbing your ass on the ground and go get those anal sacks drained!

Gaius, your idea has already happened. The Evan Almighty HD-DVD lets you click while watching the movie and it links you to a store where you can buy the item. The apocalypse is upon us.

you hire this hack for a real movie, and I'll get up in arms. but you can't make the new transformers franchise any worse, so why not throw this douchebag a bone? at least this way we might have les chance of him trying to write real movies in the future...

That's okay. I had fun w/ it for the most part.

Now if they could only get that Johnny Sokko CGI fest going, you'd KNOW true true fear. A realistic Emperor Guillotine(painted on eyes intact, natch) or Beatnik Man would just rule.

Or blow chunks horrendously ala A*P*E*, depending on your point of view and/or pain threshhold.

Did you know they're thinking of making Keggy into a CGI character? oh yes.

The TRANSFORMERS is a story about a race of robots in the midst of a civil war. 'Nuff said. But you should re-read my previous two posts. Some of the items you mentioned are redundant.

Well first off, with you saying that the script for Transformers was the worst you've EVER read, let me tell you this: Try being a reader for a major studio. There's a lot of shite out there my friend, and it smells a hell of a lot worse... and I'm talking shit that got the greenlight too.

Transformers was a flawed flick, yes. But I can say that I enjoyed it a lot. I can't say that it ranks up their with blockbusters like T2, Matrix, etc. Heck no. But it was a fun ride that was derailed every now and then by some unneeded elements.

If I had to break it down, what wasn't needed was the Sector 7 angle, at least not with the tongue in cheek acting of Tuturro (fucking terrible). Take out his character and the movie is redeemed a BIT more. Axe the five minute scene at Sam's house with the Autobots. Pure slapstick and not needed. Most of the humor works throughout the film with Sam, but not that shit. As far as the hacker stuff, too much.

I liken Transformers to the first X-Men. Wonderful to see the characters up on the big screen finally... some stuff they nailed, some they didn't. But it was a great start. X-Men 2 was near spot on. So here's hoping that the same can be said for Transformers 2, now that the origin has been explained. If anything, the final moments in the movie where Prime calls out to all of the autobots promises that.

BUT, I also hate it when screenwriters try to overly inject blockbuster scripts with those elements. Look at the two Matrix sequels. Terribly overwritten scripts. Matrix Reloaded especially. It's not about understanding it. I could. But it was so evident that they were trying to overly intellectualize a concept that was pretty straight forward with the original film. I HATE that. It's not about just wanting to sit in a theater like an ADD zombie, giggling at carnage . Hell no.

I don't want a character study for a film like Transformers. The source material was never that. It's not about having low expectations or being an "apologist" (which is by far the WORST term used by those calling out people that liked a damn movie). It's about different people that have different likes and dislikes.

I can't stand Wes Anderson movies. I can't stand Christopher Guest movies. I can't stand Tarantino post Pulp Fiction. I think those films are the definition of self awareness in a filmmaker. But that's just me. Different opinions people.

The flick made me laugh (most of the time), made me cheer (when the Autobots arrived on Earth), made me stare in jaw-dropped awe (Anytime a Transformers transformed... a childhood dream to see), etc. I enjoyed it. What's wrong with that? And the fact is, a shitload of people enjoyed it just as much if not more. That's not to prove "cinematic quality", but it proves the movie did its job, it fucking entertained the masses.

Hate it. Loathe it. Whatever. Facts are that it was a HUGE success.

No movie is perfect. I take the good, leave the bad, and move on.

A deeply, deeply fucked up man.

On TF- I can't remember anyone saying that it wouldn't make money- just that it was a pity that it would earn lots of cash and a sign of the decline of civilisation.

At least it isn't a remake

Mr. Moto Speaketh Truth. About how I felt about Big Robots Hitting Each Other I. But I also Liked the whole 'let's lurk around the kids' house' routine, I thought it was funny. Typical _Bay goofiness.

I am surprised to see people still up in arms about this. Seriously. I read all the posts yesterday afternoon whilst my child slept and couldn't stop rolling my eyes. The groundwork has been laid kids. The foundation set and solidified. Nothing will change or improve. Who really cares anyway? The filmmakers clearly don't. For that matter, G.I. Joe as already been anally rendered and they haven't even shot a single second of film.

I only posted in response to some J & K cinema lovers. I surmise SuperNinja got sick of it too and moved on in life. I doubt I'll post again on this board but I'll check back later.

I'm testing a few new single malts. I'll let you know if I favor any. Be well and thanks again for dropping me a line via The Zone back in the past.

Take it light and keep it tight.

Story, character and logic are incidental with these guys.

Actually, with the TRANSFORMERS script, the logistics are admirable. Picture, if you didn't know: Okay, screenwriter, we need to get a Delta Force team from Iraq, two kids from the Valley and two teams of giant robos from outer space all in Vegas for the big dukeroo at the end. What will you do, hotshot? What will you do?

Sure, not all filmmakers are created equal. Some are much more talented than others. Some are more likable. Some do work that appeals more to our personal tastes.

And don't get me wrong, I'm not going to defend the works of Ehren Kruger or Len Wiseman or whichever Paul Anderson is the bad one, or Brett Ratner, etc. Usually, I do my best not to see their movies (in fact, I don't think I've ever seen a Brett Ratner movie...I'm sure you all envy me in that). And while I enjoy the film geek snark of AICN, it gets annoying when the article headlines are becoming indistinguishable from the talkbacks. And after awhile it gets down to the only difference between some of the guys they like and some of the guys they hate is that they like them. If the guy is on the approved list, he's okay even if his sucky stuff sucks as much as the sucky stuff of the guy on the disapproved list.

Kruger won with ARLINGTON ROAD. Scott Rosenberg won with BEAUTIFUL GIRLS (I think it was BG). Then, they get assignments writing these bad movies. I don't blame them.

Hey, kid, you want a million bucks to put this crap in script form?

Sure thing, mister. Easiest 48 hours work I ever did.

I disagree with the action directing comment though Killer. I think Bay was the perfect choice for a movie like this. It LOOKED fucking great. No different than his atrocity PEARL HARBOR. It LOOKED great. Note: I hate Bay for what he did with Pearl Harbor. Who cares about Bad Boys, Armeggedon, The Island, etc. But for him to disrespect the many stories that could have been the focus of that movie? Pisses me off to this day.

But visually, the movie was stunning to look at. And most of Transformers was like that as well. Yeah, some camera work during a couple of the battles was too Bourne-like, but overall it looked great and Bay was visually the perfect choice for a movie like that. Actually, I take that back. James Cameron would have been the perfect choice... but Bay is next in line.

He may not be the master of storytelling, but the reason he gets hired is because his movies are visual candy, and yes, that sells tickets.

And again with this apologist shit? Come on IK. Your justification of that term is lame. My enjoyment of the movie has nothing to do with the money it made and I've never said, "Hey, it's awesome because it made a lot of money." People that enjoyed it bring that up only to say, "Hey, $300+ million worth of domestic audiences loved it". Doesn't state anything about quality of content. Merely states that a shitload of people enjoyed it.

And fast forward through the end of the credits. You'll get to see a couple of trailers for the flick, but most important, you get to see the kickass IRON MAN trailer. Not sure if this is an Easter Egg, but I went through to the end of the credits and there was a special screen for this.

People can complain about the script, about the story, about the character designs, etc. But you lose all validity if you say that the effects suck. They are brilliant and the Transformers are photo-realistic. Perhaps moreso on DVD.

For me, as an adult, it settled the quite un-adult argument between fans of X-MEN comics and X-MEN films about whether you could have the Sentinels as giant robots in a film. We now know giant robots CAN be portrayed on film. Whether they should be is another argument...best carried out over several pitchers of beer.

"Transformers has alot more action than ROTS and not only that, but it's far better acted and it's alot tighter."

I'm sorry messi, but ROTS was 99.6% action. And when there is no action , there's always some nice CGI to look at. Like the futuristic opera, or backgrounds of Kashyyyk, Utapau, and Mustafar. But Transformers only had 20% of action, and 3% of that 20% is with the robots.

But I will say one good thing about Transformers: It was much better then Resident Evil: Extinction. RE:E was so awful, so stupid, that I didn't care. They tryed to Scare you so many times that it became old really fast; there was no real story; Umbrella seems so weak and helpless; and Milla Jovovich/Alice is so evil and heartless, I mean, why does she want to destroy Umbrella? they're the LAST hope for the planet, and all she wants to do is to kill them!