Next Up... Transformers, June 26'th

To begin with, the visual excitement -- great comic book colors, top notch CGI, and then the snappy dialogue aimed at younger and older audiences. I'm sure Grandma doesn't want to go, but that's because it's like a scary joy ride in an amusement park that might give her a heart attack. If the storytelling is good and the acting up-to-par (Shea La Bouef has some possibilities with more serious, mature roles -- he was very convincing in the very suspenseful thriller "Disturbia.") One has to figure on a big bag of popcorn and fun, not expecting anything that meaningful or profound (other than robots we didn't build can be friendly as well as malevolent).

I never saw the original Transformers until last night.

I found the whole movie very silly and annoying, frankly. Designed to appeal to 17 year-old boys, and they kept explaining everything three times.

"That's the Secretary of Defense"
"This is the Secretary of Defense"
"All rise for the Secretary of Defense"

The critical response was good, reviewed for what it was -- disposable entertainment. It's just something one likes or dislikes -- those who probably don't care for amusement rides like roller coasters. I still have an unashamed childlike part of my persona and the movie communicated to me on that level. Would I watch it again? Unlikely -- it's about a 2-2/2 to 3 star movie withing its gender. I do have a feeling if they don't step-up the storyline in the sequel, it will not be very impressive.

I can tell it would have been better on the big screen, with big sound.

I didn't really object to the plot or the action. I was mostly annoyed by the "threepeat" dialogue that was just about repeating plot points to make sure people got the gist of the story.

I'm sorry to hear you didn't enjoy it. I thought it was fantastic

It's been a boring week in movies. Nothing good out there lately.

Actually, "UP" was very good, but I saw it last week, so it's history to me now

Ok, I saw it. Very disappointing. I give it maybe a 6.3 on the IMDB scale. It's geared far more for pre-teen boys than the previous film was. The sense of humor is primarily based around leg humping dogs, bumbling mini-robots and even a scrotum joke. Pretty lame in comparison to the first Transformers.

How can the same director "get it" in the first film and then totally "not get it" in the second film? I guess it takes more than a director to make a film work. It must be a team effort across the board.

I think a lot of sequel films are damaged by the tendency to mold the film more for marketing revenue than for dramatic value. This film in particular seems to have been primarily designed to fit a demographic formula rather than to tell a good story. This happens to a lot of sequels.

This has been a very disappointing summer for sci-fi films. Maybe District-9 will do better. At least it's not a sequel, so maybe the studios will keep their hands out of the production.

I definitely like the previews of District 9.

I've been playing with the D-9.com site. Unfortunately the story seems to revolve around human persecution of aliens, which I find a rather lame base story for a sci-fi film (since it's basically a race relations story, rather than a sci-fi story).

I'm already wondering how a race of beings who have obviously developed gravity control technology (necessitating a fundamentally different understanding of physics than we have), could possibly be subjugated by humans.

But at least I bet there won't be any mini-robots humping Megan Fox's leg in this film.

Michael Bay and McG both are really, so far, hack directors and I have no idea how Bay was able to manage to make the first "Transformers" gel with the adults as well as the teeny-boopers. I guess it must have been an accident. Shea Lebeouf has a bigger box office draw than any of the other up-and-coming actors in Hollywood -- I just hope he gets something serious to do with his career than just pump out box office pot-boilers because he is a very good actor, as he demonstrated in "Disturbia," a very suspenseful Hitchcockian thriller.

Neil Blomkamp has mainly worked in special effects for television: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0088955/

This doesn't look promising even though Ridley Scott's roots were in special effects but also production design.
This is also Blomkamp's first screenplay and I have a feeling this one is strictly to make a fast buck and not particularly for quality or originality.

BTW, believe this! "Terminator Salvation" was basically a flop in the US but the foreign box office was unexpected:

Domestic: $121,157,000 37.5%
+ Foreign: $201,543,644 62.5%
= Worldwide: $322,700,644

With DVD sales and rentals, pay-per-view, cable and subsequent sales in third string showings (FX Channel, et al), the movie will turn a fairly respectable profit. So look out for a fifth entry -- I just hope McG isn't directing, although I won't go so far as to wish him ill will jaywalking on the Sunset Strip (okay, that's only because I almost bit-the-bullet many years ago pulling that one!)

Maybe so, but I bet it's hard to get a film right by accident. I'm guessing that someone on that team had a real love for the toys (probably from childhood) and that the studios placed little restrictions on the film to hit certain marketing targets (other than the usual desire to draw an audience).

The theme of the original film was based around "more than meets the eye" which was the catch phrase of the toy line. They used that theme to show that their characters (humans and robot alike) are not always what they appear to be. I'm not sure I could even detect a theme in the second film.


Disturbia was very good.


Just think what it could have made if it was a good film

If there had been some originality and uniqueness instead of plodding along, shackled down by the previously established mythos and loosing any insight into what it really means for humanity to invent and continue to control machines. A start -- Asimov's rules of robotics, but, of course, he wrote that humanity could violate these rules. If always found the humanoid robot detective assisting Elijah Bailey in a murder mystery, "The Caves of Steel," R. Daneel Olivaw to be the most fascinating "machine" in literature.

Again, the top film critics are at 19% favorable at Rotten Tomatoes, a really good reason to find other entertainment -- I'd rather stay home and rent a good movie, not sit in a theater with a bunch of noisy teenagers watching a mediocre movie.

I've seen every good science fiction movie ever made. The only thing left is sitting in theaters waiting for another good one to be produced.

I can watch the classic sci-fi films again and again which tends to make me judge any new efforts in comparison and they don't usually hold up. I did like Spielberg's "War of the Worlds," more faithful to the book even with a change of locale -- his concept of the machines were phenomenal and I thought Tom Cruise turned in his best performance (has anyone notice that Scientology is placing commercials on TV?) . I have a feeling we have to wait for Cameron's "Avatar" for some quality sci-fi as he is a true aficionado of the genre and successfully write his own stories specifically to be cinematic.

"Transformer II" did over $ 200 M this weekend which is pretty impressive especially for an elongated version of a first film.

I think you may be right. I'll hope for District9 next, but it seems like a long shot.

At least TrueBlood is back on HBO. It's not SciFi, but it's fun to watch

Alan Ball who created "Six Feet Under" also created True Blood and the satirical element is even more evident. It's sometimes unabashed spoofing of the genre. I love the idea that the vampires are known and a part of society and the obvious parallels in the religious "camp" preaching. The dark humor is certainly served up with a lot of blood and gore, especially when the title of the show is a drink a vampire can order at a bar!

New trailer for District 9. Definitely more than Apartheid cultural commentary.

Watch it in HD: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dNr5qdQN5q4



Release date of August 14.

Is it my imagination or does that look pretty freakin good.

yeah i'm really looking forward to it