I saw Transformers tonight

[Lurker 5]

By my calculations

Sad part is, you're just like what you typed. A machine.

Do machines count with fingers and toes?

Neil

[Hitch 57]

You must have missed how he ruined The Sum Of All Fears.

You must have missed how he redeemed himself in "Hollywoodland".

[A24 4,331]

Yes, thanks to Hollywoodland Affleck has earned some new respect.

[Luke Skywalker 1,795]

By my calculations

Sad part is, you're just like what you typed. A machine.

Do machines count with fingers and toes?

Neil

well...the ones that were arround Star Wars release almost did

[BurgaFlippinMan 7]

Pearl Harbor was awesome?

45mins of it was.

Transformers is a nearly bad movie. It escapes because Shia Lebouf(sp?) has fun.

how can you forget MEGAN FOX???!!!

[gkgyver 1,645]

It actually has nothing to do with it being 'good' or not. "Good" is just an opinion.

Sure.

That's why the opinions of both, intelligent people and total nitwits, are valued equally. That's the biggest flaw in modern society.

Well, that and Attack Of The Clones.

[BLUMENKOHL 1,068]

....The world is like the sand.

[JoeinAR 1,949]

Pearl Harbor was awesome?

45mins of it was.

Transformers is a nearly bad movie. It escapes because Shia Lebouf(sp?) has fun.

how can you forget MEGAN FOX???!!!

Easy, she has all the wrong parts for me to notice her

[Mr. Breathmask 555]

What do you want from a movie geared to litte kids?

An intricate adult soap opera?

For a person who hails Star Wars as the most amazing achievement in Cinema, you sure look for a lot of depth in your movies.

[Cue the oldies to start arguing how Mark Hamill is an amazing actor in comparison to Shia what's his name , etc. etc.]

*Shakes head* Cinematic puritans.

Didn't Joe just compliment Transformers?

But that doesn't mean I can't enjoy less complicated movies as well.

Star Wars complicated? Ohhh yes. That Darth Vader fellow...verrry complicated. I was questioning his role as evil villain every second of Star Wars. So three-dimensional.

Not to demerit the achievements of the film at the time, just showing how a simplistic tale can be hailed as amazing by its contemporaries.

Simplistic, yes. But with Star Wars, it was all in the execution. And what an execution it was!

Pearl Harbor was awesome?

45mins of it was.

Which was a) far too little in a 183-minute film and b) horribly inappropriate given the subject matter.

[Lurker 5]

I just saw it. Nothing amazing about it. The robots all looked like really nice CGI, but I was never convinced they were really captured by a camera. At least they had some personality, which is more than I can say about the humans in the movie.

I'd list all of my issues, but the movie is not really worth the time discuss and it doesn't hold up to any sort of scrutiny and it's all rather dumb. It's not boring, it's just lame.

Neil

[bondo 33]

I've seen it several times now, and the audience reaction has been overwhelmingly positive each time. Every person I've talked to, whether they be friends, co-workers, family, or friends-of-friends have loved the movie...... men, women, old, and young. This is definitely going to turn out to be one of Michael Bay's more popular films, and rightfully so.

[Morlock 11]

You must have missed how he ruined The Sum Of All Fears.

He didn't exactly ruin the movie.....he was correctly cast for the dumb movie it should have been, it's not his fault Phil Alden Robinson did a far better job with the film than it should have been. I would hvae loved Liev Schreiber in his part.

Yes, thanks to Hollywoodland Affleck has earned some new respect.

I still think his best was in Chasing Amy.

[Red 75]

I liked him best in Dogma. Interesting to note that he does his best work with Kevin Smith.

[QMM 4]

He didn't exactly ruin the movie.....he was correctly cast for the dumb movie it should have been, it's not his fault Phil Alden Robinson did a far better job with the film than it should have been. I would hvae loved Liev Schreiber in his part.

There'll always be a soft spot for that movie because it introduced me to Liev Schreiber (and to a lesser extent the Manchurian Candidate remake)

[Ollie 1,059]

You must have missed how he ruined The Sum Of All Fears.

He didn't exactly ruin the movie.....he was correctly cast for the dumb movie it should have been, it's not his fault Phil Alden Robinson did a far better job with the film than it should have been. I would hvae loved Liev Schreiber in his part.

I always thought Alec Baldwin was perfect as Ryan, Schrieber would have made an ok Ryan.

What was dumb is that they didn't have the guts to stick with the original subject matter.

[Morlock 11]

He didn't exactly ruin the movie.....he was correctly cast for the dumb movie it should have been, it's not his fault Phil Alden Robinson did a far better job with the film than it should have been. I would hvae loved Liev Schreiber in his part.

There'll always be a soft spot for that movie because it introduced me to Liev Schreiber (and to a lesser extent the Manchurian Candidate remake)

Hey, I think it's a terrific film, full of good performances by good actors. Affleck is the weakest link in it, and he's not bad. Excellent cinematography and music, too.

[Ollie 1,059]

I misunderstood your comments

[Morlock 11]

I was replying to Max's post, hadn't seen yours.

I always thought Alec Baldwin was perfect as Ryan, Schrieber would have made an ok Ryan.

What was dumb is that they didn't have the guts to stick with the original subject matter.

I also loved Baldwin as Ryan, closest to the books. Ford was just boring.

They kept to the subject matter, by and large. They just totally revamped the villains. Frankly, I was fine with them changing the villains. I didn't need to see the strange group Clancy put together in the book. I much prefered to have Alan Bates as a Neo-Nazi.

[Ollie 1,059]

Just got back from Transformers.

First thoughts, the score sucked as usual. Of course what else is new in a Michael Bay film when it comes to music.

The film starts off pretty good and is fine until they get to Hoover Dam, then it proceeds to go downhill very fast. The final battle has so much movement and constant camera changes I gave up trying to make sense of what was going on and tried to focus on one object to keep my eyes on the screen.

Visually ILM and Digital Domain did a fantastic job, I though Shia LaBeouf was great and for awhile the movie held itself together with decent story. But then it fell apart, too many characters are introduced and end up disappearing in unfinished storylines. The Decepticons were bland and not very menacing.

I will admit that I was actually excited about seeing this film based on word of mouth, I used to enjoy watching the Transformer cartoons back in the 80's but I never collected any of the toys.

For awhile Michael Bay had me but he couldn't keep it going.

I am curious about JJ Abrahms upcoming monster(?) movie, nice teaser.

[Chris ChrusherComix 46]

Alright, I just tracked down and watched the cartoon for the first time. I must say, I am not at all impressed. The graphics were cool, but that's about it. The voice acting was horribly corny. The soundtrack was disgusting. (about the only good thing in it was the Weird Al song, and it's not one of his best)

And plot? Are you kidding me? That had hardly any plot. It was just big robots smashing the snot out of each other for an hour and a half.

Now don't get me wrong. Despite all that, it was still relatively enjoyable to watch. But I could not possibly imagine this new movie not being better in all those areas (especially plot) than that cartoon.

The original cartoon that ran from 1984-1986 ran around 98 episodes or so. The 1986 movie was a climatic middle chapter in that storyline, and it was a crucial chapter in that long storyline arch. To say the 1986 movie had no plot is like watching say, that last half hour or 20 minutes of a Star Wars or Harry potter or LOTR movie and saying it had no plot. It was kind of like a payoff for the setup of the first 50 or 60 episodes. You'd have to watch the whole series. This was the weakness of that film however, as it failed in the theaters but has gained tremendous cult classic popularity among Transformers fans, anime/Japanese animation fans, and '80 stuff in general. For example, I showed King Mark the 1986 movie only after showing him the original 3-part mini-series. The original 3-part pilot was the essence of the whole series, not the 1986 movie.

However, this new movie stands on its own and it actually surprised me. It is the first Michael Bay movie I've ever found enjoyable. Spielberg said that Bay was born to do a Transformers movie, and I guess he was right. His style worked for it. In fact, there was only 2 things that I hated: That Frank Welker was rejected as the voice of Megatron and that the score was loud and extremely unmemorable. I didn't notice any thematic development, just beats and repeated notes. Everything else about this movie I loved. And hearing Peter Cullen doing Optimus Prime for the first time since 1987 was truly a great moment for me - worth the price of admission alone. The tremendous special effects and Megan Fox were just the cherry on top for me.

[Red 75]

I knew you'd show up sooner or later.

[Chris ChrusherComix 46]

I knew you'd show up sooner or later.

Haha. I think everybody knows that Transformers will always get my interest. Well, at least the G1 Transformers. Not much of a fan of the rest.

There's a plot in the 1986 film. I still get emotional watching it.

Summer 1987, I saw this film when I was on vacation in San Francisco for 2 months.

I felt sad, angry and betrayed when they killed of Optimus Prime.

The only time I felt as bad was some 15 years later when my cat died.

Yeah, it was pretty rough, wasn't it? I wasn't just sad about Prime, I was also bummed because they killed around 80-90% of the characters from the first two seasons! Including my all-time favorite Starscream! I was traumatized. Thankfully, the re-wrote Optimus and Starscream into 3rd season to sallvage my childhood sanity.

Shhh... about who all died and all though. I'm showing my wife the whole original series and she's only in the early 2nd season so far. She loved the new movie though. I have to close this page before she reads it.

-Chris, Who collected every Transformer from 1984-1987 and still has them....

I just saw it. Nothing amazing about it. The robots all looked like really nice CGI, but I was never convinced they were really captured by a camera. At least they had some personality, which is more than I can say about the humans in the movie.

I'd list all of my issues, but the movie is not really worth the time discuss and it doesn't hold up to any sort of scrutiny and it's all rather dumb. It's not boring, it's just lame.

Neil

Funny, that's how I feel about Star Trek.

[Romão 2,274]

I don't know much about cinema, but I had a blast watching Transformers, like I haven't felt in quite some time. Shia really does carry the movie, and I was surprised how well the comedy worked. The CGI is groundbreaking.

If a movie can make me feel like a kid again, I can only give it high praise.

Awful score though.

[JoeinAR 1,949]

funny how cris reveres a piece of shit cartoon over a series that changed the face of television

not surprised

[Chris ChrusherComix 46]

funny how cris reveres a piece of shit cartoon over a series that changed the face of television

not surprised

Nah. This isn't a personal attack. Not at all.

Why don't you grow up, you crankity old slob. What the hell is your problem with me anyway? Every time I post here you attack me no matter what I post. I have work and hobbies to occupy most of my time, but rest assured, when I do find time to read and post here, nothing ever changes with you and you never do anything different. Don't you do anything else?

FYI, You missed the phenomenon of Transformers because you're ancient, so you don't get it. You didn't grow up on the toys or the cartoons or anything. Instead, you love Towering Inferno. I'll admit, I don't get that because it was before my time and it just seemed boring to me (other than a couple of good cues on the score), but kudos to you for loving that dull piece of work. By you missing a pop culture phenomenon because you're too old when it came out doesn't make it "a piece of shit cartoon", as it was and is so much more. Have some class for once in your life and stop spending every single one of your waking moments bashing people with different opinions than yourself. I'd say more but I don't want to lower to your "shit" throwing standards. Get a life and STFU.

[Unlucky Bastard 7,782]

Wait... does everyone mean to say that this is a Michael Bay movie that is actually good?! This I gotta see.

[Chris ChrusherComix 46]

I don't know much about cinema, but I had a blast watching Transformers, like I haven't felt in quite some time. Shia really does carry the movie, and I was surprised how well the comedy worked. The CGI is groundbreaking.

If a movie can make me feel like a kid again, I can only give it high praise.

Awful score though.

I agree with that.

Wait... does everyone mean to say that this is a Michael Bay movie that is actually good?! This I gotta see.

It's the only Michael Bay movie I've ever seen that I liked. And I liked it a lot, which surprised me because I thought it was going to suck. Now I feel bad for laughing at his treatment in Team America: World Police.

[Unlucky Bastard 7,782]

I might give it a go. I remember being turned off Bay movies after literally falling asleep in the cinema during Pearl Harbor.

[JoeinAR 1,949]

funny how cris reveres a piece of shit cartoon over a series that changed the face of television

not surprised

Nah. This isn't a personal attack. Not at all.

Why don't you grow up, you crankity old slob. What the hell is your problem with me anyway? Every time I post here you attack me no matter what I post. I have work and hobbies to occupy most of my time, but rest assured, when I do find time to read and post here, nothing ever changes with you and you never do anything different. Don't you do anything else?

FYI, You missed the phenomenon of Transformers because you're ancient, so you don't get it. You didn't grow up on the toys or the cartoons or anything. Instead, you love Towering Inferno. I'll admit, I don't get that because it was before my time and it just seemed boring to me (other than a couple of good cues on the score), but kudos to you for loving that dull piece of work. By you missing a pop culture phenomenon because you're too old when it came out doesn't make it "a piece of shit cartoon", as it was and is so much more. Have some class for once in your life and stop spending every single one of your waking moments bashing people with different opinions than yourself. I'd say more but I don't want to lower to your "shit" throwing standards. Get a life and STFU.

whatever KKK, but Transformers isn't the big Hit I thought it would be, I figured it would be smashing B/O recorrds, i guess its not the pop culture phenomenon either of us thought it would be.

and for the record kris, was the cartoon really that good, come on, it was badly animated. And nobody should be subjected to a story arc 50 or 60 episodes to tell a complete tale. At somepoint individual episodes had to be self sustained.

and I thought you were intelligent enough(obviously Im completely wrong) to understand that Star Trek is a real pop culture phenomenon, that endures even today. Its success is unquestioned. Fact, not opinion.

if there weren't a few more big B/O movies still coming I suppose Transformers could become the #1 film of the summer but it looks more and more likely that that worst big budget film of the summer is also the biggest hit. Hmmm,

[Ollie 1,059]

Wait... does everyone mean to say that this is a Michael Bay movie that is actually good?! This I gotta see.

The first hour it's actually pretty good then it goes downhill.

[da6 0]

Does anyone know who does the soundtrack for this movie ?

[King Mark 3,631]

It's John Williams

[Red 75]

Does anyone know who does the soundtrack for this movie ?

Jablonsky.

[Lurker 5]

Jablonsky Williams.

Neil

[Red 75]

John's mentally challenged brother.

[da6 0]

John's mentally challenged brother.

he has a brother ?

[riselordvader 0]

I saw Transformers opening night and I was expecting it to be pretty good (at least the trailers made it look that way). However I was very disappointed with it. I hated how Bay turned the movie into a comedy by cracking one joke after another until it got irritating. The robots had no depth/emotions to them (as opposed to Gollum or Davy Jones) The little Decepticon was very annoying and hogged the screen (Frenzy, I think was it's name). As the movie went on and on, I kept checking my watch and hoping it'd be over soon. By the time the final battle began, I was so detached from the story/characters that the special effects meant nothing to me. I was expecting a semi-dramatic movie that took itself seriously, but this certainly wasn't what I saw.

Little girl: Excuse me, but are you the tooth fairy?

...

Bush: Why don't you dial me up some ding-dongs darling?

[JoeinAR 1,949]

well more like a twin, John had to have his dead brothers fetus removed from his stomach back in the 60's. somehow John had absorbed his brother while in his mothers womb. they said the fetus had its arm out as if it were conducting a score.

[Johnnyecks 33]

Wow

[John Crichton 4]

Well I finally got around to seeing it today, and for the most part I agree with my fellow Texan's sentiments, though I'd only call the first hour decent, not great. There was too much focus on the human characters and not enough on the Transformers themselves, leaving the Decepticons as very hollow, bland villans. I think the movie would have really benefited from some Cybertron scenes at the start like the TV series did, it would have gone a long way to establishing the characters better, and they could have trimmed some fat from the rest (like the whole storyline with the Aussie analyst and her Redskins-fan buddy, did that ever go anywhere?). I thought the ending was very nice, though, and having Peter Cullen back was great.

[JoeinAR 1,949]

seriously the voices were inconsequential except to the fanboys. The general public didn't care.

[John Crichton 4]

Of course they didn't. But I grew up with the cartoon, so it was nice that they brought him back.

[Red 75]

It just wouldn't be the same without Peter Cullen doing Optimus Prime.

[Ollie 1,059]

Well I finally got around to seeing it today, and for the most part I agree with my fellow Texan's sentiments, though I'd only call the first hour decent, not great. There was too much focus on the human characters and not enough on the Transformers themselves, leaving the Decepticons as very hollow, bland villans. I think the movie would have really benefited from some Cybertron scenes at the start like the TV series did, it would have gone a long way to establishing the characters better, and they could have trimmed some fat from the rest (like the whole storyline with the Aussie analyst and her Redskins-fan buddy, did that ever go anywhere?). I thought the ending was very nice, though, and having Peter Cullen back was great.

They introduce all these characters who play important roles and then once they all meet it's almost as if Bay decides we'll forget about them if he just cuts away and we never see them again.

[da6 0]

I saw Transformers opening night and I was expecting it to be pretty good (at least the trailers made it look that way). However I was very disappointed with it. I hated how Bay turned the movie into a comedy by cracking one joke after another until it got irritating. The robots had no depth/emotions to them (as opposed to Gollum or Davy Jones) The little Decepticon was very annoying and hogged the screen (Frenzy, I think was it's name). As the movie went on and on, I kept checking my watch and hoping it'd be over soon. By the time the final battle began, I was so detached from the story/characters that the special effects meant nothing to me. I was expecting a semi-dramatic movie that took itself seriously, but this certainly wasn't what I saw.

Little girl: Excuse me, but are you the tooth fairy?

...

Bush: Why don't you dial me up some ding-dongs darling?

rlv you must be the only one that gave a bad review lol

You Pauline Kael you

YOu fan boy ? :cool:

seriuosly though bad reviews are healthy

[Mr. Breathmask 555]

funny how cris reveres a piece of shit cartoon over a series that changed the face of television

not surprised

Nah. This isn't a personal attack. Not at all.

Why don't you grow up, you crankity old slob. What the hell is your problem with me anyway? Every time I post here you attack me no matter what I post. I have work and hobbies to occupy most of my time, but rest assured, when I do find time to read and post here, nothing ever changes with you and you never do anything different. Don't you do anything else?

FYI, You missed the phenomenon of Transformers because you're ancient, so you don't get it. You didn't grow up on the toys or the cartoons or anything. Instead, you love Towering Inferno. I'll admit, I don't get that because it was before my time and it just seemed boring to me (other than a couple of good cues on the score), but kudos to you for loving that dull piece of work. By you missing a pop culture phenomenon because you're too old when it came out doesn't make it "a piece of shit cartoon", as it was and is so much more. Have some class for once in your life and stop spending every single one of your waking moments bashing people with different opinions than yourself. I'd say more but I don't want to lower to your "shit" throwing standards. Get a life and STFU.

whatever KKK, but Transformers isn't the big Hit I thought it would be, I figured it would be smashing B/O recorrds, i guess its not the pop culture phenomenon either of us thought it would be.

and for the record kris, was the cartoon really that good, come on, it was badly animated. And nobody should be subjected to a story arc 50 or 60 episodes to tell a complete tale. At somepoint individual episodes had to be self sustained.

and I thought you were intelligent enough(obviously Im completely wrong) to understand that Star Trek is a real pop culture phenomenon, that endures even today. Its success is unquestioned. Fact, not opinion.

if there weren't a few more big B/O movies still coming I suppose Transformers could become the #1 film of the summer but it looks more and more likely that that worst big budget film of the summer is also the biggest hit. Hmmm,

Behave, you two.

[Elmo Lewis 6]

Trek was a phenomenon in the past, maybe. But now it's only a parody of said phenomenon, even if its influences are still standing.

[Trent B 337]

By the way Transformers has made over $67 million world wide. Domestically (here in the US) it's made over $150 million. I call that pretty impressive numbers.

[JoeinAR 1,949]

not really, its much smaller than it was projected to be by 25%

[Luke Skywalker 1,795]

John's mentally challenged brother.

he has a brother ?

Yes he has but not that one.

His name is Don Williams, and i think he is a percussionist.

I dont remember if he has any other brother or sisters.