Movie reviews: The Transformers (2007) – Part 50

I’ve been a fan of The Transformers for as long as I can remember. Some days, it still feels to me like the fate of the universe is really on the line, in a battle between Autobots and Decepticons.

This new movie was a great experience for me. Full of action, beautiful effects, and a good sound track, there are many many good things I can say about this movie. It’s got comedy, drama, car chases, giant robots blowing stuff up, and great characters.

I’m the kind of person who, when something is great, the good seems self-evident, and that makes it harder for me to describe it. it feels like it goes without saying, so it feels weird saying it. So without further explanation, on to the down side.

First, and least important, there was obviously some miscommunication between the production peoples and the marketing department, or something along those lines, as a transformer identified as brawl in the toys and video games referred to himself as devastator. Nothing too bad here, but it was someone’s slip-up, to be sure. Secondly, my biggest problem with this movie, in scenes of intense robot on robot action, the camera was shaking quite a bit, as if the camera man were running around instead of being on a track.

If you’re a fan of the original series, but you can still appreciate new spins on your old favorites, you’re going to want to see this movie. If you’re not familiar with the franchise, but you like action, robots, or comedy, you’re going to want to see this movie. If you’re me, you’re going to want to see this movie at least five more times.

More than meets the eye: Anticipating the release of the Transformers movie – Part 3

“Autobots Transform And Roll Out!” “Decepticons Destroy!”

Who hasn’t neen waiting for this movie? If you haven’t seen the trailer previews, pics or otherwise, then you must not be online for more than five minutes or so.(or perhaps just hasn’t caught your eye yet) Transformers are everywhere! What do I think? I can’t wait! Since I was a little kid I remember wanting to see a “real” Transformers movie. The clips and pics look awesome. The movie even has a cool cast in it, like Peter Cullen(voice of Optimus), Tyrese Gibson, John Voight, Anthony Anderson, and even Brnie Mac. The new game looks very promising too. Best of all(for the game) Peter Cullen and Frank Welker-the original voices of Optimus Prime and megatron from the first animated series- are supposed to be doing the voices. Woo Hoo! Awesome! For more info on the movie visit http://www.transformersmovie.c om for more info on the game visit: http://www.transformersgame.co m

Most popular action figures for the 2008 holiday season

It is the holiday shopping season. What is hot for action figures? Here is the list as I see it, in no particular order.

BEN 10 ALIEN FORCE action figures

Kevin’s action cruiser 27.99, radio control version 24.99

Four-inch action figures 5.99

Examples are, Chromastone, Echo, Swampfire, Jetray, and Humgousaur.

DNA aliens heroes 9.99, Swampfire, and Chromastone

BEN 10 Alien Creatures 14.99

BIONICLES from LEGO are always good.

They start from 6.99 and go up to 45.99.

Examples are Pridak for 9.99, Mantax for 9.99, Hydraxon 19.99, Matorak Solek 6.99, Kalmah is 17.99 and Nocturn is 34.99.

When I first saw this toy line, i thought to myself, “what a concept, robots with masks!” Don’t overlook this toy line. It’s

reasonably price, and different variations to chose from, will keep kids entertained for a while.

AFRO SAMURAI action figures series 1

Distributed by DC Unlimited

This series consists of Afro Samurai.

Justice, also known as the number one.

Ninja Ninja, Afro Samurai’s annoying sidekick

Kuma, Afro Samurai’s childhood friend and the dojo senior student, now his sworn enemy.

Each action figure is selling for 14.99 each.

HASBRO’S 2008 Star Wars Transformers crossover action figure line

The 2008 releases are as follows.

Emperor Palpatine as an Imperial Shuttle.

Tie pilot as a Tie Bomber.

General Grievous as a Star Fighter.

Boba Fett as the Slave 1.

Luke Skywalker as a Land Speeder.

A clone pilot as a Republic Gun Ship.

The starting price for these action figures is 14.99, which can go up to 39.99.

TRANSFORMERS animated toy line released by Hasbro.

This line is an exact duplicate copy of the characters seen on Cartoon Network.

Those that I have seen on the shelves are Optimus Prime, Ultra Magnus, Bumble Bee, Bulkhead, Grimlock, Snarl, Blitzwing, Megatron, and Starscream.

.

They look great. Their facial expressions are that seen on the show. Now that is detailing! Let the kids have them because all of them will want them. Prices vary on size. Bumble Bee is 12.99, while Optimus Prime is 24.99, Grimlock is 29.99, Megatron is 39.99, and Starscream is 24.99.

Prices will vary.

I know that other lines and products can be mentioned here. However, I made this list keeping children in mind, accessibility, and price. All of these lines can be found on the internet, and at any local retail outlet.

Remember that all prices will vary. Have a great holiday everyone.

Movie reviews: The Transformers (2007) – Part 12

Transformers the Movie was the first ever movie I went to see.

At 5 years old I don’t remember the whole thing but remember being marvelled at the huge war and years later remember hearing a rumour of a little swearing hidden in it’s depths.

So of course when the new film was announced I was eager to go see it and have been keeping tabs on it’s progress since the first teaser trailor.

Shortly after the movie started I realised that this film wasn’t aimed at the scores of current 5 year olds that are playing with the latest incarnation of the transformers toy line. This film was aimed at me and the other 5 year olds who sat in the cinema over 20 years ago with our mouths agape totally consumed.

So what did I make of this film. I did enjoy it but it was very hard to digest everything. Far too many characters and complete inconsistency between humour and serious political points, women with the most stuck fast make up ever, even after a huge city fight they manage to keep that lipstick right where it is supposed to be, and many plot holes. For instance it was finitely explained how and why these alien robots are disguised as everyday human machines (well almost everyday machines) but then there was no explanation as to how Megatron managed to become a state of the art jet when he had been isolated since the time that tea clippers were hi-tech. I guess a big slow floating Megatron would not have had the same effect during the tense well executed battle scenes.

The battle scenes and transforming special effects were amazing though and made the movie well worth seeing, well that and a small role for the type cast Bernie Mac that had me and gladly most others in the cinema in hysterics.

Movie reviews: The Transformers (2007) – Part 19

If you born between the late 60’s and the mid 90’s, Transformers is the best movie ever made. Also we must not forget the original cartoon was a phenomenal new type of animation in the early 80’s and the newer versions such as “Beast Wars” and “Transformers Energon” as well as mini-movies such as “The Ultimate Battle”, kept the dream alive and opened up interest in younger generations of fans. Never in my life have I seen such seamless integration of live action and C.G.I. Yes we all know computer graphics have been around for years and that they keep getting better and better but up till now every other movie with good graphics was just that, a movie in which the visuals were merely good. Now they have all been knocked down a couple notches and nothing is in second place, for the time being. I will admit that the story needed work but I know no one could have done any better then Michael Bay considering that the transformers movie was the first in a series of no less than three and as all firsts go it had to be an introduction of the main characters and their reasons for being on earth so that those moviegoers that have never even heard of “Optimus Prime” or “Megatron” would get to know them and catch up with the rest of us who have had transformers as a part of our lives since birth or at least childhood or even young adulthood, hence the 3 decades I mentioned at the beginning. Despite the basic storyline it is still the best movie ever made until we see the sequel.

Memorable TV cartoon characters of the past and present

Yes, Bugs Bunny and all his WB pals were great. The children loved the slapstick of it and even the adults loved the more mature overtones.

I think the most memorable TV cartoon characters were any and almost every toon released in the 80’s.

Lets list a few of the cult classics.

Voltron, Thundercats, He-Man, Dungeons & Dragons, Robotech, G.I.Joe, Transformers!

Toons from the 80’s have birthed cash crop toy lines and major movie productions. Come this July, Michael Bay and Steven Spielberg will release a live action Transformers movie!

Granted Bugs and friends along with the old Disney black and white shorts, I think the 80’s toons will forever be cult classics.

My vote goes to Optimus Prime! When transformes made its first animated movie, and Optimus was killed by Megatron, there was never such a moment or such an uproar of fans. That in its own is a major step in something as simple as a cartoon. In GIJoe the animated movie, Duke was speared in the heart by a snake thrown by evil Serpentor. I was in shock! It was another milestone that many will remember.

So, when Transformers is released and has had its box office run b4 its DVD release, we can look at this comparrison:

Looney Toons: Space Jam w/Mike Jordan…it grossed $90,418,342

Transformers 7/4/07…….?

My prediction of most memorable with a ‘Mice of Men’ twist…

Robot tend the Bunny!…crush!

Movie reviews: The Transformers (2007) – Part 22

We went out to see the Transformers movie on July 3, and all I can say is that the movie really rocked! I was pleasantly surprised! I was kind of scared since Michael Bay was at the helm of this movie project,but I was truly and honestly impressed. This movie is definitely the best movie of this year and I don’t believe anything is gonna come close to even touching this one.It is already breaking records, it has the highest earnings for a Tuesday in the history of the movie business (it beat pirates of the Caribbean:dead man chest by almost 18 million dollars). The movie is also much better than the third installments that were released this summer, spider man 3, shrek 3, and pirates 3, which none of them lived up to their predecessors. This movie was really fun, and exciting1 All the critics who gave it bad reviews need to all get a life, because they like complete garbage like the departed and crash, which aren’t even worth my time and shouldn’t be worth anyone else’s time either.I know Transformers won’t be nominated for any oscar or whatever those other movie awards are, but that is good they arent ,because the movie is in a far better league than anything nominated anyway.The acting was top notch and the robots were great. Optimus and Megatron voices were so close to the originals it was really amazing!Big shout out to Michael Bay for making such a great movie! If anyone didn’t see this movie yet anyway if you are a fan or not, you will have fun, go out and see it, well worth the money and your time.

Movie reviews: The Transformers (2007) – Part 11

It’s always been true with Michael Bay films that one needs to strongly suspend ones disbelief to palate the normally doomed plot. Transformers is no different. It is not a film you will see for the plot, it’s a film you will see for the special effects, especially if you are a child of the eighties.

The transformers franchise was based around giant transforming robots from another planet that had crashed to earth, and continued to wage an ancient war on out terrestrial soil. Naturally there are Good guys, and bad guys, represented by the heroic Autobots and the Evil Decpticons respectively.

In many ways Bay has betrayed the franchise, sold it off into a Hollywood parody of what transformers was to many of us growing up. In may ways Bay has made the little boy still inside everyone of us grin in delight as they hear Optimus Prime call, “Autobots, Rollout,” in that voice that stirs our hearts so. Anyone, hoping like me, to see Megatron transform into a tiny hand held lazer and fly into Starscream’s hand will be disappointed. Anyone who expects to see Bumblebee resplendent as a canary yellow Volkswagen beetle will be sadly disappointed. It is all there though; the dominance of the brutal Megatron over the whining Starscream, the gentle nudge at Bumble Bees past in the first scenes where he defaces a nearby VW beetle- it’s still, very much a transformers film.

The film starts with the discovery of Bumble Bee to the audience through his soon to be friend, Sam Witwicky (Josh Duhamel) buying the yellow Camera as his first car, after much mysterious goings on and his insistence on the idea that the car had Chosen’ him. What unfolds is a titanic struggle between these soaring metal behemoths that will determine the fate of the world, which lies in the shared hands of Sam and an all too self sacrificing Optimus Prime. The story is sparse, the humor cheap and light, the special effects phenomenal. You can see on screen, what it would look like for Optimus Prime to transform right in front of you.

And that makes the price of admission worth it alone.

Scorponok From Transformers – a Deadly Scorpion Machine

The evil Decepticon Scorponok from Transformers takes no victims,

anyone who dares to stand in his way end up being a victim of his

destructive wrath. Scorponok is connected to Lord Zarak and in

Generation 1 he’s the leader of the Decepticon Headmasters.

Scorponok is one of the few Transformers that can assume three

forms. He can turn into a giant scorpion that can demolish anything

into shreds and whose tail can fire electrical blasts. He can also

turn into a weapons defense battle station that assists the other

Decepticons with endless weaponry and reparation barrack. His

third shape is that of a mighty Transformer robot ready to follow

orders from Decepticon leader Megatron.

In the animated series Zarak and Scorponok from Transformers

appear in a three tier part saga called Rebirth. Lord Zarak was the

unquestioned ruler of “The Hive” and he dominated planet Nebulos

in which he made sure every living being was reduced to slavery.

The Hive members had the distinct ability to mentally control

machines. They used this power to control the Nebulans and

eventually established themselves underground as the ultimate

masters of Nebula. As the Hive’s powers augmented their minds

became so powerful that they became ghostly creatures who could

house themselves inside machines. Zarak is suspected to be blind

and paraplegic but possesses a muscular build which he transports

with his Headmaster suit.

Scorponok’s mainstream fame comes from his notable appearance

in the 2007 live action Transformers movie. Curiously Scorponok

doesn’t transform in the film, but his mechanical scorpion body

gives him the power to travel underground at amazing speeds.

The movie writers agreed that the concept for Scorponok was

based on his Beastwars incarnation rather than the original

Generation 1 version. Scorponok from Transformers teams up with

Blackout, he is first seen being released by the gigantic helicopter

into the desert in order to catch up with some escaping human

troops. As opposed to all the other Decepticons, Transformer

Scorponok doesn’t answer to Starscream’s call to battle. It’s

rumored that this fierce Decepticon remains alive since he doesn’t

make another appearance after the human military forces manage

to defeat him

Memorable TV cartoon characters of the past and present – Part 1

The Rise and Fall of Optimus Prime: When Creativity Fails

The Beginning

In 1984, a cartoon showed up on Saturday mornings that was immediately an enormous hit. Transformers. Transformers centered around two warring factions of alien robots, the Autobots and the Decepticons. The Autobots were good guys and the Decepticons were bad guys but both factions needed little cubes called “energon cubes” so they could leave Earth and duke it out on some other planet. The leader of the Decepticons was called Megatron and had a voice like a 50 year old woman who smoked all her life. The leader of the Autobots was called Optimus Prime. Can you have a more manly sounding name than Optimus Prime? I think not.

Optimus Prime was a semi truck who turned into a massive, gun wielding robot. Basically in the cartoons, the Decepticons would attack oil tankers, gas lines, power plants, etc.. to create thier energon cubes so they could either enact some evil plan or try to leave the planet. They always failed in the show because Optimus Prime would send other Autobots like Jazz, Bumblebee, and Hotrod to thwart them. They usually did a half-assed job so Optimus Prime would have to go clean up the mess.

No matter what, if you were a kid in the 1980’s you had to love the Transformers. Each season it got better and better with the inclusion of the Constructicons who combined into a massive robot and their Autobot counterparts the Dinobots were just bad asses who talked like drunken retarded people, the Hulk, or some combination therein.

The Beginning of the End

Transformers was made into a CGI extravaganza in 2007 and got great reviews for explosions, robots, and Shia LeBeouf. I thought it was alright but it was a little difficult to tell the Autobots from the Decepticons. During the big fight at the end, I couldn’t really tell who was fighting who because they were all big, gray, metallic jumbles. Maybe I’ll try again someday. Probably not.

In this movie, Optimus Prime has a very modern look and that was just fine. He still looked like he could whip the metal ass of any robot that decided to mess with humans or do anything stupid.

I knew after the ratings of this movie that a new cartoon would follow. Designers always have two choices, stick with the old formula that was adequate or try to be creative and aim for a “new and hip” generation. Unfortunately, this time, they chose the latter.

Game over man. Game over.

I really had no idea that this cartoon existed. This morning

« Previous Page — Next Page »