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Movie reviews: The Transformers (2007) – Part 20

Optimus Prime — Wed, 30 Dec 2009 21:39:20 +0000

The Transformers movie. Where do I start? I guess I’ll start with what was good about it. The Autobots (or GM) vs. the Decepticons (or Ford) both looked cool. The vehicles where cool, the planes and helicopters where cool, they transformed cool. The film was pumped stock full of cool. The old fanboys had their issues; Octimus Prime now has flames on his truck, Bubble Bee is now a sleak new camero, no longer a VW bug and Megatron is a jet now and no longer a big gun, to name just a few. The real problem here was Michael Bay. The guy goes way overboard, by the end of the movie there is so much destruction and chaos, that you no longer knew what they were all fighting for in the first place, and if you did, by then you just didn’t care. The question is what do we really expect here. It’s about machines that transform into machines for our viewing pleasure. Hey, and it looked cool.

Movie reviews: The Transformers (2007) – Part 25

Optimus Prime — Mon, 28 Dec 2009 14:18:26 +0000

July 4 seemed like the ideal time to take my children to see the classic cartoon made into live-action movie. The cartoon used to be a favorite of mine (as it was for so many my age) and my children were eager to watch robotic-aliens “tranform” into everyday machines in an effort to save the planet. I admit that I was skeptical about the movie, after many favorites of my childhood have been butchered in their movie adaptations. I can assure you though, that Transformers did not disappoint.

In this movie the Autobots and Decepticons fight a war that leads to the destruction of their home planet Cybertron. The surviving robot aliens search the universe for the Allspark, a device which will give life to machines anywhere. Discovering the Allsparks where-abouts are on Earth, the Decepticons launch attacks on the World to uncover the location of the life-giving cube that will rebuild soldiers for their war. The Autobots are summoned to Earth in an attempt to not only save our planet, but to prevent the Allspark from landing into the hands of the enemy.

I was in awe just as much as my children were wactching the special effects that movie-magic unveiled in transforming Optimus Prime from semi-truck to giant robot. Tranformers managed to take me back in time and was pleased that the movie followed the sme basic story line shared by the cartoon. The movie even included some of my favorite characters in a more updated version of the classic.

The movie was an action-packed hit directed by Michael Bay (Bad Boys, The Island) and kept the story-line pumping from chase scenes to explosions with a little humore mixed in. Shia Lebouf gave a lovable performance of a teen kid who discovers his first car is a robot sent to Earth to become his protector. Bernie Mac even added to the movie in a small part as a car sales-men with no small role in adding comedy to the action flick.

Transformers was a great movie that you can feel good about taking your kids to see. I would recommend this flick to children of all ages (or if you want to feel like one again.)

The Transformers Movie

Optimus Prime — Fri, 25 Dec 2009 08:36:10 +0000

Whatâ€™s cool about the advancement of technology is that there are certain pieces that were simply made for advanced pieces of technology, but were created too soon. A prime example would be â€œDark Side of the Moonâ€ by Pink Floyd. The sonic landscapes and incredible details of the album were simply born to be enjoyed on the crisp, clean sound that a CD player could only provide. Even though â€œDark Sideâ€ was released in 1974, its full appreciation couldnâ€™t be discovered until the advent of the CD some 15 years later. Now, â€œDark Side of the Moonâ€ is the first CD you purchase when you grow out of your little crappy radio to a full-fledged adult, amazing kick-ass stereo system.

Which brings us to film; special effects have always been an integral part of creating worlds that moviegoers could believe in. From the colorization of Oz to Moses parting to Red Sea to being chased by the Death Star, special effects are just as important as the lead actor in some films. And while weâ€™ve always been amazed at what was created for its time, it would be interesting to see what could be done then with the technology of today.

If there is one movie thatâ€™s destined for todayâ€™s technological and special effects advances, it comes out in July of 2007: the Transformers. For years, fans and enthusiasts would imagine what a real life Transformer would look like. How would the classic cartoon incarnation of Optimus Prime, Megatron and the other Autobots and Decepticons translate to a live action, big screen adventure? Well, this year, that question will be answered.

Forget about story or character or plot development for a second, and simply focus on big giant robots beating each other up. And then, in an instant, those big giant robots will transform into a truck or a plane and rip through the city at an incredible pace. In the early days of film, the concept would probably be impossible to place on the screen and do it justice. In the golden age of film, it would look interesting, but laughable. In the special effects era of movies, it would look passable, but not believable. But now, in 2007, with all the possibilities and abilities which special effects wizards have at their disposal, the Transformers, should, at the very least, look realistic.

A common source of debate for the upcoming Transformers movie is how the characters should look. The classic cartoon appearance, while iconic and nostalgic, supposedly does not translate that well onto a live action, big screen experience. Therefore, a whole new redesign of all the characters was necessary in order to make this movie appear realistic. And that is one of the main objectives behind this movie: it has to look absolutely real. In todayâ€™s age of special effects magic, there shouldnâ€™t be too many movies that have cheap looking production values. But, in terms of scope and size, the visual challenges of the Transformers represent some of the biggest in moviemaking history.

Of course, because this is a big-budget adaptation of a classic 80â€™s cartoon and comic, the whole idea is to make this a trilogy. But, nobody is going to be interested in Transformers 2 & 3 if the first one looks amateurish. This is one of those movies that could never have been made at any other time before this one, and itâ€™s just as imperative that all the effects are done to perfection. There are some cracks at movies that you only get one shot at, with no remake really possible. This is one of those movies!

Canâ€™t wait to see it!

Cartoons vs. anime – Part 1

Optimus Prime — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 22:19:37 +0000

Or at least when I was a kid we had some great cartoons. During the 80s, when I was young, we had some memorable shows. Transformers, GI Joe, and the Smurfs, just to name a few.

While, like most children’s programing, the toons we had were often lacking in plot, they made sense to the viewer. These recent imports from Japan make little to no sense. The characters for each show are interchangable weirdos with ridiculous hair. They seem to always be screaming about this or that with more overacting then a trashy horror film.

At first I found the animation style of anime to be refreshing and amazing. Though I feel it has certainly gone downhill a bit since comming to America, it is still better than much of the 80s toons as far as its technical brilliance. The anime art lacks the variety and feeling put into those old cartoons of my youth. It often feels manufactured. Those old 80s toons were obviously less refined in their art, but they brought, and still bring, those farm fuzzy feelings.

Its no contest. Those cartoons many of us children of the 80s watched beat this new crop of anime hands down.

Movie reviews: The Transformers (2007) – Part 48

Optimus Prime — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 21:27:59 +0000

Transformers is a lot like a trip to Wal Mart. There is way too much for your senses to take in; some of it is incredibly appealing, some of it is horribly tacky and the whole experience leaves you feeling a little tainted.

The visual effects are the draw with this film. The computer generated Autobots and Decepticons are seamless and utterly believable. At several times the screen is just a mess of CGI garble but for the most part the people at Industrial Light and Magic have realistically depicted a world where 30 foot robots come crashing to earth and change freely into cars, trucks and sport utility vehicles then back again into robots. Think about that for a second. That is not an easy feat.

The trouble with this movie is there is a whole lot more than Transformers in “Transformers”. The movie tries to be everything to everyone. It is clear that director Michael Bay has set out to entertain both children and the parents who bring them to (and pay for) the movie. However, there is also an attempt to appease the hordes of fanboys (and perhaps three fangirls) who have remained dedicated to the Transformers universe ever since they were in Snork pajamas. It seems that nothing has been left on the cutting room floor. There is a romance in there, as well as a family comedy, a military sub plot, cute robo-shenanigans and a techno caper to boot. It is a film that manages to pay homage to (or rip off, depending how cynical the viewer) Herbie the Love Bug, Short Circuit, Men in Black, Short Circuit II, Men in Black II, E.T., Starship Troopers, Independence Day, and Hackers, in no particular order.

The result, for me, is a wildly uneven movie that rambles on satisfying all of its viewers some of the time but less of us all of the time.

Ultimate Transformer Bumblebee – Hot Xmas Toy

Optimus Prime — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 12:04:45 +0000

There’s a very high chance that your kid will want the

Ultimate Transformer Bumblebee from Hasbro this christmas

and afterwards.

It is destined to be one of the hottest selling action

figures due to the release of the movie “Transformers” this

past summer.

With the push of a button, you can transform this yellow

Camaro into a 14 inch robot which raises it’s arms and

makes some cool sounds.

For a kids toy, this robot is amazingly well crafted and

detailed. It has the touch of quality. Not only can it

transform but the robot also has an animated head, wings

and arms.

When it transforms back into a Camaro, the Ultimate

Transformer Bumblebee can make realistic car sounds such as

engine revving, screeching brakes, car alarm, horn and

crashing.

The Ultimate Transformer Bumblebee can also spout out 17

cool phrases such as “Let’s roll out!” and “Take that

Decepticon!”.

There’s no doubt after having a close look at this toy that

it’s durable and quality crafted. That’s important because

you don’t want something that will break after a week of

rough play.

If you’re going to pick up an Ultimate Transformer

Bumblebee then your best options are Walmart or online.

Since these are such hot toys this Christmas many stores

are having trouble keeping them in stock.

If you can’t find them in the stores then eBay always has

these robots for sale. If you’re afraid of auctions, don’t

be. eBay has a feature called “Buy it Now” where you can

just click and pay for it without bidding against others.

Movie reviews: The Transformers (2007) – Part 6

Optimus Prime — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 13:24:27 +0000

I have just watched the new Transformers movie and Sweet Jesus Sweet Christ, it rocks. It rocks hard. This is my review and while I will try not to give away too much, I must warn you that somethings will probably come through.

I’ve considered myself a Transformers traditionalist and so thought I would be annoyed with the changes that were made but to be honest as I was watching it, I found that I really wasn’t bothered by them that much. One major change did bother constantly though. Optimus Prime now has a mouth and a nose. It looked ridiculous and annoyed me greatly but other than that, there wasn’t much that really got on my nerves. Megatron, for example, has been redesigned heavily but until I watched the film I hadn’t really seen a close up of his face. When I did, he was instantly recognizable. One problem with the redesigns, however, is that Starscream and Megatron look very similar. In the battle in the city, it’s sometimes hard to figure out which is which.

Now a few problems with the plot. Overall it was great but a few things stuck out.

1. Optimus, when recounting the history of Cybertron, seems surprised that Megatron betrayed the Transformers. To be fair would you be suprised if you were betrayed by someone who was the leader of the Decepticons? The clue’s in the name.

2. Why did they take the object which the Decepticons wanted so badly to a heavily populated city, knowing that they would follow them there?

3. Upon arrival on Earth, the Autobots seem mildly retarded.

4. “My bad” really doesn’t belong in Optimus’ newly developed mouth.

There were other minor things but I’ll let them slide. Now some great things.

1. Seeing the first transformation and hearing that classic transformer sounds sent shivers down my spine.

2. When I knew that Optimus was coming, I was incredibly excited. I felt like a kid again.

3. When I first saw Optimus transform out of his truck form, I literally yelled “Yeah!” in a hotel were many people were sleeping. It’s sad but I was proper in touch with my inner child at that moment.

4. Before the Autobots showed up, the main character says to the girl he wants to get it on with “I think there’s alot more than meets the eye with you.” I enjoyed that.

5. Jazz’s first line “What’s cracking little bitches?”

6. Scorponok and Frenzy. Frenzy was one of Soundwave’s cassettes in the original series but in the film he basically takes on Soundwave’s role. He speaks and acts a little like Stripe from gremlins.

In summary, the movie was like seeing old friends that you haven’t seen in years. Sure they’ve changed a bit in appearance but who doesn’t? Obviously Soundwave would have been great. Hopefully he’s in the sequel but I swear to god if he appears in a sequel as a robot who can transform into an ipod like some have suggested, I’m gonna be right annoyed.

The world is now ready for a massive amount of old cartoon movies. A CGI Thundercats movie has now been confirmed. A live action one would have been awesome, with Samuel L. Jackson as Panthro, but I’ll take what I can get.

Also a new live action He-Man and the Masters of the Universe film will be made, produced by Joel Silver who produced such great films as V for Vendetta and Predator and such terrible films as the House of Wax remake and Richie Rich.

Who knows what the future holds. Til All Are One, Roll Out.

Movie reviews: The Transformers (2007) – Part 56

Optimus Prime — Sun, 20 Dec 2009 10:52:15 +0000

Michael Bay has scored big with The Transformers. Overall, this motion picture delivered time and time again where other classic cult cartoons turned live action have failed in the past. The hype for this film had been built up to epic proportions starting with the 1st nerd who caught wind of a rumor about preproduction, and amazingly, the movie lived up to all of it.

There was a serious risk factor when Michael Bay decided to take on this project. It is extremely difficult to grab hold of a cult favorite like Transformers and appease the obsessed fans by staying true to the original while modernizing and universalizing the theme to the point where non-fans of all ages can thoroughly enjoy it. This is a very thin tightrope Bay had to walk across. If the movie slips and falls toward the fans, then it will appeal solely to the action figure collectors and the only money made will be from special edition DVDs that feature a different colored robot on each case. If the movie falls to the other side, true fans in homemade robot costumes will revolt and they will only go see the 1st midnight showing instead of fourteen more times in the following weeks, bringing the ticket sales way down. This will also ruin any plans of a national convention for years to come. The worst case scenario would be a cheaply made hack-job inevitably turning out to be a failure and immediately sending the director down the road of making Lifetime Originals. This scenario was highly unlikely since Michael Bay requires an ungodly budget for every action movie he puts on screen.

In all, The Transformers succeeded at defining the quintessential summer blockbuster. With a steady of balance of fast-paced, eye popping action, a quenching amount of comic relief, and seamless computer-generated graphics, The Transformers is a beautiful piece of movie magic. It is definitely a refreshing alternative to all the pirate, spider, and wizard movies we’ve become accustomed to during the past few summers. If you’re looking for Academy Award winning performances, wait until The English Patient 2 comes out, but if you want to experience an action packed thrill ride for the whole family, take The Transformers for a spin.

Remembering the 80s cartoons – Part 1

Optimus Prime — Sat, 19 Dec 2009 22:23:36 +0000

This is a great topic to write about. I believe that cartoons of the ’80s were the greatest ever. I was born in 1980 so my earliest memories are actually of watching cartoons during the middle and late ’80s. Today’s cartoons, which are mostly replaced now by computer animation, seem inferior to those of the ’80s. There was something special about a cartoon drawn by hand that computer animation is missing.

Transformers (now a blockbuster motion picture) really set the standard for action heroes with the battle between the Autobots and Decepticons. Every little boy (and maybe even some girls) owned Transformer toys. I had several Autobot toys that actually transformed back and forth between the car and the Autobot. I can remember the commercials that used to air for the action figures: always had that slogan, “Transformers…More than meets the eye.” It was an awesome cartoon.

Thundercats was yet another adventurous cartoon of the battle between good and evil. Once again, I owned the action figures for this cartoon as well. What boy wouldn’t run around the house pretending to be a character? Today’s cartoons lack the thrill and I rarely ever see a kid pretending to be an action hero. This is because there are no good action heroes for a kid to idolize anymore!

The ’80s were a great time to be a kid because we had some awesome cartoons to excite our imaginations. I often think back to these cartoons and I wish kids today had similar experiences to look back on when they grow up.

New movies you really should see

Optimus Prime — Sat, 19 Dec 2009 05:13:06 +0000

Being a pre-teen to teen, all the way to flat out adulthood, I have practically waited a very long time to hear five simple words hit the big screen in “live action” and those words are “Autobots, transform and roll out!” Finally, it arrived! “The Transformers”, by far, has to be one of the best, if not the best movie I have ever seen. Michael Bay and Steven Spielberg did an excellent job of bringing a great toy and animation series to life for the summer. And it’s not all just about the great special effects, the action from start to finish, or the incredible story line of good versus evil. This film has a little something for everyone. It has comedy, action, heart, and soul. If you haven’t seen it yet….GO! Parents, kids, seniors, I guarantee you won’t be dissapointed. The critics always have their little clicks, you know, break it all down, technical this, impossible that, sometimes I think they have forgotten the real reason why we go to the movies in the first place….TO BE ENTERTAINED! This one delivers, on all fronts. To sum it up in just one word, for this summer, “The Transformers” in nothing but pure “FUN!”