Movie reviews: The Transformers (2007) – Part 77

transformers : more than meets the eye, indeed! i just recently watched the ’80’s cartoon inspired motion picture (produced by THE Stephen Spielberg! ’nuff said!) and here’s what i thought:

they stomped spider-man 3! they killed live free or die hard! they even kicked the pirates of the Caribbean from port to stern! this is THE movie blockbuster of the summer! if you do not go to the movies but one time this summer, make the transformers the movie you choose.

the CGI was the best i have ever seen, the acting was superb, and the very concept of the plot was more than a die hard transformers fan such as myself could have hoped for! not to mention the new look for optimus prime! i mean, FLAMES, BABY! this film managed to keep true to the essence of the transformers saga while, simultaneously, bringing the franchise to a whole new level.

trust me when i say, this is more than a kid-targeted sci-fi flick. this ain’t your daddies transformers, fan boy! my father, a fifty-something ex-Vietnam vet biker, a guy who finds science fiction to be, at best, hokey, sat through this movie with a look of astonishment on his face. my four year old son, who has the attention span of a mayfly, sat stock still for the entire almost two and a half hours! a feat that is , by no means, small!

in short, whether you’re a die hard fan or being introduced to the famed robots in disguise for the first time, you are guaranteed to walk out of that theater with a HUGE smile on your face!

AUTO-BOTS, ROLL OUT!

 

Movie reviews: The Transformers (2007) – Part 75

This movie rose way above my expectations. Being a fan of the original cartoon from the 80’s, I was a bit skeptical on the quality of the movie, and how well it would be portrayed. Too many times have I gone to see movies portraying comic book/cartoons only to come out rather irritated at the 9 bucks and 2 hours wasted on it. It seems like these kinds of movies are overdone and oversold with the sole purpose on making money based on the hype.

Despite all this, Transformers captured my (as well as the entire audience’s) attention. First of all, the acting, namely from Shia Labouf, was superb. His role as Sam could not have been cast better. The underlying comedic aspect of the movie involving his relationship with a girl, as well as the Transformers, did not deter for even a second from the genius action and edge-of-your-seat thrills throughout the entire show. There is no surprise at the love of these characters, and the fact that Optimus Prime got a round of excited applause at his entrance. The special effects were tailored very well and did not overpower the dialogue or plotline at all. There weren’t so many explosions and camera angle changes that your brain was slow to keep up. It’s a well balance mix of comedy, drama, friendship, action, and old fashioned good guy vs. bad guy action.

Judging from the standing ovation the movie got at its closure, I don’t think many people (if any) were disappointed in this rendition of a beloved classic.

 

The Transformers Movie

What’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 “Dark Side of the Moon” 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 “Dark Side” was released in 1974, its full appreciation couldn’t be discovered until the advent of the CD some 15 years later. Now, “Dark Side of the Moon” 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 we’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 that’s destined for today’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 today’s age of special effects magic, there shouldn’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 80’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 it’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!

Can’t wait to see it!

 

Movie reviews: The Transformers (2007) – Part 8

Transformers, the live action movie. The very idea had gave me a roller coaster of emotions. On the one hand, this was the movie I had wanted to see since before I could walk, on the other hand, this was the movie I had wanted to see since before I could walk. It was a movie that could go very very well or a movie that could go very very bad.

It ended up somewhere in between. It was surprisingly good, but it could have been better.

The movie is about the Transformers quest to find the Allspark, a power source which can give life to random machines (Vector Sigma in a handy cube form, for fans of the original). The Autobots want to use it to restore their dying home world, Cybertron, the Decepticons want to form an army to conquer the Universe. A fairly typical Transformers type plot.

The film starts with a sceen showing some army guys talking and straight away the crucial error is made. The focus of the movie lies far too much with people. Regular guys.

Almost imediately this sceen is followed by a Decepticon attack, which is incredibly cool to watch, but no detail is ever followed up as to the Decepticon’s background.

*Spoilers*

Apart from Bumblebee, who despite not saying anything still manages to be cool, the other Autobots do not arrive until an hour into the film. They are then given a few sceens, but nothing major. Only Optimus Prime and, to a lesser degree, Ironhide come across as having any character at all. When Jazz is brutally murdered, it’s very difficult to care. His character is not even slightly developed and he’s different enough from the original cartoons so that not even hardcore fans will feel connected.

The Decepticons are recieve even less character development. Megatron and Starscream don’t appear until almost two hours into the film, Megatron spending the entire time in a giant freezer. The whole Megatron – Starscream love hate relationship, a very key feature of the original cartoons, is given only one line, when Megatron announces Starscream has failed him “Once again.”

Presumably, when doing a live action, it’s just alot easier to focus on real people than imaginary robots. But it’s the imaginary robots we came to see. No one cares about some girl working for some computer type people and her friend the hacker.

On the positive side, the transformers are incredibly cool to watch and certain moments will make real fans incredibly happy, no matter how much they want to hate it. For example, anyone with any claim to being a fan could not help themselves at bubbling up with glee when Optimus Prime announces,

“One shall stand, one shall fall.”

 

Movie reviews: The Transformers (2007) – Part 64

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.

 

When Fate Comes Knocking

There are many forms of accident that can result in death. Vehicular death has been portrayed in folk songs on more than one occasion. “The Drunken Driver” tells the story of two small children who were killed as they walked along a state highway. One of the deceased children turns out to be the drunken driver’s son. “The Fatal Wreck of Bus” is the true tale of mass death when a bus goes over a cliff. Last week, both my son and I had just left the house to go to a store so he could pick up the “Transformers” movie that had just been released. He always has to have the latest damned movies that come out for whatever reason that may be.

Unbeknownst to us until an hour later, three people were killed in less than 15 minutes from where we had just driven…..approx. 5 minutes from my house to be exact! On our way home, I could not for the life of me figure out why there was a sudden back up of traffic. The road we go down to get to my home is never that full of traffic. After all, I live in the ouskirts of town, not downtown and NOT in a large city. We heard over head helicopters and my son said they were television news copters. Oh great! An accident! I’m less than 2 miles from my house and CAN’T get there because of a car accident. We could not get close enough to find out what was going on. After realizing the traffic jam was going to be for HOURS, my son had a revelation that he knew a back way home.

Okay….I turned around and back tracked. His “short cut” to our home took me nearly 45 minutes out of my way because we had to go back and around through a very winding, country road that scared the crap out of me for more reasons than one! While some people would take in the beauty of such a road, I on the other hand have visions of “Michael” from Halloween awaiting darkness to fall and for my car to run out of gas so he can Knife me to my horror! I panic! My car was low on gas…it was getting dark and I was on some damned country winding road I had never been on before and my son is suddenly telling me he FORGOT which road we were suppose to take to get us the back way to my house! Oh MY GOD! My mind is playing reruns of horror flicks….you know the ones! I don’t even have to mention them….Texas Chainsaw massacre….Halloween…..yeah…all of them! My son is laughing because I’m freaking out saying how he knew I hated roads like this and how I absolutely hate being out on such roads when its getting dark especially when I don’t have a full tank of gas to even begin getting lost. (I hear your laughter so calm down people! I can’t handle horror movies at all nor do I watch them!)

Well, 45 minutes later my son figures out what road we were suppose to turn on and we finally make it back home. I was sooo upset that I couldn’t even breathe a sigh of relief of finally making it back home. My son still laughing was like “See? What are you freaking out about? I told you I knew the backway home!” Oh man…..you deserve a punch in the face kid! (he’s an adult so don’t go calling social services just yet!) When I get inside, I immediately turn on the tv so that I can see why the hell I nearly had a panic attack and having to possibly meet my death through an ax weilding killer…perhaps an escape convict just waiting for a woman and her son to be sitting in the dark, out of gas on the side of a long, country winding road…I don’t know….I said my mind fills with horrific fantasies when I panic…..

Unfortunately three people were killed just 2 miles from my house. One man, who lives not far from me died when 3 men in a pick up truck from Tennessee swerved straight into him and hit his truck head on. There was only 1 survivor in the truck carrying three men from out of state. Wow! It made me sad to think that all of these men got up that morning….had their usual day planned out…since it was later in the afternoon, they had spent all day doing whatever it was they were doing and then suddenly, now they are dead. Poof! Their life taken just in a blink of an eye. It really hit home with me too because we had just driven in the same direction just 15 minutes BEFORE the accident, on the very same road. Then it made me wonder about death in general. How it is we come to no longer exist and how it is we suddenly find our fate on the same trail as someone else. None of these men knew each other and yet, fate brought them together at that very point in time to exist no more. Heavy!

I had a revelation about that accident and that was that as people in general, we should appreciate each and every day that we have because we never know from the moment we get up out of bed what fate has planned for us. A simple trip to the store could be deadly. This man who died and who lived not too far from me, was just coming home from work. I read the next day in the newspaper (it was the biggest thing that had happened here in a long time) that his friends actually saw the accident on the news and immediately got into their trucks and tried to get to him at the accident site. Police held them at bay. He was airlifted to the hospital but died on the way. I am sure, like each and every day, his wife was waiting for him to get home from work and more than likely had supper on the table waiting for him. Many people here in our area are country folk who still have traditional values. So many people around here own cattle and farms in our area. This gentleman was a plumber and was coming home from from a hard days work. I am sure the men from Tennessee were heading toward the interstate that would carry them to I-40 that would take them back home if they were just visiting. Who knows what their travels were.

But as I said, the accident left me with things to consider where death is concerned. Life is very short and we never know when our day will be the last. We should always appreciate those around us and always be thankful for the things that we have. Stop taking life so damned serious! Accidents, or unintentional injuries, accounted for 106,742 deaths in 2002, more than HIV, assault, and suicide combined. Motor vehicle accidents (MVAs) are responsible for nearly half of all types of accidental deaths, far outweighing all other causes.

This year multiple new traffic safety laws have been implemented to help lower the amount of deaths caused by MVAs, which in 2002 resulted in 43,354 deaths. Some laws are aimed at limiting in-car distractions, such as the use of television or video screens that are in the driver’s line of vision, according to the Department of Motor Vehicles. Even still, I am confused as to what made the truck who was traveling on a highway going in the opposite direction to swerve into the man who lived not far from me. Did he take his eyes off of the road for a few minutes? Was he looking for a cell phone? Trying to dial on a cell phone? Chatting with his son who was sitting behind his seat and who was the only survivor in the accident? We’ll never know what caused the accident but one thing is for sure……we all need to appreciate each day that we are given. Each and every day is precious.

 

Movie reviews: The Transformers (2007) – Part 32

I would say that the Transformers movie is a great leap in demonstrating how the movie-makers “wow” its audiences by bringing life into robots and reality, rather than relying on animations. This also proves with the recent advancement in technologies nowadays, any scientific / fiction can be filmed in reality scenarios, rather than just plain drawings on papers that has been animated.

I liked the way that this movie brings out the characteristics of each autobots in a clear and distinctively manner, and with certain charisma and charm that captivate my attention as well as many audiences in the movie theater. Bumblebee is definitely the star to gain empathy and liking from the audiences.

However, the movie seemed out of balance as the emphasis is just on the heroes (autobots) of the movies. The movie lacks in portraying and showing really how despicable, down and dirty the Evil decepticons can be like in the comics or in the cartoons.

The main reason for me to favor the Autobots for many years over the Decepticons seemed to be missing. After the movie and upon self-reflection, I just cannot related myself to or to support the idea to really hate and believe that the Decepticons need to be destroyed. The story plot seemed like any old and stale story plot whereby the “bad guys” just co-exists with the “good guys” so that they destroyed by the end of the movie.

On the whole, I will still recommend this movie to all my friends for the special effects, the props, and “bumblebee” in Transformer.

 

Video games reviews: Transformers: The Game (Xbox 360, Wii, PS2, PS3) – Part 2

If you grew up a fan of the Transformers and absolutely loved the Michael Bay film, you may want to avoid the video game. Xbox 360’s release of Transformers: The Game added to a growing list of movie-to-game flops. On the surface, the game looked appealing. I thought it would be a blast destroying everything in my path as my favorite robot. Needless to say, I was disappointed.

Presentation: The first thing people notice about a game is how it looks and how it sounds. That being said, Transformers started out on the wrong foot. While the robots look pretty cool, that is the only visual compliment I can give. The game developers definitely didn’t tap into the graphic capabilities of the Xbox 360. The stages have this depressing darkness about them, but not on purpose. The atmospheres seem to have a “painted on” look to them, unlike many of the outstanding looking stages on some of Xbox 360’s more popular titles. Sadly, the sound doesn’t do much in aiding the visuals. The actual voices used in the movie were used in the game. Well thats a good thing isn’t it? Nope, not really. After hearing my Autobot repeat a phrase for the 22nd time, it got old. The soundtrack and other sounds weren’t much better, they packed no punch. The Transformers movie was breathtaking as far as visuals and sound go. Unfortunately, the video game doesn’t possess either luxury.

Gameplay: I’ll have to admit, I had a tiny bit of fun destroying things on this game. Not enough to invite friends over, just enough to put off household chores for an hour. The problem is, the robots weaponry isn’t that fun. The long-range weapons are generally ineffective against the enemy, who have an uncanny ability to block nearly every attack. This, in turn, makes hand-to-hand combat the most effective. Close-range combat, however, has a very limited number of attacks. Pretty boring. I would rather barrel roll through the city while launching missiles and cars at my enemy. But don’t worry, it gets worse! There are actually missions on the game that involve driving from point to point in a city in a certain time, please tell me how this is fun. As I said earlier, I enjoyed destroying things on this game, just a tiny bit. While blowing things up is always clean fun, it happens too often on this game. It seems like if I even breathe on a building it is destroyed. I would honestly rather wreak havoc on buildings on the Nintendo classic, Rampage. I would say the bright spot of this game is playing as the enemy, the Decepticons. These robots are more fun than Optimus Prime and his pals, and the gameplay is actually more fun and engaging as the enemy. Overall, the gameplay is disappointing. What really stunk about playing this game was that it left so much to be desired.

Don’t let Transformers: The Video game tarnish your memory of the Transformer action figures you use to play with in the 80s. Don’t plug this game in expecting a smash hit like the 2007 film, you will be disappointed. The Transformers worked great as a cartoon, a movie, and as action figures. Not so much as a video game.

 

Transformers: the Movie Optimus Prime Vs. Megatron

 

Toys that have been unfairly criticized

Y’know, with the Transformers movie coming out soon, I’ve kinda been swept back into my childhood lately. As of late, now more than ever, I wish there was someway I could take my obscene love for all things toy, comic and animated and utilize them into a career where I could sustain myself financially while still working with something I hold dear.

But that’s not what this particular article is about.

No, while sifting around through my house I dug up some old toys in a search for some of the few Transformers I owned in my youth over twenty years ago. I found quite a surprising little cache of some forgotten gems in the form of the Go-Bots.

Now to many of you Transformers fans I have on my friends list, I know that Go-Bots are little more to you than the unloved, best-forgotten, illegitimate bastard step-children of the whole Transforming Robot Genre, and I can hear your howls of protest.

I disagree, and will point how and why, I feel anyways, that Go-Bots are as good as Transformers, and maybe possibly (and arguably) better.

For a little back story to the uninitiated, transforming robot toys were nothing new in Japan of the late 70’s / early 80’s. The two biggest lines consisting of Takara’s Diaclone line and Bandai’s Machine Robo line. The former would be purchased by American toy giant Hasbro and created in conjunction with Marvel comics, while Tonka purchased the rights and molds of the latter, creating the Go-Bots.

Transformers, I feel, gained in popularity largely due to the back-story that was crafted for it by Marvel comics, particularly under the hand of Editor-In-Chief Jim Shooter, who had breathed new life into Hasbro’s GI Joe line years earlier along with veteran writer Larry Hama. I am quite sure though that all of you will be surprised to learn that, not only did Go-Bots actually OUTSELL Transformers initially, they arrived in stores nearly an entire year before Transformers. Had they had Marvel’s particular talent in story creation, things may have well turned out differently for the “Mighty Robots, Mighty Vehicles.” Okay why am I hearing howling again?!

Now here’s where I get to my points of the “hows” and “whys” of why Go-Bots are just as good, again, if not better.

1.) Price & Quality Transformers were cool, don’t get me wrong, but when it came to owning a quality toy, you couldn’t really get more bang for your buck than with Go-Bots. Transformers were usually on the high-end of the price range, basic boxed figures

 

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