Anyone seen the new Transformers? [Archive] - Audio & Video Forums

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3LB
06-26-2009, 06:52 AM
Not me.

I saw the first Transformer movie about a year ago and thought it was an absolute mess of a movie. As for its vaunted CGI effects - 10 gallons of **** in a 5 gallon bucket; way too busy and really contrived, even if we are talking about robots from another galaxy who've assumed the forms of cars and utlility vehicles.

I remember reading an article a few years back lamenting that CGI could replace live actors - that hasn't happened yet, but the people involved in these movies, who barely expend enough brain activity to maintain constant body temperature, don't make much of an argument against that happening. CGI has however replaced intelligence in the Sci-Fi genre.

And despite the backing of a major player in Hollywood, I refuse to to accept Shia Labeuof as an action star. Maybe I should applaud his being cast against type - dude looks like the least photogenic brother of Wonder Years' Fred Savage and Boy Meets World's Ben Savage. He is one of the most uncompelling lead actors I can remember and he's everywhere these days, despite being a moderate talent. Talk about friends in high places.

Needless to say, I'm glad my kids are old enough to sit in a movie theater by themselves. The best thing I can say about movies like this and Star Trek, is that unlike most big amusement park rides, these don't dump you off in the middle of a gift shop when its over.

Auricauricle
06-26-2009, 11:08 AM
Needless to say, I'm glad my kids are old enough to sit in a movie theater by themselves. The best thing I can say about movies like this and Star Trek, is that unlike most big amusement park rides, these don't dump you off in the middle of a gift shop when its over.

Just you wait...! They're coming...

RGA
06-26-2009, 07:56 PM
The Transformers movies are based on a comic book and the sci-fi was not exactly a strength. The filmmakers have to adhere to some degree to the comic background. The first movie was to me ok with inklings of something better. But it was a one time only viewing kind of film because the story was thin, and the transformers dialogue was "robotically" tedius and banal.

The action toward the end was too loud, too long, and too ugly to be decipherable and it ended up fallin off the rails for me.

Still it had fairly positive reviews. This sequel though after reading Roger Ebert's review sounds like I would have more fun listening to a fork in the garbage disposal. I'll go see "The Hurt Locker" instead.

Feanor
06-27-2009, 03:07 AM
Not me.

I saw the first Transformer movie about a year ago and thought it was an absolute mess of a movie. As for its vaunted CGI effects - 10 gallons of **** in a 5 gallon bucket; way too busy and really contrived, even if we are talking about robots from another galaxy who've assumed the forms of cars and utlility vehicles.

...

I actually fell asleep during the final battle scene of the first flick. I'll be passing up the sequel.

02audionoob
06-27-2009, 07:22 AM
The best thing I can say about movies like this and Star Trek, is that unlike most big amusement park rides, these don't dump you off in the middle of a gift shop when its over.
The day may come when your local theater lobby is a WalMart.

GMichael
06-29-2009, 05:48 AM
I enjoyed both of them. As long as you don't go in expecting a wonderful story, then it can become fun. That's all these movies were good for. Some fun. The story amounts to little less than, "Some robots showed up. They can transform from being robots to being cars or equipment. Lot's of chit gets blown up. The pace is very fast. There are a few funny moments, and a couple of hot chicks are seen. If you are expecting more, then it will fall flat for you. If you just want to be entertained for a couple hours with mindless action, then it's great.

GMichael
06-29-2009, 05:50 AM
The day may come when your local theater lobby is a WalMart.

Isn't it bad enough that most are already in a mall? The one I went to Saturday is on the 4th floor no less.

Worf101
06-29-2009, 06:11 AM
The newest theatre in our neck of the woods lets you enter from several different floors and ways. HOWEVER you can ONLY exit via the food court. Ingenious and annoying all at the same time.

Da Worfster

Kam
06-29-2009, 07:21 AM
Did anyone read that article from the Yahoo main page a few days ago discussing "Racist Robots"?

It was an interesting read. I'll try and find the link. But the gist of it was there are two characters in the movie, (robots) that portray negative racial stereotypes and the repurcussions of such. The one side was saying it's derogatory and the other side (Bay et al) are saying - These aren't people, they're just robots, so it's ok what they say or how they act.

I haven't seen the movie yet so i can't comment on the specifics, but that defense sure sounds like an unbelievable copout to me.

Edit: here's the article:
http://movies.yahoo.com/news/movies.ap.org/jivetalking-twin-transformers-raise-race-issues-ap

GMichael
06-29-2009, 07:58 AM
I didn't pick up on any of the robots characters fitting one stereo-type or another. Then again, I don't notice it in people either. I must not pay enough attention.

bfalls
06-29-2009, 11:07 AM
You didn't notice the green robot with the "bling" "all up in his grille"? He was one of the twins. Overall I liked it, but thought they should pay more attention to story and character development than continuous fight scenes. The theater where I saw it had the sound cranked up so high I was afraid my ears would bleed. This one will definitely sound better at home.

GMichael
06-29-2009, 11:15 AM
You didn't notice the green robot with the "bling" "all up in his grille"? He was one of the twins. Overall I liked it, but thought they should pay more attention to story and character development than continuous fight scenes. The theater where I saw it had the sound cranked up so high I was afraid my ears would bleed. This one will definitely sound better at home.

Sure, but I've seen that a lot with many types. (white, black, blue, green, city, country, all over) Is it suppossed to fit one stereotype more than the others? To me, that's how some people like to pressent themselves.

It was loud where we were too.

RGA
06-29-2009, 07:38 PM
Some people need to understand that stereotypes are OFTEN formed from reality. I have not seen the movie but from reading this thread it seems there may have been a "gangsta" transformer talking "gangsta" and wearing lots of Gold jewelry. It's not racist when in fact there are people - a fair number of them - who choose to wear the stuff and talk the talk. If a group of people takes offense to media portraying reality then the "group" should have a talk with the "gangstas" and get them to stop the creation of stereotypes. Own the problem - don't just whine and complain about it.

I read the same stuff about Jar Jar Binks - the most annoying character I have probably seen in film and one of the few times I shut a movie off after the first hour for being a completely pile of manure. Was the character racist if in fact there are people who talk and act like that? I think it's a dicey argument.

nightflier
06-30-2009, 12:30 PM
RGA, I'll second your choice for The Hurt Locker. However, I disagree with the idea that the stereotype is not offensive. The fact is there are very few people if any who carry it to the extreme that the characters in these movies do. The fact is, the characters (Disney-Pixar does a particualrly offensive job of this), not only over-emphasize the stereotypes, but they also imprint young people to believe this is how most people "of a certain group" actually do behave. This is both offensive and false.

These characters essentially serve to perpetuate exaggerated stereotypes. Jar Jar is a perfect example of that, and so are the tractors and Mater in Cars, The characters Ramon and Lovelace in Happy Feet, and the list goes on. Yes, I know that their voices are often done by "minority" actors, but that doesn't minimize the issue at all, and perhaps reinforces it. Here's a link that does a better job of explaining it than I can:

http://www.cracked.com/article_15989_hollywoods-6-favorite-offensive-stereotypes.html

Transformers, by the way, is about as asinine and stupid as today's Hollywood movies get - what a waste of money, resources, talent, and time. If that's entertaining, then we've really been dumbed-down to unprecedented levels. I suppose we have a couple of decades of chopping away at education funding to thank for that. And yes, I know that my state's Governator is leading the charge - it's a pathetic embarrassment and he probably doesn't see anything wrong with Transformers either - isn't that ironic. But I'm sure he's a nice guy to "have a beer with..."

RGA
07-07-2009, 09:27 PM
I don't want to seem insensitive to the issues of racism because when we look around hard we can see the same issue for sexism and how women are treated in advertising - you can look up the "killing me softly videos" on the internet to see just how bad media has portrayed women as objects and non white people in advertising.

This has ingrained itself into people from birth and as your article suggests is so ingrained that even the big African American stars have not noticed it because they are accepting those roles. If you want the problem to STOP then the African American community has to say NO I WILL NOT BE A JANITOR in your damn movie no matter how much money you throw at me until you write the character this way____________! Own the problem - don't blame the writer/producer/director who are not necessarily the most educated people around - Tarantino was a blockbuster employee who watched movies for his worldly education. It does not take brains or quality personage to be a movie maker - it does take talent and drive but they may need to be hit over the head to change.

I seriously doubt there is "intent" to make fun of or hurt the African American community in a movie like the Shawshank Redmption which that article seems to indicate.

You could take the movie the Bucket List and say Jack Nicholson gets the billionaire part and Morgan Freeman is the "mechanic" and gee that is perpetuating a stereotype - well let's count the billionaires in the US by skin colour and I'm betting most are white. Portraying that is in a way a stereotype. Old rich guy is a heartless billionaire who only becomes "good" because he's sick.

My view on this is it's up to a black person (I don't even know what the current ok thing to say is because it seems to change every month) to decide on what is hurtful or racist. I believe that people (society) can and should accommodate to minority groups who feel oppressed by the majority - just as I hope to see black communities support gay rights and atheism (ahem!)

Life is an education and I think we want a society where no one feels oppressed or "hurt" by the actions of others but there really ought to be a clear dialogue and a clear discussion of standards starting in the education system early. Starting with vocabulary to recognize, celebrate not denigrate, differences and similarities of the people in a society. Pretending they don't exist creates an atmosphere of unease, distrust, and frankly worse than any of that ignorance. People fear what they don't know. The American Education system from what I have been told is woefully lacking and hopelessly one-sided in its historical accounts (hopefully it's improving). In Canada we have revamped most of the entire SS curriculum to provide a balanced view of the First Peoples of Canada and discuss the word "Imperialism." The key is not to make "white" students feel guilty - they did nothing wrong - but to understand a different perspective of other students who have grown up under tremendous hardships brought about by greedy capitalists who cared more about money than lives.

Sorry for that all over the map issue but it's such a big arduous issue and no matter what political side of the fence when Obama won - that was a day where, as a non American, I was proud of America and Americans for seeing past colour and race. It's amazing to me that after race riots and separate washrooms that a society can get to electing a black president in just two generation what people can do if we put our heads to it.

GMichael
07-08-2009, 05:33 AM
Ever notice how good looking actors always play the good guys while ugly actors end up being the rats of the movies? When will this stop?
It's common for people to think of attractive people as smarter than non-attractive people. Isn't this also a form of prejudice? Add in, tall vs short and fat vs fit. It doesn't end at skin color or gender.
With that said, I enjoyed the movie.

3LB
07-08-2009, 01:51 PM
Ever notice how good looking actors always play the good guys while ugly actors end up being the rats of the movies? When will this stop?

It'll stop in the movies when it stops being a part of human nature.

GMichael
07-08-2009, 01:58 PM
It'll stop in the movies when it stops being a part of human nature.

My point exactly.

thekid
07-08-2009, 02:59 PM
Nope.

No plans to since I fell asleep during the first one.
The first one just seemed like bad porn-bad dialogue/acting interspersed with "action scenes".........I guess the first one was actually worse than bad porn because I have never fallen asleep watching bad porn......... :D