Transformers Revenge of the Fallen [Archive] - Front Office Football Central

Schmidty

06-23-2009, 06:27 PM

More nonsense from ADD director Michael Bay. I was a huge fan of the series growing up, but Bay's worthless "OMG I have to cut every nanosecond to make it exciting!" style combined with the ridiculous attempts at humor like the inexcusable half hour long interlude where the Transformers ruin his mother's flower bed while he gets a lecture on masturbation made the first one unbearable. From the looks of it, I don't see that the 2nd one is going to be any different.

Angry much? I liked the first one. I guess I'm an ADD idiot.

Anyway, I'm not "pumped" to see it, but I'm looking forward to a fun summer movie that I don't have to analyze. I love movies that make me think, and watch more of those than other types, but sometimes I just like some brain-dead 'splosions.

terpkristin

06-23-2009, 07:37 PM

Skipping this one entirely, first one was bad enough.

Saw a link on Twitter to Ebert's review: Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen :: rogerebert.com :: Reviews (http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20090623/REVIEWS/906239997)

The opening paragraph:

"Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen" is a horrible experience of unbearable length, briefly punctuated by three or four amusing moments. One of these involves a dog-like robot humping the leg of the heroine. Such are the meager joys. If you want to save yourself the ticket price, go into the kitchen, cue up a male choir singing the music of hell, and get a kid to start banging pots and pans together. Then close your eyes and use your imagination.

/tk

Chubby

06-23-2009, 07:42 PM

Lathum

06-23-2009, 07:47 PM

Amazed it took 5 posts for the Bay bashing to start.

I can't wait to see it.

spleen1015

06-23-2009, 08:00 PM

I'm expecting an Oscar winner here. Think I'll be disappointed?

Cringer

06-23-2009, 09:22 PM

I am looking forward to it, my daughter is the one who has been going nuts waiting for this one to come out. I told her we would go to the 11:00 or 11:30 showing tomorrow morning. We will see if that happens or not though, it's up to her waking up in time.

larrymcg421

06-23-2009, 09:31 PM

Angry much? I liked the first one. I guess I'm an ADD idiot.

Why do you take an insult aimed at the director as a personal insult to yourself? That's bizaare. Newsflash: It's possible to hate a movie without hating the people that like it.

Anyway, I'm not "pumped" to see it, but I'm looking forward to a fun summer movie that I don't have to analyze. I love movies that make me think, and watch more of those than other types, but sometimes I just like some brain-dead 'splosions.

That's exactly what I was looking forward to with the first one, and was sorely disappointed.

larrymcg421

06-23-2009, 09:32 PM

Amazed it took 5 posts for the Bay bashing to start.

I can't wait to see it.

If only I had seen the thread sooner..

Logan

06-23-2009, 09:37 PM

I kinda liked the first one although I thought it was too long and the final battle scene really bothered me in the way it was shot. Everything was so tight that I had trouble figuring out who I should be rooting for and which machine was beating the hell out which.

larrymcg421

06-23-2009, 09:38 PM

I'm expecting an Oscar winner here. Think I'll be disappointed?

Oh, I get it. You either like Transformers or you must have been expecting an Oscar winner.

I notice that while people are presenting these strawman arguments, no one has actually responded to the points I made. You'll notice that I didn't complain about lack of character development, deep story, or interesting dialogue. I complained about the way Bay shoots his action scenes and an unnecessary and unfunny comedy sequence.

larrymcg421

06-23-2009, 09:40 PM

because Ebert is the target audience...

Why isn't he? He sure likes his share of dumb movies and has given positive reviews to plenty of popcorn action films in the past.

JonInMiddleGA

06-23-2009, 09:43 PM

Why isn't he?

Well he would be the same guy who criticized the way the bombs fell in Pearl Harbor and got ripped by Bay for it. I don't have the impression there's much love lost between those two so I'd take anything from him with a grain of salt in this case.

larrymcg421

06-23-2009, 09:47 PM

Maybe, but, well:

Transformers :: rogerebert.com :: Reviews (http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070705/REVIEWS/70620006/1023)

Schmidty

06-23-2009, 09:48 PM

Oh, I get it. You either like Transformers or you must have been expecting an Oscar winner.

I notice that while people are presenting these strawman arguments, no one has actually responded to the points I made. You'll notice that I didn't complain about lack of character development, deep story, or interesting dialogue. I complained about the way Bay shoots his action scenes and an unnecessary and unfunny comedy sequence.

I responded to what you said - I disagree with you. Period. You say I'm taking it personally, which I'm not since I have no emotional connection to the film or cartoon (which I loved growing up), but it's you that seems to be riled.

Anyway, Don't see it. That's cool. I'll let you know if it's good. ;)

cubboyroy1826

06-23-2009, 09:50 PM

Larry i kinda enjoyed the parental banter with the transformers in the yard. I will admit the end battle was a bit tough to follow which transformer was good or bad. I am going in looking to be entertained for an afternoon and if the 2nd is close to the 1st that will be accomplished. I enjoyed The Rock and Armageddon although i understand that if you break down the movies there are a lot of ridiculous things. Of course i am sure you and i might disagree on other directors as well. No biggee i don't take it personally.:)

larrymcg421

06-23-2009, 09:54 PM

And I can appreciate that. I don't mind disagreements on the merits of what I say. The only thing that bothers me and gets me "riled up" is when people pretend I'm calling them an "ADD idiot" and make random sarcastic comments about expecting it to be an Oscar winner.

By the way, I thought the Rock was very good. You had some really interesting characters with Connery, Cage, and Ed Harris and that went a long way towards making up for Bay's annoying directing style.

Lathum

06-23-2009, 10:03 PM

You'll notice that I didn't complain about lack of character development, deep story, or interesting dialogue. .

This isn't why people go to see Transformers. They go to see lots of action, explosions, and such...

I realize the comedy is annoying at times, but that's what you get with Bay. IF you want the other things you mentioned I'm not sure what to tell you, go see The Notebook. ;)

larrymcg421

06-23-2009, 10:08 PM

This isn't why people go to see Transformers. They go to see lots of action, explosions, and such...

I realize the comedy is annoying at times, but that's what you get with Bay. IF you want the other things you mentioned I'm not sure what to tell you, go see The Notebook. ;)

Sigh.

You completely missed my point. I never said I expected any of those things. I was saying I DIDN'T criticize the movie for lacking those things, because I never expected it to have them.

And as much as I hated the first Transformers, I would rather watch it on an endless 24 hour, 365 day loop than see one minute of The Notebook.

Ronnie Dobbs2

06-23-2009, 10:32 PM

LARRY WE DON'T WATCH TRANSFORMERS FOR THE ACTING OR SCRIPT

cubboyroy1826

06-23-2009, 10:54 PM

I would rather watch it on an endless 24 hour, 365 day loop than see one minute of The Notebook.

Larry we definitely agree on this.

Danny

06-23-2009, 11:02 PM

I really enjoyed Transformers and the notebook may be my favorite romantic movie.

JS19

06-23-2009, 11:30 PM

Megan Fox. Conversation is over.

larrymcg421

06-23-2009, 11:39 PM

Megan Fox. Conversation is over.

Buy Maxim and beat off in private. Cheaper than movie ticket and you won't get arrested.

sterlingice

06-23-2009, 11:39 PM

(I liked Transformers as a kid and I love action movies but the first movie did nothing for me, either. I didn't really have high expectations going in so it's not like I had a huge letdown. There hadn't been anything good out of a Transformers property since about Beast Wars, so it wasn't that. I actually like Shia LaBeouf but his character was annoying as hell and there were just a lot of things that didn't work for me in the movie.)

SI

JS19

06-23-2009, 11:50 PM

eh, that's debatable

Honolulu_Blue

06-24-2009, 08:07 AM

While Roger Ebert may not be the target audience, I read a couple of reviews on aintitcoolnews.com. Those people are definitely the target audience. Both reviews I read trashed the hell out of the movie.

I enjoyed the first movie. It was shit balls retarded, ridiculous and totally inane, but I enjoyed it for what it was. By the sounds of things, the sequel may just be too much of the bad to actually derive pleasure from the good (explosions, robots fighting, etc.).

Just looking at Bay's work as a director... The only movie of his that I have seen and completely enjoyed (sans caveats) was "Bad Boys." Armageddon and Pearl Harbor are pretty attrocious and the first Transformers has many, many issues (robots peeing on people, robots sneaking around and hiding in the backyard, etc.). Never saw Bad Boys II.

sterlingice

06-24-2009, 08:12 AM

I liked The Rock a lot and Bad Boys quite a bit. I even enjoyed Bad Boys II, tho what I learned from watching some of the features special effects, it's pretty clear Bay has no regard for human life when filming stunts :D

"Sir, if we get him that close, we cannot guarantee his protection."
"What's your point? Put him next to the explosion, it'll look better!" ;)

SI

Alan T

06-24-2009, 08:19 AM

I must be Michael Bay's target audience I guess. Out of the movies he is listed for on IMDB:

Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen (2009)
... aka Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen - The IMAX Experience (USA: IMAX version)
Transformers (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0418279/) (2007)
... aka Transformers: The IMAX Experience (USA: IMAX version)
The Island (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0399201/) (2005)
Bad Boys II (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0172156/) (2003)
... aka Good Cops: Bad Boys II (Malaysia: English title)
Pearl Harbor (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0213149/) (2001)
... aka Pearl Harbour (UK: promotional title)
Armageddon (1998/I)
The Rock (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0117500/) (1996)
Bad Boys (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0112442/) (1995)I haven't seen Bad Boys II, but I liked all of the rest and have watched most of them numerous times. Perhaps only the Island is one that I don't own. *shrug*

Schmidty

06-24-2009, 10:43 AM

Megan Fox. Conversation is over.

She creeps me out. She looks too much like my little sister Caitlin.

Honolulu_Blue

06-24-2009, 10:45 AM

She creeps me out. She looks too much like my little sister Caitlin.

pix pls k thx

hoopsguy

06-24-2009, 01:25 PM

She creeps me out. She looks too much like my little sister Caitlin.

This will not end well.

MJ4H

06-24-2009, 01:52 PM

She creeps me out. She looks too much like my little sister Caitlin.

o rly

MikeVic

06-24-2009, 03:02 PM

Hey, pics pls.

Atocep

06-24-2009, 03:28 PM

Just got back from seeing it. It can probably be summed up rather easily by saying if you liked the first one, chances are you'll like this one. If not, stay away. If you wanted to see the transformers get more screen time and see more explosions it definitely delivers.

Bay hit his target audience. There's probably Transformers fans that are disappointed that they aren't in that target, but I think Bay accomplished what he set out to do.

cubboyroy1826

06-24-2009, 11:34 PM

Saw it today and really liked it. Now understand i am one who wants to be entertained and really don't want to think much when i watch a movie like this. Were there some corny part? Yep. Did things slow a bit? Yep. Is the movie going to be nominated for awards? Heck no.

ColtCrazy

06-24-2009, 11:41 PM

Just got back myself. I loved the 1st movie...a little disappointed in the 2nd. Just a little too much of everything...and not enough of the characters of the transformers. It's worth watching once, but probably just once.

Schmidty

06-24-2009, 11:45 PM

This will not end well.

Yes it will.

You will never see my little sis!!!!

Honolulu_Blue

06-25-2009, 08:46 AM

I guess, midnight screenings included, "Transformers 2" hauled in $71 million yesterday.

Ronnie Dobbs2

06-25-2009, 08:48 AM

Wow. That's a lot. A quick googling shows TDK did $60M.

Kodos

06-25-2009, 09:07 AM

I never watched the original series. I'm guessing that puts me in the minority. While we're talking about bad movies based on TV shows from our childhood, G.I. Joe looks terrible too.

Honolulu_Blue

06-25-2009, 09:15 AM

I never watched the original series. I'm guessing that puts me in the minority. While we're talking about bad movies based on TV shows from our childhood, G.I. Joe looks terrible too.

I agree.

The Baroness is super hot, but other than that, this movie is going to suck an epic amount of ass. It will be a black hole of suck, sucking so hard that not even light can escape it. It might even suck light back in time, Nero-style.

Since when has G.I. Joe needed power-armored silly suits? And why is Cobra sending that undead army from Return of The King to destroy the Eiffel Tower? I think I will only learn the answers to these questions late at night when I stumble upon this movie on free cable. Likely I will be very drunk, so, mayhaps, I will even enjoy myself.

ColtCrazy

06-25-2009, 10:00 AM

I agree.

The Baroness is super hot, but other than that, this movie is going to suck an epic amount of ass. It will be a black hole of suck, sucking so hard that not even light can escape it. It might even suck light back in time, Nero-style.

Since when has G.I. Joe needed power-armored silly suits? And why is Cobra sending that undead army from Return of The King to destroy the Eiffel Tower? I think I will only learn the answers to these questions late at night when I stumble upon this movie on free cable. Likely I will be very drunk, so, mayhaps, I will even enjoy myself.

Ding, Ding, Ding. That's what did it for me. Don't mess with the original concept. Probably why I didn't like the 2nd Transformers near as much as the 1st, but even the 2nd one will be infinitely more enjoyable than G.I. Joe. It's on DVD by September. Looks wretched.

MikeVic

06-25-2009, 10:03 AM

Yes it will.

You will never see my little sis!!!!

:(

MikeVic

06-25-2009, 10:06 AM

Watched this movie last night. I never watched the original series, and I thought the first movie was ok. This movie was ok too. Good for a summer blockbuster. Had funny parts, nice action, and a couple of hot chicks. It did have one part that made me say "really?"

That hot chick going after Sam turning out to be a robot. Really? They can take the form of a human? That didn't sit well with me.

Fidatelo

06-25-2009, 10:17 AM

That hot chick going after Sam turning out to be a robot. Really? They can take the form of a human? That didn't sit well with me.

Ugh, that makes me not want to watch the movie at all. That's terrible, and seems completely unnecessary.

Honolulu_Blue

06-25-2009, 10:41 AM

:(

Don't pout. Be a Mex-i-can, not a Mex-i-can't!

Just do a google image search of "Caitlin Schmidt", see what comes up and take it from there!

MikeVic

06-25-2009, 10:54 AM

Don't pout. Be a Mex-i-can, not a Mex-i-can't!

Just do a google image search of "Caitlin Schmidt", see what comes up and take it from there!

I did that just now. There's too many results and none looked like Megan Fox.

Cringer

06-25-2009, 11:05 AM

My daughter and I saw this yesterday, enjoyed it. I think I may like it more then the 1st one, simply because the fight scenes were better to me. I was able to follow the fight scenes better. The woods fight scene was the best of both movies, with a non-upclose shot that was great, and Prime being how you would want him to be. I do wish for more focus on Autobots who are not there as comic relief, but oh well.

I think the biggest part of the movie for us though was the preview for The Last Airbender, the first if the Avatar trilogy coming next year. It was all we talked about on the way home.

Schmidty

06-25-2009, 11:49 AM

[QUOTE=Honolulu_Blue;2057730
Just do a google image search of "Caitlin Schmidt", see what comes up and take it from there![/QUOTE]

Haha!! That's not her last name!! And you will never know!!!! :devil:

MikeVic

06-25-2009, 12:08 PM

Haha!! That's not her last name!! And you will never know!!!! :devil:

Is this her:
http://www.myspace.com/boatyardbully

Schmidty

06-25-2009, 12:13 PM

Is this her:
http://www.myspace.com/boatyardbully

Nope. She lives back home somewhere in Michigan. I will not tell you more than that.

DanGarion

06-25-2009, 12:19 PM

I did that just now. There's too many results and none looked like Megan Fox.

HAHAH I found her on Facebook! WOOT!...

MikeVic

06-25-2009, 12:27 PM

HAHAH I found her on Facebook! WOOT!...

Share please.

MikeVic

06-25-2009, 12:27 PM

Nope. She lives back home somewhere in Michigan. I will not tell you more than that.

Hmm...

DanGarion

06-25-2009, 12:33 PM

Share please.

I'm just kidding. I wouldn't do that to Schmidty, he's one of my favorite guys on here.

MikeVic

06-25-2009, 12:34 PM

I'm just kidding. I wouldn't do that to Schmidty, he's one of my favorite guys on here.

:mad: Don't tease.

revrew

06-26-2009, 09:48 AM

Saw it yesterday. BTW, part of what I do for a living is review movies for an online site, but I won't be reviewing this one. Also, as background, I was a Tranformers nut as a child, though I'm not an uber-geek who fusses and whines when the modern day adaptations stray from the storyline a little bit - that's par for the course. Also as background, I enjoyed the first movie very much, though I thought the final battle scenes were difficult to follow, a bit nonsensical, and kind of a downer after all the build-up. Slightly disappointed in #1, partly because of my love for the Transformers, but still enjoyed it.

#2 is a different animal. There's a reason many sequels stink. Most sequels = add more sex, more violence, more profanity, more explosions, and...oh, yeah, was there a script or a storylilne around here somewhere? Sry, forgot.

#2 followed that formula to the typical results. This movie is a typical sequel - it sucks.

The robots, people, the robots. That's why we watch these movies (yeah, okay, I understand the people who will argue for Megan Fox). This movie added some new ones, some interesting characters, but then, forgot to really develop them, added some INCREDIBLY stupid characters, an extra hour of footage about horny college hotties, dogs humping each other, and Sam's mom on marijuana, all to which I say, "O..M..G. Did some 12-year-old edit and write this thing?"

For Transformer nuts, like myself, there was probably a good movie in there somewhere, some interesting characters (Glad to see Soundwave and Rampage make the character list) - but it was buried and smothered in sheer stupidity and pointless "get a boner, 14-year-olds in the audience" sexuality. haha, look, a robot humping Megan Fox's leg -ha,ha. O look, puke, ha,ha. O look, a 15-foot long tongue coming out of a hot chick's face, ha ha. Gag me.

I liked the first movie; I really did. The second one was just sad to watch.

Marc Vaughan

06-27-2009, 08:27 PM

Saw it this evening with my sons - thought it was fair enough as a movie, not going to rush out and buy it on BluRay but the kids loved it and it was watchable enough ... was never really going to be a classic ;)

MJ4H

06-28-2009, 02:10 AM

fantom1979

06-28-2009, 03:12 AM

Just got back from watching this. Thought it was horrendous. Megan Fox multiplied in hotness by about 100 from the first movie to the second, though. The movie itself, though? Seriously, one of the worst pieces of shit I've ever sat through. I thought the first one was decently fun.

As a non-transformers guy that was thinking about seeing this because he thought the first one was decently fun, I am now scared away.

Chief Rum

06-28-2009, 03:33 AM

Just saw this.

It was funny (not the movie, what I'm about to say), because there were just a ton of times when I was saying, "Okay, that was really dumb" or "that was awkward" or "that doesn't make any sense", but the man-child adolescent that resides deep in my subconsciousness still found plenty of moments in the movie where it was saying, "That looked awesome."

Some of them didn't even involve Megan Fox, who looked absolutely stunning (of course). She reminds me of Schmidty's sister.

Seriously, this movie is inane. Doesn't make any sense. But if you can turn your brain off for a couple hours and enjoy all the fight scenes and explosions and the different robots, it might be worth a matinee price ticket (better to see that stuff in the theater usually anyway).

law90026

06-28-2009, 05:44 AM

Watched it and it's not a super movie by any means. It's at best a 3 out of 5 for me.

Having said that, I didn't expect much. It's a summer blockbuster after all and it was obvious that big explosions would be expected with little storyline (it is Michael Bay after all).

I thought the first half was pretty good up till the forest fight. Honestly, the fight scenes were pretty cool.

However, once the desert section started, that's where my wife and I started sniggering. It really started to become stupid/silly and really became unintentional comedy.

Having said that, it's not a terrible movie, just not great.

Alan T

06-28-2009, 07:22 AM

Saw the movie with my wife. Not really going to go over all of the annoying or dumb parts of the movie since those get the most coverage here at FOFC anyways.

I did like parts of it just fine though, but part of the storyline just confused the heck out of me.

In spoiler tags:

I thought Megatron and Prime were always brothers.. and Megatron was always the leader of the Decepticons, but now Prime is brothers with the other Primes and the Fallen who is now the leader of the Decepticons?

Schmidty

06-28-2009, 11:31 AM

It's my wife's birthday today, and I'm debating whether I should mention going to see this.

revrew

06-28-2009, 01:43 PM

It's my wife's birthday today, and I'm debating whether I should mention going to see this.

NO. good. golly. no. And remember, it's a 3-hour movie. No.

lerriuqs

06-28-2009, 03:28 PM

NO. good. golly. no. And remember, it's a 3-hour movie. No.

It's not 3 hours - it's 2.5 hours.

LoneStarGirl

06-28-2009, 06:36 PM

Marc Vaughan

06-28-2009, 07:33 PM

GoldenEagle and I went last night for his birthday to watch this and we both enjoyed it. There were too many pre-teens there and when the curse words were mentioned, especially the p-word, there were gasps from all the parents and obnoxious snickers from the kids. I have heard a lot of parents complaining about the bad words and how inappropriate it was for their kids to watch.... and the panties scene in the college dorm has a lot of parents upset as well.

It was a PG-13, didn't see anything inappropriate for that age range imho.

The kids I took were 9, 9 and 6 and to be honest I didn't see anything I thought offensive for that age level either - some parents get all worked up over nothing imho, heck my kids hear worse words than in that movie when I'm worked up and I'm fairly mellow imho (oh and kids old enough to be excited by a girl in a bra will have seen one already - most houses have a mail order catalogue or cosmopolitan magazine to hand somewhere, ones younger won't be interested anyway imho).

I always thought that was the idea of a 'PG' - its parental guidance, you decide yourself and if you are in the moral minority who get worked up over nothing there are oodles of hyper critical review sites full of rabid people who see every movie and try and get excited about how immoral they all are - if you can't be bothered to do that then imho you pass up your right to moan as you obviously aren't that bothered ;)

Schmidty

06-28-2009, 08:08 PM

NO. good. golly. no. And remember, it's a 3-hour movie. No.

Too late. We went. Our daughter's in Cali visiting her grandparents, and since we normally wouldn't take her to a film like this after hearing about some of the stuff that was in it, we figured we'd take our opportunity while we could.

It was crap. I really liked the first one, but this one was embarrassing to watch. Maybe sad is a better description.

I enjoy big, loud, uncomplicated action movies sometimes, but this just tried to add TOO MUCH of everything. Not only was there too much, but the stuff that was there, was terrible. Horribly crass, juvenile, and trashy - those are just a few descriptions that come to mind. I mean, I'm fine with a potty joke or two on occasion, but this was just too much. The lame quips, sexual jokes, robots and dogs humping (not each other thankfully), hairy middle aged ass-cheeks, robot testicles, and on and on. It all just stopped being funny after a few minutes, and just became distracting.

Anyway, the CGI was very good, the action was ok, but the rest of it was absolute, IQ reducing garbage.

JonInMiddleGA

06-28-2009, 08:18 PM

re: in the moral minority

Based on what's described here, specifically the sexual based humor, I doubt you'd find less than 50% of parents in the U.S. who would be upset if they knew their kids were seeing it. Close run at best, and a damned long way from the way you seem to be trying to portray it.

I think it's important to remember that this isn't an obvious content concern movie for a lot of parents. It's not as though it's titled "Spring Break: Girls Go Wild. They remember Transformers as a cartoon, strictly kids stuff. Unfortunately, too many won't bother to do the required due diligence, even fewer will because of their preconceived ideas about the movie.

Meanwhile, I'm just waiting to find out if Tarantino sticks any unnecessary sexual content in Inglourious Basterds. If not, me & my 11 year old are so there.

Swaggs

06-28-2009, 09:16 PM

Meanwhile, I'm just waiting to find out if Tarantino sticks any unnecessary sexual content in Inglourious Basterds. If not, me & my 11 year old are so there.

What about violence? I have heard there is a bat-wielding Nazi hunter in the film. :)

Schmidty

06-28-2009, 09:27 PM

What about violence? I have heard there is a bat-wielding Nazi hunter in the film. :)

I was thinking the same thing. Titties and ass? Fuck no!!! Brain-spattered walls? Fuck yeah!!! ;)

JonInMiddleGA

06-28-2009, 09:34 PM

What about violence? I have heard there is a bat-wielding Nazi hunter in the film. :)

Which reminded us a lot of the baseball bat usage in Fallout 3 :)

After watching the trailers & the clips, the movie looks almost hilarious because it's so campy.

MJ4H

06-28-2009, 09:38 PM

Speaking of T&A how is this thread less than 85% Megan Fox? That first scene with her on the motorcycle the whole theater gasped.

JonInMiddleGA

06-28-2009, 09:39 PM

I was thinking the same thing. Titties and ass? Fuck no!!! Brain-spattered walls? Fuck yeah!!! ;)

That's easy.

We've dealt with the difference in the use of violence in IRL vs films/games/TV.
We haven't dealt fully with every sexual situation presented in movies, and I'm in no hurry whatsoever to do so.

Schmidty

06-28-2009, 09:59 PM

That's easy.

We've dealt with the difference in the use of violence in IRL vs films/games/TV.
We haven't dealt fully with every sexual situation presented in movies, and I'm in no hurry whatsoever to do so.

You are way too serious sometimes. And I see what you're saying.

larrymcg421

06-29-2009, 12:58 AM

Too late. We went. Our daughter's in Cali visiting her grandparents, and since we normally wouldn't take her to a film like this after hearing about some of the stuff that was in it, we figured we'd take our opportunity while we could.

It was crap. I really liked the first one, but this one was embarrassing to watch. Maybe sad is a better description.

I enjoy big, loud, uncomplicated action movies sometimes, but this just tried to add TOO MUCH of everything. Not only was there too much, but the stuff that was there, was terrible. Horribly crass, juvenile, and trashy - those are just a few descriptions that come to mind. I mean, I'm fine with a potty joke or two on occasion, but this was just too much. The lame quips, sexual jokes, robots and dogs humping (not each other thankfully), hairy middle aged ass-cheeks, robot testicles, and on and on. It all just stopped being funny after a few minutes, and just became distracting.

Anyway, the CGI was very good, the action was ok, but the rest of it was absolute, IQ reducing garbage.

What were you expecting? An Oscar winner?

Schmidty

06-29-2009, 01:12 AM

What were you expecting? An Oscar winner?

Obviously not. You're directing a comment like that at the wrong guy.

It's funny that you're saying that, since that's my argument about just about every other summer action thriller, including the original Transformers(which I really liked). I can usually shut my brain off, but this is one of the first movies I can remember that tried to shut it off for me. It was just.........tooooooo much. And unneededly low-brow.

Yeah, I get people looking at my opinion the way they may be (like you). I have looked at other opinions the same way, but for the first time, I felt rippped-off.

It's possible for a huge, fun action film to not insult the viewer at the same time as it entertains them. I just got done watching "Hot Fuzz" for the umpteenth time, and it just reinforces that feeling.

Chief Rum

06-29-2009, 01:13 AM

re:

Based on what's described here, specifically the sexual based humor, I doubt you'd find less than 50% of parents in the U.S. who would be upset if they knew their kids were seeing it. Close run at best, and a damned long way from the way you seem to be trying to portray it.

I think it's important to remember that this isn't an obvious content concern movie for a lot of parents. It's not as though it's titled "Spring Break: Girls Go Wild. They remember Transformers as a cartoon, strictly kids stuff. Unfortunately, too many won't bother to do the required due diligence, even fewer will because of their preconceived ideas about the movie.

Meanwhile, I'm just waiting to find out if Tarantino sticks any unnecessary sexual content in Inglourious Basterds. If not, me & my 11 year old are so there.

I think we learned in the tyketime 911 thread that not everyone agrees with your interpretation of parenting. I do believe there is a significant percentage of parents who see things as you do, but I also believe that you don't really have a handle on how many parents do not believe as you do, so while I can acknowledge your viewpoint as a significant one to consider, I would consider Marc's viewpoint as significant and as likely to be consistent with parents in general as yours is.

Schmidty

06-29-2009, 01:18 AM

Chief Rum

06-29-2009, 01:21 AM

I don't know what the hell the tyketime 911 thread is, but Transformers 2 still sucked. :)

Heh...yeah, not saying T2 was good. See my comments above. Also not saying Jon is wrong. Just noting that his viewpoint on the matter of parenting on at least one notable recent occasion did not end up representing a consensus opinion on that topic, and that I would be wary of accepting his take on this particular issue either without something more evidentiary to back it up.

larrymcg421

06-29-2009, 01:23 AM

Obviously not. You're directing a comment like that at the wrong guy.

It's funny that you're saying that, since that's my argument about just about every other summer action thriller, including the original Transformers(which I really liked). I can usually shut my brain off, but this is one of the first movies I can remember that tried to shut it off for me. It was just.........tooooooo much. And unneededly low-brow.

Yeah, I get people looking at my opinion the way they may be (like you). I have looked at other opinions the same way, but for the first time, I felt rippped-off.

It's possible for a huge, fun action film to not insult the viewer at the same time as it entertains them. I just got done watching "Hot Fuzz" for the umpteenth time, and it just reinforces that feeling.

Actually, it was just a joke. That was the type of comment used against me earlier in the thread when I said I hated the first film.

JonInMiddleGA

06-29-2009, 02:11 AM

I think we learned in the tyketime 911 thread that not everyone agrees with your interpretation of parenting. I do believe there is a significant percentage of parents who see things as you do, but I also believe that you don't really have a handle on how many parents do not believe as you do, so while I can acknowledge your viewpoint as a significant one to consider, I would consider Marc's viewpoint as significant and as likely to be consistent with parents in general as yours is.

CR, I don't care if you go to the most liberal town in the US, let's pick Berkeley just for the hell of it. Or if you want to go east, pick somewhere in Massachusetts or whatever suits you. Take the scenes described here & relate them to the parents of 13 year olds, much less 9-12 year olds (as Lone Star Girl mentioned). If you can find even 40% who say they don't have a problem with that content for their kids then I'm a fucking monkey's uncle. Hell, you'd probably lose a good 10% of even the most liberal on the basis of objectifying women alone, never mind the more traditional sexual aspects.

I found his attempt to characterize those who would object as some sort of small minority more than just a little bit offensive and completely out of touch with American societal values. I won't argue that enough parents don't fail to do adequate due diligence to match even their own values but if you put that content in front of them (that's a whole different rant) but you & I both know it would fail with a major chunk of the population.

Chief Rum

06-29-2009, 02:22 AM

CR, I don't care if you go to the most liberal town in the US, let's pick Berkeley just for the hell of it. Or if you want to go east, pick somewhere in Massachusetts or whatever suits you. Take the scenes described here & relate them to the parents of 13 year olds, much less 9-12 year olds (as Lone Star Girl mentioned). If you can find even 40% who say they don't have a problem with that content for their kids then I'm a fucking monkey's uncle. Hell, you'd probably lose a good 10% of even the most liberal on the basis of objectifying women alone, never mind the more traditional sexual aspects.

I found his attempt to characterize those who would object as some sort of small minority more than just a little bit offensive and completely out of touch with American societal values. I won't argue that enough parents don't fail to do adequate due diligence to match even their own values but if you put that content in front of them (that's a whole different rant) but you & I both know it would fail with a major chunk of the population.

That might be the case, but until someone does exactly that sorta study, I am as welcome to my opinion as you are to yours. Much as you feel you believe he misrepresented what came to be your stance as a minority (something I did not see in his post, actually, but you're welcome to your opinion if that's what you think he was saying), I believe you misrepresent your own opinion as a consensus opinion that in fact you have provided no evidence to support.

Honolulu_Blue

06-29-2009, 08:29 AM

What were you expecting? An Oscar winner?

Why does people say stuff like this? I don't get it. Yes, there are different levels of expectations for movies, but I have seen enough "mindless action movies" to know good ones from bad ones. I am not looking for "Oscar level" anything, but you can't just excuse a crap film by shrugging and saying "Hey! It's supposed to be crap! What did you expect?"

Movies like "Die Hard', "Iron Man", "Dark Knight", "Matrix", "Terminator 2", the first and third "Indiana Jones" movies, the original Star Wars films, etc. have shown us that you can make very good summer popcorn type flicks that have great action, explosions, and all that fun stuff and still manage to find time for a decent plot, developed characters, good dialogue maybe a meaningful theme or idea or two.

JonInMiddleGA

06-29-2009, 11:26 AM

(something I did not see in his post, actually, but you're welcome to your opinion if that's what you think he was saying)

Not sure how you missed it, or the snarky tone it was delivered with but here goes

if you are in the moral minority who get worked up over nothing

larrymcg421

06-29-2009, 11:32 AM

Why does people say stuff like this? I don't get it. Yes, there are different levels of expectations for movies, but I have seen enough "mindless action movies" to know good ones from bad ones. I am not looking for "Oscar level" anything, but you can't just excuse a crap film by shrugging and saying "Hey! It's supposed to be crap! What did you expect?"

Movies like "Die Hard', "Iron Man", "Dark Knight", "Matrix", "Terminator 2", the first and third "Indiana Jones" movies, the original Star Wars films, etc. have shown us that you can make very good summer popcorn type flicks that have great action, explosions, and all that fun stuff and still manage to find time for a decent plot, developed characters, good dialogue maybe a meaningful theme or idea or two.

Thanks for making my point for me as I fully agree with everything you said. As I noted to Schmidty a few posts above, my response was meant to be sarcastic, since I received the same type of criticism earlier in the thread for trashing the first film.

Honolulu_Blue

06-29-2009, 11:34 AM

Thanks for making my point for me as I fully agree with everything you said. As I noted to Schmidty a few posts above, my response was meant to be sarcastic, since I received the same type of criticism earlier in the thread for trashing the first film.

Ah. Cool. Sarcasm is hard to detect on the interwebs. I am glad we are in agreeance.

sterlingice

06-29-2009, 11:56 PM

I saw it and I know this is damning with faint praise but my review is basically "It wasn't as bad as I thought it would be".

My wife and I were at the Udvar-Hazy Smithsonian, basically the Air and Space annex out at Dulles with the stuff that doesn't fit in the main museum: the Enola Gay, space shuttle Enterprise, a Boeing 707, a Concorde, and a lot more. They were showing the movie on their Imax as about 5 minutes of the movie are filmed there- the part where they go to get Jetfire in the museum- as that's their SR71 blackbird and that's the Udvar-Hazy center. We figured even a bad movie beat going right into the teeth of DC's rush hour on our way back to Richmond.

As for the movie itself, my wife and I literally spent about a half hour bashing down our expectations in the line as neither of us really cared for the first, so we were pleasantly surprised- expected about a 3, got about a 5 out of the movie.

First the complaints as what went wrong sticks out more than what went right. There was a lot of stupid stuff that just went on too long or could have been cut, but that was true of the first one- did we really need Sam's mom high on pot for no reason for 5 minutes? And there were clearly scenes where Bay was just trying to, well I'd claim needlessly, tittilate such as where the robot girl retracting her tail so that we get a full shot of her ass, the stupid professor of Astronomy scene*, or many, many slow motion running scenes where Megan Fox's cleavage is the star ala Baywatch. Frankly, even at target market age 14, my intelligence would have been insulted by a bunch of this.

Once again, hardly any of the robots have character at all except a little Bumblebee, a little Optimus, and the comic relief. Also, Bay has horrible pacing where you have stuff like building up Devastator only to have him hit by one super weapon that they never use again, no real buildup to Optimus dying, the final fight once Prime is back alive lasting about 30 seconds but Sam running through the ruins takes about 30 minutes, etc- it seems like he spins a wheel to determine how long scenes should be.

That said, the humans, save Sam's mom, were actually much more tolerable than in the first movie. The first half hour of the first movie is almost unwatchable as you watch Sam fumble through life but he's decent here except for stupidly falling for robo-girl. Mikaela was actually likeable instead of a petulant child. John Tuturro and all the military guys were pretty good.

It was quite fun to watch on an Imax as there were quite a few good effects and action sequences. They were a bit jerky and I don't like that style at all- for instance, the next action sequence I can actually see and comprehend in the current James Bond incarnation will be the first- but I'm going to chalk some of that up to it being on a 6 story tall screen.

So, in all, pretty good action sequences but jerky, half watchable action movie characters (humans) and half not (robots), horrible pacing but a decent plot with action movie size plot holes- you get the picture, flawed but had its moments. Overestimate at your own peril, but it's not awful either.

*Movies: horribly misrepresenting college, since... ever.

SI