FF:QLD At The Movies - Reviews & Critical Musings

One of the other Ninjas and I saw Fantastic 4 today. Really, it was as good as the first. Decent Effects, enough bad humour for you to find some good humour, a bit of subplot, and a lot of similarities to other movies we like (Star Trek terminology used for example). It's not a bad Popcorn flick really, some continuity errors too...so check your brain at the door.

Did I say the effects were decent?


Hope this isn't the only positive I have for the movie we'll see later this week...

 

Pan's Labirynth... ok, so I'm a bit behind the times with this one.

If you haven't seen this movie, watch it. Fantasy, horror, drama, tension all wrapped up in a beautiful and at the same time, hideous package. Warning; the film is completely in Spanish so be prepared to do some subtitle reading.

Not for the queasy and definitely not a fairy tale for the kiddies.

 

Dazed & Amazed!!!

TRANSFORMERS? FULLY SIC!! That was one. total. T.R.I.P!




*still squeeing!!!!!*

 

¿que¿

That film sure did suck last night. It just plain sucked! I've seen films suck before, but Transformers was the suckiest bunch of suck that ever sucked.

Straight out, it was a mil-porn ****-fest. Great scenes of Spectre gunships blowing the crap out things and Warthog tank-killers making strafing runs with that big-ass gatling gun, but seriously, who'd believe that cars and trucks and tanks could transform into robots bent on raining death and destruction on normal decent every-day people? As for the rest of the film, it was nothing more than a two hour advertisement for Hasbro....

























































































































































































Just kidding. It was pretty damned good. I went in not expecting anything good about it, and I was pleasantly surprised. The story was reasonably well rounded, with a sensible and realistic backstory created to account for the chronology. Certainly, the most impressive aspect was the effects, and the designs of the Transformers. Probably the best action film I've seen this year.

 

Psh, I doubt it'll surpass Hot Fuzz as best action film of the year.


I'm very much looking forward to this. The buzz it's been getting has been very good, and with each successive trailer or ad I see I'm getting more psyched about it. And as I've said, even if the movie itself sucks, the special effects geek in me can just enjoy ILM's fantastic work on the 'bots.

 

Add me to the tally that BBN just put himself on.

 

Transformers:

O

M

G
!
!



And I mean that in the best way possible.


9.5/10 (IMO)

 

Again, to get it out of the way because I hate the word,

*fangasms*

Right, this movie did have its problems, but really all that I went to see the movie for more than compensated for every annoying human shot. I was in veritable paroxysms of fan-girlish ecstasy for pretty much the duration of the movie.

On a rating of Squeeworthyness, I grant it a 10 out of 5

 

TRANSFORMERS is the BUSINESS!!!

Great moments of levity with the human interplay... I count at least one genuine guffaw, and many scenes that made me giggle. The 'unveiling' of the Autobots... Frickin' Awesome! If I had one criticism was that the action scenes, perhaps over-utilised the whole 'shaky-cam' thing.. to the point that in some of the bot battle scenes, it's hard to distinguish who's doing what to whom. Of course Optimus was easy to pick... He's the one playing for the Newcastle Knights.. Heh! This movie is certainly the best $8.50 I've spent at the cinemas this year.

Definately one of these Alice ========>
9.5/10.

 

Caught the last showing of Transformers last night with some of the usual crew.

Surprisingly good action film, but then again I did keep my standards and expectations really low While I don't think I owe Michael Bay a blanket apology for past sins, I'm prepared to take back most of the stuff I've said about him.

The story's good and the action and visuals are great. The cast does its job well (though some of the cameos were distracting) though yes, sometimes the humans and their interactions (mostly with each other) were annoying, but when are humans not annoying in Transformers? I liked Sergeant Lennox and his "Ethnic Minority Super-Rangers"; potentially the most annoying lot of the new characters, but they worked *really* well in the tradition of badass soldiers such as in Aliens. But fortunately, its the two main human characters that hold the film up, and do a fine job of it.

There's enough of the old stuff in there to keep an old fan like me happy, but I'd argue that if Peter Cullen wasn't playign Optikmus Prime again, I wouldn't have been so emotionally invested in the action. The unveiling of the Autobots was definitely a highlight, but there was plenty of other stuff too; Ironhide complaining he was going to rust, Bumblebee lifting up his helmet to see if he got 'em.

Anyway, highly recommended. Gotta find a copy of the score though.

Be seeing you,

Magnus Darcrider

 

I liked it... A LOT... First thing I'm going to do when I get the DVD is to play it back in x16 slow
Surprisingly the threaded plot worked really well, though honestly I couldn't have cared less about the two "main" humans.

The script was much better written than I expected, thought it did seem at times that the writers where handed a sheet of paper with a bunch of gags and told to use them. 95% of the time they pulled it off but at others, very noticably Optimus Prime's last monologue, it just came off as awkward - even cheesy.

Starscream's jet action scene towards the end was (for me) the best of the movie.
It's not quite how I remembered the cartoon - but that honestly doesn't bother me.

As long as they don't do a sequal I really don't mind how (even that) Megatron got offed. I just don't see how they could viably bring him back. And it isn't transformers without the badass leader.

Suppose I should rate it 8.75/10

 

am still unsure if I want to see this film I have been let down in remakes of old shows in the past the rocky and bullwinkle movie left me dazed and confused for weeks and dont even get me started on goerge of the jungle

 

Transformers is the absolute definition of a kick-ass popcorn action/SFX movie. The script is... well you know what? I didn't pay any attention to the script. It was there. It didn't annoy me, it didn't descend into cliches, it seemed to hang together. But basically the script could have been a single A4 piece of paper with the words "Giant robots that can turn into vehicles fight people and/or each other for 120 minutes," and I would have been satisfied. The human cast (read: the co-stars) were good. Shia LaBoef is always very likable and enjoyable to watch, and everyone else was good enough. The male world is going ga-ga over Megan Fox, but I could honestly take her or leave her. She played her role well enough, though.


The real stars of the film are, of course, the Big Frakin' Robots, and man did they deliver. The level of detail on them was just obscene, and the transformation sequences were nothing short of Visual FX Porn. They were packed with personality, and interacted wonderfully with the scenery. This thing's got best effects Oscar written all over it.

The action was great, the whole thing was lots of fun without being either too tongue-in-cheek or too over-serious. It was weird: you know you're watching a Michael Bay movie, but it's a Michael Bay movie that's GOOD.

Get comfy, get a big tub of popcorn, and watch this damn film. Forget rubbish like Spiderman 3, this is the blockbuster movie to see.

 

As much as I love spiderman, I'm going to have to agree. TRANSFORMERS is the one to see on the big screen!

In the last 24 hours I've seen it 3 times! Never done for any movie before! (and it still holds up on the third viewing! Then again, I'm a big Michael Bay fan so I really loved it.)

I have to find the soundtrack as well, awesome stuff.

The end battle has to be one of the best action scenes in movie history. I loved that it wasn't away from 'the puplic, everyday person' and had lots of collateral damage.

I haven't sat back and enjoyed a movie that much in a long time. There is so many good scenes.

-Bumble Bee's 'songs' to help sam!
-The arrival of the other autobots
-The first time you hear one speak (I almost jumped out of my chair with glee)
Too many more!

All in all - heaps of action,suspense,laughter and all out unbelievable CG effects!

 

Too late, Dreamworks have already greenlit two sequels. You heard right, two sequeals... Shia LaBeouf, Megan Fox and Peter Cullen have already signed on for them

As for bringing Megatron back, well they are robots and robots can be fixed Besides there is a part in the original animated version where the Decepticons did make a base for themselves down in a abysal trent under the sea. And where did they dump them at the end of the film

 

One word, people: Galvatron. Megatron's been destroyed before. We can rebuild him, we have the technology...


As much as I'm really cheesed off with the rampant sequelitis we've been getting this year, I'm cool with more Transformers movies. Something to do with the whole giant robot thing, I think...

 

Yeah I already know about the base. Which is why I was sitting at the end of the movie just hoping that someone would have the sense to say NO to a sequel. Obviously that is not to be the case

As for robots getting fixed - here is the dilema:
It is suppose to be a forever thing - ie robots CAN die, that was made very clear in the movie and they would have to do a lot of dancing around to explain otherwise.

If it had been a good guy, it would be a forever thing, but since it's a bad guy it's not. This "double standard" bothers me.

 

Well, my thoughts.

Good bits aplenty.
Dumb bits too.

Definately worth seeing with a big bucket of popcorn. Enough laughs to satisfy. Plenty of action. Not too corny script really, about as much as any action flick I guess. Being a fan makes things different, so I'll post in the TF thread my thoughts.
But, as a review, I say: Good! Worth seeing. Not too long. Maybe too many characters, and some come/drop in the movie at strange points leaving you wondering where they came from or went, but the flow of the movie is enough for you to not really be worried about it. Good music, although if they were throwing so much money at it maybe they could have chosen one of the epic scorers (Howard Shore, Bear McCreary, or even John Williams himself). Not sure if it was intentional, but it seems that all the ethnic bases were covered in terms of cast, and target markets.

Anyway, beginning to sound like David and Margaret now. Well, after the next line I will be:
Four Stars.
Or should that be, four Autobot logos.

 

If it had been a good guy, it would be a forever thing, but since it's a bad guy it's not. This "double standard" bothers me.

I think if it were any other movie, it would bother me too. But there's just something about the nature of the Transformers movie, and perhaps the franchise as a whole, that makes me not really care, and just want to grin and roll with it. Like I said, I've been very irritated by the glut of crappy (and even non-crappy) sequels we've been getting this year. Movies like Hot Fuzz and even Transformers were a breath of fresh air because they were good movies and they were originals, not sequels. I really want to see less sequels in the next few years, but I know I'm not going to get that. But yeah, strangely, I'm not fussed with Transformers sequels. I think it's something to do with the Cool Factor totally overriding the significance of things like plot, which is not something that happens very often for me. It was one of those movies where I was really happy to just disengage my brain and enjoy the spectacle. Obviously if the franchise goes on and on it'll get laborious, and I'd respect it if they had the creative integrity to stop at one film, but this is reality we're in, not some magical fantasy world where Hollywood has any desire other than to milk purses. And frankly, it's a reality where I'm cool with the idea of sitting down, grabbing that popcorn, and watching some big-ass freakin' robots smash the bejesus out of each other. Every now and then a movie comes along that doesn't need depth or subtlety or good writing, if it's just plain fun to watch.

Just so you all know, I'm surprising myself by saying this. Transformers was just cool fun to watch, and unlike something like, say, Pirates of the Carribean, which was really satisfying as a narrative and had a great ending that was undermined by churning out sequels, the Cool Fun-itude of movies like Transformers are enhanced by it, at least until the point where it starts being the good old flogging of a dead horse.

 

Transformers.

Michael Bay, I owe you an apology.

Transformers is a movie where you can turn off your mind and just enjoy the action. It was a movie that was light on plot and high on explosions. I had faith in Michael Bay directing Transformers, because for all his faults (his many, many faults) he can do action. The action was amazing. The car chase with Transformers going back and forth into Vehicle mode was brilliant. Starscream halfway transforming (ala Robotech) above the city and absolutely fracking up the other jets was also very freaking cool. And then the battle scene in the city with Ironhide doing a John Woo style slowmotion jump with two guns in the air. Nice .

The humour was also great. The Autobots outside of Sam's house and Frenzy getting off of Airforce One were highlights. It was a lot funnier than I thought it would be.

The humans in the movie were also pretty good. I wasn't expecting much, because honestly, I went to see giant robots beating the crap out of each other. But I was pleasantly suprised. Although, as Goobs said, there were too many people in it.

The special effects were the best I have seen in a film. Period. The people at ILM are gods.

Overall, I would have to give this film a 8.5/10. Definatly the best action movie of the year (Because Hot Fuzz comes under comedy )

Go see this film.

 

No way, man, Hot Fuzz is an action movie. I'll give Transformers the Best Giant Robot Action Movie of the Year award. Yeah yeah, it wins by default so far, but still. If it wasn't for Hot Fuzz, I'd totally agree with you. Transformers is right up there, though. 2nd place, man. (And I can't believe I didn't specifically mention Starscream's fight scene in my review, because that was the best fight in the whole movie. Freakin' amazing )

 

Oceans Thirteen

About what you'd expect. And I expected an entertaining couple of hours with known characters doing what they do best. Nothing new here, brain didn't particularly hurt, but I enjoyed it.
3.5 outa 5

 

So what you're sayin is, there are probably some movies worth leaving the house for?

I took mum to see 'Because I Said So' for Mothers Day. Still feeling rather nauseous to this day.

 

and on the 'there are some movies not worth staying home for' front...

Sunday Suckfest: pinata/survival island

OK, it's been a while since I logged my 'traditional' sat/sun suckfest flick, but I've been distracted. Last sunday I had the misfortune to sit down and watch the above movie and oh my god, did it suck. It actually started off better than I thought, with a whole spooky mexican legend type back story, they went to a lot of trouble (although I have to admit the podgy 'starving' mexicans was a bit much to take - wouldn't they be a little less flabby if there was no food?)

Anyway, the basic premise is these mexican make up an 'evil' pinata to absorb all the villagers evil thoughts and deeds and sent it off down the river while they broke open the good pinata full of fruitful goodness.

Of course, this clay pintata, which must have weighed a tonne, floated out to sea and ended up beached on a deserted island that, a few hundred years hence, 2 boatloads of american college students just happened to use as the site for a treasure hunt. And while my idea of a treasure hunt might be outdated, I didn't really see the treasure, or the hunting, involved in running around the island collecting underwear from trees.

Of course, horror ensues when one of the pairs of students (each team was a boy and girl handcuffed to each other - naturally) decide to break open what is quite obviously an ancient mexican artefact to see if there are miniature bottle of tequila inside. Who wouldn't? This brings the evil pinata to life. The evil pinata then goes on a rampage, smashing open att he students and the two 'adults' like - you guessed it! Pinatas!

Why did I rent this movie? Why did I part with $1 for it? I'll never truly know the answer to that. But it starred TV's nicholas brendan and jaime pressley and looked kinda funny in blockbuster. I was wrong. It wasn't funny. It wasn't scary. It was dumb. It had no redeeming qualities. It sucked. Recommendation: leave it where it is and rent evil dead.

 

ok before I start I know I am going to upset more than a few people here with this post but when it comes down to it, it's my opinion and I don't care
I saw transformers today (finaly you say) and it SUCKED ASS big time
some of it was ok like when it ended.
the humans actors must of won comps to get there parts cause they didnt get them on thier acting abilities thats for sure.
the robots looked cool but thats about it ....... cool cgi will never ever make up for a good story and this film had cool cgi but a weak story.
the character progression was slow at best
well I am going to duck for cover