More Than Meets the Eye
I saw Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen in IMAX tonight (IMAX is always the way to go with these movies although $17 is a little steep), and frankly, I loved it. I tried to stay away from a lot of reviews and comments since I didn’t want to be spoiled or think that I’d be disappointed because other people were. I did read a few though, and I couldn’t believe that people were complaining about the quality of the movie. Hello, it’s a Michael Bay film! What were they expecting? Obviously, this movie wasn’t going to be an Oscar caliber film. It’s a summer action movie which will rake in the money and set records. With Michael Bay films, the moviegoer should only go in expecting lots of things blowing up and fights. And that’s what we got. We also got to see the characters grow a little, comedy, and a lot more robots (I wouldn’t be able to tell you what most of their names were. Unlike most geeky things, I was not a part of this fandom before the first movie). Also, I’m tired of fanboy complaints about the lack of plot and character development. If I remember correctly, these same fanboys were complaining in 2007 about how the first Transformers focused too much on plot, the human characters, and character development – they wanted more robot fights. Well, congrats, that’s what you got. But heaven forbid you all accept it and enjoy the movie. No, you have to complain on the internet like you do about everything else. I should have learned my lesson from The Dark Knight, The Incredible Hulk, Watchmen, and Wolverine and just have stayed away from fanboy reviews. Go cry to someone else. I, however, was a content moviegoer and thoroughly enjoyed myself. It was a little longer than it needed to be, but it was worth it. T:ROTF had everything I wanted and expected: action, comedy, robot fights, an old crotchety British robot, things going boom, lots of Shia, less Megan Fox, and lots of comedic Turturro (who also showed his butt in this movie which means I’ve seen a lot of Turturro this month). That means I was able to experience both Turturros this month: comedic Turturro in Transformers and dramatic Turturro in Pelham 123. I love celebrating the month of Turturro. Anyways, I loved Transformers and am telling all of my friends to see it and enjoy themselves. Everyone deserves to have fun at a summer popcorn flick.
According to the news today, the Academy Awards will now have 10 Best Picture nominees. I’m still not sure how I feel about this. On the one hand, I feel like 10 is too many. It would have been better if they had upped it to 6 or 7. Plus, what if the year doesn’t have 10 great, Oscar-worthy films? Have there been any yet? Here’s hoping “Shutter Island”, “Nine”, and “A Serious Man” live up to the hype. On the other hand, it would enable more quality films to be recognized. And maybe more comedies and animated films will join the fray. It would be nice for the Academy to actually give them the praise they deserve like the Golden Globes do. It would have been better if they had started this new tradition last year; that way, Wall-E, The Dark Knight, and In Bruges all could have been nominated and could have possibly won. Heck, just let me be an Academy member and I’ll vote for all of these great films.
