Why does everyone pick on this movie?

[Edward J Grug III]

CHRIST I hate that kind of attitude.

It's JUST a MOVIE.

[NOHC]

Yes.  It is just a movie, and I'm entitled to my opinion of it, just as you are as well. 

We wouldn't have much need for movie critics if all they said was "White Chicks: it's just a movie!", would we?

[Edward J Grug III]

I have absolutely no need for a critic who says a movie or director raped their childhood either.

[NOHC]

I have absolutely no need for a critic who says a movie or director raped their childhood either.

*ahem* "inner child", please.

It was nothing more than a big steaming pile of mediocrity tacked onto pointless & gratuitous product placement

[Brian825]

I *was* able to say Michael Bay's 'Transformers' up until yesterday, but Mike Nelson(of MST3K fame) did a commentary track for it and a friend of mine came down to watch it yesterday. I know I throw out the phrase "that truly chips at my will to live" a lot, but damn...that was singlehandedly one of the worst movies I have EVER had the misfortune of seeing. The only thing that made it bearable was Mike's Rifftrax on it.

First of all, this is my first post in these forums as I just joined tonight. I am also NOHC's friend who watched Transformers with him yesterday. The two of us have enjoyed many of the Riffs together: I'll usually bring the DVD and he'll purchase the Riff. Well, I brought my TF DVD down to enjoy the latest Riff, and well, I was under the impression he had already seen TF. Because if I had known ahead of time how much he was gonna loathe it and take it so personally, I wouldn't have visited. Is Transformers a great movie? Probably not, but I still like it and found it pretty entertaining(otherwise I wouldn't have bought the DVD). And when he told me the same stuff that he has stated here, it made me feel a little stupid. I bought the DVD, I like the movie, does that make me a moron? We've disagreed on movies plenty of times, but I was a little shocked at how personal he took TF. Moving on..

Well, I TRIED to like it...I wanted to give it a chance, I wanted to really like it, but it seemed to me that it was nothing more than a chance for Michael Bay to show off idiots who had no business doing a high school play production, much less a multi-million dollar movie and how much the man could alienate anyone who'd been a fan of the Transformers from way back when. I mean, was the theme of the robots' look "spikey stuff piled on top of a LOT more spikey stuff"?  The only thing that might have rivaled it was the lead guy's overacting.  Michael Bay took a franchise and turned it into something that was uniquely Bay, a loud, screaming, flashy, explosion filled CGifest with no soul, no heart and most of all, damn near no direction whatsoever, other than the occasional "Hey, can you look a little more detached and distant when you interact with the bluescreen"?

You tried to like it? You were rolling your eyes and shaking your head about twenty minutes into it! As for the look, I never expected them to have the exact same, block-style look of the 80s. The only one I had real problems with was Megatron, and it was strange not having Bumblebee as a VW bug. Other than that, I could live with the designs. If pressed, it would be hard for me to say what they should look like.

I liked the old cartoon, too, but it didn't rise much above sequences of giant robots fighting each other wrapped into a lame plot that attempted to steer viewers away from the fact that it was almost entirely a toy commercial.  There were giant robots blowing shit up wrapped up in a lame plot contrivance to get them to buy the toys in the movie too.  That was the only thing Bay's crapfest had in common with the cartoon we all know and love.

So basically what you're saying here is, the old show and Bay's movie had a LOT in common, but Bay's was wrong simply because it was Bay? Seems like a pretty weak argument there LOL. I'm by no means a big Michael Bay fan, I just wish I had known you hadn't seen TF yet. Because it could have saved us two-plus hours out of yesterday.

But when you have scenes like the big mouth drooltard chick stopping the tow truck to rest her head on the steering wheel to consider her situation for about 5 minutes before coming to the revelation that she just needs to drive the damned truck, it only serves to show that Michael Bay has NO BUSINESS WHATSOEVER making movies.

With that scene, I felt she was just realizing the gravity of the situation before taking off. I mean, wouldn't the thought of possibly getting blown the f*** up make you a little hesitant?

I really do feel that Michael Bay has no business making movies. It's anyone else's prerogative to disagree, more power to you if you do, but no amount of arguing for the positive merits of that movie will ever convince me that it was nothing more than a Bay style orgy of flash, glitz and bullshit that was poorly acted, badly edited and about as good a movie as anything I could pull straight up out of the local wastewater treatment facility here.

Again, the main point: Michael Bay's an a**hole, thus Transformers is guilty by association? We'll just agree to disagree about TF dude. I found it entertaining, and although it's clearly not one of the great movies, I do not find it as bad as you do. To me, "chipping at the will to live" movies are easy to spot: Battlefield Earth, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, Gigli, Glitter, anything starring Sandra Bullock LOL.

Michael Bay has singlehandedly raped and molested every Transformers fan's inner child with that botched abortion of a movie.

I am a lifelong Star Wars fan, and after hearing that exact opinion from the thousands of idiot fanboys who hated the Prequels because they weren't the second coming of the Original Trilogy, I must say that I thought you were that line of thinking.

[/b]

[Edward J Grug III]

I really like the film Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas.

Just saying...

[Fuzzy Necromancer]

I have absolutely no need for a critic who says a movie or director raped their childhood either.

*ahem* "inner child", please.

It was nothing more than a big steaming pile of mediocrity tacked onto pointless & gratuitous product placement

Mountain-Dew-bot is still more subtle than the product placement in Fantastic Four.

[Brian825]

I really like the film Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas.

Just saying...

Hey, that's great if you liked it. I felt though that Fear and Loathing was 50 times more NOTHING than every single episode of Seinfeld.

[Edward J Grug III]

PERFECT adaptation of the book though.

[Reductio_ad_absurdum]

I have absolutely no need for a critic who says a movie or director raped their childhood either.

*ahem* "inner child", please.

It was nothing more than a big steaming pile of mediocrity tacked onto pointless & gratuitous product placement

Which is what the Transformers franchise has always been and always will be!  The cartoon wasn't great cinema!  It wasn't Shakespeare!  Transformers doesn't need to be deep.  All it needed was explosions and giant robots beating each other.  That is the core basis of the entire point of the franchises existance!  Wow the kids, get them to force their parents to buy the toys!

Also, why did humans play such a major role?  Because it is on Earth, and its a live action movie!  Take out the humans and you get a CG movie based on Cybertron.  There is already an animated movie.  I didn't watch G1, but how involved was human governments in it?  Did the old cartoon even show that a war between giant robots might attract attention?  A live action movie is suppossed to have a least a hint of realism.

Raping your inner child?  That and "raping my childhood" are the most ludicrous and offensive statements an adult can make.  Say that to the face of a person who really was raped as a child!  It is repugnant because of its asininity.  Your nostagia means nothing beyond what you make of it.  If you put it on such a high pedestal that a movie made 20 years after the fact ruins it for you, then maybe its time to kick it dead and move on with your life.

Transformers IS a shallow movie.  It has no meaning or depth.  That is what people want during the Summer... that is what people are during the summer.  It is a time to be shallow and live free.  Do I agree with it?  No, but that is the truth.  The only way for Bay to stop making movies is if the world stops watching his movies, and that is not going to happen for a long time.

The movie has (what I've found as of now) earned $642 million.  Bay had a budget of 150 million, that means that he had a MAJOR profit based on this movie.  Earnings do not equal quality, but such high earnings means that the movie was accepted as a whole.  I do feel that those who absolutely hate it are a minority in whole as well.  Show me the evidence contrary.

Again:

It's JUST a MOVIE.

[bettertomorrowamy]

PERFECT adaptation of the book though.

I agree, great movie and great book.

[RoninFox]

Also, why did humans play such a major role?  Because it is on Earth, and its a live action movie!  Take out the humans and you get a CG movie based on Cybertron.  There is already an animated movie.  I didn't watch G1, but how involved was human governments in it?  Did the old cartoon even show that a war between giant robots might attract attention?  A live action movie is suppossed to have a least a hint of realism.

If I remember correctly, humans were always the side.  There were a couple at a time there to be the outsiders looking in and provide an excuse for the Autobots to have to explain a thing or two, then later to work together and provide a touch of scale.  For the most part, the Transformers would battle in the middle of deserts or wastelands, occasionally fighting near a factory or power plant that would be evacuated.  There were fleeting references I remember to the government, but for the most part they made Earth appear as if it had a population of around 200 people.

Oh, and Daniel and Spike had moments that were just as annoying at Shia was.

[Brian825]

PERFECT adaptation of the book though.

Well, seeing as how a LOT of movies I like are popular targets on these boards(Star Wars, Raiders, 300, Spider-Man to name a few), I'm probably the last person to offer an opinion.

[bettertomorrowamy]

PERFECT adaptation of the book though.

Well, seeing as how a LOT of movies I like are popular targets on these boards(Star Wars, Raiders, 300, Spider-Man to name a few), I'm probably the last person to offer an opinion.

You should read the FAQ's.  Rifftrax is not MST3k 2.0   They don't make fun of bad movies necessarily.  They make fun of any movies they feel they can successfully make fun of.  Don't get so excited if a movie you like has a Rifftrax for it.  The Raiders of the Lost Ark one is one of my favorites, and I love the movie.  Roll with it.

[Tony Farms AKA Puma Man]

I didn't hate it.  I mean, it certainly isn't good per se, but I didn't hate it.

Shia is likable in short bursts, and even though she makes Jessica Alba seem like Meryl Streep, the mouth open chick is nice to look at.  Stuff blows up.

But it's one of those movies you watch and then forget you even saw it a few days later.  At least I did.

But Bay erred big time by not including 'The Touch' on the soundtrack!

"You've got the touch...YOU'VE GOT THE POWA!"