Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen – Initial Review

Posted under Movies,TV by admin on Thursday 25 June 2009 at 7:44 am

Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen – Initial Review

Overview: TF2 picks up where the first movie left off, delivers a lot of fun and will make many feel like a kid again.
The Good: Amazing special effects, lots of content for both semi-fans and the fanatics, well worth the price of admission and Optimus kicks major butt!

The Bad: A rewind button is needed, WAY too fast action at times, some ugly stereotypes which don’t make sense and Michael Bay needs to learn how to edit a movie properly.

SPOILER INFORMATION BELOW – PROCEED AT YOUR OWN RISK

Overall, TF2 (or TFROF) is a great sequel to the first movie. We get more of the robots talking, more action sequences and the human factor has been toned down a whole lot. There are some action sequences that will leave you blown away, and there are some that will require some Tylenol. Have no doubt, if you blink for a second in this movie you miss important parts which is good if you like watching a movie several times, but bad if you don’t want a headache.

Michael Bay, Robert Orci and Alex Kurtzman (the writers) delivered what the fans wanted. We get a movie more focused around the actual Transformers themselves which is good because we see more Optimus, and more of Megatron and Starscream bickering. The human elements make sense, but there are still unnecessary humans in the movie with unneeded scenes that could definitely have been cut out.

Michael Bay is great at directing action, and he’s okay for serious/romantic scenes. But when it comes down to editing this is where the movie falls apart like the first one. You’ll have various scenes of robots fighting and then cut to a human face or dogs humping for no reason. And yes this definitely is PG-13 so if you have kids, be ready to cover their ‘ears’ or more-so their ‘eyes’.

The biggest flaw I have with the movie is that you can tell they are making the Transformers move around way too much to make the computer animation seem more real. In fact there are only about two scenes where Transformers are standing perfectly still. One is with Prime and he looks great, and the other is with Bumblebee. Every other scene the characters are moving or moving so fast that with the complexity they are, you can’t tell what the heck is going on. And if you blink you’ve lost track. I can see the animators did this to fool your eye into making them look more real but it gets really painful in some parts when you just want the robots to slow down (and the humans to speed up or go away).

Don’t get me wrong, its great fun and great action, but don’t bother turning your head to talk to your friend cause you’ll miss an important plot point. Either the animators knew they couldn’t make everything look too real so they made Jetfire move around like he’s an old man on enegron-crack, or they simply ran out of time.

The special effects do look perfect for about 95% of the time. There are a few spots where you can tell they ran out of rendering time and there are a few spots where the cars don’t Transform but just stay in the background. I think they could of have a couple more pick-up shots in these places.

Also don’t even bother trying to understand the plot. It’s there but unless you’ve read the comics you won’t have any idea what’s going on. Also don’t try to compare this with the original Generation One story from the 80′s. This is a completely new set of Transformers which only Optimus and Bumblebee relate to anything from the past.

All in all, this movie was a little better than X-Men 3, in that I walked out feeling good but wanted to change a ‘few’ things to make it better. As my good friend Jason (aka ZePiper) says, ‘Its the little things that I can appreciate’.

So a quick run down of good/bad characters.
Good: Optimus, Bumblebee, Megatron, Starscream, The Fallen, Jetfire, Soundwave, Ravage, Ironhide, Ratchet, Sam, Sam’s Parents, Demolisher
Bad: Skids, Mudflap, Sam’s Roommate
Undetermined yet (how I feel): Wheelie, Devastator, Arcee, Alice, Simmons, Sam’s Girlfriend

The movie starts off with some great action in Shanghi with the Autobots and humans working together to track down the Decepticons. The Autobots not only take out these guys (and Prime does with flare), but they literally KILL them which was weird to see compared to the cartoon. The big-wheeled Demolisher didn’t end up bothering as much as I thought he would and the battle with Prime is actually really good. We see Sideswipe and the Arcee twins (although there are three?) but only for a few and that’s it. So much lost potential on these characters.

We then get into the typical “goverment wants to help but there’s one big a-hole that’s making issues for everyone’ scene. Which is fine, but has been overdone way too may times before. Prime looks great in this scene and all in all it really shows how far the special effects have come.

Sam’s going to college, going to class, escaping a ‘Pretender’ (human than is really a Transformer) and capture by the Decepticons is played well although I could have done without seeing Dwayne from ‘The Office’ as I swear that guy can’t act his way out of an energon paper bag. Sam’s room-mate character ‘Leo’ is also REALLY annoying and not necessary at all. He is probably the worst character in the movie this time. Megan Fox is better here this time around acting, but there are parts in the movie where you’re like ‘Why is she here again?’

We then get what is probably the best scene in the movie with Optimus battling Starscream, Megatron and Grindor at once! Which begs the question where the heck are the other Autobots? This is an amazing scene, perfectly done and shot. Couldn’t ask for more.

After Optimus gets hits the second part of the movie begins, which has Sam running around with the Autobots hiding him, the discovery of Jetfire, some major dialogue and then going to Eygpt.. Agent Simmons returns and he isn’t too bad this time around. He does get a bit annoying but at least he seems to have a ‘point’ this time in the movie.

The second half of the movie all centered in Eygpt is fun. But once again Michael Bay’s editing can drive you crazy at times. There was too much of the ‘U.S. military  getting ready to save the day’ and too much of ‘I’m a human how can I help?’ crap here. Where we wanted more Transformers scenes here there are way too many human scenes and the balance and pacing gets off.

There’s tension for danger that ends up being ‘nothing to worry about’ and some of the characters gets downright annoying here. There are new Decepticons but we barely get a chance to see them before they die. The climatic ending is great, but by that point I was so exhausted mentally I had to blink at least a few times, and then you start losing who’s hitting who due to the complexity of the robots. This is where I wanted a ‘slow-mo’ button so I could tell who was who. You know someone is getting hurt, but it moves so far you can’t tell if that was Sideswipe or Starscream.

I will say when Prime does get up to kick some major butt, you defintely feel proud of him. The same for Bumblebee who is defintely not a weakling. At the same time you have ‘the Twins’, Skids and Mudflap who are so over-stereotyped that you’re like ‘Okay this movie was definitely written by white people.’

The Megatron and Starscream relationship is played off perfectly, and Devastator looks downright awesome. There is definitely some confusion in that there are Constructions who form Devastator and then are Constructions who do not which I have a bit of a problem with and will confuse a lot of old fans.

The ending is great but once again way too fast and the movie needed about two more minutes to wrap up what happened to all the Autobots here. All in all though this movie was great, a lot of fun and definitely a pleasure for old fans and new. There are some small problems but I can look past these because everything else is done very well this time around thanks to Mr. Bay and Co listening to what everyone wanted.

8.5 stars out of 10
(I would rate the first movie 7 stars out of 10)

Battlestar Galactica Ending Dissapoints

Posted under TV by admin on Friday 27 March 2009 at 5:04 am

bsg_lastsupper

I tend to find myself only writing reviews when I get really annoyed. Such is the case with the series finale of Battlestar Galactica.

Up until this last year this show was probably the best show on television, in both of writing, acting, special effects and drama. But the two-hour finale left so much to be desired, and most of the fans rather frustrated.

Part of the problem (that became apparent with the ending) is the writers wrote themselves into many corners here. I could foresee that the only way they could ‘end’ the show as some sort of ‘adam & eve’ type thing where this all occurred in the past. The only other way they could of ended it was to do some sort of ‘going-back-in-time’ idea, but of course that has been way overdone. So my guess on how it was going to end was pretty much on the spot minus a few things.

But even knowing that, and understanding there was only one possible way to end this logically, I still was really upset with the ending. It didn’t leave you with a happily ever after, and it was really too sad for my taste all-together. It just made me feel bad for the characters we had grown to love for four years and I just felt incomplete with the ending.

So let’s go through some finer points that made sense or didn’t shall we?

Note: If you haven’t watched the show you’re not going to get any of this.

  1. They gave up their ships and technology in order to start over as basic humans? For some reason this didn’t seem logical at all, and I doubt many of them would have even survived without knowing any skills of living without technology. Plus what is Cylons ever came back? So they ditch the ships and pilot them into the sun, this was just dumb. This didn’t seem feasible at all.
  2. The whole opera house scene was pretty much useless as Hera ended up back in her mother’s arms anyhow in the end. This and the resolution of the final five seemed shallow and thrown in at the last minute.
  3. I know the President had to die, but gosh-darn-it if I was Bill Adama I would have crashed that ship somewhere to join her. And he leaving his son and he’s never coming back? Wasn’t the whole point of season two his relationship with his son and Starbuck? So Admiral Adama goes off to live in the woods and build a cabin for himself. This seemed really over the top for me and really felt like I was cheated out of a reasonable ending for the ol’ Captain.
  4. Would it have been too much for a miracle to happen to the President and give us what we REALLY wanted to see? I know we’re suppose to understand life and death and blah blah but come on…
  5. I didn’t mind Kara being an angel (or whatever) and disappearing at the end, but I did mind that Head Six and Head Balter were angels. Granted the show had numerous references to religion and God, but I never expected that to be the McGuffin in the end. All of a sudden this became less of a sci-fi show (technical feasible) and more fantasy (not probable).
  6. The flashback sequences were completely pointless and unnecessary. They added nothing to the story we didn’t already know. You could of cut these out and saved yourself a full hour on the show.
  7. I know this sounds like I’m insane, but I really don’t like Jimmy Hendrix and ending the series with Along the Watchtower seemed cheap.
  8. The two angels, or God(s) walking around in the end (and cameo of producer Ronald D. Moore) was also just too expected at the end. I felt just like when I saw Transformers the Animation Movie back in 1986. “Oh you’ve killed everyone I love and gave me no point to their deaths…great…”

What’s really sad is the first hour was probably one of the best action sequences of the show, (with the premier of season 3 being the only one I can think of as being better). Still the first hour was completely overshadowed by the second hour, which was so freaking depressing I wanted to jump off a bridge at the end.

I give Ronald D. Moore and his writing team credit for making an incredible show for the last 4.5 years. However, it seems to me in the end they spent too much time trying to make the show another ‘Lost’ than actually concentrating on what the core of it started as. I will also say I don’t know how I would have LIKED to seen it end nor could I probably come up with a better ending myself. The series finale just left me wishing that it was cancelled a year ago and made into a movie 10 years down the line (just like Star Trek).

RIP Battlestar Galatica, I’m not jumping on the Caprica bandwagon.

Hey Mom, I’m on a Transformers Podcast!

Posted under TV by admin on Friday 6 June 2008 at 5:13 am

Hey folks check out my new Podcast atTFormers.com. TFormers.com has been nice enough to allow me to do their weekly podcast, allowing me to add my voice to the Transformers Universe! Its wickedly cool so go check it out! Special thanks goes out to BACon and Gravity for letting me use their music! Go To TFormers.com and Enjoy!

My Review of Transformers!

Posted under Movies,TV by admin on Saturday 7 July 2007 at 9:59 pm

After twenty five years (god has it been that long), the idea of displaying Transformers in a live action movie comes to reality. Michael Bay does fans old and new alike proud in making this the best Transformer movie it can be!

The Good
  • Absolutely fantastic special effects, this is the Star Wars for this generation
  • Decent story, humor is well placed, not cheesy.
  • Humans and Robots show great emotion.
  • Stupendous action sequences that will leave you on the edge of your seat.
The Bad
  • Frank Welker could have easily been Megatron.
  • Shaky camera movement at times.
  • Minor plot holes here and there.
Before I begin, mind you I am a die hard fan for 25 something years, and this movie had a lot of live up to in my eyes. I was distressed for not having Frank Welker as Megatron, but glad Peter Cullen was the voice of Prime. I was anxious to see if controversial director Michael Bay would do this story a decent update and if the special effects would look realistic enough.
Have no doubt I was ultimately surprised by this movie. This movie is Michael Bay’s best work yet and his crowning achievement. The movie itself is told more from the perspective of Sam Witwicky (Shia Labouf’s character) which I like because it gives you a ‘nerdy boy that reminds him of me’ to relate to. The adventure he has with these giant robots is the best way to tell this story.
The action sequences in themselves are utterly amazing! The special effects are mind-blowing! These robots LOOK REAL and act REAL! There wasn’t a moment when I thought there was some fake computer animation. It all played perfectly with the humans and the effects. never let you down for one second. Everything looks perfectly legit and the human players compliment the robot players nicely. Optimus Prime looks amazing, Bumblebee fits his new mold well, and the Decepticons looks scary and ruthless.
You can not blink for a second in this movie’s action sequences. When you think they’re going to cop out and not show you the full Transforming sequence you’re proven wrong as they show you everything from start to finish. The Transformation sequences are beautifully one, perfect in every way. The cinematography is some of Michael Bay’s best work when it can be, but some jagged and shaky action camera movements at its worst. This was my only major complaint that it was sometimes hard to follow what was going on, and during some of the end action sequences it’s hard to find out what exactly is going with the robots.
The whole movie fits together really well, leading you on an epic adventure. The story is well done and makes really good sense, and does the retelling of the new Transformers universe well.
The complaints are minor, but there are some. I wanted more minor characters and just some more close ups of these characters and them just standing around. You see Ironhide and Ratchet quickly and that’s it. You hardly see Jazz and sometimes the amount of complexity with the robots makes it hard to figure out what they’re doing with their motions. Are they throwing a punch or turning around? That and the shaky camera movements can give you a bit of vertigo at times. Bring some Tylenol just in case.
There is a sequence that after it’s done your like ‘okay that was pointless’ but it doesn’t bother you that much cause you see more Transformers. There are a couple of plot holes, but they’re not that much of a concern. You see little of Starscream, and the Decepticons have the littlest of lines. There are times when you do see Transformations you want to rewind the movie again and again to see things more smoothly.
But beyond these minor things, the movie is done exceptionally well. The humor is carefully placed, making scenes that would normally be awkward now humorous, and meaniful. You can tell this movie’s goal was to introduce you to the main characters and setup the stage for a really good sequel.
The new Transformer molds and the new story line are acceptable. Of course the Transformers look more real and more alien, that is fine. The ability to morph into new cars whenever needed is a bit disturbing but not that much. The re-interpretation of the whole series is done very well, leaving you enough of the original flavor of the characters, but updated enough not to look dumb. It’s a good combination of the old and the new.
All in all, as a die-hard fan I was pleasant impressed and blown away by this movie. All in all the movie is a true epic adventure with ground breaking special effects and will make you feel like a kid again. Kudos Michael Bay, I can’t wait for the sequel and thank you for doing Transformers right! I was pleasantly and gratefully surprised and delighted!

Transformers: Revisited

Posted under Movies,TV by admin on Tuesday 15 May 2007 at 10:02 pm

Okay I’m starting to feel a bit better aftering seeing the images of the robots posted by Michael Bay on his website. While I don’t like Hugo Weaving as the Voice of Megatron, Prime lips looks dumb, and Ironhide’s face still looks like a cow, the robots themselves look pretty amazing and very much what you would imagine Transformers being.

All in all you can expect this to either be the big blockbuster of the summer or as dumb as He-Man The Motion Picture was. We’ll see what happens.

Battlestar Galatica Revisited

Posted under TV by admin on Thursday 22 March 2007 at 10:05 pm

SPOILER WARNING!

Ok so Starbuck isn’t dead? So why did Executive Procedurer Ronald D. Moore claim she was dead on the podcast? Up until the episode they indicated that they would not define her as being dead, and yet on his very own podcast he kept insisting they had killed her off? Talk about entrapment of the fans, this was really foul play for the sake of the art! Bad Mr. Moore.

Seems like a lot of my favorite shows are jumping the shark lately. LOST has become annoyingly stupid, Desperate Housewives actually closed some of their story lines, Smallville has gotten drawn out way too long (he should be flying now) and The Daily Show seems to be off game lately while The Colbert Report seems to be chugging along at full steam. Seems like its going to be a bad year for television.

Battlestar Galatica jumps the shark.

Posted under TV by admin on Saturday 3 March 2007 at 10:06 pm

Battlestar Galatica has officially jumped the shark. The show which has proven to be the most groundbreaking show since 2004 last weekend did the worst thing it could ever do by killing off a major character (if she is truly dead.) The prime hero Starbuck decides finally that death is something not to be feared and as such, decides to embrance death and kill herself by flying into a cloud that completely collapses her spacecraft.

Dumb and idiotic. I know what the creator was going for here, in that they wanted to do something bold and daring. But just because you can do something bold and daring doesn’t mean you should, and this case is the perfect example. The whole structure of the episodes reminds me of several LOST episodes where character’s lives are replayed, often coming to some sort of conclusion, and then killed at the end right after a realization is reached. Here BSG falls into the same trap as LOST, providing us with a backstory to a character, but no reason or rhyme death is even needed.

Starbuck’s supposed death server absolutely no purpose to the series, and if it does prove to be a benefit somewhere down the line, then it really was a waste to even bother with getting to know the character in the first place. What purpose did all these painting and images hold, what is the reason for the vision, and what is her special destiny? Death? These all make no sense and hold more to the fact that the creators of the show had nothing else to write about, so they decided to kill a character simply because they couldn’t write anything better. Shallow deaths on TV server no purpose. Tasha Yar’s death on Star Trek was another that really was meaningless except to show the public ‘hey we can kill a character any time we want.’ Thankfully her death was vindicated with the alternative timeline plot.

Starbuck’s death does nothing more than confuse the viewers and frustrated them. Confusion I have read is not an emotion and as such the purpose of this particular episode is really not clear. The plot holes of letting Starbuck get back into the cockpit and doing nothing to stop her also simply do not add up. If the writers wanted the character to go out in a major way they should have done it with more heroic death. Yes real people don’t always die that way, and sometimes it’s meaningless, but were already faced with meaningless in the real world. Give us some fantasy to brighten our day if you’re going to completely change the series. This is the the least the writers could have done.

Little Transformers

Posted under TV by admin on Wednesday 17 January 2007 at 10:08 pm

Little TransformersLove this! Matt Moylan has the funniest idea I’ve seen yet for the transformers. Catch out his awesome drawings at www.lilformers.com

Daily Show in Columbus!

Posted under TV by admin on Saturday 11 November 2006 at 10:13 pm

Daily ShowSomeone give me tickets please…!
More Info Here!