Transformers! (Merged)

[BarTopDancer]

Originally Posted by mousepod

I never meant to insinuate that those who liked Transformers were stupid.Here's how I see what went down:- Many people posted that it was great even if you're not a fan of the brand.- Based on these and other raves, I took my wife to see it. We both hated it.- I shared that fact.- More LoT posts about how it was just shiny and robots and explosions.- I explained why I disagreed.- Erica (having not seen the movie) snipes that I somehow don't get the franchise.- I rebut in greater detail.Where's the snobbishness? If anything, it's in the attempts to invalidate any criticism of your beloved Transformers.Some of us liked it. Some thought it sucked. Like Nephy says, everyone is entitled to their opinion....and just for the record, I'm fairly sure that a handful of Spielberg's movies can be considered political - and even the New York Times has referred to Bay as "casually sadistic".

In the breakdown done in your original review (and somewhat in our offline conversation) I felt that you felt that I was dumb* for not getting a hidden message and not seeing beyond the shiny robots blowing stuff up. For not seeing a big deal in the bad guys causing havoc and harm to humans. For not seeing it for anything more than a summer blow-up fest.

*but that is what I get for presuming to know what other people are really thinking.

[mousepod]

We could go around in circles on this. I don't think you or any of the millions of people who enjoyed the movie, are dumb for enjoying it.I differ with you on the belief that anything can be "just" one thing.When H and I left the movie, we felt uncomfortable and angry. The two of us explored why we might feel that way. I shared that here.I can't control how you interpret the hidden messages in my posts any more than you can control the way I watch a movie.

[BarTopDancer]

Dangers of the internet and perceived tone of posts. No harm.

Was anyone else's theater was cracking up when they were trying to call the Pentagon and hit a call center in India?

[innerSpaceman]

Originally Posted by BarTopDancer

And does everyone realize that "Mission City" is not LA? They say "Mission City is 20 minutes away". It may look like LA but in the movie it is not LA.

So, it that not the Orpheum Theater prominently shown? Is that not a Wilshire Boulevard street sign prominently displayed?

I guess the CG budget must have run out at that point, huh?




I tried to get in more movies this weekend, but was swamped. I fully expect to see Die Hard 4, another completely cheesy summer flick. It might be good or it might be bad, but that's got nothing to do with whether it's cheesy, as far as my personal opinion goes.

[BarTopDancer]

Originally Posted by innerSpaceman

So, it that not the Orpheum Theater prominently shown? Is that not a Wilshire Boulevard street sign prominently displayed?

I guess the CG budget must have run out at that point, huh?

I didn't even notice those buildings or street signs. I was so immersed into the action that the scenery was just that. Scenery. And stuff being blown up. Besides the people here, I have yet to talk to someone who noticed anything LA. But maybe we're just unobservant.

[Not Afraid]

I'm not sure you can actually call someone who paid to see Transformers a snob. You can call me a snob, however, because I will not see it.

[Moonliner]

I think that from now on whenever a thread turns ugly I shall...




Post a cute kitten.



Hey, it's worth a shot. It just derailed the Sooo thread...

[BarTopDancer]

KITTY!

[Strangler Lewis]

Originally Posted by Moonliner

I think that from now on whenever a thread turns ugly I shall...




Post a cute kitten.



Hey, it's worth a shot. It just derailed the Sooo thread...

I keep waiting for it to get blown up or pissed on.

[Alex]

And if I was entertained I'm sure I wouldn't have cared much. But at the first aerial shot I leaned over to Lani and said "I thought they were going to Mission City; why are they in LA").

I don't think geographic inconsistency is a really big deal (after all, I'm pretty sure that they were shown driving away from Hoover Dam on the road that eventually takes you to Yuma) but after explicitly saying they were going to a place that was not LA it seems weird that they didn't do anything to mask that it was LA. Digitally remove the Bank of America building; add some buildings. Don't film on Wilshire. The helicopter shots and scenes of Starscream flying through skyscrapers were pretty much the same establishing shots a movie set in LA would use to identify that it was set in LA.

The streets they were fighting in isn't even a part of LA I've ever been in and I recognized it.

Again, not a make or break issue. Just something that, since the movie wasn't working for me, did stand out like a sore thumb.

Conversely, to use Live Free or Die Hard as an example again, I wasn't overly bothered by Willis flying a helicoptor in an east coast blackout from West Virginia to Baltimore and successfully finding a single house without any navigational aids. But I was having fun so I rolled my eyes a bit and moved on.