The Real Transformers Debate

- A few years ago this would have mattered to me a great deal, since I was starved for inspiration.
- A few days ago before reviews appeared, this also would have mattered a great deal, going into the movie not knowing what to expect.

I've read the reviews, many of which repeat what others say, and I still went to see it today. I wasn't disappointed, only because of what I've seen everyone say about it. I paid 5 dollars, and I don't regret it. That's not much more than a rental.

When I want a movie to be genuinely clever, move me in some way, and not disguise plot holes with attention-grabbing editing, I won't depend on Michael Bay to provide it. But I won't defend the film, either. It absolutely could have been better, and it isn't worth full ticket price for certain.

Actually, we really shouldn't be blaming Michael Bay for this. According to a couple of different websites, it's the studios fault. Which they will blame on the writer's strike. Michael Bay was told to have this movie ready for release in 2009. And then along came the writer's strike and he and the production team had only the outline to work from. Once the strike was settled and the writers came back to work they didn't have the time to really sit down and work everything out. According to the writers, they were still writing the script in post-production.

Which reminds me of the "Godzilla" fiasco from a few years back. It wasn't a finished product when it got shoved out the door.

I blame the studio.

a good transformers movie requires very little for me, I am easy to please. it just needs the follwing

they are more the meets the eye
they are robots in disguise
Autobots wage their battle to destroy the evil forces of the Decepticons

oh and.... Megan Fox.

mmmmmm Megan Fox.

The Real Transformers Debate

(Apparently I'm an old man, too, now.)

a good transformers movie requires very little for me, I am easy to please. it just needs the follwing

they are more the meets the eye
they are robots in disguise
Autobots wage their battle to destroy the evil forces of the Decepticons

oh and.... Megan Fox.

mmmmmm Megan Fox.

If you saw ANY of the trailers you had to know (or at least have a good idea) what the movie was about and should have kept your ass home and saved yourself 10 bucks...10 bucks you could have went and bought tofu and cheap beer, painted your nails black, and watched Friends reruns.

But...if you wanted to be entertained and lose yourself in a movie for almost three hours...without getting out your GPS and attempting to configure the placement of Jordan and pyramids, or complaining that the camera shook when the bombs were shattering metal and flesh, or whether Al Sharpton should be called in because of the flagrant stereotyping of "the twins".
Hell, listening/watching Megan Fox say, "Drive shaft" was worth the price of admission.

The first Pirates of the Caribbean movie was based on a theme park ride, and it managed to outshine Transformers 2 in every way possible.

David Eitelbach wrote:

The first Pirates of the Caribbean movie was based on a theme park ride, and it managed to outshine Transformers 2 in every way possible.

At least there is a rich amount of legend and lore centered around pirates in the early 18th century.

Cheers! :D

Giant Truck Nuts.

Nuff said.

Giant Truck Nuts.

Nuff said.

So, three cheers for Giant Truck Nuts!

without getting out your GPS and attempting to configure the placement of Jordan and pyramids

TF2 is one of the worst rated movies of all time. Sites like Rotten Tomatoes have given it scores firmly in the "box office dud" category. Roger Ebert tore it to shreds in his review. And yet it is one of the top grossing movies of all time as well. When I saw it the theater was full of laughing and grinning people. This movie has drawn a huge line in the sand between people, and as I straddle the line, both enjoying the movie and acknowledging what could have been better, I wonder why other people can't do the same. Am I part of a dying breed that has both a childlike sense of wonder and a sense of humor? And I don't mean a sense of humor that appreciates low brow humor, I mean one that lets me relax and not take things seriously.

attempting to configure the placement of Jordan and pyramids

The car chase scene in ConAir does the same thing, the tunnel they enter isn't near the strip and the layout of the strip in no way resembles the route taken in the final car chase scene.

But if I watch ConAir, I always lose interest before they crash into Vegas so I guess it doesn't matter.

They're content to look for something else like boobs, ass, explosions, testicle jokes, humping dogs, side-character robots minstrelry, and fight scenes.

No one asked for all the extra crap Bay tossed in there.

The movie could have used more plot, or rather, significance of plot, instead of passing the crucial moments so fast they barely mattered.

Transformers, seriously? The first movie was boring, don't plan to see the sequel. I prefer movies cause of the story and/or unique, complex, yet realistic characters. Special effects and pretty faces/t~&& and asses aren't nearly that relevant, the excuse for Megan works if you're twelve.

It's sad with what kind of crap the media feeds people, in general, e.g. the news, music, reality shows, Heroes, Real Madrid, 4e fluff ... Avoid it like plague (flu).

This movie was a bad film.
But... I still liked it.
It had giant robots fighting each other, which is what I wanted.
If I had wanted to watch a thought provoking film that was well done, I would have rented "The Seventh Seal" or "Ran."
Instead I went to one that was not thought provoking (which is good as I was rather tipsy when we got to the theater) and fairly sub par on everything except special effects.

The Black Bard wrote:

It just strikes me as so bizzare that people can't just enjoy something, rather than trying to tear it apart looking for flaws to criticize.

I'm not trying to troll or threadcrap here, I'm just honestly amazed at the bizzare division that the Transformers movie has made, not just within the Paizo forums, but everywhere. Consider this for a moment: the reactions of the Paizo forums are almost identical to the reactions of the 4Chan forums.

I've personally not felt such a strong "pick a side" vibe before, even during the Edition Wars. Maybe its repressed angst from said Wars, finally coming out. Maybe not. But its been so bad I almost don't feel welcome on these boards anymore, like proclaiming that I enjoyed TF2 is going to get me lynched or shunned. I know I'm somewhat over-reacting, but the fact that the feeling is being generated in me tells me that something is going on, regardless of the intensity of said feeling.

TF2 is one of the worst rated movies of all time. Sites like Rotten Tomatoes have given it scores firmly in the "box office dud" category. Roger Ebert tore it to shreds in his review. And yet it is one of the top grossing movies of all time as well. When I saw it the theater was full of laughing and grinning people. This movie has drawn a huge line in the sand between people, and as I straddle the line, both enjoying the movie and acknowledging what could have been better, I wonder why other people can't do the same. Am I part of a dying breed that has both a childlike sense of wonder and a sense of humor? And I don't mean a sense of humor that appreciates low brow humor, I mean one that lets me relax and not take things seriously.

I'm honestly extremely emotionally conflicted right now. Posting on Paizo recently has been like coming home to find your parents working on divorce papers. I'm just not sure what to think anymore.

If it makes you feel better, most of the customers that come into my restaurant after seeing the movie seemed to...

Michael Bay Finally Made An Art Movie

Interesting article there. All I want to know though is why should I care?
All I want is an entertaining movie to watch.

Found a very funny FAQ over on IMDb that goes into great detail about how bad this movie is. Obviously spoilers, so..

** spoiler omitted **...

Awesome thanks for sharing!!!

Found a very funny FAQ over on IMDb that goes into great detail about how bad this movie is. Obviously spoilers, so..

** spoiler omitted **...

Transformers 2 was made for stupid people, that's the only way you can enjoy that crap.

But apparently I haven't made many such posts, if the responses that follow them are any indication. Its not even that they are received negatively; they simply seem to not be noticed at all. Am I too verbose? Too wordy? On a board that hosts the notorious Marizipan thread? I don't know. And I finally think I no longer care to know. Many recent threads, all over the forum, have proven to me that Paizo is no longer the community it once was. At least, it is no longer the community that pulled me away from the festering cesspool that the WotC forums had become.

I will continue to support Paizo by purchasing my gaming products from them whenever possible. But I think it is time I stop investing time uselessly on this forum. No public announcement in Gamer Life or Off Topic. Black Bard retires, right here, right now. How very ironic that this might be the one post of mine that gets noticed.

Or maybe it won't.

BB out.

You know what I didn't like?

I'm with the black bard on this one. Dislike the film fine. think its a complete pile of s&^% again fine. Calling people that enjoyed it idiots just because they happen to have different tastes from you and enjoyed it Not fine.

You know what I didn't like?

** spoiler omitted **

Agree with Black Bard.

Yep. Fine to hate a movie, but try to avoid becoming one of these.

It can't be worse than GI Joe.

I was fine with GI Joe, until I saw battle armor in the previews.

Battle. Amror.

Yuck.

Personal attacks, no matter how veiled you care to make them, have no place on our boards. I've cleaned this thread up a little. Flame the movie to your heart's content--flame the people that like the movie and we have a problem.

Many recent threads, all over the forum, have proven to me that Paizo is no longer the community it once was.

Yeah, name calling sucks, and anyone who does it is a complete *nimrod!

I don't agree with the sometimes held argument that flaming a movie one feels is an utter waste of two hours and eight dollars is an act that should attract calls of negative elitism.

Let people have a place to rant about what they perceive to be a poor flick. The globalization of films has made beautiful language and levels of plot complexity less unimportant in big budget movies. That leads to a lot of cool one liner quotes and an array of massive explosions and shattered glass. Clearly for some, that's what they want to be watching... after all, a majority of people go to see fireworks and the plotline of any given fireworks show is garbage, man. But spectacle is spectacle.

Eddie Izzard had a great comic bit about that - the man likes the big budgies because they're more fun to eat popcorn to. However, to others such works suggest a sad devolution in our filmic culture.

No one is dumb, smart, right or wrong for liking The Cat In the Hat more than Citizen Kane. We all just like what we like and hate what we hate. Bonding together over a common dislike is almost as satisfying as joining others in praise of something we adore.

* by nimrod, of course I mean a great-grandson of Noah.

Yeah, name calling sucks, and anyone who does it is a complete *nimrod!

<snip>

* by nimrod, of course I mean a great-grandson of Noah.

The Jade wrote:

Yeah, name calling sucks, and anyone who does it is a complete *nimrod!

<snip>

* by nimrod, of course I mean a great-grandson of Noah.

You'd think Noah would have tought his family better manners. :-/

Darkwolf wrote:

The Jade wrote:

Yeah, name calling sucks, and anyone who does it is a complete *nimrod!

<snip>

* by nimrod, of course I mean a great-grandson of Noah.

You'd think Noah would have tought his family better manners. :-/

Hey, whatever you want to say about Nimrod, he was a great hunter.

I was wondering what happened to my posts O_O

... then I found out they went bye bye. There is sadness in me T_T