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Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen (Bay, 2009)
IMDB Link
I am confused. Bay’s second installment has some terrible reviews, 35 at Metacritic, 20% at Rottentomatoes, and Old Man Ebert gave it 1 star. I can understand Ebert, since he is in his late 60s, and at the time of the original Transformer toys and cartoons, he was in his late 40s, so in no way he is anywhere near the target audience. But is every other critic over 60? It such cases, it is always interesting to compare critics versus the audience. While Ebert has given a 1 star, his readers have voted an average of two and a half star. And in Metacritic, the Critics have given it average of 35 while the users gave it 6.2, close to IMDB’s 6.6, which is again close to the User rating at Rottentomatoes, which was 68%.
This makes “Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen” the year’s most misunderstood critic film. Professional film reviewers really dropped the ball on this one. Where they concerned that it would hurt their street cred? That they would be walking in some hip film credits party and they’re about to have some major sex when someone goes, “HEY EVERYONE!! GUESS WHAT!! THIS LOSER LIKE TRANSFORMERS!!” and he would be shamed and forced to leave while everyone enjoys a big sex orgy, 4 stars and thumbs up, right up in each other’s assholes.
I was expecting no plot, and was ready to be unconcerned about it, but it is there. Not the greatest plot ever, but in terms of summer blockbusters, it does have a fairly straight forward plot, its main intention being to present a clear threat to the world, and have the good guys save the day. It did that. The humor, while juvenile at times, fitted the tone of the movie perfectly. And characters? The guy was average looking and the girl extra hot, perfect vehicle for male fantasy time.
But *sound of breaks* wait! Forget all of that. Did it have scenes of robots transforming and smashing things up? Yes, and lots, and that’s it, movie has accomplished its intentions. You can all go home now. For those that are confused, this is a movie based on a cartoon from the eighties that was based on TOYS. I am going to step on lots of toys here, but I would prefer movies like this over a movie like “The Dark Knight” which pretends it is a serious movie with serious messages, when it’s based upon a comic book for kids about a man dressed up as a bat fighting bad guys.
This reminds me of sitting with my friends at a Shisha couple of years back. The subject turned to the “King Kong” movie which was just released. One of my friends made fun of it, claiming it was stupid and it had a giant monkey fighting a monster. He started mocking it and I got slightly annoyed and asked him, didn’t he see the poster of the film? It had a giant gorilla right on it, what the fuck did he expect? Family drama?
Not only did I watch the cartoons as a kid, I had the toys. I remember the incredible joy I used to have transforming them to one thing to something else. Watching this fim, it made me feel some of that boyish joy.
3/5
Godspell: A Musical Based on the Gospel According to St. Matthew (Greene, 1973)
IMDB Link
If you want a great musical based on Jesus, then there really is nothing even close to Andrew Lloyd Webber’s “Jesus Christ Superstar”. The film based on Webber’s work is not brilliant, but the music of it is so good, followed by fantastic lyrics that make you ponder the gospels in new ways, that it made the movie a classic for me.
But I have listened to the songs so many times that I was excited when I heard of “Godspell”. Another musical based on Jesus set in the hippy seventies with flower power music? Even if it was a pale second to “Jesus Christ Superstar”, it should still be fun, right?
Not really. The intelligence of “Jesus Christ Superstar” is replaced with the basic form of the gospels, set in modern New York, with Jesus and the disciples wearing colorful clown clothes acting cute. Or at least trying to act cute. I tolerated the film at first, and might even have found it slightly charming, but their attempt at being cute in every second by every character got really on my nerves. After a while I wished they’d throw the whole bunch in Vietnam and napalm the fuck out of them.
2/5
Reign of Fire (Bowman, 2002)
IMDB Link
“Envy the country that has heroes, huh? I say pity the country that needs them.”
Before Christian Bale became an underground rebel, in a post apocalyptic world, trying to fight back against the robots that destroyed most of the earth, he was an underground rebel, in a post apocalyptic world, trying to fight back against the dragons that destroyed most of the earth.
Quinn Abercromby is not as hard core as John Conner. He has a refuge for orphaned children, tries to save mankind by farming, and puts on small shows for the kids. Well, at first anyway, after a while, he becomes more and more like John Conner and decides the only way to really fight back is to stop being on the defensive, befriend someone whom he initially hated, and go to the den of the enemy and attack them there. Exactly like John Conner.
It is a bit low budget, but with a more experienced ACTION director (Rob Bowman was a “X-Files” writer) and financial backing, the movie could have been really good. Post-apocalyptic world with dragons seem like something that could have been awesome. As it is now, it is fairly interesting, but Bowman is better at the first half of the movie. In those parts, it is less action and more doom and gloom. Once the stage is set for action the film falters. Specially, the last action scene, which generally is supposed to be the best part of an action film, this is the part directors usually throw everything at us. But I found underwhelming and wanted the movie to end at this point. But last point, the dragons were extremely cool. The film is now seven years old and the movie is not exactly a huge budget film, but the dragons are still very realistic.
3/5
The best thing about Godspell is the name. And that there is a character named Robin. It is like visiting Church camp as a kid, whereas Jesus Christ Superstar is closer to a college protest.