Robots in disguise

[tikistitch]

But, there were still several scenes where we literally started feeling our own brain cells pop.

Wasn't the lead hawt chick a tad bit old for Shia LeBeouf? Like maybe, a decade??? (Shame about that being held back in high school 'til you're 27 and stuff.) And then we meet yet another hawt chick who's also some kind of computer nerd doing...well, whatever the frack she was doing for the government?* So, Transformerland = No Fat Chicks? We realize this is all fanservice, but still. Are there actual female human beings outside of Hollywood and its retinue of plastic surgery clinics who actually look like those actresses? Talk about setting up the baby nerd boys with unrealistic expectations regarding female beauty.

Also, in regards to teaching the next generation, uh, Transformer crash lands into earth and finds an wicked kewl car to emulate. It's a Pontiac. Good god, filmmakers, how many pieces of silver did General Motors pay you to warp the minds of our precious youth?

Also, whoever gives Michael Bay money for his next movie, I want a rule: NO goddam flippy-twirly cars. Find something else kewl to show off the fx bucks.

And finally, and this is said with love, as tiki has watched and appreciated several generations of Transformers, nevertheless: Optimus, baby, you trusted a bunch of people who called themselves the Decepticons? The Decepticons? Hellooooo! If some guy comes up to you and says, "Hi there. My name is Darth Vader. May I be your Jedi apprentice?" what would you say? Why do you think he went by "Annie?" Jeebus.

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*ATTENTION: Do NOT, upon pain of banishment from this blog FOR EVAR, offer comments specifying whatever the frack she was supposed to be doing for the government. Either the movie makes it clear, or it doesn't belong in my brain.



NOTE: I've put my snark about the Transformers movie under the cut to prevent spoiler exposure, though on second thought, I'm likely the last person on my FL to see the flick.

Comments

[aoi-no-neko.livejournal.com]

ummm, it was a Chevy Camaro...

this movie was definitely geared towards a specific crowd, the teenaged male. who are into slightly older hot looking girls and twirly cars. Intellegence was not a consideration when making it.

(I had a good laugh at the noise analysis stuff, after seeing what people on-line can do with analysing it and how fast they can do it, in real life, with some very simple programs. That whole government thing was a load of fark)

and what was up with the stewardess eating the Ding Dong after it was on the floor? ewwwwwwww (enough with the product placement people)

[tikistitch.livejournal.com]

Yes, Bumblebee was a Camaro, but watch the movie again. One of the Transformer crash lands, and scans and turns into a Pontiac.

[mmymoon.livejournal.com]

HA HA HA, I love comments like that. "But you see, Namor is really a king of--" "I KEEL YOU WITH MY BRAIN NOW"


(And you know, I'd play devil's advocate, but I haven't even seen it yet, so I'm lamer than you. And probably would have no clue myself.)

I also have a rule about auto-deleting any comment that uses a Kurt Halsey icon, or whatever his name is. (Maybe I just hate guys named Kurt? I'm seeing some correlation...)

I haven't seen it yet but...

[niksuncle.livejournal.com]

... it's coming out in the UK soon.

The other thing that ticks me off is the representation of Asian women in Hollywood films. I was listening to a Margaret Cho the other day and she summed it up perfectly - Asian women are either martial arts experts or computer nerds - WHY?

Just as well we have authors like J.K. Rowling who write characters like Cho Chang who are just normal people (well, relatively speaking...).

[avalonjones.livejournal.com]

I haven't seen it and have no desire whatsoever to see it. So I'm way lamer than you! (And I'll be spending the weekend working the booth at a gamer convention. Heaven help me.)

[twotone]

I'm kind of surprised that you didn't take issue with the fact that the movie is basically an army recruitment ad. The Transformers franchise has always been about marketing things (usually toys) to kids, but this movie manages to expand that into:
- marketing soda (Mountain Dew/PepsiCo has a HUGE tie-in with Transformers, including an online game where you play a Mountain Dew vending machine who transforms into a robot and infiltrates Sector Seven headquarters)

- marketing THE ARMY (Bay reportedly got very cozy with the military to get permission to use actual military vehicles in the movie. Plus they shot stuff on a real military base, leading to awkwardness when some movie photos leaked due to soldiers sneaking in cameras)

- marketing E-Bay (which led to one of my favorite lines in the movie, so I can't complain too much)

- and of course, marketing brand-name cars, but Transformers has already been doing that in the toy line for a while now with their Alternators series, which has actual licensed vehicles from specific companies in an attempt to appeal to car afficionados as well as traditional Transformers fans.

The car stuff didn't bother me for that reason... but the loving "OMG ARMY GUYS ARE AWESOME EXCEPT FOR THAT ONE GUY WHO TALKS SPANISH ALLA THE TIME" attitude caused me to raise an eyebrow.

[tikistitch.livejournal.com]

Sigh, so little time, so much stupid.

We were both pretty appalled by the treatment of the military. We put it down to post 9/11 "It's ok to send them off to die for stupidity, but OMG DON'T DIS THE SOLDIERS!!!!" I had no clue that Bay was also kinda sucking up. I basically went into the movie knowing absolutely nothing but (1) I can't even pay attention to Bay movies on an airplane ride but (2) SPIELBERG! and the trailer looked kinda kewl.

I'm like you, the eBay product placement was sledgehammer if you're over age 12, but the jokes worked ok, and it was a neat enough in joke for the crowd that's gonna see this movie.

My household does not include any big fans of American cars in general (now, my family car growing up was a Camaro, believe it or not), so the whole General Motors marketing was something that stuck out. Not *quite* as bad as seeing James Bond in a stupid American car, but still, you convert to a roadster, ANY roadster in the world, and you choose a goddam PONTIAC? *gah*

OTOH, I'm not a big Bernie Mac fan, but I thought he was perfect as the world's sleaziest used car dealer.