Her Movie Reviews

I saw it in 3D, if that makes any difference…

There was a lot of hype surrounding this film. I heard it left people speechless. People said it would change my life (don’t deny it Mom, I have witnesses that will back me up). So naturally, I had really high expectations. It was okay. Keep in mind, I’ve already stated that I like my movies to take place on the planet earth…

The plot really isn’t anything new. It’s your typical story of a man sent into a new culture who must become one of the locals, and then ends up falling in love with one of the natives and inevitably takes their side against his own kind. You’ve probably seen this once or twice. That’s exactly what happens. But these locals just happen to be 9 feet tall, and blue. There are also blatant political undertones, trust me, you can’t miss them. They are just that obvious (unobtainium, really?).

The one thing that I kept hearing about over and over again was the technology. Yes, the look of the film was very impressive. I don’t know what technology he developed, although I do know the budget of the film, and honestly, this could just be me, but it wasn’t 500 million dollars worth of “cool”.  The image was crisper then if it had been CGI, but you could also equate that to the fact that you were wearing 3D glasses. On that note, I do have to admit I am incredibly grateful to James Cameron for not putting in 3D gimmicks like rocks coming at the audience. Thanks for that!

It’s good movie, and I really did enjoy myself. And if you’re going to see it, make sure it’s in 3D.  I have my doubts about 3D dvds….

Rating:  

This review is going to make me very unpopular. Let me just advise you now, if you are a trekkie and don’t want to read a review by someone who has never watched a single episode of the show, do not read this. Consider yourself warned. I mean it, stop now! Because I do have a tendency of getting Star Trek and Star Wars confused quite frequently, and I make no apologies for that.

I learned one thing about myself from watching this film: I prefer my movies to take place on planet Earth, and preferably not in the future. I can see how people who watched the show, or other movies, would really love this. I totally get it, I’m just not one of them. The acting was great, the effects were unbelievable, but I just didn’t follow along with the story. At times the effects were overwhelming and I couldn’t keep up with it. Spock and his crazy time traveling confused me. And I continually had to ask who people were, and why they were doing the things they were doing. It all made sense to someone who understood, but since I am not a trekkie, I felt very out of the loop. Chris Pine was great, and no one can deny that Zachary Quinto played a spot on Spock! Simon Pegg is great, even if I couldn’t understand anything he said, but I thought his alien sidekick looked more like a tree stump than an extra-terrestrial.

I am just not a sci-fi person. It doesn’t do anything for me. But if you’ve watched the show, or enjoy this particular genre, I’m sure you’ll love it! I do happen to know several fans who will probably want to prosecute me for saying the things I’ve said, but there you have it (and please forgive me for how vague this is, as we watched it right before Thanksgiving, and the tryptophan may have wiped some of the details from my memory a bit).

Rating:  

Look, I will admit I do have a soft spot in my heart for quite a few big budget summer blockbusters, but my friends, Transformers ain’t one of them! It was just too much, which I realize is one of the main factors too any blockbuster, but it was just TOO much, except dialogue.  Was there even a script for it? The acting was okay, as good as acting can be against a green screen.  I just felt like this film took all of the clichés and crammed them into these two films. Michael Bay has a simple formula that he follows to produce these movies, and it’s getting stale.

Transformers (the first one) was alright. This story showed the human aspect of the machines, and gave us insight into the lives of the characters before the inevitable war between their two worlds. I actually didn’t mind this one too much. Shia LaBeouf is really funny in this film, which I wasn’t expecting. His character, Sam Witwicky is charming and you connect with him because he plays a great underdog who is easy to route for. Megan Fox wasn’t half as bad as I was expecting. Granted, they didn’t give her much to work, dialogue or wardrobe, but she made the best out of the hand she was dealt. But the true highlights of this movie (or both, as a matter of fact) are Mr. and Mrs. Witwicky, played by Kevin Dunn and Julie White. Hands down, the greatest part of the film franchise. Please don’t even ask me about the plot or the special effects, because quite frankly I don’t know what I was watching half the time. It was a bunch of robots running into each other and after five seconds, all the pieces just blend into each other and you really don’t have a clue how they are destroying each other, or who is winning.  My suggest: color coordination. If you could just make the Decepticons one color (green, for example) and the Autobots another (orange) it might be helpful.

Transformers: Rise of the Fallen (number 2) didn’t need to bother with formalities or introductions, so it just delved right into the action. Sam goes off to college, leaving the love of his life with a kiss and a webcam. The mom, bless her heart, gets a hold of some “magic brownies”, and that is where the fun begins!  Sam meets a girl who is actually a Decepticon, but after they get rid of her, it’s never mentioned about how dangerous it actually is that the machines have evolved into looking like people!  The other thing that really bothered me about this film is the fact that they walk into a museum in Washington DC, and somehow walk out the back in the Boneyard (plane grave yard) in Tucson, AZ. Please give the audience a little credit here. Even if you don’t know it’s the Boneyard, it is easy to figure out that the surrounds in DC look nothing remotely similar to those of Arizona! I also hate when the result of the big action sequence is the destruction of a historical landmark. It was hard for me to watch them destroy the pyramids and surrounding areas. I just don’t think anything can be gained from showing a machine ripping apart a historical icon like that.

These movies are certainly a great escape from every day life, which is why I love cinema, but these movies just weren’t for me.  I can see why they have such appeal, and why they make millions at the box office. There will certainly be another Transformers soon. It just doesn’t mean I have to like it.