Transformers: Age of Extinction

IMDB
First time viewed: Yes
Current Release: Yes

Another Transformers movie. Come on guys, you know exactly what this is. Probably the most frustrating blockbuster franchise I can remember. Not because it's flat out terrible, but because there's such amazing (and expensive) artistry on display that being completely wasted on films that don't have halfway decent script. This one is no different.

Once again, Michael Bay delivers non-stop big scale action. Well not quite non-stop, but I try to block out everything else. I don't think anything here remotely tops the insane set pieces and far better staging of the last act in Transformers 3. hey were so fun it made me giddy and almost able to overlock the proceeding 2 hours... Not quite here, but there's plenty of explosions and buildings and cars being smashed and only on a handful of occasions did I get really annoyed at the shaky cam.

And bless all you amazing artists at ILM and various VFX houses that have to make these ridiculous conceits as believable as possible. We're numb to the visuals by now but they are very impressive. The new earth-improved transforming style the evil robots use is pretty crazy, not sure if I buy into it as much but it is beautiful.

Now the main reason I was interested in seeing this was to check out the footage from the new IMAX 3D cameras. Unfortunately for this first screening I only saw the film at a regular 3D cinema, but I'll rectify that soon. Even so there are a lot of very noticeable jumps in visual quality. They shot 2D 35mm, Red Epic 2D and 3D and IMAX 3D and the grain is all over the place. Some is crystal clear and some is muddy as hell. But I think you can tell where it switches to the 65mm sensor. Anyway, I'll clarify that soon, but the digital stuff looked pretty great.

And the sound, as always, is bombastic and fun. It's very busy but I do like what they come up with. I believe Skrillex helped out on the sound design?

So in this one we get a handful of Autobots, the man-made robots that become possessed by megaton reincarnated, another race of bounty hunter robots that work for some unknown alien overlords, some dinosaurs, some other aliens and finally a race of super giant robots that transform into robot dinosaurs. And then there's all the various factions of human characters that no-one cares about anyway, I mean, really it's confusing enough.

I will say that the human characters this time, now that we have a fresh new cast, seem to be far less annoying and preoccupied with terrible jokes. (There are still plenty of terrible, baffling jokes that just fall flat but the ratio seems to be much smaller thankfully.) Mark Wahlberg is cool, and the girl from Bates Motel and the creepy but incredibly handsome Irish guy from What Richard Did are fine too. Stanley Tucci and Kelsey Grammar are the least annoying human villains so far and I always enjoy T.J. Miller, so his fate in this film was a little upsetting. They all really do the best they can with  the personality traits and relationship tropes screenwriter Ehren Kruger thinks make a character.

In regards to creating characters for the robots, they are pretty much relying on the visual design and stereotypes again. Inspired voice casting of John Goodman as the fat one, John DiMaggio as the gruff one and Ken Watanabe as the asian one.

Speaking of Asia, I'm hard pressed to think of a film that so is blatant in its attempts to simply make money. They really want to succeed in ever-coverted asian market. And the various product placements are hilariously unsubtle. I guess thats me overlooking the fact that this is just a giant toy commercial anyway...

There is a scene early on in the film set in a decaying cinema. Wahlberg's character checks out the old film projectors and throws a football around and T.J. Miller crashes into a mouton of film reels. The owner remarks how movies are just big blockbuster sequels these days. This scene hurt the most. It's like Michael Bay knows exactly the crap he's making and what it's doing to the film industry but is part of the machine himself now and powerless to stop it. I honestly think Michael Bay is a good director, just as I think his crew and all the artists and actors involved in this film have amazing talent.  It's upsetting that time and money and that wealth of talent has to go into making this.

So, much like the others, terrible incomprehensible plot, no characters to invest in, overload of action and amazing visual fx (except that suspension wire scene). Certainly less insulting and annoying than others. Feels like there's been a budget cut on this one, either that or I'm just totally numb to the spectacle, which is a real worry.

Evilspeak

IMDB
First time viewed: Yes
Current Release: No
Watched With: Tyler

A bullied nerd translates a satanic ritual using a computer, which becomes possessed. It's pretty cheap silly suff and pretty slow too. Not many surprises as they telegraph all the big events but things burn real good at the end. A handful of gore gags too. Fun music score too, but a very average film.

Hamlet 2

IMDB
First time viewed: No
Current Release: No
Watched With: Bri, Libby

Write Up.

Such a fun film, Steve Coogan is just great.

Rio 2

IMDB
First time viewed: Yes
Current Release: Yes
Watched With: Andrew, Kate

Pretty standard sequel to an average kids animation. They throw a lot of plots at the script to keep as many characters in as possible and then spread songs all over the joint in a hodge podge post modern nightmare of styles. You can do worse. But there's nothing lasting about this.

Annoying screaming kids in the cinema! And parents that just let them run around and in front of the screen! Doesn't help.