Transformers

10 Comments

1. Shopper

   October 3, 2010 at 1:32 pm

   Review by Shopper for The Crazies
   Rating:
   Tonight, I had the choice of doing my taxes, or going to see The Crazies… Choosing the lesser horror, off to the movies I went. I left feeling satisfactorily terrorized, though I am still convinced that a single IRS agent has the power to inflict more pain then an entire crew of a horror flick…

   Anyway, the premise of the movie is simple: a small town sheriff married to a small town doctor is puzzled when his small town folk start acting odd. Soon, his small town town is overrun with small town zombies being chased by big town soldiers. Can the sheriff save himself and his pregnant wife from the ensuing mayhem?

   While not as brilliant and fresh as 28 Days Later, The Crazies is generously sprinkled with truly frightening moments. Yes, it relies on a story that has been told many times before, but does so in an unexpectedly proficient manner: there is no dialogue uttered unless it directly furthers the plot; the gore is aplenty, but never crosses into the realm of disturbing; the experienced actors Olyphant and Mitchell display the confidence of professionals who know we know they are there only for the paycheck, but still they want us to feel they have earned it. I respect that!

   Verdict: I DON’T want my money back! (I am still waiting for the refund for Jennifer’s Body… :o( )

   PS: For any Midsomer Murders fans: you may have seen Joe Anderson (the Deputy) play the slightly mad scientist in the episode Second Sight.
   

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2. Karl E. Weaver

   October 3, 2010 at 1:13 pm

   Review by Karl E. Weaver for The Crazies
   Rating:
   Make no mistake-“The Crazies” is a horror film. You may have read that it’s really a modern remake of an old 1973 George Romero horror film by the same name. I haven’t seen Romero’s original, but this film is very well-done.
   
   The biggest name in this film is Timothy Olyphant in the lead role as sheriff of small town Ogden Marsh, Iowa (population 1260). The rest of the cast and the director, Breck Eisner, are not quite as well-known, but they all do a very competent job. The acting and the directing are so well-coordinated that you never have the feeling the film is trying to “showcase” a particular actor, nor that the actors are ever competing with each other for attention. That, along with the pace of this film, which to me seemed just perfect (transitioning very gradually from casual to almost frenetic as things fall more & more apart) really allows the viewer to suspend disbelief and immerse yourself in the story. And there is plenty of story. There’s plenty of scares too, but this film never loses sight of telling a story, focusing on a small group of people trying desperately to escape this town alive. They have not only the “crazies” to contend with but also the military (in classic Romero style, the government is no more trustworthy than the disease). The violence is just sufficient to maintain a real sense of suspense, without over-the-top or gratuitous gore.
   
   The film is almost entirely first-person viewpoint, and along with the characters we learn that something is terribly wrong, people are going berserk and senselessly attacking others; that it apparently came from the cargo on a military plane that crashed in the marsh which supplies the town water; that it might have become airborn; that the military is rounding up and quarantining everyone; and finally, that nobody is going to be allowed to get out…
   
   There are also plenty of head-fakes in which you don’t know whether something awful is about to happen or not, but these too are done in a reasonably sophisticated way, not overly calling attention to themselves but just keeping you constantly on-edge and not knowing just what’s coming next.
   
   The blu-ray looks great and the musical score is good, particularly at the ending credits. There are a moderate number of “bonus features”; three short (10 minute) featurettes being the most interesting to me. This was really filmed in Iowa, as well as in rural Georgia (enabling filming to avoid the cold Iowa winters and the hot Georgia summers). The whole story takes place over just a couple of days. I’m doubting there will be a sequel although the final sequence left open the possibility. This is a very nicely-done horror film with good characterization and a somewhat understated style. It should appeal not just to horror film devotees but to a somewhat wider audience.

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3. Michael J. Tresca

   October 3, 2010 at 1:03 pm

   Review by Michael J. Tresca for The Crazies
   Rating:
   I knew nothing about The Crazies going into the theater. I didn’t know it was originally produced by the father of the zombie genre, George Romero. And I didn’t expect to see a movie about a sheriff (Timothy Olyphant) and his pregnant wife (Radha Mitchell) with my own wife six months pregnant. Please note: this review contains spoilers.

   The movie starts out slowly. In these stressful times, we’re all too familiar with scenes of sudden gun violence in an idyllic setting. After sheriff Dutton is forced to gun down a former town drunk on a little league field, the town of Ogden Marsh begins to unravel. Everybody knows everybody else in this small town and a murder leaves emotional aftershocks that traumatize its citizens. This includes Dutton’s wife, who happens to be the town doctor.

   The tension slowly notches up from there. These early moments are critical in establishing The Crazies as a superior horror film. The petty rivalries, the secret and not-so-secret grudges, the sadistic bullies – all of the townsfolk’s deepest impulses are let loose through the TRIXIE virus, a military bioweapon that has accidentally (?) contaminated the town.

   Unlike so many other horror movies, Dutton and his deputy Clank (Joe Anderson) are precisely the people who should be dealing with an outbreak. The problem is that they are little fish in a very big pond. The movie quickly morphs from a slasher flick to survival horror when the military gets called in, loses control, and pulls out.

   What makes The Crazies so refreshing is that it plays on horror tropes, using it to narrative advantage. We find out that the soldiers who are executing townsfolk aren’t faceless, that the TRIXIE virus may or may not be transmitted through the water supply, and that taking one’s temperature isn’t a guaranteed means of identifying who’s infected. The Crazies makes no promises but always delivers.

   This ambiguity may frustrate some people who expect everything to be wrapped in a neat bow, but director Breck Eisner knows that there is horror in uncertainty. It’s precisely this lack of clarity that makes the movie so good – the villains aren’t unilaterally evil, the victims aren’t always helpless, and the solutions aren’t always moral. The Crazies wallows in the gray area of harsh decisions, treating an outbreak with all the ethical gravity of a war.

   Let there be no doubt, this is as much a war movie as it is a horror movie. The real crazies, Eisner seems to say, is anyone who would trust authority. These days, that may not be such bad advice.

   P.S. Stay through the credits!

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4. Haunted Flower

   October 3, 2010 at 12:56 pm

   Review by Haunted Flower for The Crazies
   Rating:
   Watch Video Here: Gina from Haunted Flower reviews “The Crazies” directed by Breck Eisner and produced by George A. Romero based on his 1973 version. It stars Timothy Olyphant, Radha Mitchell, and Joe Anderson. A contagious mental illness takes over the inhabitants of a small town in Iowa.

   […]

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5. RMurray847

   October 3, 2010 at 12:44 pm

   Review by RMurray847 for The Crazies
   Rating:
   THE CRAZIES is not a great film, nor will it likely even enter the “Hall Of Fame” of zombie-type movies. However, it is a tight, well-constructed and reasonably well-acted thriller that is more than worthy of a look.

   In the small mid-western town of Ogden’s Marsh, high school baseball season is just getting started. Everyone in town is there to size up the quality of this year’s team…and frankly, life just couldn’t get any finer. In less than 2 minutes, we get learn all we need to know about this little town…we see that it’s a town where everyone knows everyone. Everyone has a place and is contented. Life is simple but satisfying. But when a glassy-eyed farmer with a shotgun wanders onto the field of play (actually, he has what might be described as a zombie-like stare), the sheriff (played at a perfect pitch by Timothy Olyphant) tried to talk him out of his weapon. Their brief, tense confrontation ends in the death of the farmer…and the town is rattled. Things quickly escalate as more and more citizens begin acting weird, violent and yes, CRAZY.

   It isn’t quite a zombie movie…no dead person is coming back to life. In fact, it’s more a cousin to 28 DAYS LATER, where the zombies were really just people infected with rage. But whatever the case, we essentially see the very quick collapse of this little society…especially when the government quarantines them and begins to separate the sick from the well.

   The movie takes a fairly predictable path from here…there’s not really much we haven’t seen before (although the film does feature the scariest journey through an automatic carwash that we’ve ever seen). But there is seldom much in the way of the truly new in this genre…it’s all in the execution. If the film is constructed well enough, we don’t pay quite so much attention to some of the plot holes (or if not holes, at least areas the stretch credibility, even if we accept the initial premise). THE CRAZIES is well-constructed, and uses its modest budget well. It doesn’t attempt anything it can’t pull off well, so there aren’t lots of cheesy effects. It assembles a small core of characters, and makes us care about them just enough to draw our sympathy at their plight.

   The central relationship is between sheriff Olyphant and his wife, the town doctor, played by Radha Mitchell. They are a couple that has clearly been together for awhile, and there are no big histrionics between them. They feel like a couple that has a natural ease between each other, and even when pushed to extremes, there’s never any doubt that they’re comfortable. This reflects the overall ease of the movie…it doesn’t push too hard. Olyphant and Mitchell feel more like a married couple that is comfortably at ease with each other…not the typical movie couple who always have to find a way to tear each other’s clothes off and fool around, even as the world collapses around them. I liked that…and it made me really root for them.

   In many ways, the most interesting relationship is between Olyphant and his deputy, played by Joe Anderson (ACROSS THE UNIVERSE). Their interplay, the casual deference of the deputy for his boss, their unshakeable sense of duty all feel natural. These are good guys…but in quiet, unassuming ways. They just do what they feel is right, even if they’re really scared. The movie is not showy about them…it’s not like their Mel Gibson & Danny Glover in LETHAL WEAPON…they’re just a couple of small town law enforcement officers who wear their badges not only with pride but with an instinctive understanding that they have RESPONSIBILITY as well.

   The movie has scares aplenty, and lots of tense scenes. There’s a great scene in the latter half when the couple is confronted by a couple of crazies in their own bedroom…we’ve got four people basically clawing and scratching at each other in a tiny room, and it’s maddening to watch.

   It’s nice to see a good, honest little film that knows its business, but takes the time to get enough little details right to make it just a bit more than ordinary. If you’re in the mood for a few jump-in-your-seat moments, you could do far, far worse than THE CRAZIES.

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6. Alex Faber

   October 3, 2010 at 12:08 pm

   Review by Alex Faber for Transformers
   Rating:
   Growing up in the 80s, I saw the 1986 Transformers movie in the theaters and recently watched it again, and even though I’m in my late 20s now, the movie holds up remarkably well: it has a good pace, great balance of storylines, well-defined characters, and plenty of action that builds towards a monstrous battle that includes a genuine surprise.

   Unfortunately, the Transformers 2007 movie lacks almost all of that. Credit Shia Lebeouf for his role in this movie, because he carries the entire overwrought monster for a good two hours or so, and his ability to do both comedy and drama in a single movie is impressive. And there are many more people here that turn in solid performances, including Megan Fox, his female costar. Beyond that, though, we get a smattering of comedy here and there along with maneuvering, slow reveals, and more buildup, and more, and more until, almost two hours into the movie, we finally see most of the Decepticons, and there is finally a real battle … which lasts for about 15 minutes.

   This movie is big … very big … and the final battle has a lot of action (though Bay’s direction insures that it’s nearly impossible to tell what’s going on a lot of the time). Coupled with some very sophomoric humor, the audience here is clear: it’s young adolescents, fresh out of being tweens, who still want good action and jokes but crave a bigger storyline and higher stakes.

   THE GOOD: Some of the jokes work, and work well. Shia and Megan do a great job in their roles. Seeing Optimus Prime, Jazz, Starscream, and a few other familiar faces gave this Transformers fan a warm feeling.

   THE BAD: You see Autobots play glorified hide and seek with Shia’s parents, a dog pee on a robot, a robot pee on a person, John Turturro stripped down to an undershirt and boxers, enormous plotholes involving the All-Spark, no Dinobots, no real use of Starscream, a completely anticlimactic battle between Optimus and Megatron that ends in an enormously stupid way, two long hours of build-up for one confusing battle, and to top it all off, Anthony Anderson.

   The original Transformers movie was for the fans, then and now. This one’s a dull mess that is for the 2007 box office receipts. Rent it, and then buy the original.

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7. ninjasuperstar

   October 3, 2010 at 12:03 pm

   Review by ninjasuperstar for Transformers
   Rating:
   Before I relate the film’s many faults, I should first acknowledge the movie’s highly entertaining qualities. First and foremost, the digital rendering of the transformers is spectacular. They move quickly and violently with shiny and shape-shifting certainty, at ease in a manner that the 1980s cartoon could not properly relate. The very concept of the transformers was far beyond hand-drawn animation. The new transformers are truly awesome and majestic in stature. Their capacity for carnage should be the envy of all action movies.

   The cartoon succeeded due heavily to the incredible voice acting. I was pleased that Peter Cullen agreed to lend his booming, voice-of-God talents to the character of Optimus Prime. His talents, however, are not exploited as they should have been. He acts as the film’s narrator, delivering the familiar opening narrative and epilogue I witnessed in nearly every episode of the cartoon. He is the most reflective of all the transformers, yet he is not allowed to relate his wisdom as often as he should have been in this movie.

   One bit of voice acting that bothered me was that of Jazz. In the old cartoon, Jazz was voiced by Scatman Crothers, the caretaker of the hotel in Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining. The late Crothers’ voice was replaced with a decidedly “urban black hipster” voice (Darius McCrary), which sounded incredibly racist and completely unnecessary. To complete the racial profiling, Jazz can be seen hanging and climbing around the city like a monkey in a jungle. It was painful to watch and halted my suspension of disbelief.

   Further, who decided that the transformers needed to talk like teenagers and crack stupid jokes? They are in a fight for the existence of the universe, yet when Optimus Prime tramples a lawn ornament, he excuses himself, saying, “My bad.” It’s somewhat funny, but I wanted to be concerned about the plot, yet I was constantly sidestepped by ridiculous one-liners and idiocy on the part of this supposedly superior race of organic robots.

   There are far too many human characters taking precedence in this film: too many subplots, too many gorgeous girls, often in unbelievable roles. The only necessary human character is Sam Witwicky (enthusiastically played by Shia LeBeouf). Why did we need a cameo by Bernie Mack? He’s funny, yes, but his character is completely irrelevant. And John Turturro, whom I revere as a great character actor, looks desperate. While incredibly cheesy, Jon Voight manages to act the part of U.S. Secretary of Defense with a slice of dignity.

   Plot holes: Wow, there are so many, I quit bothering with them. The central problem of the entire movie – and one can say this of all of Michael Bay’s films – is that Bay does not trust the subject matter to carry the film. Self-referential comments about his film Armageddon are embarrassing, indeed. And the product placement in this film sometimes takes the viewer so far outside the film that one would think GM engineered the entire narrative to sell gas-guzzling cars.

   I wanted to like this movie, but something was missing. That element of believable science fiction is completely neglected in this film. You only get ten or twenty minutes of fun sci-fi action before some character makes a stupid joke or a plot hole spreads out before you. If there is a sequel to this film (and there should be) and Michael Bay doesn’t direct it (and he shouldn’t), the groundwork is there.

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8. A. Sandoc

   October 3, 2010 at 12:01 pm

   Review by A. Sandoc for Transformers
   Rating:
   Pretty much almost every male kid who grew up during the 80’s were glued to their TV sets on weekday afternoons watching just one thing. They were watching one of the best cartoon shows on TV which also happened to be Hasbro Toys’ most popular line of toys at that time. I am talking about Transformers. I know I was pretty much hooked on the show with its tale of good versus evil as the noble leader (who also happened to be a Mack truck) Optimus Prime led his Autobots against the evil robot that was Megatron and his Decepticons. It had lots of fighting, explosions and most of all, it had toys of every Transformer in the show for kids to re-enact such battles.

   In 1986 the first Transformers movie (animated) came out and pretty much scarred every kid who was ever a fan of the show for life as their beloved characters actually died on-screen to make way for a new generation of Transformers. Let’s just say that as much as I enjoyed the original movie I also hated it. It is now 2007 and Michael Bay, Steven Spielberg and ILM have concocted a live-action version of Transformers. To say that this movie has erased some of the bad taste left by the first animated film is quite an understatement. What we have in this live-action Transformers is nothing less than pure robot-versus-robot carnage and mayhem done so well that it more than makes up for the weak story and the uneven performances from the cast.

   The movie revolves around the search by both the Autobots and the Decepticons for the all-powerful AllSpark which would grant it’s owner the power to rebuild the dying Cybertron (home world of the Transformers) or remake any planet into a new home. It’s not too difficult to figure out what the Decepticons and their leader Megatron would do once they have it in their possession. As one of the Decepticons would have stencilled on its vehicle mode says: “To punish and enslave”. The AllSpark is really just a MacGuffin which helps tie in the Transformers with the human aspect of the story and that’s the time tested tale of a boy and his car. In this case, it’s Sam Witwicky (Shia LaBeouf) and his newly acquired 1974 Camaro who also happens to be the Autobot Bumblebee unbeknownst to him.

   The first third of the film is where this boy and his car theme gets the most laugh as Sam tries to use his new car to get the attention of one Mikaela (played by the ridiculously hot and appropriately named Megan Fox). The laughs come from Bumblebee playing just the right song over the radio to try and bring the two kids together. Usually Michael Bay’s handle on comedy is a tad more cynical and ham-handed which tell me the first third of this film had Steven Spielberg’s influence all over it. One could just substitute E.T. for Bumblebee and Elliott for Sam and it’s not difficult to see.

   This first third also solidifies Shia LaBeouf as the foundation which keeps the movie from just becoming one long robot-on-robot action scene. This kid has some major talent and charisma which shows from the moment he steps on to the screen right up to the final scene with the sun setting in the background. It’s no wonder Spielberg chose him to be in the next Indiana Jones movie. LaBeouf actually makes Sam Witwicky more than the awkward, geeky teen geek and instead makes it believable that he has a weird, charming chance to land the hot Mikaela. It’s LaBeouf’s performance as Saw which pretty much saves the very uneven performance by the rest of the cast.

   Even with LaBeouf’s performance and the funny and cute boy meets car meets girl first reel, people really went to see this movie for one thing and one thing only and that’s the battle between the Autobots and the Decepticons. The humans are there to ground the story in a semblance of reality. But once the two sides begin to arrive and find their Earth forms the movie shifts into nitrous-injected overdrive and doesn’t let up until the very end. People cheered wildly once Optimus Prime appears for the first time with the rest of his crew (Ironhide, Jazz, Ratchet). The cheering went especially wild once optimus spoke for the first time and the original voice was heard (Peter Cullen did the voice for the original cartoon and was hired to do the same for the moive). That scene really brought myself and, most likely, every male in the audience of the same age back 20 years. The Decepticons make their entrance soon after with Megatron (voiced by Hugo Weaving) being the final Transformer to hit the screen. The rest of the movie became one long action sequence after sequence with destruction being the norm.

   This is where Michael Bay’s hand truly shows as his handle on the sturm und drang he’s well-known for matches well with the premise of giant alien robots fighting each other with no thought for collateral damage to populace and property. Unlike, his previous films he actually holds himself back from using his usual tricks of using low-angled slo-mo scenes too much and the ultra quick editing style which makes his movies sometimes difficult to keep up with. Again, it might be Spielberg’s influence in addition to Bay actually growing as a filmmaker to thank for this. The action scenes wouldn’t be as great as it was if it wasn’t for the work of ILM and its team of computer animators. The Autobots and Decepticons look so real that they join Gollum and Davey Jones as fully-realized CGI-characters who blend into the scene as if they’re made of real flesh and blood. In the case of the Transformers made of steel, oil and rubber. Their battles from the Hoover Dam all the way to the nearby Mission City didn’t look artificial. There’s a sense of weight and depth to the battle. It atually looked like the city with it’s small humans was actually being ripped apart by these giant robots. Industrial, Light and Magic truly deserve every award they’ll get come awards time. In the past it was said that a live-action Transformers would come off as cheesy and fake, but technology and the expert use of it by ILM’s team of artisans has made it a reality.

   Transformers really brings the word blockbuster and brings it like storm and thunder. There’s no other way to say it than this was a movie which was a kickass rollercoaster ride with just enough human interaction to keep it from becoming cartoonish. It’s not a perfect film as the weak script and uneven performances by most of the cast would show, but it’s all balanced out by the work put in by Shia LaBeouf and the action scenes with the Transformers that this movie marks the highlight of the 2007 summer blockbuster season. Michael Bay has finally found the one film he looks to be tailor-made to do.

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9. Nathaniel Clark

   October 3, 2010 at 11:12 am

   Review by Nathaniel Clark for Transformers
   Rating:
   Maybe it’s not the best movie as far as dialogue goes, but for being an action movie about robots from outer space, it’s good. The transformations are good enough to not raise doubt about the mechanics of them (which is good for me as an aerospace engineer, because I tend to notice these things). This is the kind of movie that makes large HD televisions and high-quality sound systems worth having.

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10. J. C. Amos

    October 3, 2010 at 11:05 am

    Review by J. C. Amos for Transformers
    Rating:
    For a nerd that used to drool over this show as a kid, this movie hooks you from the very beginning. From Optimus Prime’s summary intro (with Peter Cullen still at the helm of our favorite alien semi) to the Decipticon attack on the military base, you have no doubts that this is Transformers. Shia LaBeouf makes his entrance and proves the perfect part for this movie. He’s actually pretty funny and acts the part well. As far as the rest of the humans in this cast, not as much can be said.

    After the awesome introduction, the first part of the movie deals mainly with Shia LaBeouf’s Sam purchasing a Camaro that actually turns out to be the Autobot Bumblebee (in the cartoon, originally a VW Bug. I think the yellow VW Bug in the car lot next to Bumblebee was a homage.) Sam unknowingly uses his alien car to impress a girl. Of course she actually is impressed when they find out it’s an alien. There are some pretty funny scenes in this part of the movie as well as some action scenes that are very well done.

    Soon comes the arrival of the other Autobots and they reveal to Sam their true purpose, which is to locate the Allspark -a powerful device capable of transforming a planet- before the Decepticons get a hold of it. I thought at this point that the slow parts of the movie were over, but not quite. From here we go into a few too many scenes dealing with side characters, from video game playing computer experts to goofy secret agents whose quirks border slapstick comedy. Too many of these characters could be chalked up as comic relief, and most of what they attributed was not very funny. There was a slightly funny but overly long scene where Sam was trying to hide the autobots while he searched through his house for a relic they needed. And then arrived John Turtorro (playing the said goofy secret agent) whom I love, but who severely overstayed him welcome in this. Other performances, namely John Voight’s, were just plain campy and the cookie cutter dialogue was cringe inducing at times.

    Luckily, I forgot most of that by the time the movie got to its last act. Once the Decepticons arrive in force the movie is a non stop ride of action and jaw dropping effects. While someone who’s not familiar with the characters and story might not care what the outcome is, I found myself with memories as a kid, watching the 1986 movie for the first time. I forgot about the humans and their ho-hum sotrylines as my favorite characters and toys from my childhood crashed and shot and ripped each other apart. I forgot that I was watching CG effects as the transformers look as real as the environment they’re destroying. The action scenes are larger than life and I’m amazed at how well the battles of the cartoons translated onto big screen. The transformers themselves were all very well done, applying actual physics to their transformations and robot appearances. They look real and modern but don’t lose the heart of what the fanboys loved about them from back in the day. And Hugo Weaving as Megatron was genius. I missed hearing the original Starcream, but the original voice actor died many years ago, and the two or three lines Starcream had in this sounded suitable.

    Despite the great flaws in acting, dialogue and script, I left this movie with that rare itch to want to go straight back inside and watch it again. From the previews, it looked like the movie was going to take a realistic perspective and show the warring alien machines from a human point of view. But that’s really not the case at all. In every other Michael Bay movie, the corny dialogue and overdramatic characters ruin an otherwise good premise. But Transformers is based on a cartoon, so why shouldn’t the movie feel like one? Here it works. It’s big, dumb nostalgic fun that the kid in me has been after for 20 years.

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