Review: "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen"

I understand that with most summer blockbusters, one shouldn’t expect a classy piece of cinematic genius, specifically from Michael Bay. Mr. Bay’s found a tried and true formula to his seasonal epics: downplay the plot, blow a lot of stuff up, and throw in some cheap gags. 2007’s "Transformers" was an enjoyable summer flick, with all the easy laughs and over-the-top action I expected for seven bucks. I entered the theatre at midnight this Wednesday ready for nothing but another trip full of inane and mindless entertainment of incredible proportions.

But somewhere between giant robot testicles and Shia taking a quick
trip to robot heaven, it was all just a little too much.

"Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen" continues the ongoing war between the peace-seeking Autobots and the true-to-their-title Decepticons. It’s been two years since the events of the last film, and Optimus and crew have joined the U.S. military to battle their nasty counterparts across the globe. The Decepticons are on the hunt for the remaining pieces of the AllSpark to restore their leader Megatron, who in turn will help restore his leader The Fallen, an ancient bot who was stopped from activating a machine that would absorb the sun and wipeout life on Earth. Meanwhile, Sam (Shia LeBeouf) touches a piece of the AllSpark, engraving its knowledge into his mind and driving him slightly insane. While dealing with his temporary bouts with madness, he’s balancing his relationship with Makaela (Megan Fox) and attempting to fit in at his first year in college… and that’s just the half of it.

Yeah, it’s convoluted, even for a two- and a half-hour plus movie. When it comes down to it, though, very few are piling into the theaters to see Sam and Makaela’s relationship evolve or how the Autobots feel about their assigned positions of guardians of Earth. Bay knows this, so he doesn’t bother with any character development or background. The first movie set up characters and at least attempted to give them some depth. Here, everyone’s one-dimensional enough so you can tell who’s good, who’s bad, and who’s comedic relief from the get-go.

"Comedic relief" is a term I use loosely, though. In the first flick of the planned trilogy, jokes were maybe a little over fifty-fifty hit-or-miss. For a high-budget, summer blockbuster, that’s pretty good. The sequel warrants more laughs from poor acting and ridiculous moments than it does from planned bits. Case in point, Sam’s parents. The two got a majority of laughs in the first film from their horribly awkward yet, at times, identifiable banter. Here, Sam’s mom purchases and ingests a pot-brownie before tackling an unaware Frisbee thrower. Wacky, wacky, wacky! And also fairly unfunny. Perhaps the worst attempts at humor comes from the Twins, two new Autobots that speak in ebonics, throw in obscenities because it's edgy, and, from a CGI standpoint, looking absolutely terrible. By throwing in some breaks for laughs, it’s clear Bay expected the audience to lose it when one Twin tells Sam’s frightened roommate, "You a pussy," and the other advises him to "run to [his] boyfriend." Even better, these guys receive the most screen time compared to all the other bots. Awesome!

Bay must’ve taken notice when fans complained about how "Transformers" only had a handful of robots in it. The number of Autobots and Decepticons is nearly tripled. However, we never really learn a single thing about most of these new guys (save for two) and most seem pretty generic. Example: All this hype about the behemoth that is Devestator? The ultimate, gigantic bad ass of epic proportions that’s been teased since the sequel was announced? Pulling a Venom, he’s in it for a solid ten minutes and SPOILER ALERT gets taken out by one-shot from a human weapon END SPOILER. How anticlimactic.

At the very least, they look nice.


Visually speaking, the movie ranges from stunning to cheesy. Some of the clashes between the giant bots are a thrill to see. "Transformers 2" heeds the criticism of the first movie’s fights which often times left the viewer confused and clueless as to who was fighting and what has happening. This time, the camera’s pulled back a bit, and we get to see these technological monstrosities’ bouts of fisticuffs in full, breathtaking glory. On the other hand, you have the phoned-in effects of the Twins and several other unimportant bots. It’s not a huge deal; it’s just disappointing how great some aspects of the movie’s visuals are, yet others remain so horribly flawed.

From a technical standpoint (as if anyone going to see this movie cares), both the cinematography and sound are lacking. Expect the typical Bay shots: dramatic 360 spins, angles accentuating Fox's assests, etc. The editing at times is laughable, and it seems no one in the theater could understand what bots were saying half the time. Could've just been the system here, or it could be a giant mistake by the crew.

The movie clocks in around two- and a half-hours, and it FEELS like two- and a half-hours. The first flick, with all its major flaws, at least kept me captivated to the end when I saw it in theaters. This time around, I kept checking my phone every ten minutes, hoping that the whole thing would come to its sloppy conclusion soon.

It’s not near as entertaining as it’s predecessor, but this sequel is not without its merits. Let’s just hope that cast and crew get it together for the inevitable, "epic" conclusion.

"Transformers 2: Revenge of the Fallen" receives a Thin Frenchman.
2/5

Coming in the next day or two: Reviews of "Fanboys" and "Year One"

Tropic Thunder: Review

“Hot damn.”

Not much time, so I'll make this fast.

Tropic Thunder was one of the few movies I was keeping track of. From the moment I saw the first preview, I knew I’d see the film the day it opened. An all-star cast, a huge budget, and legitimately funny jokes? It’s about damn time. As it drew closer, we were teased with a short skit by the three major roles, Ben Stiller, Robert Downey Jr., and Jack Black. Yesterday, I met up with a few friends and we headed to the theater as a “final-day-we’d-all-see-each-other-before-heading-back” event. I was very disappointed when, opening night, there was only about five other people in the theater, while every other film was decently filled. Hopefully, it was just because it opened mid-week, because this movie deserves to be seen.

Before the film even starts, we’re treated with fake trailers for the latest movies from Tugg Speedman (Stiller), Jeff Portnoy (Black), and Kirk Lazarus (Downey), all of which are hilarious takes on what Hollywood has become today. Then, the film really begins, but with more of a whimper than a bang. Sure, there are a few chuckles now and then, but nothing spectacular. It’s not until twenty or so minutes into the film that it really takes off. To sum up the plot details, three actors from different backgrounds (Speedman the action hero, Portnoy comedy, and Downey as very respected character actor) are hired to film the translation of “Tropic Thunder”, a book by famous Vietnam vet Four Leaf Tayback. Unhappy with the pampered, pompous stars ruining the shots, Tayback and the director decide to go for a more gritty approach by dropping them in the jungle and telling them to just go with the flow. Unbeknownst to the entire crew, however, is the presence of an armed group of locals.

Tropic Thunder lampoons Hollywood while never becoming a full spoof film. It stands on its own. It’s filled with so many bust-up laughing moments that you won’t be too put off by the more vulgar attempts at humor (especially the much-billed executive cameo, which wears thin pretty damn quickly). Jack Black seems like he was wasted on incredibly poor or boring dialogue. He has a moment or two, especially towards the end of the film, but he could’ve been so much more. Stiller does a fairly good job at landing jokes, with only a few groaners scattered throughout. The real treat here is Robert Downey Jr. who, more or less, makes the film. In glorified black-face, Downey finds a way to come off as completely hilarious with out being offensive. He’s kept in check by Brandon T. Jackson, a rapper who’s bitter that the only leading role for an African American was given to a white Australia-native. Downey has so many one-liners and out-there monologues that he carries the whole film on his back. Humor also comes from smaller bit parts and sight gags (when I saw “Black Power” and fist on Downey’s helmet, I couldn’t help but crack up).

The film, while not perfect, is still genuinely funny and one of the best comedies of the summer. Tropic Thunder sports a Fu Man Chu (4 out of 5).

Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story

Coming off of recent movies such as The 40 Year Old Virgin and Knocked Up and the past cult-hit television show Freaks and Geeks, Judd Apatow has become one of the biggest comedic writers in Hollywood today. After two amazingly funny and successful movies, it seemed that whatever he touched next would be gold. He began working on Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox story. The movie began to take off and was able to nab John C. Reilly (Chicago, Talladega Nights) as his leading man and Jenna Fischer (The Office’s Pam) as his leading lady. The movie is a parody of music bio-pics like Walk the Line and Ray. The movie follows Dewey Cox (Reilly) and his constant desire to live up to his brother’s expectations. The audience gets to see Cox’s entire life, from his years as a poor youth to his final days. Along the way, he meets music legend after music legend, including Elvis (Jack White), Buddy Holly (Frankie Muniz), the Beatles (Jack Black, Justin Long, Paul Rudd, and Jason Schwartzman) and more. Packing an acclaimed writer and two comedy veterans (not to mention an unbelievable list of celebrity cameos), Walk Hard was shaping up to be the comedy hit of the year.

However, a powerful team alone does not a good comedy make. Walk Hard, simply put, disappoints those who came in wanting the next laugh-til-it-hurts movie. By no means is the movie terrible, or even bad. It just wasn’t able to live up to its hype. The jokes are hit and miss. When some hit, they hit hard (the “dream” line towards the beginning of the movie was a personal favorite) and are gut-busting enough to keep the audience chuckling through the stinkers (of which there is no short supply). Most fall into the miss category, however, so be prepared to sit through dud after dud waiting for a big, or even decent, payoff.

The same is somewhat true about the music. Hit and miss, but with more being hit than miss. Some of the music in this movie is really incredible. It’s obvious that a lot of hard work went into the soundtrack for the movie, but it paid off. For being a fake artist who’s supposed to be one big joke, Dewey Cox is made all the more believable by his mostly stellar music catalogue. John C. Reilly really shows what he’s made of here, as every song uses the actors own voice for Dewey’s. While some aren’t exactly grade-A material, one, two, or maybe even most of these songs will somehow find a way into your own music library. The songs find a way to, for the most part, seamlessly flow into the movie and will have you tapping along with them, up until the surprisingly epic end song, “Beautiful Ride”. Again, while the movie is not exactly the best or funniest movie of the year, it is still far from the worst. Accessible to both fans of humor, fans of music, and especially those fans of humorous music, Dewey Cox will, at the very least, amuse you by the end of it. Hopefully Judd Apatow will find a way to bounce back to such sure-fire comedic hits, but the future is sketchy. For his next movie, he teams up writing with Adam Sandler for the movie “You Don’t Mess with the Zohan”, starring Sandler as a Middle-Eastern agent (Sandler’s attempt at a “Borat”) who moves to New York to become a hair-stylist. Oh, and Rob Schneider’s in it, so hopes aren’t exactly high. Take this chance, don’t go in expecting too much, and enjoy “Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story”, perhaps one of Apatow’s last, at least humorous movies before he totally jumps the shark.

Heima: This IS Home

I just finished watching Heima, and during it I felt that if I were to speak or move then I would destroy the most beautiful creation of light and sound I had ever seen. I admit, I had a soft spot for documentaries about bands, or really music in general, but this touched me in a way that none of the other movies had. If you are reading this blog, you are probably familiar with the sound of Sigur Rós, but if not, a link is posted below. I would describe it for you, but no one could do it justice, much less me. For those of you who don’t know the premise of the film, Sigur Rós had been touring the world to support their 2005 album Takk…, and they realized that they wanted to play some shows in their homeland, Iceland. Not only did they want to play in Iceland, they wanted only Icelanders there, so therefore, the shows, which were scattered about the country, were unannounced. Another cool thing was that they were all FREE, which ensured that Icelanders of all kinds would show up. From toddlers, to hipsters, fisherman, and the retired, Sigur Rós wanted to perform for their people. Director, Dean DeBlois, followed the group around Iceland filming their performances. Interspersed with images of streams flowing backwards, fields of fog, and grass in the wind, we can see Jón Þór Birgisson, Georg Hólm, Kjartan Sveinsson, and Orri Páll Dýrason immersing not only themselves, but also numerous people (including me) in an ethereal wave of sonic ecstasy.

Also in Heima, are several interviews with members of the band. If you keep up with Sigur Rós, or just read a lot of blogs, you may have seen the interview of Sigur Rós on NPR, and wonder why anyone would want to film an interview with Sigur Rós, but these are nothing like the NPR catastrophe. Intimate, one-on-one conversations both funny and crushing, with members of the band and others to help tell the story of Iceland, because this is not just the story of Sigur Rós, but of the country, the landscape, and the people. One man creates marimbas from extremely raw materials. One marimba is made from these pieces of shale, a rock that breaks in flakes, that each have a very resonate tone when struck with a mallet. The whole band plays a song on this geological instrument, and with great intonation. While we never get to hear it, the man is also working on a marimba made out of 100-year-old rhubarb that his grandfather planted.

I only saw the feature film; I have yet to watch all the performances in their entirety, but from the ones in the movie I was extremely impressed. The fullness and the balance of the sound that they get live floored me. They are not only studio-like in their sound with their full line of equipment, but also acoustically in a friend’s home, a coffee shop, and a completely electricity free protest show in the highlands of Iceland.

My only criticism is that it is so peaceful that it put me to sleep. I had to split the movie up by a nap in between because it was so soothing and dreamlike. After my nap, I was energized, and their energy turned my thoughts to things as inexplicably beautiful as the Icelandic mist. Check it out, but be warned that nothing will seem as beautiful for quite some time.

Sæglópur- Sigur Rós