Aim! Shoot!! Duck!!!

Guess it’s time for me to put a quick review of the movie that forms the conclusion of the trilogy & the last Transformers live action movie by Michael Bay.

The Good Stuff:

1) Amazing action/battle scenes!!! You really have to give it to Bay for being able to envision & pull off the amazing action/battles sequences in this movie. Everyone’s favourite is the highway battle ending in a showdown.  Great stuff!!!

2) Lots of Transformers G1 throwbacks. If you grew up watching Transformers G1 you’ll recognise these. Heck even the main plot is based on a few episodes from G1.

3) The special effects!!! The robots and Chicago in ruins are really the highlight of the special effects. They look so real you can’t tell at all it’s fake. No they didn’t destroy Chicago while filming but it certainly felt like that in the movie.

4) No dorky comedy, annoying robots and bad acting.  Couldn’t stand the type of humor & annoying twins in the 2nd movie? They are all gone. The comedy is good & everyone had a good laugh when it happens. Also, the new girl is good, didn’t do badly or amazingly. I really enjoyed the story arc of Dylan Gould, played very well by Patrick Dempsey. That was perhaps the most satisfying story arc in the whole movie to me.

The Bad Stuff:

1)  The storyline. It’s not well connected & feels hastily strung together. But then again, you’re not watching this for the story right?

2) New characters that were little used. Though there’s a few new characters plucked from Transformers G1 that were fan favorites, they were hardly developed & little used, including a very hyped up villain. Very disappointing.

3) The 3D. Well, it’s not that it’s bad, it’s just pretty non-existent to me. The only time i noticed it was during the Birdmen scenes, where soldiers jumped out of planes in wingsuits & fly around buildings with Decepticons shooting at them. Perhaps this has more to do with our local cinemas than with the 3D as in the USA, people have been reporting very impressive 3D. Oh well….

The Conclusion:

Go watch the movie!!! The special effects & actions sequences are more than enough to warrant watching this. Just remember to leave your brain & Transformers G1 expectations at the entrance & you’ll enjoy this spectacular Bayham movie at it’s best.

Transformers Dark of The Moon

3D movies have been pretty much a failure & a waste of money to me. Ever since watching Avatar in 3D (I’ve watched both the normal & special editions in 3D), no movie has come remotely close to what was achieved in Avatar. OK, I know some people will make a case for Resident Evil: Afterlife which I admit is one of the better 3D movies (in terms of technical use of 3D, not plot wise ), it still felt more like trying to show off 3D instead of being a natural fit. The movie environment was in a lot of dark confined spaces which doesn’t show off 3D well so the filmmakers resorted to an overuse of slow motion.

Michael Bay wasn’t a believer in 3D as well. He called it a gimmick & said he would never consider it when he took on the task of making the 3rd live action Transformers movie. I agree with him. But right before shooting started for the movie, something changed his mind. We found out why recently. The secret weapon the studios used to convince Michael Bay to make the movie in 3D is James Cameron, the director of Avatar movie, the man who dropped my jaw for redefining how a 3D movie should be experienced.

The Hollywood Reporter

Here’s the article that was published on www.michaelbay.com - Hollywood Reporter: Michael Bay Reveals James Cameron’s Secret Role in the Making of ‘Transformers’. It’s a very interesting read especially after I’ve watched the interview myself but couldn’t quite catch all of the conversations. Here’s the original interview done with Michael Bay & James Cameron, be warned though, it’s over 13 minutes long.

Some of you may have seen the 3D trailer for Transformers Dark of The Moon in theaters if you were watching any 3D movies recently (I haven’t). This trailer has some new scenes not included in the original official trailer. For those who didn’t manage to catch it (me!! )  or wants to have a second look, here it is below.

I have to say I’m far more enthusiastic to watch this movie in 3D now. If James Cameron is impressed with the 3D, I don’t think I can ask for more . Transformers Dark of The Moon opens in Malaysian theaters on June 29, 2011.

Transformers Dark of The Moon

At the beginning of the month, I blogged about Avatar’s amazing performance. I made an assumption that Avatar might beat Titanic by Feb 2010 if it’s current pace is maintained. But that’s of course too optimistic in the real world. Well, looking at the figures now, it seems like that might happen! In fact, if I remember the numbers correctly from last week, Avatar grossed 300 million in just one week alone to this week. That means by end of next week, it should be passing Titanic as the highest grossing film of all time. Just shy of Feb 2010. But I did notice one weird thing, the numbers for Titanic seem to have gone done around 100 million, I’m not sure for what reason there was an adjustment but even if you take the orignal gross amount from Jan 5 which is 1.94 billion, Avatar can surely beat that with it’s current 1.69 billion tally by next week. So give or take, by Feb 2010, Avatar should be the highest grossing movie of all time, for now.

People might argue that ticket prices now cost more so it’s easier to gross more. That is true but then again, isn’t the world going through an economic crisis? So why is this movie earning so much in such a ridiculous pace? Boggles the mind doesn’t it? According to Titanic’s Wikipedia page, I quote ” Brandon Gray, president of Box Office Mojo, said that while Avatar may beat Titanic’s revenue record, the film is unlikely to surpass Titanic in attendance. “Ticket prices were about $3 cheaper in the late 1990s.” “. So there’s a record that Titanic can still be proud of. How many people you know have seen Titanic more than once? I’m sure most of you would say yes.

There’s another twist though, according to the same page, Titanic is due to be re-released in 2011, in 3D format! So if those sales are tallied in Titanic might just grab back it’s crown next year! I guess the fat lady hasn’t sung yet! Encore!!!

UPDATE 26/01/2010: It’s official, Avatar has raced past Titanic & for now, is the KING. It still trails Titanic in terms of gross domestic earnings in USA but it’s only $49 million short, something that can be eclipsed in a very short time.  Hats off to James Cameron, only he can topple his own Mt Everest.