[Locke]

They attempted to address that in the new one. I reckon you'll like the designs in the new movie.

[Dr Kain]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Locke

They attempted to address that in the new one. I reckon you'll like the designs in the new movie.

That ship has sailed though. I shouldn't have had to go through four movies just to get to better designs. And honestly, I don't see better designs. I cannot even tell the Dinobots are... well Dinobots. They look like the fossil dinosaurs from MMPR the Movie. I'm not even going to watch AoE for free.

[2ndSndWve]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dr Kain

He turned the series from something special with a unique concept about transforming giant robots that battle each other into walking junkyards mating while making as many sexual innuendos as possible.

There is literally not a single sex joke in AoE, which is one of the things that pleasantly surprised me about it.

Quote:

I would love to watch a Transformers movie too, but that is not what Bay gives us. He gives us 80% military human bullshit and then 20% of these giant insect looking scrap piles that don't even look like robots. The only Transformers movie I can watch is the one from 1986 as it is the only one that actually features Transformers.

None of the AoE Decpticons or Autobots look insectoid, and every one of them is a distinct, unique-looking character with actual lines and personality that extends past racial stereotypes. Also, zero military presence, unless you count Lockdown's team.

[Dr Kain]

It's cool. I've already decided I will never watch another Bayformers movie again, so there is no point in really arguing about this anymore. I don't care if AoE is The Empire Strikes Back of the Bayformers movies, I am done. I'd rather watch a good movie like A Clockwork Orange, Alien, or The Shawshank Redemption instead.

[Locke]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dr Kain

It's cool. I've already decided I will never watch another Bayformers movie again, so there is no point in really arguing about this anymore. I don't care if AoE is The Empire Strikes Back of the Bayformers movies, I am done. I'd rather watch a good movie like A Clockwork Orange, Alien, or The Shawshank Redemption instead.

I'm cool with that, bro. Any the who, I rewatched Evil Dead on Bluray.

I'm someone who really, really likes The Evil Dead, in my mind it's better than Evil Dead II. Mostly remembered, wrongly, as a comedy The Evil Dead is the only part of the trilogy to be a straight horror film and is the product of love and talent, not money, which leaves something truly special. It's the kind of film that satisfies film nerds, fantasy fans and horror fans alike which is why I'm disappointed it got pretty much completely overshadowed by Evil Dead II over the years.

So yeah, Evil Dead had a lot to live up to for me. I watched it in the cinemas and I didn't like it a whole lot but with the remake fresh in my mind I rewatched The Evil Dead again and it both highlighted some flaws in The Evil Dead I'd never really noticed before and also gave me a new found appreciation for what Evil Dead was trying to do, even if it is mostly unsuccessful. This is the first time though I've sat down to review the film again since reviewing it after watching it in theatres, and my feelings remain largely the same.

There are four parts to Evil Dead's narrative and the only one that is explored in any meaningful way is the worst direction for the film. I just don't see the point of constantly teasing us a better film if you have no intention of doing anything with it, this whole film feels like several rough drafts slapped together like they assume that if you stick scraps together it'll just magically become a cohesive whole. Not only is the ending of naked chicks coming out of the ground while the sky bleeds monumentally stupid but you'll be too worn out by the end to care how stupid it all is. Are we meant to be having fun?

Huge sections of the movie put all their weight on the assumption we actually care about any of these characters even though it rushes through the character beats - just like it does the narrative - to give us more gore. Are you really surprised then that large sections of this film fall flat on their face? If you want the audience to care you have to make them care, the audience aren't a charity, we don't work for free. By the end no character gets any real closure and so the audience gets very little closure either.

Yet the thing is, it actually really works in context in a really weird way. The film couldn't have pulled off the same sense of chaos, confusion and panic if the movie had slowed down to explore the characters any more more than it already does. This is a ridiculously intense movie with the kind of energy rarely seen in horror to the point where there really is no more room for characters and plot without the risk of bloating the movie. So yes, having a tighter, more focused, narrative would have made this a better narrative film but it clearly wouldn't have served what Alvarez was trying to do with his film. I'm just personally not sure if Alvarez is the best person to decide that - or maybe I'm just disheartened - as an initially interesting film almost becomes boring as it dissolves into a special effects showcase with as much depth as a shower.

Special effectswise Evil Dead is possibly one of the best films ever made, made entirely with camera trickery and practical effects (well they touched it all up with CG) it does put The Evil Dead to shame. The Evil Dead's effects have aged mostly horribly but remained beloved because of the small budget that forced Raimi to do really crazy and inventive things. As much as I want to rally that approach to filmmaking, I also can't help but deny that after seeing this I now firmly believe that as far as talent goes, money goes farther. The violence feels so real in this you can practically smell it, sure it's very stylised and cartoony but man do you feel those hits.

This level of quality doesn't stop there, either. The detail that has gone into the sets, and the atmosphere, Evil Dead is just a bit of a show off honestly, a bit of a flirt and I can't help but love it for it. It puts practically every horror remake of the last decade to shame. Luckily then we've got a stunning Bluray transfer too which is rich and detailed, it's a showcase of Aaron Morton's unconventional but gorgeous shooting style which does the general production design real justice.

Overall they could have just cashed in on the name and put in zero effort, like pretty much every other horror remake of the last decade, but they didn't, they actually wanted to make something that could stand on its own and in some ways it really gives the original a run for its money. I really appreciate Evil Dead, maybe more than I actually like it and I believe Evil Dead deserves to be watched at least once, even if I think The Evil Dead will be the film you'll fall in love with more.

[Starscream Gaga]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Locke

unlike Beast Wars for example, which was a show I loved as a child but it's aged so horribly in the last ten or so years I find it unwatchable as an adult.

That's ridiculous. Beast Wars is still alongside MTMTE and Animated as the pinnacle of Transformers quality. While the CG quality is obviously not as good as some recent shows, it is in no way ugly or distracting and does not even nearly effect the brilliant story-telling present throughout the series. I watched it for the first time last year and I am baffled by how somebody could think it hasn't aged well if they gave it a chance, because it definitely has and is definitely worth every second of it.

Still, even with it not being totally up to today's standard, Beast Wars CG characters had eight times the emotional range of the CG Transformers in Energon and even Prime.

As for AOE. It was OK, definitely a distinct improvement on DOTM and ROTF, but it was far too long for what the plot deserved and that really detracted from the overall experience. Plus, while significantly less offensive then ROTF and DOTM in terms of humour, it still suffered from the usual Michael Bay human dialogue that stagnated and repeated and furthered the plot in no significant way and there were a lot of pointless scenes that only existed to boost the film's length. I enjoyed it, although I was the only one in the group of six I went with that did, but I can honestly understand the critical panning its receiving due to franchise fatigue and just more of the same. Good big budget action movies are more common then bad ones lately and Transformers just isn't up to the standard of its competitors in terms of story, action and character which I think is a shame because Transformers could be up there with the Marvel Cinematic Universe, X-Men franchise, Planet of the Apes franchise and even the Amazing Spider-Man films if they tried (and had a different creative team).

[Dr Kain]

I, Frankenstein - I want my time back. It was the exact same plot as Van Helsing, but lacked a good final battle. Seriously, they just kill the main villain without any effort. The movie was full of good actors, but they obviously were just there to collect a pay check as they did not even appear interested in their roles. The execution was lazy and makes no sense. None of the characters have any personality or development. And "Adam," did not even look like an abomination at all. I give this frankensteined plot a 2/10 and that is only because of the one good fight scene in the middle of the movie against that demon dude with the journal.

[thunderstrike541]

Disney's Beauty And The Beast- One of my top 5 favorite Disney movies.

[Locke]

Rewatched the first Transformers on Bluray.

Spielberg was the executive producer throughout the franchise and injected huge amounts into the screenplay, with many key moments coming straight from him and honestly I see much more Spielberg in this film than I do Bay and the Spielbergian parts are where most of the problems lie. Namely in that it is ungodly long, and focuses much more on boring human characters than what we actually want to see, sound familiar? Yeah...

Transformers doesn't really go anywhere, honestly, dragging itself out for all it's worth until it just fizzles out all together, smothered by its own weight. I can't even really think what Spielberg thought he was gaining by cramming this film with so much...stuff. I mean I understand some good human drama is always necessary but the amount of human focus is pure overkill to the point where the film itself seems to be struggling to bring the sheer quantity of human characters together.

The human characters aren't even that good, probably the only human character really worth a mention is our protagonist, Sam. I've never much cared about LaBeouf but he seems to really enjoy this role and brings a lot of charm to Sam. He's usually the only character on screen who has any spark of life as he's surrounding by a cast of actors trying desperately to animate the cardboard cutouts of cardboard cutouts this movie calls characters.

Ironically, characterwise, the Transformers themselves fair the worst. Optimus is pretty cool and they do a pretty good job of making us care about Bumblebee but...who else was there again? The movie spends so long building up Megatron and when they finally unleash him it's like they don't have a single clue as to what to do with him, much like all the other Decepticons who come out of nowhere in the last twenty minutes to look cool and die without achieving anything.

Even the special effects, which are the true saving grace, are a double edged sword. I mean those effects, they are so good, so ahead of their time, it's like there's been no advancements in four movies. Maybe there hasn't. Special effects heavy films made in the last ten or so years usually age fast, and age horribly, so I'm very pleased that this still looks wonderful.

On the flip side though the camera can never seem to quite keep up with the Transformers themselves, the camera would have really benefited with being pulled much further out and the Transformers would have ironically benefited from simpler designs. Action sequences are usually so cluttered, so busy and cramped that it is almost impossible to tell what is happening in them.

This is a shame too, as these action sequences - at least on paper - are as fresh and varied as you'll probably ever get from "Bayhem". Most people criticise Bay's Military Fetishism but at least when it was soldiers fighting the robots I could actually tell what the fuck was happening!

[Dr Kain]

Now the first Bayformers was a pretty good movie. Yeah, it features plastic face and Whiny McNononononono, but the execution was pretty good and the fights were cool. Not to mention Megatron was pretty bad ass after he woke up. That first battle between Bumblebee and Barricade was awesome.