Transformers July 6th, 2007

First of all let me say that I know very little about that late 80s craze that was Transformers. I remember playing with a couple toys but I didn't know any of their names and I didn't watch any of the cartoons. None of this, I think, made any difference while I watched the movie. Mostly I think because the best things in this movie had nothing whatsoever to do with Transformers. Oddly enough since the movie is named Transformers I find it weird to suggest what probably would have made this a great movie instead of a good one would have been the absence of the Transformer Wars. What I'm basically saying is that instead of the whole war thing, they should have solely focused on the Romantic Comedy part and maybe renamed the movie "Shia and the Bumblebee: A story about a kid and his transformer car." Because seriously that's the best thing about this movie. Shia Lebouf trying to score Megan Fox with the help of his car.
And of course this is a weird thing to say because this movie is directed by Michael Bay, a man who has made such mindless blow-em-ups like Armageddon, Bad Boys II, Pearl Harbor, and The Island. He specializes in huge spectacles, but seriously who saw this movie said they liked the climatic battle better than the antics of LeBouf, the snarliness of Turturro, and the complete wackiness of Transformers trying to hide in a backyard. In this movie, the actual humans are more compelling than the huge special effects displays.
I'm not saying I hate all action in a movie. But there's a difference between the best computer simulated explosions money can buy and martial arts. The former is boring, the other is exhilirating. It's sort of the difference between watching a classic basketball game or a loop of guys dunking. One is instant gratification, the other is drawn out, you can see what's happening why it's happening and who it's happening too. In the end it's more memorable and more enjoyable. The problem with the action sequences in this movie is that you rarely get the entire picture. The Transformers are so huge that it's hard to ever get a real good shot of what they're doing or who they're fighting. I hardly ever knew the names of who I was watching and it was incredibly hard to see what was actually going on. Bay further compounds the problem by shaking and moving the camera alot. This not only hurts the action but also the comedy. He needs to do less. Think about the Matrix, they never did closeups during an action sequence, they wanted you to see the strategy involved. 
Still there are many strong points to this film. Shia is paticularly good at stealing the scene from gigantic robots, Megan Fox is hot, and John Tuturro, Anthony Anderson, and the parents provide solid supporting work. If you see this on DVD, skip the climatic battle. Boorrrrinnnggg. Everything else is fine.

The Departed 11/08/06

I think this will be the last gangster movie Martin Scorcese ever directs. In his earlier efforts like Goodfellas or Casino there is this feeling of awe in the grandeur of the life. He brought you into this underworld with a certain amount of excitement. That excitement is gone in this movie and what remains is a certain level of detachment and acceptance. Even ith all the violence and gore it definitely sounds like an old man is telling the story. A man that has seen it all and is never surprised. The best line in the movie is also the last. I won't give it away but it says it all. Acceptance, no remorse, no real regret, no huge emotion. This whole thing, this whole crap game, this gangster life, it never stops and its gotten pretty damn old. 

Don't get me wrong this is still a great movie. and funny too. I was not expecting something, anything half as funny. There were three screenwriters on this movie: William Monahan, Felix Chong, Siu Fai Mak. I don't know who did what, but there were a hell of a lot of great one-liners that I have to go back and memorize.
This movie also had a stellar cast with everyone doing an awesome job. Nicholson, DiCaprio, Wahlberg, Baldwin, Sheen. They all did a great job. My huge praise goes to Matt Damon though, who really completes the most twisted and distorted character of them all. NIcholson and DiCaprio might get Oscar nominations. I wouldn't be surprised either way. But Damon definitely deserves one, I will be dissapointed if he doesn't garner some attention.
The one weak point in this story is the one woman character again. She had a great part as the shrink to both undercover agents. She could have been great, but oppurtunities were missed and her part became quite useless. In this story she didn't even need to be there. You could have cut her and made the movie twenty minutes shorter: which also would have been a good idea.


Added commentary: Because I felt like it, I saw this movie once more in a theater on March 6th. It is a better movie the second time around. Everything that I didn't think made sense or didn't understand the first time around, this time I got. For instance, seen again, I don't think the woman charachter was a weak part and I don't see any reason to cut anything at all in this movie. The second time around it went much faster and smoother. I also got the moral. The movie's about lying and what goes with that territory. Pay attention first time watcher. There's no good or bad guys. This isn't cops and robbers. It's a game of cat and mouse. Catch that stinking rat.