• Best Achievement in Sound (went to "The Bourne Ultimatum")
• Best Achievement in Sound Editing (went to "The Bourne Ultimatum")
• Best Achievement in Visual Effects (went to "The Golden Compass")

As Louis Wu once said, "Tanj!".

(I bet a lotta people are scratching their heads over how box office-flop "The Golden Compass" got that one... So am I! )

Well, at least Jon Voight didn't earn it a Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Supporting Actor, eh? (He was up for four different films in this same category for 2007!) But let's also hope it gains a little more respect in the Saturn Awards- where it's up for Best Science-Fiction Film and Best Special Effects. (Considering the crowd it's up against, I'm betting on the latter.)
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CollectionDX Staff

Anyway, I see your point about sensitivity, Nekrodave. I feel you. I've always made it a point to be real about oppression: all folks need to work on racism or internalized racism. I'm no exception and "sensitivity" is certainly one part of my internalized racism (can ya really blame a person of color for that?). When it comes to bringing up something I see as being racist, I've been accused of being trigger happy before. But if I'm "trigger happy", then the challenge I put forth to my white friends is to take an honest look at yourselves to see if you're "gun shy"! ;) My experience has generally been that the latter often out-weighs for former.

Just like Nekrodave and I were saying just the other day: white folks want to be able to hang out with people of color without having to worry about every little thing they say...and people of color want to be able to hang out with white people without being afraid to bring up racism, which is a harsh reality in our lives.

Anyway, I was trying to be clear above when I responded to Josh's post: I know him pretty damn well. Y'know, he was the very first guy I ever met among the Boston-area toy collectors! I'm not confused about him or our friendship! I DID want to raise dialog about the particular language he used. I've encountered actual bigots who used those sorts of words before, and I simply wanted to make it clear how those words come off in general to people of color.

I certainly know Josh doesn't take my comments as "cries" or "rants". He's sharp: he is open-minded, he asks tough questions, and he's not afraid to share his thinking. But if a random white guy just walked up to me and called what I was saying about racism "crying" or "ranting", I'd be very insulted. That's all I was trying to say, and I wanted it to be clear to casual readers here.

Awww...I luv ya guys, ya racist pricks!! Hahaa!! ;)

Anyway, what I *really* find interesting is that not a single hardcore Transfan has hopped aboard to comment on the film's gross disregard for ANY of the existing TF lore. I have a buddy who's pretty hardcore into TF and comics. After seeing FF2 this summer, he couldn't stop telling me how miserable the movie was...NOT because of poor acting, trite plot elements, or uninspired special effects--but because it simply violated so much of what had been established about the Silver Surfer and Galactus in the books! Ironically, after seeing TF, he just complained about the basic bad film elements that've been brought up before--nothing about the Matrix of Leadership, Primus, Vector Sigma, etc...

Go figure!

Oh, and Atom: I, too, hope to hell they release an extended DVD edition akin to the LotR films. Just like TF, I found the theatrical releases of LotR pretty *meh*...but I adore the extended DVD editions. They just make so much more sense and flow so much better. An extended DVD of TF could add much-needed humor to the second half...and more action involving some of the other robots in the final battle. Here's to hoping!

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Sanjeev

As for editing and doing the effects, what I do know about the process is they do the “work” on smaller monitors but weekly review the footage on a larger screen. By that point however I would think that those working on the film “know” where to look.

Sanjeev, this is exactly what I mean when I say you can be a little oversensitive. You're seeing racism where there is no racism to be seen. The word used in that context is perfectly appropriate. Complaining about racial stereotypes in a movie is not "crying", but nit-picking over this type of vocabulary is, imo. It's the sort of thing that makes me dismissive of ones entire opinion (speaking in general terms, not your complaint about this movie in particular.) I mean, if someone chooses to find negativity in something that is not inherently negative, well, to quote Theo Epstein "That says more about you than it does about me." :)

"This must be settled the way nature intended....with a vicious, bloody fight!"
Onyx Blackman
Principal, Flatpoint High

I've seen this effect before: Aliens Vs. Predator. By no means a "good" movie, to be sure! ;) But the whole damn thing was really dark and during the fights, you got to see flashes of...stuff...and a couple alien blood squirts.

Now, AVP came on tv the other day (don't ask why I was watching it!) when I noticed something: the action sequences were significantly more enjoyable than I remembered them being in the theater. It took me about a minute to realize it was simply because I could tell what the hell was going on!!

Just having all the action condensed down onto a small screen, I was able to take everything in and follow all the bone-crushing, human-slicing, alien-exploding action. It was actually pretty damn cool! (Not that I'd ever consider buying AVP...*ahem*)

As my buddy and I were discussing this, we began to wonder if a) the film effects editors are going over the shots over and over again just on small monitors (so they know the action inside and out...while never getting its incoherent effect on a big screen)....OR b) they're simply optimizing the film for home theater experience (banking on dvd sales, rather than movie ticket sales).

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Sanjeev

And as for my "cries" of racism, I know you, in particular, don't mean anything by the term...but it is a tad telling, isn't it? I mean, don't you find it curious that whenever a person of color tries to bring up a rational discussion of racism in order to raise dialog about something a bit off, it's viewed as "crying" by white people?

You've mentioned some other "stereotypes" of white characters in the movie. I'm honestly not so convinced that those are established negative racial stereotypes...as much as fictional character archetypes that happen to be tired and banal. Can you honestly say that the stereotypes of those white characters you've mentioned are even remotely as racially-charged as those for the characters of color? Come on.

Sure, the black soldier wasn't so bad...but everyone else. Yikes! By the way, there WAS an Asian in the movie: the Indian phone support guy...who happened to be grossly insensitive and incompetent. Wonderful.

Seriously, give that blog entry a read. I noticed you referred to it as a "rant". Again, I'm sure you don't mean anything by that turn of phrase, but it's worth mentioning that it's hardly a rant. It's a measured, logical reaction from someone who wasn't expecting to be blindsided by pretty obvious racial stereotyping in a supposedly innocent movie.

But you're right that what we're discussing is far from a Spike Lee joint. I was certainly NOT expecting socially-conscious commentary from this movie! I was expecting big robots banging the crap outta each other...and for the most part, the movie delievered. It's just that, as is often the case with racism, ya just don't see it coming. Here I am, enjoying some nice alien robots bashing each other...then the minstrel show starts...

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Sanjeev

Overall, I liked the movie a lot. I thought it was well done, fun, and entertaining.

I do agree with a lot of the criticism stated above. The hacker subplot was useless, both Jon Voight and John Tuturro's characters were worthless. The plot point about taking the cube into the city.. WHY?!?! that was just stupid.

But this is not a movie that you want to over-think. It's not citizen Kane, and it's not going to win any awards for acting. If you come into the movie expecting giant robots smashing each other, you wont be let down. The CGI was great, and I thought the music choices were excellent.

Of course, I have some additional criticisms. Like many others, the new designs grew on me. But I found that they were animated so busily that it was hard to get a good sense of what most of them looked like because none of them seemed to stand still. Aside from Prime, Bumblebee and Megatron, you really don't get a whole good look at any of the designs. I feel I am only familiar with them because of the toy designs. I wish they would have slowed down a little and given some more face time with the robots. This goes even moreso for the Decepticons. I just remember these cool whirling masses of steel and sparks, but for the life of me, I can't tell you one face from the other, aside from Megatron. Megatron was unleashed too late in the movie, and the ever classic rivalry between Megatron and Starscream was hardly used. Also, Megatron's jet mode was only seen from far away and in short bursts.

I thought the plot point with Sam and the Allspark was pretty dumb as well. Yeah, lets give the source of life for all Transformers to a small, flesh creature, and then give him the task to somehow evade the most powerful Transformer there is. Of course, I also thought it was stupid for Megatron to try and "bargain" with Sam to get the cube? Just kill him and take it! How is it that he has been frozen for 70 years but still knows the stupid villain cliche's?

And in response to Sanjeev's cries of racism, I see your point on a few sides. But also, lets not overlook the white stereotypes - the wealthy white family obsessed with their lawns and their little dog. The bumbling incompetent White bureaucrat. The Spoiled guido with the spinning rims. The nerdy teacher with glasses. I haven't read the angryblackwoman's rant, but I saw some positive black stereotypes as well. How about a black guy being the worlds best computer hacker? How about the black military guy? I'm not saying those make up for the inequalities, but it wasn't all bad. And what about the Asians? In a movie about Giant robots (which originally were derived from Japanese toy designs), there were no Asian characters. In fact the only mention of the Japanese is Sam questioning the Autobots country of origin. How about a hot white chick being one of the best hackers in the country?

The film was not made with that kind of sensitivity in mind, and I think if you go into that with that mindset, you will be fine. I mean, it's a movie about giant transforming robots, not a spike lee film.

The film also left me with a few unanswered questions. Why dissolve Sector 7? They obviously know a lot about the Transformers, and as they said, they derived all of our modern technology from them. Does the general public know about the Transformers now? During the fight in the city and on the dam, they hardly kept a low profile. If that is the case, why maintain a vehicle disguise? If the allspark is gone, does that mean no new Transformers can be created? How did Sam know that the Allspark would create an energy beam that would "overload" megatron?

So yeah, I had some faults with it, but in all it was a fun time. Go see it, just don't expect to have to use a lot of brainpower.

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CollectionDX Admin

Fortunately, later that night Tuvok hit the screen to show how to act without black stereotypes (or personality of ANY kind)! LOL

"This must be settled the way nature intended....with a vicious, bloody fight!"
Onyx Blackman
Principal, Flatpoint High

. "Dinobots, destroy Devestator!"-Optimus Prime TFTM