Comments on: Boiling Point: Blockbusters

By: pretty_weird

pretty_weird — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 00:51:39 +0000

It sucks that people who went to see Transformers get called idiots or are told they have poor taste in movies. Was anyone really expecting a deep, introspective movie full of meaning and wisdom?
Great article, Mr. Fure

By: awillftw

awillftw — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 18:21:19 +0000

There's nothing wrong with summer blockbusters. I love summer blockbusters, but is it so much to ask for a little fucking quality in our summer movies? Transformers was a steaming pile of shit, pure and simple. It was overwrought, filled with retarded comic relief and clumsy exposition. Not to mention, it's a two and a half hour movie about ROBOTS FIGHTING, and there's only THREE major fight scenes in the whole goddamn thing. It's ridiculous.

But despite Transformers being weak, there's nothing wrong with summer blockbusters. Star Trek, Up, Iron Man, The Dark Knight are all fantastic examples of blockbusters that didn't sacrifice quality in being fun. The two aren't mutually exclusive. Every critic trashing Transformers is doing so because it's fucking retarded, not because it's not a $15 million indie movie. Stop classifying everyone who can realize that Transformers sucked as a latte-sipping elitist simply because they can recognize quality in a movie. Summer blockbusters are not the enemy, shitty movies are the enemy, just as they always have been.

By: Nick DeNife

Nick DeNife — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 07:43:41 +0000

AMEN!!!

By: Anon

Anon — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 05:34:09 +0000

see the problem is with the new transformers flick isn't that it's a mindless action flick.

it's an action flick with absoulutely zero synapses firing at all. it's completely brain dead.

the 1st one was watchable. wasn't the best but it looks like gold next to Transformers 2.

you can have an action flick/popcorn flick whatever you wanna call it. that STILL has a coherent plot and not just random 'shiny explosions' that make no sense in wtf is going on in the movie. (Iron man being a great example of this. great action scenes, check. great acting, check. great plot/storyline check.)

transformers 2. had only one of these. great action scenes. and by great i mean CGI. :P

anyways i dont want the transformer 2/bayformers to come beating down my door so i'll stop now.

I'm all for summer blockbusters but we need BETTER movies (yes i know the $500 billion that transformers 2 made says it's good enuff but sorry it's not. not IMO). Oh well summers not over yet maybe we'll get a few good ones in july/august.

By: terrifictwilight

terrifictwilight — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 03:54:55 +0000

Sorry about the crappy grammar. I meant:
I respect your position and passion, but positioning ROTF as some paragon….

By: terrifictwilight

terrifictwilight — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 03:52:52 +0000

I respect your position and your position, but I positioning it as some paragon of Summer Blockbusters is insulting to quality summer blockbusters that other commenters have mentioned (TDK, Spider-Man, Iron Man, etc.,) It doesn't take much to think otside the box and make something clever and creative and I don't believe Bay and his crew did that. They took the easy bet(make no mistake there was very little gamble involved with this flick; it was a guaranteed moneymaker out the gate) and made something that didn't remotely challenge the audience's expectations. I also think its a very real concern that mindless movies like ROTF will become, as if they aren't already, the dominant template for genre filmmaking. Hollywood is a business and ROTF just proved it, and movies of its ilk, will always be big business. If you don't believe that this phenomenon jeopardizes smaller, more creative films then your entitled to that opinion, but I see the writing on the wall. Let's see if you feel the same after Transformers 5: Rise of the Revenge of the Last Stand of the Fallen Predacons.

By: Kangaroo Be Stoned

Kangaroo Be Stoned — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 02:38:03 +0000

IMDb is not good for ratings. It's highly probable that people spam votes for films they don't like and films they do like.

By: Ape Tooth

Ape Tooth — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 01:16:35 +0000

Great rant, this is exactly what i've been arguing.

By: RRoD

RRoD — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 01:02:10 +0000

Well, the public didn't love it that much… I mean it's only rated a 6.5 at IMDB. Not a bad grade but franchise/established movies usually come out of the gate with much higher grades and we all know IMDB is the nadir of movie discussion sites, so it's reception is definitely mixed among the public.

By: deltavoyage

deltavoyage — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 00:41:35 +0000

Why are we still talking about this a week and a half after ROTF came out? I'm pretty sure we covered everything there is to cover about ROTF. The public loved it, the critics despised it.

Can we move on with our lives now?

By: Kangaroo Be Stoned

Kangaroo Be Stoned — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 23:25:02 +0000

Exactly. “Slumdog” made a lot of money after it won Best Picture.

By: RobertFure

RobertFure — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 22:30:56 +0000

Just point him towards the Academy Awards. Movies like Transformers or Iron Man won't get nominated for Best Picture or Screenplay, while lots of smaller films will be – and the exposure gets them tons of cash.

By: RobertFure

RobertFure — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 22:29:23 +0000

Anyone can say whatever they want in the comments section – that's my favorite part of the site to read (take that, Neil!). And I'm not aiming at anyone fan or Transformers hater. I'm aiming at the critics who criticized not only Transformers but the summer blockbuster institution and then, further, called anyone who liked this movie an idiot.

By: Kangaroo Be Stoned

Kangaroo Be Stoned — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 22:00:09 +0000

The problem with critics is that you have people like Ebert, who are inconsistent with reviews of films in a series, who make factual errors, and use logic when reviewing for some films but not with others. I know people are probably getting tired of me bagging on Ebert, but the man is no longer a great reviewer. He ruined his credibility as a reviewer to me when he made a factual error in his review of ROTF, edited the review to remove it, then edited it again to fix the mistake. That's dishonest. He should have left the error in his review. I would have respected him more if he had done that.

By: Kangaroo Be Stoned

Kangaroo Be Stoned — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 21:56:16 +0000

I am currently in a debate with some retarded film student (no offense to the film student graduates here. You guys have shown that there can be good non-arthouse films) on a forum I visit. He made the claim that because of films like ROTF, indie films, films that are “truly good”, will never receive the recognition they deserve and won't receive wide release. People like this film student are delusional. As long as Scorsese, Jackson, Guillermo del Toro, Alfonso Cuaron, etc are around, excellent films will be made and they do stand a chance at the box office.

By: John Strickland

John Strickland — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 21:53:42 +0000

I love summer blockbusters. These are the kind of movies people remember from their childhood. I remember sitting in the theater on July 4, 1996, watching Independence Day and being amazed. You don't hear anybody reminiscing about how blown away they were when they saw The English Patient that same year.

That being said, Transformers 2 was a piece of shit. It was stupid, banal, insulting, pointlessly crass, and emotionally devoid. There are many summer blockbusters that aren't any of those things, and are proof that you can bring more to the table than explosions and robot dick-n-fart jokes.

By: Peter Donohue

Peter Donohue — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 21:53:34 +0000

Agreed. Fure, I think that you're being a little too hard on critics here. On the other hand, I was one of the people who saw Away We Go (my verdict: nothing special, but their were some good moments) instead of ROTF, so maybe I'm being too apologetic.

By: DrChicago

DrChicago — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 20:27:00 +0000

Didn’t Cage win an oscar before The Rock? And it also had Sean Connery. Plus Will Smith before Bad Boys was a well known star, not nearly as big as he is today, but he had box office pull. Obviously The Island and Scarlett Joe can’t be used as an argument since The Island tanked. Also Bay didn’t make Shia a star, Spielberg did. He already had Disturbia as a hit and he was going to get that role in Indy with or without Transformers. The robots sold Transformers, if any other director did these movies they still would have been big hits. Very few general audience members went to go see Transformers because Bay’s name was on it, they were more convinced by the robots and Spielberg being a producer on it. Armageddon had Bruce Willis! Ben Affleck was already well know and it had a bunch of other well known actors, they sold that movie. His films make bank not because of his name but the other aspects you brought up i.e. well known actors, good producers, and good trailers.

By: ERoBB

ERoBB — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 20:17:55 +0000

Shame on people for expecting a film site to differentiate from popcorn flicks and smart pictures. Come on man. Feel free to do your thing, but the reason this comment section exists is for the readers to give their feedback. Well, they gave it.

By: Reebee7

Reebee7 — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 20:13:07 +0000

I like the theme, and the point, but there's something else here: critics gave films like Iron Man and Star Trek fantastic reviews. Transformers has been panned.

Now I'm not saying you can't enjoy the movie. But I think it's clear it lacks intelligence present in even most summer blockbusters. Star Trek and Iron Man were blockbusters, but they weren't just 'dumb entertainment.'

Now, part of the critics problem is that they do have a thing for Michael Bay. I'm not a fan of transformers, but I like a lot of his other movies. Pearl Harbor aside, he's put out some entertaining movies. The Island actually looked like a break from the mold as well, until the second half started.

I still think that it takes some intelligence to make dumb entertainment. Most people think Transformers lacks that, and it bothers them that it's making more money than God. But the cash votes are in, and as you say people just wanted to watch some explosions. But critics have shown they don't hate the blockbuster (Iron Man, Star Trek, The Dark Knight, Spider-Man 2, Casino Royale, etc. etc.), they just hate THIS blockbuster.