Transformers: Past, Present, and Future

When I was a kid, watching trucks, cars, boats, and airplanes transform from their vehicle mode to robot mode was absolutely mind blowing and awesome.  I would sit and watch for hours, retaining nothing more than the sound effect and the transformation from one form to another.  Then playing with those toys, creating my own little scenarios and making that awesome transformation sound.. It was the life.

Upon growing up to the age where I could actually follow a story-line, understand the universe created, and begin to understand each of the characters abilities/strengths/weaknesses, I fell even more in love with the ever so popular franchise.

After watching the Transformers Movie that was released in 1986, that had set the precedence in my mind as who they were, how things should be, and if anything should ever get remade: this movie should be the template in which to create from.

Being 31 now, and after seeing the new Transformer Movies, I am disappointed.  Now, with that being said, if I had never followed so closely to the 1986 movie, and set my expectations higher, I think that the new movies are great - considering all the time, writing, design, CGI, etc etc..  There has to be a good applause for Bay's vision of the Transformers.

BUT!!  I still don't see the "essence" of the Transformers in his new movies.  The one big fail that I will bring up first is the Matrix of Leadership (outside of the Transformers looking like they are a morphed version of a Transformer and a Bionicle).  I'm not sure what the writers were thinking, but I could only wish that I was involved in the decision making process regarding that piece of the legacy (sha'right).  The Matrix is NOT something that was buried in a ancient tomb, created by other Primes' bodies, and then once obtained, 'stabbed' in to the chest of a transformer to bring it back to life.

In the original story-line, the Matrix of Leadership was stored in Optimus Prime's chest, and was handed over to Ultra Magnus for him to take leadership over the Autobots when Optimus was on his deathbed.  But, during the hand-off, the Matrix slipped out of Prime's hand and before falling to the floor, Hot Rod saved it.  During that split-second moment that he held on to the Matrix, it reacted in such a way that it 'chose' Hot Rod as the next leader.  Hot Rod then continued his rescue of the falling Matrix and handed over to Ultra Magnus.  Ultra opened his chest, and inserted the Matrix for save keeping.  Later, after Megatron became Galvatron by means of Unicron, Galvatron killed Ultra Magnus and stole the Matrix thinking he killed the leader of the Autobots not knowing that the next true leader would be Hot Rod/Rodimus.

I don't understand how the writers could have formed such a convoluted and different model for the Matrix in Revenge of the Fallen.  Considering it's how Rodimus Prime 'came to be'.  It's just a giant hole in the story, and I wish I could have been on the writing team - but we all have our big dreams.

Enough of my rant about the Matrix, there are other rants I could go on-and-on about - but I won't continue to bore you on the subject.

I hope that the 3rd Transformers will bring some elements from the G1 series that helps make up for the disappointment of the Revenge of the Fallen. 

A couple things that I can see in the trailer for Dark of the Moon:

1. The SpaceBridge, which was used often in the G1 series.

2. Though the ship had crash landed in to the moon, the thrusters and shape of the ship look like a good realistic replacement for the ship that crash landed in to the mountain on Earth in the first season of the G1 series.

No doubt, I will be seeing the 3rd Transformers.  But, in the back of my head, I hope there are producers out there that are fans such as I am, that would want to take a shot at a reboot that would be a little more related to how the Autobots and Deceptions really are.

"Limitless"

After seeing the previews for this movie, I couldn't wait to see it.  The story seemed so strong, and my mind was already plugging the holes of how the plot would unfold.  Yet, when I watched the movie I was sadly disappointed with the story-line.  By no means that I'm saying it's a "bad" movie, but I was expecting to give it high marks, but I just couldn't.  There were a few elements that were just so unrealistic, granted a movie a about a pill that unlocks your brain is a little far fetched, but still.  I would still recommend seeing it, but don't get your expectation up there like I did.

Prince of Persia: Sands of Time

Ok, so I know I'm little (actually a lot) late, but I just saw this movie.  Overall, I give it a B, but I'm not really here to write a review about the movie, at least tonight.  I wanted to point out a few elements that could have made this an Assassin's Creed movie.  The scaling of the walls, the jumping from rooftop to rooftop with guards chasing.  The standing on a perch while the camera did a 360 degree pan of the city..  little things like this instantly had me thinking about the game.  I mean, even the little details like the white cloths (which in the game signified where a good run starts.) 

I'm not complaining, just pointing out.  As for the story, his father gets killed and he seeks revenge (like the game) (which is also a general basis for many movies.. so I'm not really sure I can use that one in this case - but it's still there.)  He kills corrupt people of power, much like the game.

In all honesty, I think they could have changed a few names in the story and pulled off an Assassin's Creed movie with a time element twist.  Not to mention, in the game, the time element resides in the "Animus".  So, time travel/time alteration is still there.

Just a few points to think about.  Have a different opinion?  Let's talk about it!

The Lincoln Lawyer

Not sure what it is, but I saw the trailer for this movie last night and immediately was interested.  The movie has a star studded cast; check out the deets here.  The trailer does seem to give away the movie, but I'm hoping that there are some twists and turns that aren't shown.

Shane Black might be Iron Man 3 Director

I just read about this over at Dark Horizons (Article Here).  At first I was really disappointed learning that Favreau wasn't going to be the man to direct.  But, I do find myself saying that Iron Man 2 was good, but not 'that' good.

I've seen Black's movies: Lethal Weapon(writer),  The Long Kiss Goodnight(writer), and Kiss Kiss Bang Bang (directed and wrote) and have enjoyed them all.  Kiss Kiss Bang Bang was a nice surprise.  I really enjoyed the narrating aspect of that movie; it was very fun to watch. 

Favorite Move of All Time

For me, it's got to be Back to the Future.

1.  It's got great script writing, obviously.  But the fact that Part 2 arrived 4 years later, and picked up EXACTLY where 1 left off is just sweet as hell.  You only get about 3 minutes of back story and that's it.  Same with #3.  It's impressively superb.

2.  Even with a casting change from Claudia Wells to Elizabeth Shue for role of Jennifer Parker; it was almost seamless.  I'm not saying that it's not obvious, but Shue was able to deliver the lines and mimic mannerisms of the original that she was a great replacement.

3. It's the ultimate science fiction, coming of age, underdog, comedy, serious movie I've ever seen.

4. The Timeline.  Back to #1, the timeline stays consistent throughout the writing.  Going from '85, to '55, to 2015, to Alternate '85, back to '55, then 1885 and finally ending in '85.  The writing stays consistent, and almost impossible to poke holes in.  If you can find some, bring them up - let's talk about them.

Check out this artwork for the movies, it's pretty interesting the way the artist portrays the timeline:  Here

"Primer"

Great movie about a couple of friends that create a device that can suspend small objects in mid-air.  But what they don't realize, at first, is the true potential of the device on a larger scale.  Enjoy this indy film shot right here in DFW (Las Colinas) on a budget of 7k.  Truly a great piece of work for such a small budget.

SuperBowl Movie Trailers

Thanks to DarkHorizons, they've put together a great list of the SuperBowl movie trailers.  Check it out here!!

Dark Horizons is one of my favorite movie news sites, actually, they're really the only one that I follow on a regular basis.  Add it to your daily web surfing!

New to this!

This is my first attempt at blogging, so give me a little wiggle room to get adjusted to the newness :)  I've been using Facebook as a medium to post about movies, providing links to the stories and news about current or upcoming movies.  That, in combination with my love to talk about movies in general, inspired my decision to create my own "blogspot." Or, at least a creative outlet to work on.

So, with this blog named Movie Lover, you can only imagine it's going to be about movies, new and old, news on upcoming titles, and etc.  No real game plan other than to discuss movies.

So, if you've made it here, please enjoy what you've found and feel free to comment!

--RockmanRob