Tag: John Turturro

Transformers 3 – Dark of the Moon (IMAX)

By إبن البيطار (Own work) [GFDL (www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html) or CC-BY-SA-3.0-2.5-2.0-1.0 (www.creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia CommonsOur second IMAX treat inside of a week after HP7b, only this time we got there early enough to get nice seats right in the middle and far enough back that we weren’t inside the flipping 3D.

Transformers: Dark of the Moon

“Uh-oh, now this is a clufterf…”

Plot-in-a-nutshell: Big robots fight other big robots.

See it if you like: Huge, eye-candy filled special effects films with lots of things being crashed, smushed, blown up, crushed, exploded, etc.

I’ve heard of comments on the internet and even on the radio about films such as Transformers 3, most of it negative and a lot of it saying it’s damaging cinema. I don’t get this. Sure, it’s low brow. It rewrites history ever so slightly, but, hey, this isn’t meant to be a “based on a true story” flick like U-571 or Enigma, both of which shat on the memories of a good number of people.

What it is is entertaining. In a huge way. And I can’t see what’s wrong with people wanting to go to the cinema to be entertained. Surely that’s the whole point?

My one major issue with the first two films was the level of detail in the robotic transformations that I simply couldn’t see. Despite seeing them on the big screen, the incredible computer work was gone in a flash as the robots zoomed past and even a decent cinema seemed too small. That swung my decision to cough up the extra and see this final one on IMAX.

Bloody hell, was it worth it. The 3D isn’t the greatest (most of it was shot in 35mm and converted to 3D in post-production), but the CGI work is simply incredible. This is an effects movie, and it holds no quarter. Everything about it is simply huge, yet the level of detail put into it shows a great degree of skill from those involved.

OK, enough harping on about the geeks in the back room. The story isn’t half bad either and the 157 minutes or so runtime barely drags at any point. Given the length, it could almost have been split into two films which might have raked in some more money, but it would have been pushing it just a bit. The scripting is tight, the dialogue is nicely witty at times and the plot holes can be nicely ignored. Just plug them with popcorn and get over it. It’s a film.

The cast are pretty much by-the-numbers and predominantly the same as the previous two with the exception of Megan Fox who allegedly called director Michael Bay a nazi and was promptly sacked. Frankly, she’s not missed and new totty Rosie Huntington-Whiteley (who sounds as posh as her name) fills the “boobs, lips and legs” rôle perfectly adequately. Shia LaBeouf runs with his character from the first two films and continues to have one of the silliest names of any film star at the moment.

Best background character goes to Dutch (Alan Tudyk), the man-servant/sidekick of mental ex-FBI agent Simmons (John Turturro). Nicely subservient with an undertone of mental. Oh, and then there are all the military characters who could be from any film of this ilk. Out to save the world and kicking ass while they do it. You’ve seen these guys before in The Rock, Invasion: LA, etc.

Star of the show, though, are the Transformers and the sheer scale of the thing. Even if you don’t see it in 3D, you have got to see it on IMAX. I simply can’t imagine watching this on a smaller screen.

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Cars 2

By إبن البيطار (Own work) [GFDL (www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html) or CC-BY-SA-3.0-2.5-2.0-1.0 (www.creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia CommonsOnce again I’m glad to say that I avoided the dreaded enforced 3D by going to see a kids’ film. It may have enhanced about 30 seconds of the film, but hardly worth the discomfort of watching the remainder through those stupid bloody sunglasses.

Cars 2

“Tow Mater, average intelligence.”

Plot-in-a-nutshell: Mader gets mixed up in the spy world as Lightning McQueen undertakes a World Grand Prix.

See if it you like: PIXAR films – it’s a classic example

As usual, we missed the start of the film. This seems to be an annoyingly regular feature of going with the kids, but it’s never their fault. This time it was flipping roadworks with no diversion signs. Thanks, Glasgow Council. Thanks a lot.

Anyway, we only missed a couple of minutes and the beginning of the film takes us right into the spy aspect of the movie. It was brilliant – deserving of an Bond movie and introducing Finn McMissile (Michael Caine), a character originally planned to be just a passing joke in the first film. Instead they held back on the scene he was meant to be in and made him a major character in this one.

We’re swiftly reintroduced to the two leads from last time around, a plot is formed around them touring the world and off we go.

The scenery and imagination used to come up with it is nothing short of amazing. The lifts in the party room before the first race are huge pistons, the Italian Riviera has car-based shapes carved into the hillsides, even the models of cars used for the incidental characters have been carefully planned out to be just right. And that’s even before you spot all the little in-jokes in the background, such as the banners advertising “Lassetyres” (the film’s director is John Lasseter).

I can’t fault the voice acting, either, but with the cast used that’s not a surprise. I mean Michael flipping Caine? Awesome. Owen Wilson and Larry The Cable Guy (seriously – who the hell would work under that pseudonym?) reprise their roles well from the original while Caine is joined by the likes of Emily Mortimer (a sexier voice you will never hear from an automobile), Eddie Izzard and John Turturro.

There is a downside, though. The film has a great story. And a good plot. But to move this forward, there’s a fair bit of dialogue and this means quite a number of fairly static scenes. As an upshot, younger kids might get a little bored as they just want to see the fast-paced action scenes and vehicles hurting themselves. Certainly, Little Mister did. He spent a good while moving up and down the rows. He wasn’t alone, either, with a couple of children near us literally running around the theatre at points. The adults in the audience, however, seemed engrossed.

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