The voice work for the transformers is as top notch as ever with Peter Cullen taking to the character with his usual skill as well as Hugo Weaving who is just great as Megatron. Despite my problems with the movie, the massive carnage is quite impressive along with the design of the Transformers themselves who help keep the film afloat at its lowest. Despite not being the worst movie of 2007, there’s no denying that “Transformers” was a clunky mess that had zero direction and almost little appeal beyond the target demographics: 1. People looking for robot smashing and 2. Megan Fox. Both of which were vastly over sold elements with little pay off, come the climax.
Tag Archives: Science Fiction
Transmorphers: Fall of Man (2009)
Tiny Juggernaut’s special effects are pretty good when compared to other indie productions and though it’s all mostly takes on the Transformers, the robot menaces are pretty sleek and cool to watch as they fuck shit up in civilization. I’m still not sure why we need an attack from a cell phone, but Tiny Juggernaut keeps the special effects standard and old school quite often. And who ever creates the one sheets over at The Asylum, I commend them on their artistic ability. If anything The Asylum is great for providing great cover art for their productions. I also enjoyed some of what director Wheeler brings to the screen. There’s even a really ominous sequence where our hero and heroine realize that the signal these robots have sent out just didn’t get intercepted and comets are falling to the sky with the alien menace in tow. It’s a great scene that is thankfully sold by star Shane Van Dyke’s shocked reaction.
Max Fleischer's Superman 1941-1942 (DVD)
Speaking as a hardcore fan of the Man of Steel it was a real thrill to sit down and watch the collection of animated shorts from the Fleischer’s from the period of the forties that gave way to the innovation of rotoscoping and telling genuinely entertaining stories where Superman takes on a new obstacle every time from mad scientists, mobsters, and giant monsters. The quality is fantastic this time around and you get to peruse the Superman animated episodes based around their dates released.
Star Wars Clone Wars (Season 1, Volume 1): A Galaxy Divided (DVD)
Sure its film counterpart got a lot of bad reviews at the movie theaters, but guess what kids. “The Clone Wars” does not suck. In fact as a series is a damn good dramatic science fiction opera that works its way through arcs instead of providing self contained stories, which kids shows usually consist of. “A Galaxy Divided” consists of four episodes of “The Clone Wars” and starts off strong. “Ambush” is a fine beginner to an already strong premise and probably the best of the foursome as Master Yoda takes to aggressive negotiations that bring him and three clone soldiers to the mercy of an endless army of robot drones and the empire’s worst warrior: Asaj Ventress.
Star Trek (2009)
I’ve never been much of a fan of “Star Trek” as personally I’ve always found the intelligence vastly oversold by zealous fans, but I digress. I’ve spent most times admiring the light saber than I have the USS Enterprise and I think JJ Abrams has found a great balance where even folks who have written off the franchise can enter with a clean palette. And that’s not easy considering the Trek has lost its punch over the last ten years with a waning film series and television stake. “Star Trek” is a film that reboots the aforementioned franchise with all of its guns loaded as it looks to not only show what becomes of James T. Kirk and Spock but who their parents were and how they lived as soldiers of the Star Fleet.
Push (2009)
Pushers are described as people who can make others see what they want them to see. And minutes later they’re described instead as people who can simply push things with their minds guided by their hands. Often, “Push” can never seem to make heads or tails of itself but that doesn’t mean I didn’t have a good time getting to the end of the road with Paul McGuigan’s absolutely guilty pleasure of an actioner. “Push” belongs in that class of films I call “Not Quite X-Men,” movies that play out like origin stories to comic book characters and like the previous title “Jumper,” McGuigan’s “Push” aspires to be nothing more than a super powered “Fugitive” that uses all settings and space to make the best of a pretty thin plot and a pretty thin budget that takes the story to great levels of action and thrills.
Metal Man (2008)
The very fact that the producers and creators behind “Metal Man” made this film boggles my mind and leaves me stumped. Why they didn’t seek out the folks behind this “Iron Man” rip off is a missed opportunity to inform these companies to vie for original productions and not knock offs. I will give this to them, the people behind “Metal Man” are not the Asylum film studios. This messy amateur production relies on a metal suited hero named Metal Man whose color scheme is a red and yellowed armor that enables super abilities whenever he’s fighting crime.