One day, MichaelBay will fulfill his destiny and perhaps his fondest wish and make a film that is nothing but big explosions. With TRANFORMERS: REVENGE OF THE FALLEN, he has come very close. This benighted cacophony is a painful blend of overproduced action and shameless exposition. The sense of fun found in the original is… Read More »
STAR TREK –INTO DARKNESS
The best speculative fiction is rooted firmly in reality. Though set in faraway lands, planets or time, it speaks, nonetheless, directly to the issues and emotions of its audience. Smart writers know that, and this is why the continuing re-boot of the Star Trek franchise is so wildly successful. Set in an alternate timeline from… Read More »
THE ISLAND
We don’t turn to Michael Bay (PEARL HARBOR) for subtlety. Like Renny Harlin, he enjoys blowing things up real good and usually after he’s sent them careening along city streets at breakneck paces calculated to inflict the most bodily and property damage as possible en route. And so it was with some curiosity that I… Read More »
MISSION IMPOSSIBLE 3
MISSION IMPOSSIBLE 3 asks the cinematic question, “Why wander away inconspicuously from the scene of the latest mission when you can speed away at full throttle on the Tiber River?” It’s a spy fantasy and the answers to questions like that, and there are lots of them throughout the needless running time of over two hours,… Read More »
TRANSFORMERS
TRANSFORMERS is a good-natured sci-fi romp complete with super secret government agencies, uber-hackers that are barely old enough to vote, and rampaging robots from outer space. Those last would be the eponymous Transformers, sentient robots on a mission. What sets this effort apart from the pack is the way all of that furthers a much… Read More »