transformers

ive seen this one a few times now, and i figure i should say a few words about it. the first time i saw it was opening weekend in theaters, and i loved it! i had always intended to head back and see it again on the big screen, but the summer passed by faster than i thought it would. oh well.

a few weeks ago it came out on dvd. i, always a sucker for special movie packaging, had to get the two disc version from target. the case is so ridiculous that its actually quite impressive. they made the dvd case into a transforming robot. it looks really stupid as the case, and it doesnt really look much better as the robot. but thats not the point, the point is that its really outrageous and lame- which automatically means awesome!

i watched it when i first got it and is fun factor was still intact, even on a smaller screen. the film itself does a great job of bringing a back story to the robots. they did a really great job on optimus prime and the effect of all the robots changing. the human characters are passable for the most part (i still can not stand the girl with the australian accent, i know its real but it sounds totally fake!) the 'all spark' cube is a bit lame, but they needed a macguffin, and it did enough to serve its purpose. would have loved a few more fight scenes, but thats when a sequel is for, i guess... on top of a good movie was the second disc. the bonus second disc is worth the purchase alone, it goes very in depth about the production and everything that went into making it. some of the shots of how they filmed and then added in the robots was more interesting then i expected.

i just watched it a third time this week, this time with the director commentary on. and once again, i am impressed. having listened to many, many director commentaries, i was quite impressed with michael bays candor. usually the people doing the commentary end up kissing each others butt the whole time 'oh, you were so great in that scene', 'oooh, i loved the camera angle you used there' (im looking at you, kevin costner), or they become very technical or just plain nonsense (that you be you, tim burton). but on this commentary, bay is completely honest about what went right, what went wrong, how the transformer fans helped or were wrong about different stuff. it was refreshing, to hear someone tell it like it is and actually give some insight into the movie making process.

all in all, it was one of those rare things: a great movie, with even better dvd extras!