Filmspotting #167: Sicko / Transformers / Top 5 'Fight The Power' Movies
July 6: Michael Moore and Michael Bay are about as different as two directors can be. One traffics in left-wing propaganda, hoping to affect change or, at the very least, provoke outrage; the other traffics in big-budget, effects-driven spectacles, hoping to entertain or, at the very least, provoke massive headaches. But despite their obvious differences, including their respective platforms (non-fiction vs. narrative), the two Mikes arguably share the distinction of being the two least subtle filmmakers in cinema today, wielding their cameras as blunt instruments aimed at bludgeoning their audiences into submission. The always controversial Moore doesn't appear on screen in his latest effort, "Sicko," a two-hour tirade against the U.S. health care system, until almost 50 minutes into the film. Adam and Time Out Chicago's Scott Smith discuss Moore's (slightly) less confrontational approach and rate "Sicko" against his previous films.
In Kevin Smith's hilarious "Clerks II," Randal Graves denounces the "Transformers" as "an unholy curse from the beast we call the Desolate One." Randal surely wasn't offering an early review of Bay's new film based on the popular '80s animated TV series and line of Hasbro toys. Or was he? Adam and Scott weigh in... and wind up feeling really old.
Also on the show: Listener Feedback, Massacre Theatre, and our Top 5 'Fight The Power' Movies.
Music by Jon Rauhouse courtesy of Bloodshot Records.
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Filmspotting #167
:22-17:10 - Review: "Sicko"
Music: Jon Rauhouse w/ Neko Case, "East of the Sun"
18:10-31:10 - Review: "Transformers"
Music: Jon Rauhouse w/ Rachel Flotard, "Harbor Lights"
31:41-33:58 - New DVDs, Donations
33:59-36:41 - Massacre Theatre (Winner: Stan Bell)
36:42-40:40 - Poll Questions
40:41-46:51 - Listener Feedback (Top 5 Actors We'd Cast)
Music: Jon Rauhouse w/ Kelly Hogan, "Big Iron"
47:19-1:02:58 - Top 5: 'Fight The Power' Movies
1:02:59-1:04:30 - Close/Next Show
CORRECTIONS/NOTES
- The couple I referred to as having six daughters during the "Sicko" review had six children -- but not all daughters.
- "Tauzin switches sides from drug industry overseer to lobbyist"
- Joe Schmidt correctly points out that Lee J. Cobb was the original juror #3 in "12 Angry Men," not George C. Scott who was in the Showtime Channel remake. My bad.
Have a comment or Top 5 list you'd like to share? Send an e-mail or short mp3 clip to feedback@filmspotting.net. Or give us a call at 206-203-CINE and leave a voice message.
Labels: Michael Bay, Michael Moore, Sicko, Transformers
posted by Adam @ 1:31 AM
5 comments
5 Comments:
Re Transformers, which I have not seen yet, well... Everything you felt was missing from it was available to you in a different movie that you decided to skip the week before because you has written it off as unworthy of a review: Live Free or Die Hard. First the bad: computer stuff. Awful. Hackers level awful. In fact, this would make a fine companion piece with Hackers. The computer bits are laughable. The Good: Everything else. Good old fashioned real world stunts and F/X work (with some obligatory computer work toward the end). Bruce Willis still can let John McClane take him over and become the most brutally beaten underdog you will cheer for this summer. Justin Long (straight off his excellent work as Zerk in The Sasquatch Dumpling Gang) actually hits every mark as Matt the computer geek. Kevin Smith actually works quite well as "The Warlock" and Timothy Olyphant lets us know that every now and then the bad guys are just Americans teaching us a lesson we needed to be taught.
So, you missed the better of the two big action flicks this summer. As much as I appreciate that you did a movie I really want to see (Paris, Je T'aime), I hate that you chose a movie you hated over a movie that would have at least made you smile a little throughout.
As much as I loved Die Hard 4, you're off on one important point. Willis has completely lost McClane. The whole attraction of McClane in the original Die Hard was that he was just a normal guy - granted, with a huge set of balls - in the wrong place at the wrong time; in 4, he's goddamn Superman, and the character and movie lose something for that.
:) See, that's the part I enjoyed. They essentially tweaked the implausibility just over the edge in LFoDH. He's still the same McClane, he's just 20 years older and three nasty episodes later. For me, the whole scene in the car with Matt is about that. Someone has to be "that guy". He could have dropped the whole thing after he blew up the helicopter. But someone had to be "that guy" because no one else would be. And that does propel him into a bit of a "superman" like arena, aside from the fact that he's dirty, bloody, and well into a beard by the end and the bad guy is still clean shaven! I only got the superman feeling at one point myself, when he is sliding down the collapsing roadway and I thought "Ow! He's gonna have some serious asphalt burns!" My wife leaned over and said "So, McClane always rolls double zeros."
geof, since I have not seen Transformers, you'll have to give your own comparison here between the two and which of them is better.
I just heard you're review on Transformers and would like to play devil's advocate against you. First off.. I LOVED this movie. I've been a fan since the original 1984 cartoon, and have been looking forward to this movie since they greenlight almost 3 years ago. When I walked into the theater I was a little kid on christmas day all pumped up and ready to go. When the movie was done, I was surprised to find myself not full of energy and ready to climb walss, but in a state of complete satisfaction, almost post sex-zen.
I my main defense will go towards the final battle sequence of the movie which you commented as being too confusing, even for a Michael Bay movie. As far as big budget movies go, Transformers cost 150 million dollars, which is a fortune by Hollywood standards, for a high octane special effects summer bonanza, it's actually quiet small. Getting those robots to appear on the screen cost-wise was VERY expensive, and throw in on top of that, blowing up parts of downtown LA, in order to keep within budget, we had to go with the quick cuts, for most of the battles, rather than the long takes which I would have loved to have seen more of. But with Bay trying to come in under budget to make the suits happy he worked with what he had, and did it well.
I would also like to point that in my theater too, throughout the first half of the movie, people where cheering and laughing at all the right moments. Even when HASBRO came on the screen at the begining. And yes, in my theater too, towards the end the cheers and claps became silent. I wouldn't not say because we became bored or confused, but because there was so much being thrown at us in so little time we didn't even have time to register what we just saw.
There are a few things I would have like improved about this movie, but over all I'm VERY happy with how it turned out. Had Michael Bay had more money to play with, we probably would have gotten more of those glamour shots we all cheered for.
And this movie is making so much money, we just might get that in the sequel which I would be more than eager to watch.
Smallerdemon is totally correct on this one. I just walked out of LFoDH and had the exact experience I was looking for when I went to see Transformers on opening day. In their defense, I slipped into the same mistake. At least they got the review of Transformers right. The beginning of LFoDH had me thinking maybe they had just remade 16 Blocks with Justin Long rather than Mos Def, but by 20 minutes in I was loving it and I didn't want it to end. You really can't help but love the John McClane character, and no matter how preposterous the movie gets, Willis just brings it back down to earth with his perfect delivery.
Don't waste your money on Transformers (Adam and Scott were dead on with their review). This summer's best action flick so far is LFoDH.
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