Transformers: Age of Extinction Review

I’m doing a movie review for “Transformers: Age of Extinction”. As usual I will do my general disclaimer in that this post may (most likely) contain spoilers. It is also solely my opinion. I always encourage people to go watch the films for themselves to form their own opinion of the film.

I watched the new “Transformers: Age of Extinction” movie today. I’m going to be honest and blunt in that overall I really didn’t enjoy it. I don’t feel it furthered the story, but rather gives an introspective of the past movies. There were points (about 1/3 - ½ way through) where it felt like the movie’s sole purpose was to set up the arrival of the Dinobots who show up for the last quarter of the film. It felt like a story that we didn’t really need. Does that make any sense? I say it like that because the progression of events are what we expected, in a realistic way rather than a fairy tale happy ending kind of way. There were elements that were added that didn’t seem necessary, nor did they feel like they fit.

Let me do a more specific breakdown of points to further illustrate what I’m saying. I’ll start with the negative aspects, but then I’ll say what I think the movie did do well.

The first three scenes were so jumpy in content that I had no idea what was initially going on. First it’s Earth during the Dino age getting a glimpse of aliens that are not Transformers, then suddenly in the Arctic looking at what appears to be a Dinobot, but isn’t, and then suddenly in Texas with Mark Wahlberg. None of it seemed connected and only later gets explained half way through the movie.

What’s going on is pretty much what you would expect. The Government mistrusts all Transformers because of the Chicago incident. One man (who is CIA) is secretly hunting all Transformers down, including Autobots who have a pardon for their defense in Chicago, with the help of a new Transformer bounty hunter, Lockdown. The CIA head has a contract with Lockdown and Joshua Joyce, who owns KSI technologies where with the Transformers that have been taken out and what was found in the Arctic have learned to make Transformers. Also, as is typical black ops secret CIA them or us kind of behavior, this man as no problem killing innocent people in order to achieve his goals, but then criticizes Wahlberg for siding with the Autobots.

The introduction of the new alien race, the Creators, feels like a puzzle piece that doesn’t fit, but was jammed into place to try to have things make sense. I picture them to be like The Creators in “Prometheus”. The introduction of these new species leaves more questions than answers. Their main purpose in the story seems only to be to give Lockdown motivation.

Also Megatron manages to reincarnate himself through Joyce’s flagship creation Galvatron. I haven’t fully decided if this is a good point or a bad one yet. It could go either way. In terms of Megatron’s nature it makes perfect sense, but as many times as Megatron has been killed and brought back it kinda feels like beating a dead horse. So again, it really could go either way

Now lets move onto the positive things. I will say that this movie is a fantastic story for Optimus Prime. It gives you an in depth profile of his character, his struggles, and his motivations that helps to give an insight to the past films. This story truly does center around Optimus. Plus for a wee bit you get to see him in his classic flat nosed cartoon truck form. There is also at the end of the film where you see Optimus go into knight form. Very badass indeed!

What you do see of the Dinobots is dynamite. Granted you have to wait till the end of the film to see them (anyone surprised by that? Seriously?), but they are amazing once they do make their appearance. The end battle is epic, as is expected, with the Dinobots coming to the Autobots rescue as they are outnumbered by Joyce’s version of Transformers who have all been infected by the reincarnated Megatron.

It was also refreshing to see a main character who is a 180 from Shia Lebouf’s Sam Witwicky. Wahlberg’s Cade Yeager has nothing to lose. His tech firm went under, his wife died, he’s broke, and he’s about to lose his house. The only thing that matters to him is his daughter, Tessa, played by Nicola Peltz. As long as she’s safe Cade doesn’t really care what happens to himself. He also says this wonderful quote to Optimus, “You gotta look at all of the junk and see the treasure.”


I was also impressed with the talent they got to participate in this latest installment. Mark Wahlberg aside there was Stanley Tucci as Joshua Joyce and Kelsey Grammer as Harold Attinger the head of the CIA who has no problem killing people who get in his way. You know I never thought I would ever be happy to see Kelsey Grammer die. I love the man’s work. There was also some great talent for the Autobots as well; John Goodman as Hound, Ken Wantanabe as Drift, John DiMaggio as Crosshairs, and here is the biggie, Frank Welker as Galvatron. That’s right, for once we get the original voices of Optimus Prime and Megatron in the same film. That is a big perk indeed!

So that’s my 2 cents on “Transformers: Age of Extinction”. If you like go watch the film yourself and let me know what you thought of it. However if I had to give one solitary reason to see it, that reason is Optimus Prime.

Part of My Maine Heritage

When people think of Maine usually the things that come to mind are lobster, pine trees, coast line, and Stephen King. Nothing against Stephen King, I do enjoy his work, but Maine actually has more of history than that. Especially when it comes to some of the famous people and various pop culture contributions to come out of Maine. Again don't get me wrong I like Stephen King and there are some days I love the reputation he's given the state about there being ghosts, monsters, supernatural creatures, and deranged loners in the woods that will kill you several different gorey ways. Anyway I've gone off topic.

What many people don't realize is that M*A*S*H came from Maine. I'm a HUGE M*A*S*H fan and enjoy flaunting this fact whenever possible. Dr. Richard Hornberger, who wrote under the pen name Dr. Richard Hooker, wrote the book M*A*S*H which inspired the movie and the series. He was from Breman, Maine and was a thoracic surgeon who practiced in Waterville, Maine.

He based the book on his experience at a M*A*S*H unit in the Korean War and the main character Captain Benjamin Franklin "Hawkeye" Pierce was modeled after himself. Although he never liked Alan Alda's protrayal of the character which is funny since that's who people think of when they think of Hawkeye Pierce.

Dr. Hornberger died of leukemia at 73 in November 1997.

Many people don't even realize that M*A*S*H was a book. I highly recommend the book if you can get your hands on a copy. If you think what Hawkeye and Trapper did on screen for highjinks were crazy they were toned down in comparison to what was done in text. For example, attempting to crucify and burn the protestant priest that was also on camp, but never mentioned in the movie and show. Oh yeah, things like that.
So I just wanted to take a moment to share a bit of pop culture trivia/heritage. See? Learn something new everyday.

Amazing Spider-Man 2 Review

I saw ‘The Amazing Spider-Man 2’ and as promised here is my 2 cents on it. I gotta do the usual disclaimer which is; this is merely my opinion and I encourage you to go watch the film for yourself to form your own opinion. Also this review contains spoilers so if you don’t wanna know, this is your chance to stop reading.

Still with me? Alright then, here we go.

I have to say I was pleasantly surprised. After reading all of the articles and casting I was so afraid that Spider-Man was going to be a jumbled mess of characters. However it wasn’t a jumbled mess. It was a very captivating story with the focus, villain wise, on Electro. And while the other characters that were promised are introduced (Felicia Hardy and Alistair Smythe) they don’t play a huge part and don’t get their costumes.

The aspect that I found most interesting is that the villains in this film make you feel very sympathetic to them. Electro just wanted to be seen and given credit for the work he had done instead of being used. Meanwhile Harry inherited a company that doesn’t want him there for a father who was never there for him. The only villain you don’t feel bad for is Rhino. Granted you don’t see him much, but he’s a Russian mobster who enjoys crime.

Also, yes, the rumors are true. Gwen Stacy does indeed die. The slight change that they made, aside from the location of her demise, is that Spider-Man isn’t responsible. He is just a little too slow in saving her. If you watch the web gets to her, but her head hits the ground before the web pulls her back up.

There are a few things I’m still unsure how I feel about them. The first is the “Osborn curse” as Norman puts it to Harry. Apparently the Osborns have a retro genetic disease which is why Norman founded Oscorp to begin with. Then there’s Richard Parker putting his own DNA into the spiders which is why Peter got powers. The combination of the disease, which is starting to take hold of Harry and Parker’s genetic spiders are how we get Green Goblin. There is also Peter and Harry’s friendship. For being childhood friends you don’t really get that feeling. Their friendship feels sort of forced.

A couple of things they did that I really enjoy is Dennis Leary makes an appearance again as Captain Stacy. No they don’t bring him back to life, but his memory haunts Peter. The other is that Marvel continues the lesson of never fire the CEO and founder of the company. In a Marvel movie whenever a board boots out the head of the company it never goes well for them, and that continues here.

The ending they leave wide open for Rhino to be the next major villain for the third installment. That would be good because otherwise it’s just a waste of Paul Giamatti’s talent. Which was also a concern when I heard the Rhino was only in the film for 4 minutes.

Overall I really enjoyed it and it taught me not to judge a movie based on all of the articles I see about it. In fact, think I’m going to be laying off those a bit. Oh, and one last thing. The scene during the credits is a bit of a disappointment. It’s just a sneak peek scene from ‘X-Men Days of Future Past’. Just to forewarn you.

Let me know what you think of ’The Amazing Spider-Man 2’.

Free Comic Book Day

 Free Comic Book Day is an awesome day for geeks. It’s essentially a geek Christmas. A day filled with geek love and people walking the streets in costume and it’s even a comicon.

For those who are unfamiliar with Free Comic Book Day let me explain. Free Comic Book Day is a day that publishers entice fans into new series by offering a free sample. It’s sort of like Baskin Robbins; you get a taste at no charge, but if you really like it you gotta buy the rest.

Some people have criticized that Free Comic Book Day just brings out the moochers who want something for free. People who may not like comics, but just want to get something for nothing. There’s always one like that in every crowd no matter what it is.

I take pride in that these companies realize that they have this kind of fan base and want to keep them so this geek holiday was created. Besides, what other hobby/pastime has something like this? The music industry doesn’t have free single day. Book publishers don’t have a day of free samples of upcoming books and series. There isn’t a day for knitters where they get free samples of new yarn or new knitting needles. Comic books are the only ones who do this which makes them very unique.

So on Free Comic Book Day wave your geek flag high and proud! Go down to your local participating comic shop and take a look at what’s coming out. If nothing else maybe you’ll find a new series that will catch your interest and give you something new to read.

For more information on Free Comic Book Day just click the link. Hopefully I’ll see a few of you around my local shops.

Iron Man and Batman? No, Iron Man and Green Arrow.

I see a lot of cartoon and memes comparing Batman to Iron Man. The biggest reason they seem to do this is because of the money factor. Both Bruce Wayne and Tony Stark are billionaires. They have no superpowers, but they built their own gadgets. That is actually where their similarities end.

What if I told you that there is another DC hero that has more in common with Stark than Wayne does? Oliver Queen the Green Arrow is more like Tony Stark than people realize. I know what you’re thinking, “Green Arrow is an archer and he didn’t make any fancy gadgets. How is he anything like Iron Man?” Allow me to tell you.

Both Green Arrow and Iron Man didn’t decide to be a force for good until later on in life. Unlike Batman who from the moment his parents were killed vowed to bring justice to their killer. Oliver and Tony were billionaire playboys for real, not as a cover like Bruce. They both partied, shirked responsibility, and womanized like the selfish rich players they were. So while Bruce was traveling around the world training these two were living it up.

That it until tragedy struck forcing both of them to grow up in a hurry. Oliver fell off his cruise ship in the middle of the ocean, but managed to make his way to Starfish Island. There we was forced to learn how to survive teaching himself archery. Tony got caught in the middle of a war zone that put shrapnel next to his heart forcing him to use his intellect to create the Iron Man suit to save his life.

It was only after these tragic life changing events that both of these playboys smartened up and decided to do good in the world. They changed their companies to try and make a difference in the world instead of doing whatever brought the money in. They saw the error of their ways and became reformed men.

The biggest difference between Oliver and Tony is that Tony relies entirely upon his armor whereas Oliver can scrap pretty well even without his arrows. Oliver relies on himself and his physical abilities. Tony relies on his intellect and what he can build.

Of course another difference is that Tony is an alcoholic who remains single while Oliver married and had a couple of kids. Oliver passed on his legacy while Tony merely shared his with his friend Jim Rhodes. Then again that really is the difference between DC and Marvel anyway. DC likes to pass things on to the next generation while Marvel has their characters hold on to their legacy except in the case of an alternate universe.

So as you can see Oliver Queen and Tony Stark have much more in common than Tony and Bruce Wayne do. Sure Oliver doesn’t have all of the cool gadget that Bruce has, but his origin is very identical to Tony’s origin. Granted when it comes to matching abilities it’s Green Arrow vs. Hawkeye every time. However, as far as heroes who have the most in common it’s Tony and Oliver. After all, did you forget Oliver is a billionaire too?

Black Widow

I’ll admit I hadn’t had much experience with Scarlett Johansson’s work before she was cast as Natasha Romanoff. In fact the only thing I had seen her in (that I can recall) was “The Island”. In my mind she just didn’t fit. Sure she’s pretty, but could she pull off the vicious skilled assassin that is Black Widow? I had my doubts. In my mind I wanted Mila Jovovich. Her Alice in the Resident Evil movies was how I pictured Natasha.

When I first saw Johansson in “Iron Man 2” she looked like the Barbie version of Black Widow. Even during the end scene when she beat up 15 guys I wasn’t overly impressed. She just didn’t seem to have that edge that is so essential to Black Widow. It could have been the hairstyle they gave her in that movie. Sounds stupid I know, but to me it make her look like a Barbie.

Then in “The Avengers” she got the shorter hair which is more practical for a spy. Her opening scene in “The Avengers” made me respect her a little bit. Using her wit and sultry appearance to get the information she needed from those thugs, but then skillfully beat the crap out of them gave me hope. The rest of the movie she showed that she did indeed have the chops to play a deadly spy.

In “Captain America The Winter Soldier” it felt like Black Widow was finally the way she was in the comics. Her hair was the right length, she was more secretive, almost to the point you wondered if she could have been a double agent, and you found it sorta hard to trust her because of that. In this movie they focused on the spy and Johansson executed it beautifully. It took three movies, but finally I got the Black Widow I was expecting all along.






So as I was saying, I didn’t like the casting at first, but through the evolution of three movies I grew to like her. Johansson went from Barbie to Black Widow in my eyes. Although I still don’t care for the poses they put her in for promotions. Such as the latest, “I gotta pee” pose they have her doing in the promos for The Winter Soldier.

The Sonic Screwdriver Encounter

Every now and then I like to share my encounters with normies. Why? Because sometimes I need to reflect on what happened. When geek and normal collide it can be a very confusing encounter for both parties. This is one of those times.

It happened last week in Newbury Comics at the Maine Mall. My boyfriend and I were drooling over and playing with various items on the Doctor Who display. I was looking at t-shirts on the end when these two brunette women start talking. They were in their early 20’s and one was holding the 11th Doctor’s sonic screwdriver.

It’s not that I was eaves dropping it’s more like they were talking loud enough to invite anyone into their conversation. I glance over at them and suddenly their attention turned to me. I am now part of their conversation.

“Is this the 10th or 11th Doctor’s wand?” she asked.

Yes she called it a wand and continued to do so. It was kinda like nails on a chalkboard for me, but didn’t want to be a douche bag and correct her.

“It’s the 11th’s.” I said.

“Ok well I wasn’t sure. It’s for my boyfriend’s birthday. It’s so hard to keep track of which Doctor’s wand he wants. One day he’s obsessed with 10, the next day 11, the day after 10, and I just can’t keep up with it.”

She was talking kinda fast at this point. I glance over at my boyfriend who is behind her and I think we both had the same awkward look on our faces. The look that says, “How did we get sucked into this?”

Sadly I know how I got sucked into it. She didn’t have the information she needed, I’m a geek, and I care about my fandoms. I did it for the fandom.

“Isn’t there a set that has four wands in it?” she asked.

“Yeah there’s a set where you can make your own sonic screwdriver.” I said.

“Well I don’t love him that much. He can deal with this one and if it’s the wrong one or he doesn’t like it I’ll return it and keep the money.”

After that she was gone with her friend. I looked at my other half feeling like I had just taken a hit right to the fandom. Sometimes a geek can get together with a non-geek and everything will work out, but I had an odd feeling about this one. As it was I had had to bite my tongue from asking her, “You watch reality shows on MTV don’t you?” Snarky? Yes, but it never was vocalized.

Anyone else have an awkward encounter with the non-geeky public they want to share?