A cool article on Michael Bay.
http://blogs.westword.com/showandtell/2011/01/michael_bay_career_retrospective.php
http://blogs.westword.com/showandtell/2011/01/michael_bay_career_retrospective.php
A Michael Bay Career Retrospective
- Thread starter Instag8r
- Start date
I really don't understand why everyone is so hard on the guy. He makes great movies. They aren't great in the same way that a hitchcock piece is, they're great in the vein of seeing giant gun fights and city-destroying car chases and cars that blow up like warheads. That stuff is fun!
Not every movie has to have a deeper agenda or hidden meaning or bring a new sense of truth to the human condition. It's fun to sit in a theater with a bag of popcorn and see fifty foot robots duke it out over attractive people.
His success speaks for itself. I'd love to have been apart of the movies he's directed.
Let's face it, most of the people that criticize him (or people that criticize anyone successful for that matter) couldn't make a better movie if they were in the same shoes.
I look forward to making a movie with crazy explosions and gunfights for no other reason than it's fun. I hope it's as good as some of his.
Not every movie has to have a deeper agenda or hidden meaning or bring a new sense of truth to the human condition. It's fun to sit in a theater with a bag of popcorn and see fifty foot robots duke it out over attractive people.
His success speaks for itself. I'd love to have been apart of the movies he's directed.
Let's face it, most of the people that criticize him (or people that criticize anyone successful for that matter) couldn't make a better movie if they were in the same shoes.
I look forward to making a movie with crazy explosions and gunfights for no other reason than it's fun. I hope it's as good as some of his.
As I always say, if they wanted me to pay me to direct Transformers 11, or any other hunk of shlock I'd probably blow out my ACL flying across the room to sign the contract. More power to him.
If movies can be compared to food, Micheal Bay is In-N-Out-Burger.
Okay, so it's not 4-star service with white table-cloths. It's not intended as high culinary art. It's cheap, fast, and it's been made the same way for decades.
But you know what? When it comes to fast-food joints, In-N-Out is about as good as you can get.
Okay, so it's not 4-star service with white table-cloths. It's not intended as high culinary art. It's cheap, fast, and it's been made the same way for decades.
But you know what? When it comes to fast-food joints, In-N-Out is about as good as you can get.
This.
And The Rock and Armageddon didn't have bad stories like he says. I also hope all this recent criticism doesn't change him for the worse.
I like his films. Armageddon was funny, subtle and made fun of the whole genre. A great ensemble piece. I was thinking about the Transformers sound design today.
If someone can get that bombastic fun angle and combine it with really good scriptwriting and a bit of subtlety....
Fun or depth? ? ? ? Why does it have to be one or the other? Kubrick nailed it throughout his career, especially in CO + FMJ.
If someone can get that bombastic fun angle and combine it with really good scriptwriting and a bit of subtlety....
Fun or depth? ? ? ? Why does it have to be one or the other? Kubrick nailed it throughout his career, especially in CO + FMJ.
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You know what you're getting into with a Bay film and that's fine. I've enjoyed a lot of his movies over the years for what they are. Not all of them, but most.
Popcorn's made to explode.
Oh, my God, I love that bowl of cereal short!
Wow, Cereal: Dark of the Moon...
The guy is not going to win any prizes on his portrait of an asbent minded society heading for inminent self destruction, but his movies are awesome, as in "That huge ball of fire heading for New York looks awesome". A movie of his is simple. There might not be a whole lot of brain in it, but it sure is nice to look at...
Hmm...Who does that reminds me of?
EDIT:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TmNEG8IFd_Y
After playing that, my computer grew a mustache and ordered a chopper from ebay.
The guy is not going to win any prizes on his portrait of an asbent minded society heading for inminent self destruction, but his movies are awesome, as in "That huge ball of fire heading for New York looks awesome". A movie of his is simple. There might not be a whole lot of brain in it, but it sure is nice to look at...
Hmm...Who does that reminds me of?
EDIT:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TmNEG8IFd_Y
After playing that, my computer grew a mustache and ordered a chopper from ebay.
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Wow. I really am alone in the world. I have yet to see a Michael Bay movie that I thought was "fun", "entertaining", or any of the other adjectives bandied about in this thread. Not one. Armageddon is still unmatched in its cynical dismissal of anything approaching intelligence among the human race, and I will forever resent his callous disregard for those 2 hours of my precious time on this planet.
Don't get me wrong, I love a good "stuff blows up" movie. I think James Cameron is perhaps the greatest action director of all time and I will watch anything he does, and eventually buy the DVD. John McTiernan is another one with several respectable action credits. Ridley Scott's misfires are Shakespeare next to MB's crayon-scrawled sub-moronic drivel. Hell, even Tony Scott did The Hunger and Crimson Tide.
My friend forced me to watch the first Transformers movie, and I think I would prefer to drown in my own vomit rather than endure that again.
Sorry to intrude. Carry on.
Don't get me wrong, I love a good "stuff blows up" movie. I think James Cameron is perhaps the greatest action director of all time and I will watch anything he does, and eventually buy the DVD. John McTiernan is another one with several respectable action credits. Ridley Scott's misfires are Shakespeare next to MB's crayon-scrawled sub-moronic drivel. Hell, even Tony Scott did The Hunger and Crimson Tide.
My friend forced me to watch the first Transformers movie, and I think I would prefer to drown in my own vomit rather than endure that again.
Sorry to intrude. Carry on.
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I feel precisely the same way about "Breathless" by Godard - hated every second of it. "Jules et Jim" as well... not to mention "Lawnmower Man 2"... and to think I drove through a blizzard to go see that.
I offer you this:
Brilliant Nick 
I have to say there's surprising amount of love in this thread for Michael Bay.
Personally I can respect that he does exactly what he sets out to do, but for me he still makes terrible movies. I've seen both Transformers. I've seen Pearl Harbour. I've seen Armaggedon. I care for none of them. They are bad, in my opinion.
I have to say there's surprising amount of love in this thread for Michael Bay.
Personally I can respect that he does exactly what he sets out to do, but for me he still makes terrible movies. I've seen both Transformers. I've seen Pearl Harbour. I've seen Armaggedon. I care for none of them. They are bad, in my opinion.
I'm really not a very big Bay fan, the only film of his I really liked was Armageddon. The first Transformers was okay, nothing special.
None of his films do anything for me really, I know not all films need to be perfect or have the greatest of narratives and character studies to be good but his films are just.. weak, I don't like them much.
None of his films do anything for me really, I know not all films need to be perfect or have the greatest of narratives and character studies to be good but his films are just.. weak, I don't like them much.