Jacko and Fawcett bit the dust simultaneously, at least by way of news reporting. Somehow it slipped under my nose during my entire stay at the campus and subsequently the radio station. But I guess that reveals how egocentric I can be at times. And besides, the radio station is only public radio, so we can't always be on top of the latest upcoming and incoming reports of famous events. Naw, we strive for the obscure and local, that's how hip we are! *insert smiley face*

But may the King of Pop rest in peace, and may one of Charlie's Angels rest as well. But that's not the case for the media now that each news anchor is trying to see which death outdoes the other. While Jacko is the top headliner, Fawcett's television specials are drawing in more ratings... how low can this country go? Reminds me of The Devil's Rejects, that Marx brothers fan who was irked that Elvis Presley's death overshadowed Groucho's demise.

I can hear those Michael Jackson enthusiasts now: "Son, if you ever say another derogatory word about Michael Joseph Jackson in my presence again, I will kick the living shit out of you!"

In another interesting turn of events, the Oscar weiners (ie: Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences) decided to bring back some olde school techniques in that they will now expand the Best Picture nominees to ten. Ten! Doubling the original nods! Good or bad, whatchoo think? Kinda makes the balls of the other categories shrivel. I mean, come on, just recently they decided to cut down on how many original songs can be nominated, but now they're expanding the Best Picture category?! Hey, I'm just as irked that both WALL-E and The Dark Knight didn't get nominated, but that's all in the past. And even though me and countless other movie-goers waste their time on compiling top ten lists that shout the credibility of our opinions, I'm hard-pressed to find that ten worthy nominees are released yearly (save for 2007, which I gradually found out had the greatest releases of all that I coulda made two lists, or have expanded it to 20). Could this be a trend? Maybe then the other categories will expand in response. They will fight for it. They will march D.C., they will gather signatures and sit on Capitol Hill with that one unsigned bill...

Just as such, now any movie will be nominated. The Oscars have much credibility as the American Film Institute (or simply, the AFI, but because of the myspace demographic, I'll refrain from using that acronym), who, in 2006, thought The Devil Wears Prada and Inside Man were better than, say, The Departed and A Prairie Home Companion... but they had Half Nelson there, so that kinda makes up for it. Plus, The Devil Wears Prada was an interesting choice altogether.

So, to wrap this up... umm, that's a wrap...? Okay, I watched a movie, then I'm gonna watch another one or two on DVD.
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Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen

rating: *½ outta ****

Maybe not a hundred times lamer, but you could sense the disappointment from my latest movie-going experience, especially with my rating. Massive fan hype made me think that this flick might actually be worth it despite the criticism from critics, notably Roger Ebert who did like the first film but sadly seemed to dislike this one immensely. But what do critics know?? Word of mouth was mostly positive, from the news media (they would never show negative comments, though)... to people around my lil' circle, the most trusted of movie criticism. Sadly, I might fall in the minority with these Joes as I put my foot down and say, "I was a tad disappointed. It just leans around being 'okay'"... nah, fuck that. This movie licked balls! Gigantic, dangling metallic balls!

Let's blast to the past: I liked the first film. Should you flip back a few pages to my blogs from early July 2007, you would find my "glowing" critique and a 3.5/4 star rating (look very closely: just half a star away from a full four stars), along with this raving quote of mine: "It's a chaotic epic that outdoes even At World's End and Spider-Man 3... the chaotic mind of Michael Bay [...] can still create dazzling chase sequences and have characters/objects tear shit up without any remorse while keeping fun, humor and action all intact." This sequel has all of that and much, much more... but wait! Why doesn't that apply to this movie in return?? It's just as chaotic and obnoxious as before -- err, even more so that the humans are tossed aside to make way for epic robotic rumbling that hardly ever gives Sam Witwicky a chance to experience the college life. Thus is the dilemma of the negative feedback.

This sequel doesn't wanna increase creativity, it just wants to expand on explosions and gargantuan robotic showdowns. Story-wise, it opts for a new origin that pretty much destroys anything and everything established in the first flick (as if X-Men Origins: Wolverine wasn't bad enough), substituting instead a bunch of MacGuffins to move this "plot" along (geezer Decepticons, some death ray gun, symbols, Egypt, the Sun, etc...), gags that're so childish they fall flat on their faces almost each and everytime (Year One is looking funnier), gratuitous Megan Fox shots (seriously, was there a point to see her stripping? I know it's hot 'n all, and I'm a dude, but it was so random, especially when it's in contrast to Even Stevens trying to calm Bumblebee) and, you guessed it, more action that is no longer dazzling nor suspenseful, but tiresome, boring, repetitive, and possibly vomit-inducing (poor motion sensitive viewers).

Kind of a stretch, enit? Like an olde saying goes, this movie makes the first one look like The Godfather!

You know what the first movie had? For one, a story with next to nil sense, but believable enough to sustain my attention. Two, a sense of awe, wonder, and amazement, especially considering there are freaking robots running around with technology light years ahead of us, but a few years behind the Japanese. And three, characters to care for. And I like how the movie kinda showed the primitive side of us humans, even to go as far as having Megatron dare ask Optimus Prime why he'd fight for them/us. Kinda makes the lil' guy feel grandeur. That's looking deep into the movie, but I happen to enjoy it, and still did after my last viewing a few days ago. It's a big dumb action movie, but still has a bit o' Spielberg magic in it. Not Bay, Spielberg. You might remember such films like Close Encounters of the Third Kind, E.T., and even Jaws. Aliens are fascinating, and less is better... Michael Bay may have tried to incorporate these elements, which made Transformers all the more engaging amidst the barrage of action and dick and fart jokes. Subtle, but it worked. Of course the fans are like, "Uhh, where are the damn Autobots?! Who are these people?! Fuck them! Lemme see Optimus Prime in all his CGI glory! But I don't mind Megan Fox, huh-huh, huh-huh..." and so he had to sell out some more and give us, well, more of the same, but with the volume and mass cranked to 11.

Is Revenge of the Fallen terrible? Well, not terrible in that Steven Spielberg reportedly said "That is fucking awesome!" when he first laid eyes on Devastator. Exceeds some in the special effects department, even though some of the CGI looked jerkier and cartoony even when there's no robot rumbling going on. Some parts were kinda funny, and Devastator was pretty cool... and despite its random inclusion, Megan Fox stripping was a nice touch. I'm a guy, what're you gonna do? But that's it... other than that, everything and everyone was just a checklist for Michael Bay. And what's with Megan Fox's lips?

But how much more terrible can a movie be? When a child falls asleep, as I've reportedly heard... yep, that should say something. But I'm guessing just about all of youse have already endured this movie. I have failed by not watching the midnight show and telling the world before it was too late.
:'(
I think I'll stick with the first Transformers flick and pretend this one never existed, kinda like how I handle Pirates of the Caribbean and its unspeakable sequels.
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So what's the next disappointing act to witness?

Michael Mann's Public Enemies, which I'm hearing/reading is quite the bore Miami Vice was. Will it live up to its negative feedback? We'll see... we'll see.