TMNT (2014)

[cracked_belle]

soooooooooo, I saw the movie at 7pm Thursday night, and I really need some fellow nerds to discuss it with me!  so as you see it, please let me know what your thoughts were!
 
oh, and here's my cosplay for when I went:

[FireproofPyro]

I'm avoiding it...

 

Sorry, but the first movies came out when I was a kid, and the previews for the new one just isn't doing it for me

[AlterStephen]

I've heard mixed things, but I work at a movie theater so I'll definitely see it. I've seen bits and pieces and it seems like they're staying true to the characters, which is good. Hearing Johnny Knoxville's voice come out of Leonardo is a little jarring, though.

[IrishMartian]

I'm not going to see it and I skipped the last two transformers movies as well. 

 

These movies are shameless cash ins on peoples nostalgia with threadbare plots and overblown CGI budgets. There's just no excuse for so much money going into producing such shitty films, especially when films the quality of Guardians of the Galaxy and Snowpiercer are coming out the same time.

[Frost of the Gloaming]

I love the Turtles, especially the Splinter-Shredder back story, but after seeing the new Shredder I'm not 100% that I want to see this movie

[Chris-Tien Jinn]

It was OK, but I couldn't help but compare it (unfavorably) to the cartoons that my daughter loved as a kid. 

[Gainsdalf the Whey]

I'm avoiding it as well. The original movie is a huge part of my childhood (along with The Goonies and Batteries Not Included) and the previews look they're going to butcher the story and plot with overblown CGI. When they cast Megan Fox as April O'Neil, it almost locked in the idea that the acting would be a hack job and it would all just be over the top CGI. I lost all hope and decided I wouldn't see it unless there were rave reviews.

 

GotG was good.

[cracked_belle]

so here's my take on...

 

you've got three different camps of people.

1]  younger kids who likve action:  they like the new cartoon, and they're not familiar with the 80's show.  there's fighting and comedy, simple as that.  they enjoy the movie.

2]  die-hard fans:  we read the comics and recognise that the new movie is relying more on that than any of the cartoons or previous movies.  however, we also caught the trillion of throw-backs to those other fandoms that the new movie had.  we love is.

3]  everyone else:  they saw the cartoon, and maybe the first or second movie.  but that's all.  it's nothing like that, and they don't get most of the inside jokes.  many of them are also still pissed at Bay for teh "Transformers" movies.  so they hate this one.

 

of course, you've got people who can't be pidgeon-holed like that.  but in all ym conversations, all the reviews I've read, et cetera, it seems this is the basic break-down.

[IrishMartian]

 

3]  everyone else:  they saw the cartoon, and maybe the first or second movie.  but that's all.  it's nothing like that, and they don't get most of the inside jokes.  many of them are also still pissed at Bay for teh "Transformers" movies.  so they hate this one.

 

 

Yeah that's me.

 

Although in my defence, there's very little to compare between this movie (what I've seen of it and reviews I've read admittedly) and the old Eastman and Laird comics, identifiable by all the turtles having red masks and not being 'colour coded'. In the original comics the Turtles were little guys, about two thirds the height of the April O'Neil character, and not huge hulking roided out monsters. I can't wash the fact this movie looks like a 120 minute toy commercial with zero respect or interest in the source material.

[Nefiros]

Huge fan of the originals(movies, cartoons comics whatever) and I'm still going to see it. I don't understand the Michael bay hate. Yea he doesn't exactly have the best plots in his movies but I don't go to see movies to analyse the story and see how close it is to the original(if it's a remake) I don't want to see the exact same thing I saw 10 20 years ago with updated cgi or whatever. I want to see someone else take on it. I want to see explosions, bad acting and overblown cgi.

I thoroughly enjoyed the transformers movies and don't believe that Michael bay is going to "butcher" this movie. But that's just my take on it and I'm probably in the minority here so who cares really?

[cracked_belle]

Yeah that's me.

 

Although in my defence, there's very little to compare between this movie (what I've seen of it and reviews I've read admittedly) and the old Eastman and Laird comics, identifiable by all the turtles having red masks and not being 'colour coded'. In the original comics the Turtles were little guys, about two thirds the height of the April O'Neil character, and not huge hulking roided out monsters. I can't wash the fact this movie looks like a 120 minute toy commercial with zero respect or interest in the source material.

well, I meant story-wise.  visually, it's nothing like the comics, other than the dark, grittiness of it, lol.

 

and there's nothing wrong with that third camp.  I'm not bashing anyone here.  I hate people who are like, "oh, you're not hardcore enough to be a real fan!"  that's fucked up.  let everyone be a fan in their own way.  I'm just syaing that these three are the main divisions I've seen.

 

 

 

Huge fan of the originals(movies, cartoons comics whatever) and I'm still going to see it. I don't understand the Michael bay hate. Yea he doesn't exactly have the best plots in his movies but I don't go to see movies to analyse the story and see how close it is to the original(if it's a remake) I don't want to see the exact same thing I saw 10 20 years ago with updated cgi or whatever. I want to see someone else take on it. I want to see explosions, bad acting and overblown cgi.

I thoroughly enjoyed the transformers movies and don't believe that Michael bay is going to "butcher" this movie. But that's just my take on it and I'm probably in the minority here so who cares really?

I don't really get the Michael Bay hate either.  honestly, he's not a bad filmmaker -- "Armageddon", "Bad Boys", "the Rock", etc.  really, I think people are just getting pissed about someone remaking something from their childhood, and it not being as good as they want it to be.

 

and even if someone does hate Bay, his presence is hardly noticed in this movie.  he produced this one while directing "Transformers 4", so creative influence is not really seen in "TMNT".  sure, the sound effects resemble those from the "Transformer" series; and yes, Megan Fox is in it.  but there are only three explosions, and they are all done in the proper manner at the perfect times.

 

I do agree with the idea of not wanting to see the exxact same thing I saw ten years ago.  I want to see what creative twists a director or producer can give a good story.  this is not a remake of the Turtles -- this is just another movie.

[Gainsdalf the Whey]

Transformers 4 was painful to watch. Even with all the eye candy, I almost walked out. The writing seemed like it was specifically done to make 12 year old boys laugh. It's the same problem I have with some of his other recent movies is that the story is written around the effects, they're the main point of th movie. The plot and storyline and writing are secondary objectives. Casting Megan Fox as April epitomizes this. She is not a good actress, but she's easy on the eyes, so let's cast her and put her in short shorts and a low cut top. His movies recently are just like this. They come off like the stereotypical idea of the airhead blonde with big boobs and a nice rear, great and shiny to look at for a bit, but no substance to warrant anything more than a passing glance or one conversation.

 

I guess I just prefer movies where the effects are used to enhance a well written plot line with characters that have depth and good acting. Take Guardians of the Galaxy for an example. Just as many special effects and eye candy as a Bay film, but the storyline and the acting was on point. The various characters had depth, you wanted to see what would happen to them and what choices they would make. You could see the struggles they went through. The effects added a more epic feel to these components, but the story components were the main focus.

[IrishMartian]

I'm in HMBAWHE club (Hate Michel Bay and Wish He'd Explode). For which I can sight a many reasons. But chiefly because he's just a very bad director with no interest in making his films have consistent logic, script wise or visually, action scenes are a mess that rarely make any sense, instead focusing on dramatic moment after dramatic moment (Example A, The Navy SEALS getting gunned down in the showers in The Rock, we don't even know who these guys are but they get ten minutes of slow mo orchestral death montage?). he doesn't make movies, he makes extended video clips/lingerie commercials with explosions. Not to mention the fact he resuses footage from previous movies, and sometimes even reuses the same footage within the same FREAKING MOVIE! And doesn't even try to be subtle by reversing the footage or changing the zoom. That is uber lazy directing.

 

And the 'Turn of your brain/its just popcorn cinema' does not fly with me. There are many way more competent directors making big budget summer movies that are as engaging and exciting, without treating the audience like they're brain dead. Peter Jackson, Edgar Wright, Guillermo Del Toro to name just a few. Compare every action sequence in a Michel bay film to the last twenty minutes of Hot Fuzz, an action comedy movie set in a small english town that satirizes action movies and someone looks better than the majority of them.

 

 

Don't forget Steven Spielberg invented the summer blockbuster and his movies were and are still amazingly directed. I mean look at every single Marvel Studios movie this century, Captain America The Winter Soldier. A fantastic action film, intelligent and exciting with great acting, directed by two guys who before hand were best known for directing episodes of Community. If these two guys can make a film of that quality for there first ever action movie there's no excuse for Michel Bay churning out two decades of mindless crap. 

 

I'm normally quite conciliatory on most subjects and open to other opinions... but not Michel Bay. Mr Bay's skills as a director are indefensible.

[Hit]

 

 

Compare every action sequence in a Michel bay film to the last twenty minutes of Hot Fuzz, an action comedy movie set in a small english town that satirizes action movies and someone looks better than the majority of them.

 

so you do realise that nick frost and simon pegg loved those old school action films, hence why they were paying homage to them in the first place? and yeh, that includes a whole lot of michael bay films too. i mean, the line is "you aint see bad boys 2?" and then they take an actual action beat from that film. they made it great but being true to the genre.

 

as for the new tmnt, i dont care to see it but i guess if the opportunity came up i wouldnt say no? ive seen a lot of turtles remakes over the years, most of them bad or just not for me. the original movie will always hold a special place in my heart, but for the most part i think im just bored of hearing about their story.

[IrishMartian]

so you do realise that nick frost and simon pegg loved those old school action films, hence why they were paying homage to them in the first place? and yeh, that includes a whole lot of michael bay films too. i mean, the line is "you aint see bad boys 2?" and then they take an actual action beat from that film. they made it great but being true to the genre.

 

I did get that, I mean it was hard not to, but the fact they pulled of a better action movie than the one they were satirizing I think speaks volumes to the comparative talents of the directors. And I'm a big fan of those old school action movies I recognise the tropes (although to be fair while Point Break is a good example, I don't think Bad Boys 2 is, at least Point Break had a plot that made sense and a character arc). 

 

It's like spash pages (full page action scenes) in comics books, if you had one of those in every page of every issue the comic would get boring and slow paced (although some comics have done single issues as experiments). Michel Bay to me is wall to wall splash pages.

 

I am getting a bit ranty though so I'm going to be quiet now. 

[Hit]

oh by all means rant away i dont mean to say you cant dislike michael bay, or that youre reasons are invalid. just that he forms an important part of the action movie culture. he has his style and it doesnt work for everything, but when it does (ie bad boys) its highly enjoyable. or at least, for some people  

[AlterStephen]

I'm not usually a fan of Michael Bay. But in some sick, twisted way that I'm still trying to figure out, I kinda liked Pain & Gain.