Transforming Expectations, by Arthur Tebbel – Pop Art #134

June 28, 2011 Arthur Tebbel 4 Comments

Dear Art,

I’ve got a big movie coming out this week.  I know it’s become cool for critics to hate on me but I’m really happy with Transformers: Dark of the Moon and I hope you’ll give it a chance when it releases this week.  You are known as a connoisseur of the summer action blockbuster.  What are you looking forward to seeing this summer?  What could Hollywood be doing to better cater to your needs and the needs of other discerning lovers of popcorn flicks?

-Michael Bay

 

Michael,

I guess I’ve got to give Transformers 3 a try.  This season has been absolutely upside down.  I had really high hopes for X-Men: First Class and it ended up being a plodding mess that was borrowing liberally from the Adam West Batman movie (the villains spent most of the movie in a tricked out submarine).  Green Lantern was my favorite superhero for most of my life but it seems the producers were very aware of the characters popularity.  I’m shocked they were able to squeeze any plot at all in between all that fan service.  Forgive me for borrowing too heavily from movie trailer cliché but in a world where both of those franchises can fall flat why wouldn’t I expect Transformers to be able to deliver?  Clearly up is down and black is white.

I don’t know what’s left this summer.  I mean Harry Potter should be fun; they’ve done a good job with those.  After that it’s slim pickings.  Captain America?  I’d rather not.  The Smurfs?  I didn’t even like the cartoon.  Rise of the Planet of the Apes?  Holy shit, who saw the last one of those and thought we needed more of that?  I am madder at that guy than the guy who blew up the Statue of Liberty.  I almost forgot about Cowboys & Aliens.  That looks awesome.  If it gets hot enough this summer I could probably stand to see that twice.

 

I don’t know what could be done to placate me.  If I read the loglines of the movies being released this summer I would probably really dig them (except for The Smurfs).  Maybe that’s the problem, most of the movies that people really end up loving are the ones that surprise them.  You’ve gotten so good at giving people exactly what they expect that it diminishes the creative drive.  You have to be willing to hit them where they aren’t expecting.  Take Super 8 for example, most people I know went into that movie not knowing exactly what to expect and it blew them away.  This would not have been the case if it were, in fact, the eighth installment in the Super series.  Take the gloves off; take some chances.  God help me, I wish you would do something like Armageddon again.  Don’t call Aerosmith this time.