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I saw Transformers last night and thought it was great fun. Loads of great action sequences, great eye candy a a couple of nice nods to Leanard Nimoy's past.

I can't believe people are still criticising these films for the bad acting.
It's so bad it's good - even John Malcovich turned his usual over the top 'wacky' turn up a notch. I really think Bay is just ticking boxes for character archetypes he likes to see in action films - Cocky Hero (Shia)? Check, Super hot bimbo (Rosie)? Check, Comedy double act (the parents and the little robots)? Check, Government arsehole (Francis and that skinny bloke out of the last two)? Check .

I really think Bay is just having fun pushing this stuff as far as he can, and lets face it he's never going to get a better opportunity than when he's at the helm of a multi-million dollar franchise based on a set of transforming toys. Give me this crash bang wallop style over the pompous animated movie any day. I think the bits where they are being pompous are just a piss take.

I like this post a helluva lot!

I have a regular argument with one fella online about how (he claims) the 1980s animated Transformers movie was a 'masterpiece'. It's not. It's rubbish.

I think Bay's Transformers movies have been good fun for the most part. But I DO wish there was more emphasis on the Transformers as characters themselves. They seem pretty one-dimensional in most of the movies. It's telling, I think, that I know people who have seen all three movies, and can't remember the names of the robots. If I have to answer the question 'Which one's Ironhide? ' one more time, I'll scream.

Hey, I will go to bat for Transformers 3 - it's not as terrible as Transformers 2.
It's far, far too long, though, and I am not even joking when I say that losing the slow motion would solve that problem.

I'll second that. For me, the problem was extended sequences of human characters doing their stuff. BOOOORRIIIING!!!

Also, Rosie is absolutely dreadful.

I just saw Transformers: Dark Of The Moon as well. And I enjoyed it! Crash bash action, to be sure, but dear lord, 'twas gnarly as hell!

However, most definitely NOT a fan of my favourite character's death scene. utterly pointless, and had zero impact on the rest of the movie.

Just caught the second half of 'Heat', with Al Pacino and Robert DeNiro.

Thi sfilm's amazing. It has that special quality of being able to still involve me every time I see it, even though I've seen it God-knows-how-many times.

That scene where Pacino finds Xander Berkely in his apartment is just classic, classic stuff.

Well, that's your definition of a double whammy right there.

I knew Peter Falk was getting on in years, and hadn't enjoyed good health, but it was still a shock to hear he's gone.

And Gene Colan... that upsets me in ways I can't articulate.

I just read the Dredd Case Files, volume 14.

Holy cow! I've never read 'Necropolis' before. Didn't think I'd enjoy it. But... what a rattling good read!

I even found myself wailing 'NOOOOO!' when it looked like [spoiler]Anderson got squished by that tank![/spoiler]

I got around to reading the Serenity graphic novel 'The Shepherd's tale' tonight, after having it on my shelf since Xmas.

Oh dear. Not a fan.

After two very, very good Serenity graphic novels, this one comes off very badly, in my opinion. It spoils the potential of telling Shepherd Book's origins with a slightly-too-adventurous storytelling device of jumping backwards in time at regular intervals. It starts well, but moving backwards all the time, I can't help but feel it loses momentum rather than gains it.

A real shame.

I think it's a great idea, Cybs!

Just be sure to use a pen name on the project. may I suggest 'P.J. Maybe'?

Ho ho ho!

Apparently, suggesting ways to improve the community atmosphere of a certain web forum I used to use sits ill with one guy who started posting there just a few weeks ago.

'WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT?!?' He rails. In spite of the fact that during the TWO YEARS I've been posting there I've witnessed dozens of flame wars, suspensions of user accounts, calls from site admins for users to behave themselves and such.

I'm genuinely surprised at the inability some folks have to see problems when they're right in front of them.

Oh, and apparently, suggestions to help improve the atmosphere there are my attempt to 'spread misinformation' and 'stop people from posting' there.

What a knob.

I never understood the reactions to Dark Knight, it's either the greatest comic film ever or the greatest piece of shit, personally I think it's all right but it's a mash too many scenes and characters with a bit of the BBC Royal Institution Christmas Lectures thrown in.

That's pretty much my point. It's a pretty messy narrative, in my opinion. Check it out - it feels like there are several logical endings to that movie, and they all get tacked one on top of the other! Really not a fan of Christian Bale as Batman either.

The allowance I make for the movie is that I'm REALLY not a fan of the property, so maybe there's something I'm missing that legions of Batfans are getting. It just doesn't hold up as a satisfying movie to me.

But I do go on. There's plenty of positive stuff in that list. Iron Man, Sin City, Road To Perdition - all fantastic! Road To Perdition sticks in my mind as a movie that I'd never have guessed in a million years sprang from a graphic novel.

I'm also happy to say that the first X Men movie is about the only one in that series I can happily watch and enjoy again and again.

It pleases me IMMENSELY to see Akira on the list.

Also, for my money, The Dark Knight is an utterly dreadful movie.

Recently bought the Melissa Auf Der Maur album 'Out Of Our Minds'. Nowhere near as good as her 2004 album, but a damned solid collection of cuts all the same. I swear she's the most musical of that bunch she came up with.

Delicatessen is FANTASTIC!

I love the rooftop fight. Dominic Pignon is always great!

Heh! All I'll say to that is that I feel the books so far all have their strengths - although there have been a few noticeably shaky efforts lately, in my opinion.

Infiltration is a special book for me. It was literally the first comic book I read in something like 15 years, and it blew me away. You had this quite ridiculous franchise, and suddenly - BOOM! A really clever, mature take on it that actually MADE SENSE and presented itself as a sci-fi story first and foremost.

Oh, one thing for Cthulouis: That point about the supposed inconsistency in combiner tech in the books? It's actually explained in the Transformers Spotlight series. I think the Optimus Prime one-shot establishes that there was at least one combiner team before Devastator. Those spotlights are absolutely GREAT. A real shame that IDW have ditched the format.

It's true that there are a few gaffes in continuity and consistency within the books, but some of them aren't *actually* gaffes, if you see what I mean?

If I seem a little enthusiastic for these books, it's probably coz they're about the closest things I have to 'must buy' books. I enjoys mah massif robutz!

No probs, Cthuloius.

Yeah, all of IDW's 'generation 1' stuff can be taken as it's own continuity. Even if it doesn't seem terribly cohesive at times. If you've read All Hail, that'll give you a good grounding for Wreckers.

To make sense of who Verity is, though, you might want to check out 'Transformers: Infiltration' and its sequels, written by Simon Furman.

I maintain to this day that Infiltration is the best Transformers book Simon's ever written, and it has a nice modern feel to it.