I don’t know if this means anything more than “There’s 8 million showings of Transformers at the theater”, but my local theater is not showing The Bash tonight as they normally would, so there will be no rant on the show tonight. I’ll probably download it tomorrow and review it at that point. Not coincidentally, I’ll be going to see Transformers tonight instead of getting the PPV.
Looks an uninspired card to me. Jericho will of course be awesome and Hardy/Punk will be interesting, but not much else.
Although I guess its nice that Ziggler, the Colons and Legacy are getting an outing on PPV.
Luckily its free in England.
Lucky us… though I prob fall asleep before its on.
You mean you’re not desperate to see Orton-HHH part XLVII? I’m aghast!
I hope to Jesus this is the last Orton-HHH match for quite a spell. It’s not even entertaining. This is not the 80’s, I can’t get into a match when the heel’s “finishing move” is a greco-roman kick to the head. This feud just won’t die, it’s pretty annoying. I’m eager to see Punks full blown heel turn, but I don’t want to pay 40 dollars to see it. I’ll probably do what everybody else does and watch whatever people upload onto youtube.
Based on the finish tonight to the HHH-Orton match, it appears as this feud is NEVER going to end. Painful.
Billy Mays has died. Is this showbiz or is it wrestling? With all these deaths I mean?
For some reason this was upsetting. He genuinely seemed like a super nice guy and I feel horrible for his family.
RIP
Television advertising is officially dead. Now we’re stuck with Vince Poser.
R.I.P. Mays.
My thoughts and prayers go out to his family as well. I hope they find their closure sooner rather than later.
Slightly off topic: Anybody else watch Pitchmen? Color me a mean bastard, but I enjoyed watching Billy Mays take Andrew to school every week. That’s obviously just my opinion and such, but he was one of the best shillers any company could ever ask for.
Scott, let me try to figure this out: you thought FG Vol. 7 was terrible and not worth $35 but you’re willing to spend probably half of that for two hours of Michael Bay and Shia LeBeouf??
I am verklempt.
It sucks that this movie is going to make a gazillion dollars. Slap some nice special effects, crank up the volume and shazaam…the sheep flock.
I thought big budget flicks like TDKR and the LOTR series may have raised folks to demand not only dazzling effects; but acting and characters and a good story…but, c’est la vie.
TDKR? TDK would be The Dark Knight but I’m not sure what the R would stand for? Unless you mean another movie entirely that I’m blanking out on…
Thanks for the catch. The “R” was a typo.
What is interesting, is that with infinite entertainment possibilities (between television, torrents, YouTube, millions of DVDs, let alone literature, etc.) … people (Scott included) still choose to spend $10 for a film they know won’t be great. The best defense I’ve heard for Transformers 2 was that it was mindless Summer fun … there isn’t even the nostalgic emphasis there was for the first film.
Maybe I wasn’t born with the right gene or what… but when I paid to see a movie, I get pissed in my seat when I feel its insulting my intelligence or just “mindless noise” or explosions. This is also why I take certain film critics opinions seriously (like, why I take Scott’s opinion on wrestling seriously). But with the way things are going, Trans2 will probably be one of the TEN Best Pic nominations next year.
Rather than think a movie is insulting your intelligence, is it really that hard to try to be entertained? If you want culture, go to the opera or the museum. You go to the movies to watch shit get blown up,for the most part. It might help if you have lowered expectations going in. When you go to the cinema, don’t expect shakespeare.. expect Megan Fox looking fiiiiiiiine.
In the end, it’s your opinion/decision. I just think you’d be happier if your bar was lower.
I like watching robots fight.
I understand what you’re saying, and thats the most common response I get from friends. However, why should I have to separate the concepts of ‘entertainment’ and ‘intellectually stimulating?’ For me, these are not mutually exclusive. If I want culture, why shouldn’t I find that at the cinema? (considering film is culture’s mirror.)
I don’t think its a matter of setting the bar higher/lower. I know well enough to stay away from movies like Trans2. Maybe I’ll catch it some day on TBS two years from now on a lazy Saturday afternoon, but I’m in no hurry.
However… what was the budget for Trans2? (300M$!? is the rumor.) With that much money, the best technology, actors, writers, editors, and special effects that money can buy … why shouldn’t I expect Shakespeare (or at least a good film) at theater?
However… what was the budget for Trans2? (300M$!? is the rumor.) With that much money, the best technology, actors, writers, editors, and special effects that money can buy … why shouldn’t I expect Shakespeare (or at least a good film) at theater?
Because the 300 million didn’t come out of your pocket. 10 dollars (or whatever you pay) did. Sometimes you just have to stick a crowbar in your wallet and spend money to veg out for 2 hours. There are tons of movies that Siskel and Ebert dogged that I loved, and if I listened to what they or any other “professional critic” said i would have missed out on some of my favorites. You can’t always go by what you see people say about it in/on the media.
A trip to the movies should be a quick,fun,cheap getaway for 2 hours, when you go in thinking that you will get more than you actually do.. it’s YOUR fault for not enjoying what you can out of it. It doesn’t always help things to be a cheap bastard.
Don’t take that personally, I’d say that to anybody. Again, in the end it’s your choice and you will do what you do, but you might be happier if you watch the movie instead of your wallet.
Also, culture at the movies is pretty much dead. All we get is remakes,nostalgic movies, and chick flicks. “Baby Momma” was an okay chick flick to be sure, but I don’t think I’d classify Amy Poehler on the john as culture.
This is the most annoying type of defenses for Transformers 2. I don’t need my summer action blockbuster to be Citizen Kane in order to entertain me, I just don’t want it to be a bad episode of Raw. Bay went one further and gave me an episode of Russo’s Impact.
Maybe you were subconsciously thinking of The Dark Knight Returns by Frank Miller?
BYOBB.
I think it’d be funny if, in response to the lack of The Bash, you do a review of Transformers in the form of a wrestling show rant.
I mean, heck, someone did that ages ago as a spoof, writing a review of Transformers The Movie (the 80s one) in your voice.
I wasn’t really looking forward to the Bash last night, but I went to watch it over a friend’s place, and I’m so glad I did. Mysterio vs Jericho was one of the best matches I’ve ever seen (ever, and I’ve been a fan for over 20 years). The Punk-Hardy match was killer fun (you didn’t really expect a title change, did you), and the crowd was so emotionally involved that we got a good, strong BS chant at the finish (Punk rocks as a heel). Beyond that, the tag-match was a good time, and my wife, who hates women’s wrestling, even said that the women’s match was pretty good (though it didn’t help that she liked the name of Michelle McCool’s finisher so much).
We skipped out before Cena-Miz (which I’m sure was great fun) and H-Orton, but from what we saw, big thumbs up.
I really can’t say enough about how much I enjoyed Rey vs Jericho. Just thought that everything clikced on every single level.
Jericho-Rey was indeed excellent – the double springboard moonsault was one of the best things I’ve seen in a wrestling match!
Jericho-Edge being tag champs is interesting given they’re both such good heels and it also means they’re allowed to be on Raw now as well (perhaps one reason why they did it). I’m not keen on the Vince abusing Teddy Long storyline though. Cena-Miz match was decent but didn’t do a great deal for Miz, which pretty much renders the match (and feud) pointless.
Punk-Hardy was great, they had me fooled with the Hardy ‘victory’. Punk is doing an excellent job of gradually heeling it up and I like the fact that Morrison beat him on Smackdown because it gives him doubt about his ability.
As for HHH-Orton, as someone said above, the ending shows it’s not over. Sigh. The only sensible reason to do another HHH-Orton match is for Orton to go over decisively and cleanly but it seems WWE will never let this happen so we’re destined to see this feud stretched until the end of time.
The scramble, Jericho/Rey, and Punk/Hardy were all good, but I wasn’t a fan of the rest.
When Edge’s partner turned out to not be Christian, the disappointment just clouded the whole match for me. I don’t care if it didn’t make sense storyline wise, when you introduce a mystery tag team with Edge as half of it, Christian better be the other half.
Can Orton have just one clean win, or at least be threatening enough to look like he can actually get one? I will say, though, that I’m glad Orton acknowledged that Dibiase and Rhodes have never been anything more than lackeys. For some reason that made me draw a parallel to The Shield in that Evolution was the strike team and Randy Orton is Shane, trying (and failing) to be HHH and lead his own team (Army in season 4). And just like Vic Mackey, HHH will always end up on top. Even when he loses.
I don’t know what the deal is with this insipid Orton/HHH feud. It just won’t end. And, in my opinion, the matches have not been anywhere near good enough to warrant so many rematches. You’d figure tanking in the main event slot at WrestleMania would have showed them this but who knows.
These PPVs only further the notion that SD! is 100000 times better than Raw right now in every possible way. And the hottest guy on that show, John Morrison, wasn’t even on the Bash.
I will be interested in Raw’s rating, if not the show itself, coming off of last week’s Trump-inflated rating.
Another super annoying thing last night was the burial of the Miz.
I’m not going to sit here and sell anyone on Miz’s in ring ability; but the guy created a feud out of nothing and if he would’ve been put over in the slightest, they could’ve had something down the line. Instead, he’s made to look like a chump again.
This reminded me of the “feud” Jericho had with Goldberg back before his run in WCW ended.
Apparently Jericho was the guy that came up with the idea for Miz to start running down Cena, so it’s not surprising it has similarities with the Goldberg feud. Like you say though, looks like it’ll have the same outcome.
The contrast between Raw and Smackdown is ridiculous at the moment. Miz got himself over but was buried in the Battle Royal and last night. Morrison does the same but he’s allowed to look competitive against Edge and beat the world champion. Same applies to other mid-carders – Shelton, R-Truth and Dolph Ziggler wouldn’t look out of place in a Smackdown main-event but on Raw, I can’t imagine Matt Hardy, MVP or Kofi getting anything against HHH, Cena or Orton.
From what I’ve heard, if the Jericho/Goldberg had gone the way Jericho had planned, it would have played out pretty much how Cena/Miz has. Even though he pretty much got destroyed, Miz still looks better than he did going into it. I honestly thought he would be ‘future endeavored’ when they first split Morrison and him up.
While the feud itself has been pretty good, anybody could have made “shoot” comments about Cena (which I guess is why they chose Miz instead of somebody more established).
Orton-HHH has been an awful feud since the day after Orton won the belt at SummerSlam in 2004(?). They really need to freshen up the top of the card on RAW but there’s no one outside of Cena and Big Show who are at tthat level (so long as HBK is out).
(Of course, I’d book Edge and Jericho as tag champs showing up on RAW and taking out Legacy as well as HHH/the McMahons but that ain’t gonna happen.)
I think Orton/Cena with Cena battling Legacy is way more money than HHH/Orton. Cena/Orton have had 2 matches I can recall with crazy heat (SummerSlam 2007, No Way 2008) that HHH/Orton has never come close to.
I don’t want to do the ol’ hate Triple H thing but the only time he’s ever been over as a face is doing DX. ‘The Game’ is just not a face character. If I were booking, I’d turned Triple H heel and have him feud with either a hot new face like Morrison or a newly turned Edge, who is going to end up face soon because more & more fans want to cheer him.
Also, Rhodes and Dibiase are in serious need of a separate feud. Randy Orton didn’t get over in Evolution just by being a member of the faction – he got over by feuding with HBK and Foley. I’ve given up on HHH putting over a mid-carder but I’m hoping that when HBK comes back he might feud with Dibiase. The matches would certainly be something to see.
Watched a replay of the Bash.. Jericho once again stole the show… the guy is absolute money and it shows you don’t need to hog the main event to shine.
HHH needs to go to hell (how many times have I said that) even in defeat he still made Orton look like a bitch!
I pray HHH tears a quad again and joins Batista on the injured list. That is the only chance Orton has of becoming a hot act again…. Legacy is finished… Rhodes/Dibiase have been buried but frankly neither look like anything more than generic lackeys.
Edge/Jericho = EPIC.. this is sooo leading towards Edge face turn.
Scott you NEED to start watching Smackdown… I’ve seen no hint on your blog that you have watched it recently… seriously its the best wrestling show since the SD6 in 2002/03 perhaps even better as rather than parts of the show being great nearly everything is awesome.
Smackdown has been awesome. Isn’t Michael Hayes the head booker (writer) on that show right now?
I think it’s the best TV show WWE has put on since 2000. It’s better than 2002 because the new ‘Smackdown six’ (Jericho, Edge, Hardy, Rey, Punk, Morrison) are all main-eventing and not playing second fiddle to Lesnar-Big Show. Just as importantly, the undercard is also very strong. The way R-Truth has gotten over reminds me of when Too Cool and Rikishi got over and WWF/E was smart enough to capitalise on it.
I always watch Raw and Smackdown on Sky+ (equivalent of TiVo) and can watch Raw in half an hour but with Smackdown I watch almost everything. Even Khali and Michelle McCool are tolerable when the rest of the show is so good.
Shia LeBouf heat
If you are looking for culture at the movies in remakes, nostalgic movies and chick flicks — you aren’t going to find much. You don’t go to Burger King and order truffles. However, cinematic culture is not dead. Frozen River, The Wrestler, and Gomorra are all recent examples of fine cinema that cause real human reflection and introspection.
I guess our dissension lies in why we go to the movies. I don’t go to veg out for two hours. I can do that at home, quietly. I like (and most enjoy films) when I don’t turn my brain off, when I empathize with the characters and story, and forget that everything I’m watching is contrived. Its those like Baby Momma and the first Trans. that left me looking at my watch within 30 mins.
What I don’t get is that you say cinematic culture is dead, and I should accept it by (knowingly) contributing to the problem. Perhaps if more people watched movies with their head rather than their wallet, then we’d have more/better examples of cinematic culture.
It may also depend on how old you are. I just turned 27. I had Optimus Prime everything as a child. I don’t need Shakespeare…and the original Transformers was never Shakespeare.
Its unfair to compare it to something like Batman where the premise is actually something out of Shakespeare. Transformers are ALIEN ROBOTS fighting on Earth.