I’ll go see Transformers when it comes out on the principle that I’m a slave to nostalgia, regardless of how well or poorly they do. If it’s entertaining, great. If it’s terrible, I’ll have something to bitch about. But it’ll still get matinee money out of my pocket. Bear in mind I thought Starship Troopers was one of the most amusing films ever made, so take it all with a grain of salt. I’ll probably walk away from it like I did from the D&D movie. That got a “Hrm… kinda sucked, but at least they had massive Thora Birch boobage, but even that was covered up under puritan-type vestments, but I gotta search for some sort of redeeming quality so I don’t consider this a complete waste of my time.” If need be afterwards, I’ll crack out my animated version to listen to the all-star cast of voice overs including Orson Welles, Leonard Nimoy, Judd Nelson, and Eric Idle, and still guiltily chuckle when they actually use the word “shit” in the dialogue.

I agree with Dave’s point about cartoons vs. comics turned into movies though. To date, I can’t think of a single cartoon I watched as a kid that was turned into a good live-action flick. Very bizarre phenomenon why it works for one genre but not the other.

I remember seeing the old Spiderman movie from the 70’s when it was aired on TV and how disappointing it was. It had the same effect on me that the old Pink Panther movies did… anticipation for what was a “cool” kid-oriented idea but the actual implementation felt far more adult-oriented.

Saw the trailer for Underdog recently and already know I’ll be avoiding that like a mentally-challenged 40-year old overweight women in spandex at a KISS concert.

And I still say the worst travesty was when they gave Tom & Jerry voices.

Also, robot ass-kicking movies that rocked with the caveat that they include ass and large robots):

- Terminator 1 and 2, which included future Skynet robots (and naked chicks at least once or twice)

- Judge Dredd (the robot was about 7-8 feet tall)

- Robocop (prostitutes and robots)

- Robot Jox

There were many other good robot films that featured either ass or giant robots, but sadly, few with both. There were some forgettable ones with both, such as ‘Crash and Burn’, which featured some sort of sex/electrocution scene in the shower… but it had cool giant robots. And ass. But it was a shitty movie.

Dr. Strange was a made for TV in 1978
There were several TV movies for the Incredible Hulk

And I know for a fact that there was either was a Thor show or he made appearences on a show.

Most. Confusing. Response. Ever.

Remy said:

Worst part is that half of those were made into movies in the late 70’s to mid 80’s.

I was correcting him.

Of course, they never would. It’ll just be a bunch of explosions.

See, my belief is that cartoons are geared towards kids. So when they turn a cartoon into a movie, they either gear it towards kids (Scooby Doo, Inspector Gadget), or they attempt to ‘age’ the material and give it an adult appeal (Transformers). The end result is invariably disappointing to us because in the first case we are not children, and in the second we feel our childhood memories are betrayed. We wouldn’t watch a child-oriented Transformers movie with dialog as shitty and acting as lame as the cartoons. We enjoy the old cartoons because of pure nostalgia.

Comics are a different matter. Because comics are essentially books, with writing and art that allows us to use our brain to filter the material, we age it ourselves. They can make any comic into an adult-oriented movie because as adults, we’ve already ‘updated’ the material in our minds. That and the authors of comic books are often true writers, who create genuine characters and place nuance in the dialog we appreicate as adults.

So Spidey, FF, etc. movies I have no problem with, but GI Joe, Transformers, et al piss me off.

Now name one good one to come out of the “boobs, ass, and giant robots kicking ass” industry.

Worst part is that half of those were made into movies in the late 70’s to mid 80’s.

Watchmen
The Darkness
Black Panther
The Incredible Hulk (again)
Doctor Strange
Magneto
Thor
Deadman
The Flash
Green Lantern
Y: The Last Man

Just to name a few. There are many, many more.

And while Transmetropolitan has not been optioned, Ellis has expressed approval that Patrick Stewart wants to play Spider Jerusalem. Unfortunately… as time passes, that looks less likely for obvious reasons.

Some good movies have been made from comics, though.

Hellboy
Batman (both the 1989 and 2006 versions)
Road to Perdition
Blade
X-Men
Spider Man

Name one good movie to come out of that industry.

Not enough movies have boobs, ass, and giant robots kicking ass. I have to support that industry.

How is it, Dave, that you can endorse the ‘popcorn movie’ genre, and not this?

Iron Man
Thundercats
Underdog (trailers are out)
Ghost in the Shell
He-Man (supposedly will be shot in a manner similar to 300)
Justice League of America
Superman vs Batman (supposedly, Routh and Bale have signed on board for both this and JLA)
Teen Titans
Avengers

A list at once beautiful and horrible to behold.

I’d like a live action Macross/Robotech, personally.

Personally, I’m hoping for a live action Starblazers. That I will shell money for since I want to see a flying space battleship where half the ship is actually a cannon.

As for giant robot, yes it does have that. They look like shit, but it does have giant robots. I mean, have you see the trialers where they show Starscream? He looks like shit as does the pictures I’ve seen of Megatron. Optimus looks decent I will say but the rest look like hell. I mean in the commercial, that ones that comes up out the sand to attack the soldier’s? Jesus it looks like ass.

All I can hear in my mind when I watch the commercials is: “This will be the Starship Troopers of 2007″

I need to send a message that they can’t fool me. They can’t take a hack director, make a crappy movie (but add lots of sfx/cg), and con us into spending money by throwing a title on it like Transformers.

In disguise, sure… its a movie in disguise, and I can see right through it.

As for the new version, I’d be more inclined to go see it if the Transformers looked better than something I could create using an old school Erector set.

Plus the fact that apart from Jon Voight, there’s not a single decent actor that I could see associated with the movie.

The Transformers - The Movie (20th Anniversary Special Edition)

Instead, I will watch the original movie on DVD, in protest.

One giant robot kicks another giant robot’s ass. And then other giant robots join in to kick other giant robots’ asses. And that’s just cool.