What happened to Michael Bay?

Hollywood is a tricky place to be an artist. You can be the most talented actor/director/whatever but as soon as you make it, there is so much money and so many “yes” men that it becomes hard to pick the right project and put your integrity into it. Hollywood has turned the tide on itself causing the general public to look upon big budget high production value movies as almost guaranteed failures. *cough* Transformers *cough*. It seems that the more advertising you seen on TV the more certain you can be that a movie is terrible — e.g. Ghost Rider, Catch and Release, and Premonition.

If you will allow me, I’ll throw out a few director examples for your edification.

Kevin Smith

Kevin, born and raised in New Jersey, brought us great movies such as Clerks and Mall Rats. Each movie explored the angst of New Jersey youth using fantastic — now cult classic — characters, comic books, and great comedic timing. I’m sure a lot of people don’t like his work but a lot of people do and that is the important part.

These days Kevin is entangled in the Hollywood machine and is treading a dangerous path. Clerks 2, his latest big movie certainly has a higher production value but has none of the raw edge that made the original great. It became a vehicle for shock based comedy which really didn’t take the viewer anywhere substantial. Kevin also acts and was one of the only decent parts of Catch and Release — the most recent Jennifer Garner flop — with his goofy portrayal of a grieving friend. This movie seems to have been destroyed in the editing room so I can’t fault his choice but it worries me for his future none the less.

Robert Rodriguez

I had already seen Desperado and picked up El Mariachi expressly because it was by the same, relatively unknown, director. The fact that it is a Mexican subtitled movie didn’t hurt either especially when I heard it was filmed in two weeks for only $7000 USD. Of course the movie is brilliant which is why Quintin Tarentino sought him out to partner on the sequel and a few others since.

I was extremely excited when Once Upon a Time in Mexico was announced, partly due to the title — a play on the title of a set of great Jet Li movies — but mostly because it was a sequel to Desperado. Unfortunately it was not to be, between the terribly muddled plot and the so-so performances of the cast this movie was not what it could have been.

Another strike for Robert is the Spy Kids sequels. I loved the original, let’s leave it at that. Thankfully, Sin City was an amazing return to form with well chosen, well directed actors — you can’t beat Mickey Rourke as Marv, ever, no way, no how, and I could rant off on that topic for an entire post. But I have to worry about Sin City 2 and 3 which IMDB says are in the works.

Quintin Tarentino

Let us run the list: Reservoir Dogs, Pulp Fiction, Jackie Brown, and Kill Bill Vol. 1. Pulp Fiction is among my favorite movies of all time since the first time I heard the line: “Any of you fuckin’ pricks move and I’ll execute every motherfucking last one of you.” Tim Roth is great and don’t you forget it — Yes, I know that isn’t his line I’m just saying he is great. Also, even though it isn’t a movie, it is worth noting that Quintin’s CSI episode is absolutely breathtaking to watch.

Kill Bill Vol. 1 was a tour-de-force for both Uma and Quintin each proving their mettle in their respective fields. When O-Ren Ishii’s back story was introduced via an Anime sequence I knew I was watching a master at work. My excitement for Kill Bill Vol. 2 was as palpable as it was for Once Upon a Time in Mexico but again I was disappointed. The only enjoyment I took from the movie was the short scene between Beatrix and Bill where he talked about Superman’s secret identity. Even Tarentino’s signature music choices — another subject for an entire blog post — failed to add any flavor to this bland film.

Michael Bay

Pre-Pearl Harbour I would pay good money to go see a Michael Bay movie and I did. I own all the greats on DVD including Bad Boys, The Rock, and Armageddon. Post-Pearl Harbour this guy can’t do anything right. The budgets he commands for his movies guarantee that there will be way too many ridiculous special effects with very little attention paid to the plot or the actors performances. I was especially frustrated with Bad Boys 2 due to my love of the original. When cars started rolling and nearly missing the stars they lost my interest. Oh ya and did I mention that cadavers a plenty were flying about and being run over?

I’ve yet to see Transformers but based on the marketing machine thus far I predict that it will seriously suck. They even went so far as to get MTV to give them an award the other night under the guise of a new category: “The best movie of the summer you haven’t seen yet”. It is such transparent marketing that MTV is lucky the majority of their viewer base hasn’t hit puberty yet.

This post has become exceeding long so in hind sight I am sorry for the wall-o-text. I hope that you will discuss directors, actors or movies that you’re disappointed with. I could write an entire post on how pissed I was over The Matrix sequels but I probably won’t since V for Vendetta was so awesome. Thanks for listening! End rant.