Of Mice and Machines...

Caution: Structureless meandering ahead...

I saw the first showing of the Transformers movie last night and got exactly what I expected. I wanted big robots fighting.

I saw Ratatouille last Friday and also got what I wanted: a great fucking movie.

It's easy to discredit Michael Bay whenever he tries to do something beside an action sequence. He's just not that good working out of his comfort zone. He doesn't show any patience. He's most comfortable in a set piece, blowing stuff up. He's awkward like an adolescent when it comes to human interaction. Luckily he's usually saved from his most glaring faults by the casts he's been able to work with. Put simply, the Transformers movie would've had some real problems if not for Shia Labeouf. He saves some corny stuff when he has to. All that said, Bay was still one of the best men for a movie like this.

What I realized most with Bay's directing style is that his framing is very much like a comic book. He thinks very much like a designer. Each shot is mapped out with dominant, subdominant, and subordinate elements. He also thinks on that third level, too, though. He can see what's going to be edited in next and tries to balance that out. Close-ups sit next to longer shots, while middle range shots tend to get slightly more screen time for panning and zooming.

What I think I liked most about the movie is that I wasn't disappointed. Not exactly high praise, I know, but I'm still one of the many suffering from the "Jar Jar Effect." Disappointments have been the norm for me as I see movie after movie kick me in the solarplexes when I just wanted to like it. Pirates 2 was a clunker, so I didn't even other with 3. I loved Sin City, but then had to see Jessica Alba turn around and do Fantastic 4? That's kinda' like being in a really good, waking up accidentally, and trying to return to the dream only to find everything's gone to shit. I could look past Halle Berry as Storm ( I still say it should have been Angela Bassett), but not 3 times. I didn't mind the first 2 Spiderman movies, but the third one left such a rotten taste in my mouth I actually don't like Spiderman, the character, anymore. Seriously. I can't even buy a Spidey comic anymore, for fear he'll rip off his mask in front of half of New York, again.

Hollywood's beyond bloated. They have been for a long time. It's a machine that churns out a LOT of garbage. Every once in a while we'll get a morsel of delectable residue, but our lowered expectations can only help us stomach so much.

Ratatouille reminded me what it was like to fall in love with a movie again. It was good enough to inspire me on artistic levels left dormant by past mediocrity. The difference with that movie and so many others is the teamwork and solid vision of the filmmakers. When you get done watching it, you feel like every "t" is crossed and every "i" dotted. They cared enough to make a great movie. Any disagreements, behind-the-scenes arguments, or conflicts (if there were any) never made their way on screen. There was no "hip" dance number at the end, dated attempts at humor, or fart jokes.) Imagine that-a whole movie about food and no jokes about things coming out the wrong way. It was just a solid story told in a solid way, top-to-bottom.

The thing that both the Transformers and Ratatouille have in common is the appeal to the kid inside of me. I wanted to be a 12-year-old wanting to be Sam Witwicky. I wanted to live in that world and experience that adventure. I wanted to be a chef in the kitchen with all of the cool rats, cooking and entertaining an appreciative crowd. In both movies I got to escape. I got to laugh. I got to cheer. What I didn't do was groan, or fidget, or look at my watch.

I still hate paying $9.50 for an admission, though.