Finally got round to seeing this quite enjoyable film. Mind you I was firmly in a "relaxing on a Sunday afternoon" groove so I probably would have enjoyed almost anything...

Don't expect a review. :)

Musical junkie that I am I really wanted to enjoy this but I found it to be more impressive than enjoyable.

Certainly the staging, the costuming, the lighting were superb in that inimitable and undefinable Tim Burton style. I enjoyed the performances of the cast, the songs were appropriate if not particularly memorable.

But...something didn't quite work for me. I don't know if it was the subject matter or something else but I don't particularly want to see this again. Nor, unlike Rent, am I particularly interested in seeing a live performance.

To get started the plot for 28 Days Later depends on a group of animal rights activists who are, frankly, evidence of evolution in action. 

This irritated me at the time that I saw 28 Days Later, but I got over it and enjoyed the rest of the film.

But it is a plot device that, for me at least, only works once. Unfortunately Black Sheep uses it too so I walked out about half an hour in - it completely shattered the suspension of disbelief for me.

Sigh.

As you may have guessed from the title I saw Transformers this evening.

As a colleague at work noted this is a movie aimed at 11 year old boys. Judging by some of the costumes they had the female lead (almost) wearing I'd move the target more towards 13 year olds.

It is also a blatant recruiting film for the US military (although I note with some amusement that the product placement adviser beat out the military advisor in the credits. Just).

But having said that, there are some refreshing elements to this movie. The female lead Mikaela Barnes (played by Megan Fox) is skilled, intelligent, loyal, and courageous (a word I chose very carefully, she has her moment of fear but faces it and conquers it).

Given the target audience, I think that this is at least slightly subversive scripting and I thoroughly approve.

As for the male lead Sam Witwicky (played by Shia LaBeouf) ? Well to quote the friend I saw it with, he achieves acceptable levels of mediocrity by the end and does get a few things right. 

Bad, but watchably so on an $8 ticket. I wouldn't have paid more.

I'm still undecided as to whether this will eventually qualify for the ranks of the gloriously bad.

This is a spoiler free review. Its more about impressions than the storyline.

And the 1st impression is one of tight, disciplined editing. There is nothing extraneous in the storyline; all shotguns on the mantlepiece are used and don't usually get much time to gather dust whilst they're waiting to be fired.

The 2nd impression is that the tight editing vastly improves the character development, and enhances the general "War on Terror" atmosphere of the story.

All in all, a very impressive piece of work. 

EDIT: A couple of amusing items in the end credits (alas no easter eggs, sys admins, or business analysts):
a) Drapesmasters. What the...?
b) Wand Combat Choreographers

(Note the plural in both cases)