#32

As I promised here are the next reviews:


Transformers



Some things I never really understood. For example, why all my friends liked Transformers so much when I was a kid. I always thought they were stupid and boring, and therefore I didn't even consider watching "Transformers" at a theatre.
But sometimes even I can be proven wrong.
From the first minute of the movie I was weirdly drawn to it. It's humour, it's crazy protagonist and it's awesome special effects, even though I've seen better.
The story is pretty simple. The Autobots and the Decepticons have come to earth to find the All Spark, the object that created their robotic race. The Autobots want to destroy it, because the Decepticons are planing to turn all machines on earth into an evil army.
Sam Witwicky (Shia LaBeouf) is madly in love with Mikaela (Megan Fox). But he is more or less a loser. This changes when he and his father go and buy Sam's first car. The old Camaro turns out to be Bumblebee, one of the Autobots, who tries to help Sam to get to Mikaela.
When the Decepticons find out the location of the All Spark they invade earth and the battle with the Autobots begins...
"Transformers" is more or less your average comic movie:
You have a loser that is in love with the hottest girl in school. He finds out that he has superpowers or gets something that has superpowers. This something has to save the earth in the end and the loser gets the beautiful girl.
Simple and effective, but it works really good once more in Transformers. The humour is really great and something completely different from this years serious adations like "Iron Man" and "The Dark Knight".
The plot is more or less solid and has no real surprises, but it nevertheless entertains throughout all the 138 minutes.
The actors are good, although you don't have to expect Academy Award worthy performances. But you have to mention that Megan Fox is really überfoxy. Her pure presence is absolutely steamy. With this as a bonus and an absolutely entertaining 2 hours I give:

8.0 out of 10 mutating cars



Into the Wild



Every year there are movies made by people who I wouldn't consider as powerful directors. Last year one of this movies was "Into the Wild" by Sean Penn. His fourth feature film tells the story of Christopher McCandless who decides to travel through the USA shortly after his college graduation. His doesn't tell his family that he is planning a trip because he doesn't want them to hunt him down. He wants to leave everything behind. At first he travels west to Arizona, then down the Colorado river into Mexico and next up north through California to go to Alaska. On his travels he meets a lot of different people. For example Jan and Rainey, a hippie-couple that drives through the country, or Ron Franz, an old leather craftsman who wants to adopt Christopher, because he has no children of his own.
The plot is told like puzzle. At first we see Christopher discovering his "magic" bus in the wilderness of Alaska. Then we always jump back in time. In these fragments we learn Christopher's story and the how and why he went to Alaska. He is a frustrated young adult who cannot bear living with his parents and their expectations. He decides to get reborn, but not in a religious way, but in his own spiritual and natural way. His journey is subdivided in chapters of a life: Childhhod, Adolescence, Manhood and The Gaining of Wisdom.
The movie is based on the true story of Christopher McCandless which has been published as a non-fictional novel by Jon Krakauer in 1996.
I haven't read the book so far, but what Sean Penn does with the material is truthfully and honestly a masterpiece. The movie has an official running time of 148 minutes. These 2 and a half hours fly by. The plot is constructed to be entertaining, thought-provoking and pittoresque. And it works perfectly fine, given the fact that the people Christopher meets are interesting, their stories make you wonder about society and the nature, especially of Alaska are breathtakingly beautiful. Sean Penn's director's eye is unique and his style of presenting people and nature is phenomenal.
The cast proves to be phenomenal as well. I've seen Emile Hirsch in "The Girl Next Door", which wasn't the top of acting, but what he establishes here is outstanding for a 22-year-old. His resemblance with the real Chris McCandless is remarkable and his acting is top-notch. But the rest of the ensemble is marvellous as well:
Catherine Keener as hippie Jan is heartwarming, William Hurt as Walt McCandless, Chris' father is very strong and 82-year-old Hal Holbrook as Ron Franz deserves his Academy Award nomination for "Best Supporting Actor".
Another thing that I have to mention is the shots of the countryside. Alaska, California and Arizona are shot beautifully and make it impossible to not get infected with wanderlust. The Grand Canyon is such an amazing wonder of nature and the Alaskan tundra is gorgeous.
The last thing that makes this movie a perfect masterpiece is the score by Eddie Vedder who received a Golden Globe for his song "Guaranteed". The quiet and yet powerful songs plus the intertextual references are conductive to one of the most beautiful and saddest movies about human society I've seen in a very long time.

9.6 out 10 travelling scholars of life and nature

Please watch this movie! It is absolutely wonderful!

That's it for today folks!