ALL SCI-FI

[Bud Brewster]

On December 29th I took Ticket2theMoon and Tantus Starbucker (aka my brilliant daughter and my cool 14-year-old grandson) to see Bumblebee at a Regal theater in the RPX format.





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My 9-year-old granddaughter was with us, too.





The awesome sound quality and the huge screen size was great, along with the vibrating seats which tickled a lot more than just my "fancy".

I'm also pleased to report that Bumblebee will be my next Blu-ray purchase, because the movie is more fun than mud wrestling with green alien women who have dated Captain Kirk!

Hailee Steinfeld demonstrates enough talent to get herself an Oscar one of these days.





Between her impressive acting and the stellar job the CGI people did when they created the lovable Transformer's endearing performance, this film is pure movie magic!

This is the 21st Century version of Timmy & Lassie — except that Timmy is a sweet, courageous young lady, and Lassie is an alien war machine that can be cute one minute and kick your ass the next!

The plot is admirably intelligent.

Admittedly the war mongering government agent who wants to blast the visiting super-high-tech machines just because they aren't "Made in the U.S.A." (despite the fact that they're technological marvels), comes across as a familiar clique throughout most of the movie. It will surprise no one that he mellows by the end and redeems himself before the closing credits.

But he was still the weakest link in this titanium chain of first-class filmmaking.

The critics proved they know good sci-fi when they see it by saying things like the quote below from Rotten Tomatoes, which gave the film an approval rating of 93% based on 175 reviews.

"Bumblebee proves it's possible to bring fun and a sense of wonder back to a bloated blockbuster franchise — and sets up its own slate of sequels in the bargain."

That's the secret of this movie's charm and appeal. It gives us a healthy dose of "giant robot warfare" at the beginning of the movie, then it settles down to tell a heartwarming story about how "Bot-meets-girl", "Bot-gets-girl", and finally "Bot-looses-battle-but-girl-jump-starts-him!" . . . and then they save the day.

I guess I'm just a sucker for a love story that involves cute chicks and alien technology. Call me old fashioned . . .

And the posters are mighty cool, too.






For the record, the trailer below doesn't just "make the movie look good". It's a trailer for a good movie . . . that barely does it justice.

Watch the trailer. Go see the movie. Buy the Blue-ray.

Then post a reply here. 'Nuff said . . .

_____________________ Bumblebee (2018)


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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)

[Bud Brewster]

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IMDB has 49 trivia items for this movie. Here’s a few of the ones I found the most interesting, in the blue text.
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This won't be a sequel but a spin-off based on the popular Autobot Bumblebee, as well as a prequel tale to the Transformers films.

Note from me: They were smart to reboot the franchise with a fresh start and a story that focuses on a likeable young character, along with setting it an earlier time than the previous ones.

With a budget of $102-128 million, this is the least expensive Transformers movie to date.

Note from me: That fact, combined with what I hope will be great box office success, will convince the studio that “less is more” in this case. Despite the fact that the movie contains abundant action, the non-action segments have a great deal of drama and humor.

This is director Travis Knight's first live-action film.

Note from me: Mr. Knight has hit the ground running if this movie does as well as it should.

This is the first live-action Transformers that Michael Bay did not direct, but he stayed on board as producer.

Note from me: I suspect that Mr. Bay’s tendency to make “bigger” Transformer stories with heavy sci-fi elements is part of why I haven’t cared for the previous ones.

Although there has been speculation that Hasbro and Paramount are planning to reboot the Transformers film franchise in the near future, if "Bumblebee" performs well at the box office and general reception is good a sequel will be developed.

Note from me: I have hopes for that sequel. The movie sets up a sequel very skillfully.

Hailee Steinfeld, not even born until a decade after the events of the film, had to be taught how to be around some typical items of the 80's era, such as how to work a Walkman which was completely foreign to her.

Note from me: I’ve got a few hundred cassette tapes I recorded myself, sometimes selecting each song individually. So, I’ve acguired about 15 Sony Sports Walkman’s in like-new condition from eBay, because they’re becoming rarer every day. I’ve already seen the number being offered for sale on eBay drop dramatically.

The scene in which Charlie is trying to repair Bumblebee and unwillingly activates Optimus Prime's holographic message after declaring "There's something stuck here", is a homage to "Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope" (1977), with the same scene occuring between Luke Skywalker, R2-D2 and the hologram of Princess Leia.

Note from me: I didn’t catch this clever tribute when I saw the movie, but in retrospect it’s obvious.
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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)

[Bud Brewster]

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I watched this highly enjoyable movie again today, and I read that there's a good chance we'll get a sequel. I hope Hailee Steinfeld will be back, because she's such a lovely young lady and a fine actor.







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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)

[Bud Brewster]

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Wow, anybody who has the FX channel on their satellite or cable service has noticed that they air six or seven Marvel movies a day!

I've set my DVR for about a dozen in the coming week — even movies I have on DVD or BD! It's so easy to pick a movie from my list of recorded movies and start watching it until I think of something to post on ASF.

Try it guess! You'll like it.
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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)