Why Do Trekkies Bash Michael Bay?

[Iconian]

The Island is a very good movie.

 

[miniglik]

Wait, I thought EVERYONE bashes Michael Bay?

His only good movie is The Rock, thanks only to James Bond being in it.

This.

I am not a Trekkie, and I gleefully bash Michael Bay.

Anyone got a link to the spoof Bay treatment of The Dark Knight? That really illustrates what I don't like about him. He takes good ideas and makes them too loud, too tasteless, and too cheap.

 

[ManaByte]

The Island is a very good movie.

The Island ripped off a MST3K movie called Clonus: The Parts Horror so much that the makers of The Island were sued.

 

[Iconian]

The Island ripped off a MST3K movie called Clonus: The Parts Horror so much that the makers of The Island were sued.

I don't care.

 

[ManaByte]

Michael Bay is so original!

Plot similarities with Parts: The Clonus Horror
The following are plot points which accurately describe both movies.

• There is a secret community of clones who are being created so that their organs can eventually be harvested in order to extend the lives of people, living outside of the community, wealthy enough to afford the process.
• When it is time for a clone (or more precisely, his or her organs), the clone is led to believe that he or she has been "randomly" chosen to go to what has been advertised as a utopia. The utopia, which of course does not really exist, is "America" in Clonus, and "The Island" in The Island.
• The community of clones is closely monitored by video surveillance and uniformed guards, who closely observe the actions of the clones.
• The main character is an inquisitive clone living in the community who finds clues about the outside world.
• The main character eventually escapes the community.
• A woman, which the community staff try to keep the main character from getting too close to, becomes the love interest for the protagonist, urging the protagonist to return to the facility after escaping.
• The project director sends assassins after the character.
• The main character gets betrayed by a genetic parent/sponsor he seeks and contacts in the outside world.
• The President (candidate for President in Clonus) is known to have a clone.
• The cloning program is exposed at the end of the film.

 

[Similitude]

The Island is one of the few Bay movies I like. I could care less if it was ripped off of something.

 

[Stardate]

I don't bash Michael Bay. I just don't like his style of direction that much. It is all style with little substance. I hated Armageddon movie. However liked Bad Boys, The Rock and the Island

 

[JohanKoch]

I don't bash Michael Bay. I barely think of Michael Bay. He is an awful director making formulaic crap, with one of the worst careers in Hollywood...

...okay, I guess I do bash Michael Bay. Only because he so obviously deserves it.

 

[CommanderRaytas]

I'm not one to criticise anyone for no good reason, and I usually enjoy Michael Bay films (as long as I don't take them too seriously)....but Armageddon? What a craptacular cheese fest that was. Bleeding Christ.

 

[Rackon]

Many here seem to hate one of the greatest filmmakers of all time: Michael Bay.

Yet, without him Orci and Kurtzman wouldn´t be the script writing masters they are today. He helped them to hone their skills on "The Island" and "Transformers". They are not as good as Star Trek, but they are two highly entertaining movies that taught them how to write big budget blockbusters.

And JJ Abrams co-wrote Armageddon. I am sure Bay must have taught him a trick or two.

The truth is: without Bay the latest Trek movie wouldn´t have been as good as it is.

Erm...one of the greatest filmmakers of all time??????

Get a grip.

Renoir, Eisenstein, Chaplin, Powell & Pressberger, Murnau, Dreyer, Wells, Kurosawa, Lean, Ford, Hitchcock, Ozu, Hawks, Sturges, Curtiz, Wilder, Ray, Wenders, Houston...Scorsese....Copploa...Miyazaki...Lynch...yeah, I can make a "greatest" case for any of them.

Michael Bay??????

Mr. Bay makes very popular and financially successful films, no mean feat in itself. Entertaining they may be - art they are not. Bay blows up stuff just great. He hires excellent FX craftsmen to do it as dynamically as possible for the big screen. He edits like a machine gun. Very lively. I grant you he excells at noisy movies, no contest.

But to be a "great" filmmaker, you gotta do more than put butts in seats and blow up shit real good.

I can't speak for other "trekkers", as we are hardly a homogenous group possessed of a single taste or aesthetic.

Indeed, I like quite a lot of popular, (very) commercial films quite well, including XI. But I don't confuse art with commerce.

Bay aims for the lowest common denominator way too much. He excells in a specific, undemanding style of filmmaking, which he executes quite well. Certainly key people involved with XI participated in projects he directed and/or produced. And they probably profitted from the experience.

But are Orci and company "masters" of scriptwriting??? Ummm...prolly not...yet.

I thank all the sci-fi gods that are that Abrams directed XI himself and Bay...didn't.

 

[jeff lebowski]

Michael Bay is good at making two hour trailers. Any comparison between his work and Star Trek XI is absurd.

Anyone could have directed Star Trek XI.

It wasn't THAT amazing directing wise.

I certainly think Bay could have made just as good a movie with that script.


Transformers and The Island are pretty good movies and at least on par with Star Trek XI.

 

[Islander]

Abrams and Bay are 2 comparable young movie makers (counting all writting/directing/producing works) with a short history of good action-oriented blockbuster type movie success. They are good at what they do but still limited to what they do.

I would compare both to a younger James Cameron that have yet to show as much dept. And all on them are little leagues compare to Spielberg, Kubrick or Ridley Scott, naming only those that can also make sci-fi blockbusters.

 

[PixelMagic]

He is an awful director making formulaic crap, with one of the worst careers in Hollywood...

Worst careers you say? Is that why he has a bank account of $200 million?

 

[Admiral Buzzkill]

Many here seem to hate one of the greatest filmmakers of all time: Michael Bay.

Actually, he sucks.

 

[Aragorn]

There are worse directors than Michael Bay. There's Uwe Boll, the worst working director in human history. There's Brett Ratner, who has no style or vision whatsoever and would be the first name on the list of the most vanilla directors. There's also Rob Cohen, who's merely a wannabe Michael Bay now despite starting his career in a very non-Bay way.

 

[CommanderRaytas]

Uwe Boll is definitely the worst.

 

[nx1701g]

I dislike Michael Bay because of explosion, followed by explosion, followed by explosion or car chase with little plot.

 

[Cakes488]

I thought Armageddon was superb. With a much better soundtrack than Star Trek to boot.

Superb!!! Superb??

I'm sorry that you think Armageddon was superb...really I am because in reality there is no way this film should be considered anywhere near superb...and by you thinking that it is saddens me because there are so many other finer films out there for viewing such as: Sunset Blvd, Bridge on the River Kwai, Witness for the Prosecution, How green was my valley, Judgement at Nurenburg(sp), Long Day's Journey into Night, the Night of the Hunter, How the West was won....I'll stop now because the list never ends...but Damn do I love me some night of the hunter!!!

Many here seem to hate one of the greatest filmmakers of all time: Michael Bay.

Yet, without him Orci and Kurtzman wouldn´t be the script writing masters they are today. He helped them to hone their skills on "The Island" and "Transformers". They are not as good as Star Trek, but they are two highly entertaining movies that taught them how to write big budget blockbusters.

And JJ Abrams co-wrote Armageddon. I am sure Bay must have taught him a trick or two.

The truth is: without Bay the latest Trek movie wouldn´t have been as good as it is.

Are you implying that Orci and Kurtzman are actually Genuis, and that because we like the new Trek film we automatically think Abrams is a good director? For Christ's sake LENSE FLARE. God, drove me up the wall.

Abrams produced that cinematic Abortion that was Cloverfield, directed Mission Impossible 3 (just when I thought it couldn't get worse than Mission Impossible 2), and gave us TV crap like Lost, Alias, and Felicity.


Orci and Kurtzman gave us Transformers, and not even Star Trek XI has me able to forgive them.

Yeah by no means do I think this Abrams guy is a genius or master film maker...same goes for the other two...Orci & Kurtzman. I mean when you see a really well written film then you can fully appreciate it and realize that these guys ain't it.

The Island is one of the few Bay movies I like. I could care less if it was ripped off of something.

Well you should care if it was blatantly done...maybe you should check out the original. Now we all borrow from each other and get inspired...but to "rip off" something and then inject a few new ideas and then call it your own is well....bullshit ! Wait am I talking about the new movie...or...LOL just kidding everybody!!

 

[Aike]

Michael Bay is the Captain Kirk of filmmaking.

 

[M'Sharak]

...there are so many other finer films out there for viewing such as: ... Bridge on the River Kwai...

Just for that, you get a gold star for the day.