Transformers: More Than the Eye Can Meet

The Transformers movie-going experience started last week with the purchase of tickets to The Proposal. "You OK with going to the 10:00 p.m. IMAX showing of Transformers next Wednesday?" the husband asked over the phone as he stood in front of the self-pay kiosk at the theaters across the street from my work office. He had arrived a little early to pick me up that day so he "wandered" over to the theaters for a little weekend preparation (The Proposal, particularly).

I knew Transformers was one worthy of the 6-story IMAX screen, 10:00 p.m. sounds a lot better than the 12:01 a.m. showings we've dragged ourselves to in the past. "Sounds great," I affirmed. He selected seats closest to our favorites as possible, swiped the card, and $54.00 later, we have tickets to two flicks.

And I didn't have a second thought about it till Monday night.

"Did you see the tickets?" he asked, shuffling around his pile of textbooks and scripts on the dining table. "I left them right here..."

Suddenly a flash of the previous afternoon's hurried straightening of the area for a late Sunday lunch flitted across my mind. I had recalled seeing a receipt and what I assumed were random movie stubs. And then picking them up. And thinking they were like the dozens of other ticket stubs that we both leave lying around (which is one of the drawbacks of seeing dozens of movies in a short period of time). And tossing them in the kitchen garbage. And then taking that garbage to the dumpster.

Steve spent the rest of the evening combing the house, reshuffling the textbooks and scripts, and even dumpster diving. Unfortunately --and fortunately-- the garbage truck had been there that morning so it was obvious our white, Costo-brand kitchen garbage bag with red ties was long gone. No need to delve through 2-day-old meat trimmings and vegetable peels...

Steve drove over to the theater to speak with a manager about our plight, but apparently they don't keep records of individual transactions. It's not like tickets to a play where they have your name, the day you purchased them and exactly where you're sitting somewhere in a database. Which has caused me to think, "Why don't they keep that information?" Wouldn't producers and theater owners want to have more detailed stats of who is seeing what movie?

Film industry infrastructure analyzation aside, all we could do was to talk to the house manager the night of the show, and hope he can help us out. Skipping ahead to Wednesday (last night), we came to the theater armed with a copy of our bank statement's transaction of $54.00 to the Bridge Cinemas, but no proof of which movie, let alone which seats we selected.

The guy was great. Steve recalled where on the screen he selected the little green squares, and vaguely recalling the numbers "K1 and 2." He gave us a little manager's pass and we slipped into the two open seats we believed to be ours.

When no one came and challenged us for "K1 and 2" as the lights dimmed, we quietly rejoiced in our fortune. All the seats were filled around us, and Steve knew he selected seats on this side. But then, a couple came right to our row. My stomach tightened a little.

But then the usher called to a man sitting in "J5," the row right in front of us. They had some discussion and the man previously sitting in J5 left. Apparently he had J5 for another 10:00 showing of Transformers.

The film began to start and I began to relax. But then another couple came right to our row and the usher again examined the tickets with his flashlight. "That's it," I thought. "We're screwed."

Imagine my delight when he called to the people sitting in "K5 and 6." Same deal as the guy sitting in J5. "Phew!" I thought. "What are the odds?"

So our eyes almost didn't meet Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen. But as the cool IMAX graphics warmed up that massive screen, and the digital surround sound sweeps around, impressing our ears with its power, I finally relaxed.

Cool things about seeing Transformers in IMAX:

1. The cool graphics at the beginning.
2. No pre-show ads or 25 minutes of preview trailers.
   
3. The picture is so big, I could totally see Megan Fox's fake eyelashes coming off in the corner of her eye in one scene.
4. The sounds of the machines transforming for battle is really cool.
   
5. The 'sploshions are really, really big.

Cool things about Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen

1. The 'sploshions are really, really big.
   
2. . . . ?
   

Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed the movie, but I didn't expect much when I went. I laughed. I thought the effects were cool. You definitely get your money's worth in special effects! And yes, Megan Fox is a beautiful woman. Her striking blue eyes accentuated by ridiculously obvious thick fake lashes and perfectly plumped, gloss-covered lips were well highlighted in several scenes. I have a feeling, however, that most of the cheering, gawking audience wasn't paying attention to her, um, eyes.

But how she maintained pristinely white pants while running through the dusty streets of Jordan or Egypt (or wherever they were), and kept on sexy heels while running from the machined monsters throughout the movie, was beyond me.

And can someone tell me why these advanced, emotional machines -- who can fly, shoot bombs from their arms and land on top of skyscrapers with surgical precision -- when they're fighting, they stand erect and hit each other like the little red and blue boxing guys toy from the '70s?

So about the story? Well... um... did I mention that it has really cool effects?

That being said, the "really cool effects" sortof bothered me at times. I mean, those inorganic alien machines transform so quickly, and their metallic detail is so fine, when they're fighting around, hitting each other with earthquake-creating force, they look (and sound) like the inside of a sink garbage disposal when an entire drawer of forks and spoons gets dumped inside.

Where the first Transformers was eye candy, there is SO MUCH fighting in this movie, it turns into day-after-Halloween candy overload. It's more than the eye can handle.

At the end of the movie, we sat through the entire credit roll with three-quarters of the audience, I suppose waiting for something. Perhaps that little extra scene that producers throw in every now and then? Perhaps we wanted more... as if there should be more to meet the eye.

(Okay, okay... I'll lay off the puns now. My Dad would be proud of those, you know.)

And one more tidbit of the movie-going experience for the Crowes: While we were watching the credits, a group of people cheered when someone's name appeared on the screen. Awww... how cute. Someone got a credit for working on the flick and he brought his friends to see it. Only in LA...