Useful Transformers (Weekly Links)

Links to reviews I wrote for the Herald this week, and etc.

Transformers: Dark of the Moon. “For a movie based on some Hasbro toys, Dark of the Moon has a loony grandeur; perhaps no other director could make a giant robot declare, ‘It is time for the slaves of Earth to recognize their masters,’ and not burst out laughing. But Bay’s commitment to that kind of nonsense is strangely endearing.”

Larry Crane. “Plays like an attempt to make a movie without any discernible conflict.”

A Useful Life. “What’s a cinephile to do when his days are no longer filled with showtimes and introductions and planning the next series tribute to an obscure Portuguese director the public isn’t really all that interested in?”

Monte Carlo. “It’s no Three Coins in the Fountain, nor even The Lizzie McGuire Movie.”

Page One: A Year Inside the New York Times. “Not a work of depth, but it gives a strong impression.”

Vincent Wants to Sea. “When it tries to soar – nope, no dice.”

On KUOW’s “Weekday,” I talk with Steve Scher about Michele Bachmann’s useful gaffes and the anti-big-oil slams of Cars 2; it’s archived here. The movie talk kicks in around the 15-minute mark.

At my other website, What a Feeling!, we finally stop re-printing movies from the 1980s that begin with the letter H. Today’s review is Martin Scorsese’s The King of Comedy, which I liked very much in 1983 (and still like).