M. Bay and Me

I respect this charismatic persona, but it's almost a giant reminder than it's not at all about the director sometimes. Sometimes it's what the people want and the well-educated snobs (I apologize for generalizing so much) will often be afraid of creating just that.

Bay doesn't seem concerned, what with his lucky streak, but I think of Spielberg and Close Encounters. Not a new idea. Poorly executed, though dramatic, very predictable. It was just a recycled story with recycled characters and concepts from stories 30 years old at the time. Aliens come. They leave. Duh. But the people wanted to see it with the intense production value.

Transformers is the same. Some cartoon a 20-something Bay enjoyed watching. Old characters, unoriginal story, but the people gobble it up.

I'm not defending the notion that originality is dead, but you must acknowledge that some films do better without it.