Some people hate Micheal Bay, and I just don’t understand that. Some of these folks I know personally, but most of ‘em are hanging out on the message boards for sites like this.*
Fuck you Michael Bay.
Damn you Michael Bay.
Michael Bay raped my childhood.
Maybe not so much the last one, but heck, I love the man’s work and even I thought Transformers was mostly a waste of my 16 dollars. Then again, I live in Los Angeles, where a movie pretty much has to put you over the moon to be worth the cost of a ticket (and parking, and concessions, and gas/Metro).
I don’t love Bay for his taste in screenwriters, and I’m sure that there are people who would agree with me when I say that many of his films would’ve been improved by the lack of a script. Also, can we not talk about The Birds remake? Thanks.
First and foremost the man is a fantastic director. No one makes movies like he does. Each one is a spectacle of the highest caliber. These aren’t just movies – they’re fast and sleek and expensive and thrilling experiences at their best. At their worst, they’re schmaltzy Hallmark cards or macho testosterone-fests (like McTiernen on an off-day). He’s our lowbrow David Lean, our D.W. Griffith of disposable pop culture.
Still, Bay puts his cojones on the table with every helicopter, concept car, or multimillion-dollar mansion he blows to smithereens, and I think it’s safe to say that he’s doing a big chunk of it for our enjoyment. Unfortunately, much of the online fan community seems to just want to put their cojones in his mouth.
In a series of clips from the summer movie edition of AMC’s interview show Shootout, Bay opens his mouth and something comes out – anecdotes that reveal a bit of the thoughtful director that sometimes gets overshadowed by the killer meteors, huge explosions, fast cars, sexy women and giant pissing robots of his movies. See? What’s not to love?
* perhaps not specifically this one.