Transformers: Age of Extinction

By: Robert Murphy

Three hours long! Yes I do believe that was one of the many thoughts that went through my mind as I watched the end credits role on the newest entry into the Transformers saga. Micheal Bay is back to direct and start thing anew with the franchise and you know what I was happy to think about the chance for a change of pace. No, I am not going to bash Bay for his work because say what you will I enjoy most of his movies, that may be shameful to some but it isn't for me and Transformers was a great film when I first watched it but things did go downhill. The hopes that this film would start something new for the franchise also met with a quick decent for me as well as Transformers: Age of Extinction took already shaky ground and made it collapse. 

For such an exceedingly long film you would expect there to be a tiniest inclination of a story but you would be wrong about that as the story and the characters on screen jump from one laughable interaction to the next. The story takes place a few years after the events of the last film, Dark of the Moon, and shows a much darker and more secretive United States as we took the events of Chicago very hard. I also mentioned to my friends at how much of a dick move it was for the Autobots to pretend to leave, have thousands of people die and prove the point that we need them to survive. A black ops division of the CIA now is hunting down the remaining Autobots and is led by the not so menacing Harold Attinger (Kelsey Grammer). His plans for all the dead robots is so very sad that it is hard to even write but he intends to build a robot army to defend the United States against it's laundry list of enemies.

We then turn our attentions to our hero Cade Yeager (Mark Wahlberg) who is a down on his luck robotics mechanic who is raising his teenage daughter Tez (Nicola Peltz) and is a bit of an over bearing father type. He is desperatly trying to send her to college but everything is working against him but lets drop all that and save the world because it just so happens there's a semi truck in an old theater Cade just happens to be fixing up. Between the insane logic behind Cade reviving Optimus Prime with some jumper cables and the oh so stressing young daughter trying to go to college and having a secret boyfriend, it becomes a tired mess of cliches. 

Now what usually saves a Transformers film for me at this point would be the action but even this proved to be a sour note for the film too. I wasn't at all dazzled by the idea in which the movie tries to re-write history and saying that the aliens caused the dinosaurs to die out and new robot ones took on the form of some of the more iconic of them such as the T-Rex. I was even less impressed when they joined into the final fights and Optimus came in at the very end to save the day astride one of these creatures like some hero in a western. This however is where a lot of the film got it's attention and it shows, the over the top action was meant to wow and amaze you to try and distract you from the complete absence of a plot for the movie. 

In conclusion, I believe that Transformers has lost sight of what it is doing and it is never more present than with this attempt to try and start fresh. Transformers: Age of Extinction proves to be just what the title implies, it is going extinct but it will undoubtedly make enough for the two more movies that are ready to follow it up. I wish that directors would realize how not so serious of a story that there needs to be with a movie like this and go back to the way it was with the first movie. People may enjoy the plethora of over the top stunts and effects you will see but honestly there won't be much else for you to spend your money on, sorry Optimus. 

Good:

- Creates a spectical for the audience, which means "Oooo look big fights, lots of explosions"

- T.J. Miller provides some laughs and kept me going

Bad:

- Absence of story 

- Exceedingly long film

- For the most part all very poor plot for the main characters

- The new robot dinosaurs were a waste of time and special effects budget

Scully Rating: 3.5 out of 10 

Bleach 587: The Headless Star 6

Zach Goodier

http://readms.com/r/bleach/587/2431/1

Uryuu has revealed himself to Ichigo, and Orihime and Chad show up just in time to see him depart the Soul Society for the Soul King's Palace with Juha Bach and Hashwald.  Ichigo is unsure what to make of Uryuu's appearance, until his friends help him find his resolve.  However, will Ichigo and the others be able to arrive back at the palace before Juha Bach destroys everything?

A lot of the segway chapters can be a little tiresome for continual followers of the series.  Nothing was accomplished this chapter to speak of, it felt very short, and it felt like everything was on pause throughout.  These chapters do have moments, but overall, they can be a little disappointing for those of us who spend an entire week just waiting for the next chapter.  Still, they help set us up for the next parts of the story, so they end up being a necessary evil for the overall story.

Zetma

By: Robert Murphy

It had been awhile since I sat down to watch any type of anime and I frankly felt that that was wrong and so I set out to find a new one to watch and found Zetman. The show is something that gets many of it's ideas from the noble act of being a hero and wanting to help those in need. This is a great idea on paper and something to wish about as a child but sadly we all grow up and realize that this can't happen, unless you were born or rather created with the power to do so. The main story follows Jin Kanzaki who has incredible strength and abilities hidden inside of him which were meant for the use in destroying creatures called EVOL. EVOL are monstrous creatures that were created for humanities amusement as they fought each other to the death, that is until they achieved consciousness and tried to blend with regular society. While this seems okay, what will it hurt if they just want to be left alone, well not all EVOL stay so nice and they return to the creatures they were and it's up to Zetman or Zet to stop them.  

As I started Zetman, I was really intrigued by the overall setup to the story as it unfolded. Not only does Jin fight to protect humanity but he also befriends a man named Kouga who wants to do the same just like the heroes he's watched in anime and just like a favorite hero of mine, Batman, he has the money to do it. However, the two end up facing down different paths in their pursuit of whats right and end up become enemies rather than friends. While it all sounds like it'd get interesting and fun to watch, it really ends up being the opposite. Kouga is a childish character who really is just looking to be admired like the characters in his shows, he isn't doing it for anyone but himself and is often jealous of Jin for his abilities. Jin himself was initially interesting for me but the confusion behind his story bothered me, he becomes a very muddled character with too much conflicting ideals being thrown on him and you as you watch the show. 

The other major issue to come from Zetman is how it progresses you through the story. The show is based of a manga like many other anime to come before it and in the books you get much more of the story that is left out here in the show. Episodes connect to each other in the flimsiest of ways and where one minute Jin is a young boy fighting crime with his young friend and the next he's working for a shady organization that's trying to stop the rouge EVOL. The story is very much all over the place and once you think you've gotten a grasp on the situation it jumps away from you again. For a twelve episode series, it has a lot going on and not enough time to explain itself, maybe if it had taken a step back to tell the story right and not rush you through it it could have been better. 

The action of the show is somewhat solid, although many of the EVOL are very unoriginal in the forms that they come in where most are just a lizard man looking creature or a shrimp monster. All of the fighting reminds me a lot of Casshern Sins and in fact Zet reminds me quite a bit of the main character from the series in the way he transforms and fights. Kouga himself later gets a unique outfit that makes me think back to Tiger and Bunny and he often acts like one of the characters from the show always professing about justice and it really gets old super quick. 

In the end, Zetman is a very sub par show when you look at the following that the manga has acquired and was probably a big let down for them. The setup as I said led me to believe that there really could have been solid potential for Zetman as a show but it just doesn't follow through with any of it. Many characters end up just getting dropped and their a plenty of plot holes that are just very jarring to the narrative in the story. I would that maybe a second season could straighten things out for the show but with how badly the first part did I won't hold my breathe.

Good:

- Decent action scenes

- Had a good setup but doesn't follow through

Bad:

- The story is very poor

- Massive plot holes and time skips that jar the viewer

- There's no sense of rhyme or reason to what you're watching

- Kouga and Jin start out solid but end up very muddled characters

Scully Rating: 4.0 out of 10