I'm gonna stand up for Bay on one point here. He is actually great at directing visuals. He may be shit at directing the story, the acting etc, but at directing real time explosions etc, I don't think there is any better.

Whilst I don't particulary like his movies at all for its originality, emotive aspect etc, I can still appreciate that he knows how to direct action movies. He doesn't claim to be anything other than an action movie director. You watch a Bay movie and apart from the transformers etc, everything else isn't CGI, its pretty all done in realtime, which I think is kinda cool.

when I watch one of his movies I feel like I'm watching one of those 3D simulator rides rather than an emotive film that touches me. As long as I think this, I haven't really got a problem with Bay. Bay isn't the reason why producers and studios are dicks. It's been like this for a very long time. It's the natural progression in all art forms including music.

I don't think Bay makes the worst films ever in the world, but if your hating him becuase he gets so much success for making mediocre films, then thats pretty pathetic imo.

ARGGHH I HATE BAY HE'S SO SHIT BUT SO SUCCESSFUL
ARGHH I HATE 50 CENT HE'S SO SHIT BUT SO SUCCESSFUL

BOLL IS AWESOME!! I MEAN HE'S SHIT, BUT HES NOT THAT SUCCESSFUL SO ITS OK!!! AND HE MAKES FUNNY YOUTUBE VIDEOS SO HIS MOVIES ARE +1

I don't subscribe to this bullshit and it sort makes you all look a bit 'non-conformist' in a FUCK BUSH kind of way

The fact that he's not that successful means that he's not significant enough to actually be harmful to the film industry like people such as Bay are.

obviously there's half a dozen people contributing to this topic so a) you're wrong and b) fuck off

half a dozen people telling you how dumb this is

The fact that he's not that successful means that he's not significant enough to actually be harmful to the film industry like people such as Bay are.

People keep saying harmful to the film industry etc...

There have always been films that were made purely to sell tickets for years. The studios over the years have always pushed for final cut so they will get the most amount of people to watch the movie. Bay is not harming the industry, it was already harmed. It's not like it suddently got worse when Bay showed up.

Contributing to an already growing problem doesn't make you any better than the people that started the problem.

tell me what exactly the problem is? There has always been the mainstream and the underground in everything. The difference is, the mainstream movies 20/30 years ago are now classics so its ok to like them. Anything new coming out with the same sort of goal in mind is suddenly DESTROYING THE MOVIE INDUSTRY!!!

It's been like this for years. People have always been impressed by visuals from day one. People were impressed to see a giant Ape in King Kng. People were impressed to see Colour in the theatres in Wizard of Oz. People were impressed to see the realistic animation in Pinocchio. People were impressed to see robotic shark in Jaws. People are impressed to see detailed CGI robots in transformers.

Whether you like the movies or not, the industry hasn't changed that much, just progressed in technology. Michael Bay isn't the only director making cheesy action movies.

Film is more than just a medium to make you think. Different films serve different purposes. Michael Bay films are almost always focusing on the visual aspects. He admits that he skips the romance scenes so he can focus on spending all of his time on the action scenes. It pays off, becuase for what they are, they're really incredible. He's an action movie director. Watch all the old action movies, they pretty much all have terrible dialogue, story and focus completely on the action.

As good as the visuals were back then for most of the movies you mentioned, they also had other good qualities to them that made them memorable for more than just the "impressive visuals".  Unlike those movies, most of todays films are really nothing more than AMAZING VISUALS and just enough storytelling to get you from one cgi special effect to the next.

That may be true in Bays films, but there are still a lot of films made today that focus on story etc. My point was that a lot of action films like Die hard, Arnie films, Rambo etc they all did well at the box office and they are in simular vein as Bay films. They had weak story lines, cheesy/funny dialogue but still managed to be entertaining.

There's always been box office films and serious films.

Michael Bay

I agree with everything for the most part.  However, it is clear that sometime Bay has tried to direct a thought-provoking movie or two (The Island) and it always ends up being a horrible mistake.  As far as hollow action movies go though I know what I am getting when I go to Transformers or Bad Boyz 2 or whatever so it doesn't bother me that they aren't thought-provoking cinematographic masterpieces about sullen 30-somethings in black turtlenecks.

ARGHH I HATE 50 CENT HE'S SO SHIT BUT SO SUCCESSFUL

I disagree with the 50 Cent comparison because 50 Cent is legitimately bringing bad things into the world while Michael Bay is really only recording gasoline explosions.  Modern gangster rap tells people it's perfectly fine to objectify women and brag about selling drugs and murder other people for street cred and HEY GUYS I GOT SHOT NINE TIMES AWESOME.  I think the most disconcerting thing about it is that they and their audience take the music and its messages seriously whereas gangster rap in the 80s probably didn't.  The difference is that Michael Bay isn't really delivering negative messages (or, sans for The Island, any sort of message at all) while 50 Cent probably is.

ok maybe 50 Cent was a bad example, but insert and mainstream artist in there instead

http://kotaku.com/386426/bay-vs-uwe-boll-round-3-bay-agreed-to-fight-%5Bupdated%5D

ITS ON

Also this strange concept that people only dislike Michael Bay because he represents the mainstream is mindboggling. Even IN THE MAINSTREAM, the man is well known for being one of Hollywood's least talented directors. He's notorious for oversentimentalizing most of his movies while lathering on heavy doses of CGI. A list of his movies reads like a shitstain on the underwear of Hollywood:

Transformers (2007)
... aka Transformers: The IMAX Experience (USA: IMAX version)
The Island (2005)
The Lionel Richie Collection (2003) (V) (video "Do It to Me")
Bad Boys II (2003)
... aka Good Cops: Bad Boys II (Malaysia: English title)
Pearl Harbor (2001)
... aka Pearl Harbour (UK: promotional title)

Armageddon (1998/I)
The Rock (1996)
Bad Boys (1995)

fuuuuck me.

He's long been known as one of the worst directors, and while you can like him all you want, you have no right or legitimate claim to say we dislike him because of his mainstream success. He represents all that's BAD about the established mainstream, not the mainstream itself.

And hell, I know this won't convince you but

I thought Armageddon was a pretty stellar movie, a list actors, great plot, effects and whatnot.

http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/armageddon/ ranked at a lousy 40%.

And before you say that Rotten Tomatoes has a bias against the mainstream, as I mentioned yesterday, the Iron Man movie is at an impressive 95%, higher than most indie films even get near.

Boll rules for doing that as a stunt.

like people would buy 10 postal tickets to watch that




hell no

http://kotaku.com/386426/bay-vs-uwe-boll-round-3-bay-agreed-to-fight-%5Bupdated%5D

ITS ON

No it isn't.

I wish I saw that video before they took it down.

:edit:

Wait. I think this is it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MXzh1GkyWoU

http://www.next-gen.biz/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=10361&Itemid=53

I hope Uwe Boll says something like "fuck you, you signed up for the gum, I'll carry on making movies"

well thankfully he has reason not to honour the petition now that companies are basically paying people to sign it for free gum, that means that any signitures after that deal was made are effectively INVALID and Uwe Boll can cpntinue making movies, and he has a great resonb too!

hows he getting the money for not making movies?
The gum company are using this to advertise themselves(and thus invalidate the petition), they are the only ones who will profit.

Hey will you sign this petition against banning somebody
"nah, I don;t mind him"
There's free things in it for you!
"oh cool I like free things ​"