Transformers, etc

A mild, rainy day, the sort of weather I really adore and never, ever see in Arizona.

Of course, this isn't beach weather at all, so we went with the usual Plan B, a movie.

The bad news? Everyone except me has already seen the latest Pixar gem, Ratatouille, so that left us with few alternatives. We'd all seen Pirates 3, too, long ago, of course. We probably would've seen Shrek 3 if it were anywhere to be found in a theater around here, but they are all so tiny that it's long gone.

So, Transformers it was. General assessment: not a movie for little kids, with enough teen frustration-themed conversation to cause eye-rolling induced headaches. The transformer effect was very cool, and the vehicles that the robots transformed into were excellent. I liked the two teen leads just fine, and the Army guys were cool, and even the blah-blah backstory and tagline (something about no victory without sacrifice) were all OK, even more than OK some times. But it missed being a great movie by a wide margin, mostly because it was 1) way too long and 2) too confusing in the battle sequences to tell who was winning. It was generally hard to tell the good guys from the bad guys, even though the good guys had blue eyes and bad guys had red eyes -- when they were mid-battle, you couldn't see their eyes. Optimus Prime, Bumble Bee, and Megatron were all readily identifiable, but the other transformers were more or less fungible. For example, I know at least one of the good guys dies, but I still can't tell you which one, and it didn't really matter one way or another.

Another major problem was the resolution of the climactic battle -- I didn't think I was that distracted, but I still was left wondering, "Hey, how did that happen? Why did that happen?" Some minimal fan-wanking -- "oh, that must be what Optimus Prime was talking about..." -- makes it work, but really, it should've been more dramatic.

It was pretty much a mess, really, and overlong, but it could've been worse.

PotC3 was a much better movie, although probably less well-received (if I could call it that) by the critics.

Somehow or other I'll wrangle my way into Ratatouille, but I suspect the next movie I get to will be Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, for which I almost cannot wait.

Outside of the movie, it was mostly a long, hard day. My hip has been really bothering me these last few days, even with taking regular walks. I can blame the weather, but that doesn't help much. It is exhausting to be at this level of pain all day, and I had forgotten that. Overall my energy level has been fine, as have been my reserves of patience, but not today. I took five kids with me to the movies, and then to the toy store, and then to the book store, and then for a long walk when we got home, and I think my head's about to explode. It's not any one thing but dozens of little things -- well, that's not right, it is one thing, isn't it? That pain.

If I felt like this all the time I would have to go back on some kind of meds for it. As it is, I'll manage for now with Aleve, and hope to feel better tomorrow.