More Than Meets the Ears

My avid readers (or, at least those who stuck with me through my six-month hiatus) might have noticed the list of movies I've seen in the theater this year has lengthened considerably since the last time I did a movie review post. Many, many of those movies are not worth mentioning. But, I thought I'd start with my favorite of the summer and work my way down the list, as time allows.

So, my favorite movie of the year so far is:


Transformers was the surprise gem of this summer's movies for me. I wasn't a huge fan of the original Transformers show as a kid, but I do remember watching it at the bowling alley with all of the other teachers' kids while Mom and Dad were doing their teachers' bowling league after school (they each had their own balls and shoes and everything). Just the mention of Transformers brings back fond memories of piles of junk food, the bowling alley arcade which included my favorite as a kid -- the Donkey Kong arcade game, and, of course, the unavoidable stench of stale cigarette smoke that permeated that ghetto bowling alley (they have a website? What the heck?!). Actually, come to think of it, all of these things remind me of my childhood, and not just on teachers' bowling night, but I'll save those details for other posts on other days.

SO, as I was saying, I really liked this movie. Shia LaBeouf was the perfect star for this intense film. Matt said something to the effect of him being extremely good at acting uncomfortable, and that's why he was perfect in Transformers. I definitely agree. I've been a fan of his since he was in Even Stevens (yes, I do know this show was made for 8- to 10-year-olds and was on when I was 18-24 ... what of it?). But, I also thought the story was good and the visuals were amazing. It was just an energetic and fun summer movie.

Of course, I would be remiss if I didn't mention what probably was one of the biggest contributors to putting this movie at the top of my list: the soundtrack. I'm not talking the score, I mean the collection of songs by various artists that were played in part or in whole during the movie. My iPod (which is actually my iPhone, on which I actually purchased said soundtrack) has been stuck on it ever since. Predictably, the first song is "What I've Done" from my favorite (as you all know by now), Linkin Park. Then they throw in some Smashing Pumpkins, Disturbed, Goo Goo Dolls, Taking Back Sunday, an updated version of the "Transformers Theme" by Mute Math, and various other great songs from bands I didn't know before. If I start feeling recovered well enough from the gross stomach virus I've had for a month to start running again, this will be my new running music. Check it out!