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Anthony Hopkins Calls Michael Bay a 'Genius' and 'Savant'

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SRG01

Member
Vazduh said:
Exactly. He's somewhat similar to Paul W. S. Anderson who is IMHO quite underrated as a director since he's got a great eye for visuals and always gets the most out of his budget, but who really should leave the scriptwriting to someone else. Anderson is just not a good writer, and that's putting it lightly.

However, unlike W. S. Anderson, Bay isn't a screenwriter, but he doesn't have the best track record in choosing the good ones.
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WS Anderson only had one movie in recent memory that had flawed cinematography, and that was the most recent Resident Evil movie. :(
 
M

More_Badass

Member
Kart94 said:
And that is why The Dark Knight is considered one of the best comic book movies. And that is why Transformers Revenge of the Fallen is considered one of the worst movies, and why almost none of Bay's movies have gotten any sort of critical praise.

logic.
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As overall movies? Sure, they're undoubtedly better. But Nolan doesn't come close to Bay in terms of directing and framing action, especially large-scale chaotic action.

I mean, even Nolan is a fan of Michael Bay
Discussing his working relationship with Nolan, Pfister said: "There are the movies out there that he loves and I hate. I'm not a big Michael Bay fan. Chris loves Michael Bay's movies. And so I'm always like, 'Come on, dude!' But he sees something in it, and I don't see it."
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I felt this video from Every Frame A Painting was pretty good regarding Bay:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2THVvshvq0Q
 
F

Forsaken82

Member
SandMan2233 said:
It's the scriptwriting. I mean, he was sort of stuck with Transformers, since they make tons of money. But when he has a good screenplay, as he did with the two films you mentioned (and The Rock, which still holds up), the man shines.
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I find it mildy amusing that people blame Michael Bay for the screenwriting of movies like Transformers and completely ignore the fact that Spielberg had a LARGE say in the script selection. Ironic given people in this thread are laughing at the idea of Bay being in the same league as Spielberg.

All that being said, The majority of Bay's films are pure entertainment, and he has a knack for making entertaining movies, despite how the quality of the script. FWIW, I'd pick Bad Boys and Bad Boys 2 over Miami Heat 9 out of 10 times and I LOVE Michael Mann films.
 
B

Bronx-Man

Banned
If we're being honest, Pain & Gain kinda proved this. It is such a masterpiece of dark comedy and surrealism while satirizing 'The American Dream'.
 
B

BronsonLee

Member
I put Bay in the same category as Snyder: Ridiculous cinematography, their movies are usually basura and the lows in them are real low, but when they're cookin, holy shit

Also Transformers is a billion dollar franchise specifically because Bay can somehow crank these things out in 2-3 years with almost no breaks in between

Like I think 1 is actually a pretty decent movie and leans the hardest on Spielberg's Boy and his Car angle. 2 is shit and 3 is pretty dumb but just has absolute fuckin CARNAGE

BruceCLea said:
He ain't wrong. Bay is technical genius. He doesn't storyboard anything. It's all in his head]
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wtf no fucking way
 
V

Vazduh

Member
Rosie Huntington-Whiteley had a crazy audition as well.

Hollywood blog, Monsters and Critics, is reporting that Rosie Huntington-Whiteley sealed her part in Transformers 3 by showing less then meets the eye in her audition. According to the site, "Rosie wore a white, see-through lingerie top and panties" to her TF3 audition. Supposedly, she already had the part but Bay wanted see if she and Shia Lebeouf "gelled" as a team. So much for talent when it comes to Transformers 3.
“Rosie wore a white, see-through lingerie top and panties,' an on-set insider has exclusively told Hollywood Life. 'Shia was there to run lines with her. It was a formality, she had the part, but she had to meet Shia to see if they gelled. Having her in as little clothing as possible was just the icing on the cake. When she walked down a staircase in that outfit – wow.”
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Source

SRG01 said:
WS Anderson only had one movie in recent memory that had flawed cinematography, and that was the most recent Resident Evil movie. :(
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It had its moments...

BjjnNs4.jpg
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But the editing ruined it, as well as the decision to have 80 % of the shots handheld.
 
E

efyu_lemonardo

May I have a cookie?
BruceCLea said:
He ain't wrong. Bay is technical genius. He doesn't storyboard anything. It's all in his head. I hate 90% of his movies but the man's incredibly talented.

https://youtu.be/HCmXRtaoSzU
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Interesting. Haven't watched any of the movies mentioned in this video so can't tell if they can be legitimately interpreted as sarcastic but the part about Bay's education and awareness of his jock persona are thought provoking.
 
B

Beerman462

Member
Kart94 said:
LOL

Try a Nolan movie like the Dark Knight trilogy . The Dark Knight alone blasts almost every garbage Michael Bay put out.
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I'm not a fan of either really, but I like some of what each has done. Nolan movies generally more thoughtful, while Bay is more splosions.

As far as the DK trilogy is concerned I like TDK and dislike Rises. Begins is good, but not my favorite. My favorite Nolan film is Inception or TDK by far.
 
S

SandMan2233

Member
Forsaken82 said:
I find it mildy amusing that people blame Michael Bay for the screenwriting of movies like Transformers and completely ignore the fact that Spielberg had a LARGE say in the script selection. Ironic given people in this thread are laughing at the idea of Bay being in the same league as Spielberg.

All that being said, The majority of Bay's films are pure entertainment, and he has a knack for making entertaining movies, despite how the quality of the script. FWIW, I'd pick Bad Boys and Bad Boys 2 over Miami Heat 9 out of 10 times and I LOVE Michael Mann films.
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I'm certainly not blaming Bay for the screenplays. If it came off that way, my apologies. I'm only saying that when it comes to his films, they almost live-or-die on the screenplay. If he's working with something decent, he's gold. When he's working with something wonky (like Transformers, which I can happily blame on Spielberg), he's all over the place.

However, he directs the Hell out of a film, regardless of screenplay shit. The dude has two films on the Criterion Collection (The Rock & Armageddon). He's a damned good film-maker. He just needs better than the Transformer shit-pile.
 
W

Warm Machine

Member
Michael Bay is fucking smart. He just lacks taste and as a result he aims for lowest common denominator for his films.

No one can run camera and build an action scene like he can. It would be incredibly easy to get lost as a director shooting and cutting for what he does. Very few directors instinctively know how to do what he does.

As a filmmaker myself I know how hard it is to plan and shoot a 15-30 minute film and I'm in awe of people who can setup and do 2 hours of it with 4x the cuts, make every shot beautiful, and never drop the photographic ball.
 
L

lordmrw

Member
Slayven said:
I mean Micheal Bay is damn good at what he does.
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you could call him a genius for figuring out exactly what type of movie the studios like and being able to deliver exactly that every single time. To those of us that are more discerning they are terrible, but for the average person that wants to turn their brain off and be entertained they are spectacular. Hence the insane box office take on almost all of his movies.
 
B

brandonh83

Banned
Armageddon is one of the few movies of his that I like. I know how ridiculous it is, but it's well done and legitimately emotional a time or two. That's more than what I can say about most of his shit.
 
L

Lmo911

Member
Bay is extremely talented at what he does, but he's not going to make a artistic masterpiece anytime soon. I think he enjoys making the type of movie he does, which is extremely pretty, technically sound, but shallow. If he teamed with a good script writer and really went for it, he could make an excellent movie... but I don't think he'd have any fun doing it.

Pain and Gain might be the closest thing to him being artsy, and it's a dark comedy about dumb body builders and drug dealing. It's still in that wheel house.
 
J

JB1981

Member
RangerX said:
I have to say I disagree with him. I think Bay's films are pure dogshit of the lowest order.
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Yea.

This praise of his alleged "craft" in this thread is frankly fucking bizarre. The man has virtually no talent for story, character and theme. He's a terrible filmmaker who just so happens to understand spatial dynamics in action scenes.
 
E

efyu_lemonardo

May I have a cookie?
caliph95 said:
should clarify i mean creatively lazy not that he doesn't put a lot of work in his movies. I think the transformers movies is just him on autopilot.
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I don't know. The video posted here from "every frame a painting" makes it sound like he's increasingly pushing forward the technical complexity of his shots but doesn't seem to care to the same degree about creating a thought provoking context for those shots.

Then again I only watched about 1.5 transformers movies before giving up so he may just be recycling ideas at this point.

My takeaway from this thread and the commentary in the links is that he's a gifted cinematographer but doesn't seem to care enough about people to be a great director.
 
R

RoninChaos

Member
I know gaf hates Bay but the guy makes very interesting and technically sophisticated movies. His crew also seems to love him. I don't think he does this for just the money.

With that in mind I think his technical sophistication highlights how dodgy some of the scripts for his movies are. And that's a shame.
 
K

Kart94

Banned
JB1981 said:
Yea.

This praise of his alleged "craft" in this thread is frankly fucking bizarre. The man has virtually no talent for story, character and theme. He's a terrible filmmaker who just so happens to understand spatial dynamics in action scenes.
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Yep.

I want the full package, and that is where people like Nolan come in. Anyone who acutally considers Bay a master doesn't know what he is talking about. So what if bay is good at explosions. Nolan is good at everything else.


Also The Avengers >>> Everything in Bay's library. The Avengers succeeds at everything Bay wishes his movie was: being a big loud entertaining summer blockbuster
 
M

More_Badass

Member
Kart94 said:
Yep.

I want the full package, and that is where people like Nolan come in. Anyone who acutally considers Bay a master doesn't know what he is talking about. So what if bay is good at explosions. Nolan is good at everything else.


Also The Avengers >>> Everything in Bay's library. The Avengers succeeds at everything Bay wishes his movie was: being a big loud entertaining summer blockbuster
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I like Avengers, but I'd take the action in a Bay movie over the action in those any day.

At least the next Avengers have the Russos directing

As for the first point, the full package is not always necessary. I like Nolan movies, and I like Bay's movies, for completely different reasons.
 
K

Kabuki Waq

Member
The guys has found ways to make movies that are critic proof and has made billions for the studio.

Can't really deny that he is a genius. The action in the bad boys movies was pretty amazing.

I don't understand why ppl shit on Bay yet love the fast and the furious movies.
 
highrider

highrider

Banned
I like a lot of his movies. People talk a lot of shit about him, but that's more because of his popularity. That's the kiss of death to the serious film buff.
 
J

JB1981

Member
Zepp Twofist said:
While I don't personally like most of his movies, the fact that he is very competent at what he does should be evident to anyone.
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What, exactly, is he competent at other than an understanding of pyrotechnics and the technical aspects of filmmaking? He has terrible taste, is tone-deaf and juvenile when it comes to comedy. Aesthetically his films all look the same with that rough glamour look and sweeping camera. His movies have never had an interesting character, theme or idea. And his storytelling abilities mediocre at best. He's a hack but an efficient technician.
 
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