Reviewing a Bad Movie for a Good Cause
So we had a few days of movie channels last week, on of those preview things where they try to get you to increase the size of your television package. One of the movies was Transformers: Age of Extinction.
Now, I loved Transformers as a kid. I’ve watched the other Michael Bay movies, despite their badness, because they had Peter Cullen back as the voice of Optimus Prime. Also, they had Leonard Nimoy in the last one, and he made a Spock quote, which was cool.
I started watching Age of Extinction. Reader, this one was even worse.
After walking away, I got to thinking it could be fun* to livetweet a watching of this movie. And then someone suggested turning it into a fundraiser…
Did you know April was Sexual Assault Awareness Month?
I’ve reported on rape and sexual assault statistics before. The bottom line is that rape is too damn common, and our society still tends to be stuck on rape myths and victim-blaming, not to mention putting the burden on women to solve a crime committed primarily by men.
There are some good people and organizations out there working to educate the public about rape, and to support survivors.
So here’s the deal. If y’all donate at least $500 total to your local rape crisis centers, I’ll subject myself to this movie and livetweet the experience for your entertainment. I’ll post the tweets on the blog as well.
If you don’t have a local crisis center, you can also donate to RAINN or another national organization working to support survivors.
Just email me at jim -at- jimchines.com and let me know how much you donated. If you give more than $100, I’ll ask you to include a copy of the receipt or acknowledgements. Given the number of awesome people who read and hang out here, I’m pretty sure we can hit that $500 mark and then some.
If we go ridiculously over that goal, I’ll throw something else in. Maybe let the highest donor pick another horrible movie for me to review or something like that.
Any questions?
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*Fun for you. Not so much for me…
DTL
April 4, 2015 @ 10:15 pm
As someone who subjected themselves to this movie in a quest to watch as many Razzie-nominated movies as possible… I SALUTE YOU.
The movie makes absolutely no sense, there are a gazillion plotholes, nothing is ever explained (except for the things you can figure out yourself) and at least two Transformers randomly have facial hair. They move from location to location for no apparent reason, there are random spaceships? And somehow Stanley Tucci was involved in this mess? I was expecting a dumb summer action flick to eat popcorn to, and instead I was left with a lot of confusion and a lot of questions.
If it’s any solace, the fans behind the TFWiki were as, ahem, unimpressed as you were: http://tfwiki.net/wiki/Transformers:_Age_of_Extinction_%28film%29
On the one hand, I wish the rape crisis centers all the money in the world. On the other hand, no one should suffer through this mess.
Chris
April 4, 2015 @ 11:39 pm
I can let you borrow a copy on bluray/DVD if you would like. Even get it delivered through mutual acquaintance I am sure. Even in an Optimus Prime Transforming Case…
Nenya
April 5, 2015 @ 1:24 am
My first boyfriend loved Transformers as a kid, and I’ve always meant to see at least one of the movies because of that. But I’m given to understand that they’re…kind of…terrible?
Anyway, I’ll look forward to your review!
Jim C. Hines
April 5, 2015 @ 8:58 am
Well, they’re…they’re not good, no.
Mari Kurisato
April 5, 2015 @ 11:01 am
Donated to the Blue Bench Project here in Colorado. It should send you the email directly.
Jim C. Hines
April 5, 2015 @ 12:07 pm
Thanks so much, Mari! I’ll keep an eye out for that.
Lkeke35
April 5, 2015 @ 3:12 pm
I actually enjoyed the first movie. I thought it was funny and fun. The second movie, though…wow!
I couldn’t even get beyond the characters in the second movie. If you are a person with any kind of racial awareness, there are characters that will make you wince until your head aches, whenever they appear on screen. (Michael Bay has a great love for every atrocious, racial stereotype in existence. He includes several awful ones, about Black people, in every one of his films.)
So it’s best to probably just keep your eyes closed or turn off the sound. (Do you have to actually look at every single second of screen time?)
Rape Center Fundraising Update
April 7, 2015 @ 10:26 pm
[…] the meantime, an update on the Bad Movie Fundraiser for Rape Crisis Centers. The goal is to raise at least $500 for RAINN or your local rape crisis center. So far, there have […]