3 Short Paragraphs: Bumblebee

The Man on the Bicycle leans on the handlebars. His sweat pours and drips off his face. He has a desire to just relax, to fall off the bike into the blackness below. It would be so easy to give in, to stop fighting, to let each and every one of these screens just blink out. No one would miss them. He could finally just ... rest.

But to his right, he sees another light interrupt his quiet darkness. Another door has opened in the column from which his bike & contraption extends. He own bike vibrates and shudders as he sees another cyclist extending on a telescoping support mechanism.

Is that someone else? Some also forced to pedal for his life, to constantly work for it, and reflect on every aspect of his life? Or.... is... it him ?!? The other cyclist's screens begin to flicker on, some different, some the same, but not even that additional illumination allows to see whether the new cyclist is a reflection of himself from another time & viewpoint, or just another trapped soul.

He begins to pedal again.

2018, Travis Knight (Kubo & the Two Strings) -- download

This movie is described by many as "the best Transformers movie". Considering what they are comparing it to, the much maligned but well-profiting Michael Bay movies, that should not be hard, right? But this movie, that comes from the same window into that Hasbro universe, if only slight left of centre, is really not all that much better than those "original" movies. If I happened to be a fan of the original toys, which I was not because they came about in my teens (so before I was old enough to get back into toys), I would probably love this movie. Or if I was 14. But man, again, it was terrible but in many ways so different from the Bay-splosion movies.

This movie is meant to be the light teen drama flick that the original completely failed at, when it tossed in Megan Fox. And in that the movie succeeds. Hailee Steinfield is absolutely delightful as awkward, mopey Charlie, and her nerd neighbour Memo reflects well off her cocky confidence. But the movie not only wants the nostalgia feel of an 80s movie, but also attach itself to the current love of 80s music. The problem therein lies is its misunderstanding of the music of the age. Charlie is still mourning the death of her father, and has become a fan of the alternative music of the age: The Smiths, the Cure, punk, British-wave, etc. And it reflects in the set dressing of her clothing and bedroom. BUT the background music is all the annoying Top 40 music that will be used to sell a soundtrack, all the music a kid like her would have hated. And I know, because I was kind of that kid.

You could think of this movie as a reboot of the Transformers series. It throws the accepted history of the other movies to the wind and begins again, ignoring that Bumblebee had arrived on Earth much earlier and having him crash into the planet to meet Charlie. The movie, in fact, begins with a prologue on Cybertron as the Autobots and Decepticons fight for their home planet. So, if they have not yet ever been to Earth, then WHY DO THEY HAVE CAR AND PLANE AND GHETTO BLASTER SHAPES ?? The Bay-splosion movies at least established that these transforming bots scanned the local technology in order to hide amidst it, but these guys were popular 80s vehicles long before they bumped into them on Earth. Makes no sense. But if I was a toy fan, that wouldn't matter, as they are a much more accurate representation (less spikey) of the original toys. And I guess that is all that matters?