Razzies and Robocop

I promised that I'd write about the Oscars tomorrow at the end of 'Fifty Shades of Grey' tops weekend box office, whips up controversy and I still plan to.  However, the Academy Awards aren't the only film awards this weekend.  Tonight are the Golden Raspberry Awards AKA the Razzies.  For my readers who didn't see last year's Science fiction and fantasy at the Razzies, CNN answers the first question they might have in What's a Razzie?

Find out what films were nominated as the worst of the worst for this years Golden Raspberry Awards. CNN's Lisa France breaks down The Razzies.

Of all the films mentioned, I've written about only one, "Annie," which had a song nominated for a Golden Globe but not for an Oscar.  Also, only one of them was a science fiction or fantasy movie, "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles."  Both of them are up for Worst Remake, Sequel, or Rip-off, along with The Legend of Hercules, Atlas Shrugged 3: Who is John Galt?, and Transformers 4: Age of Extinction, all of which are fantasy or science fiction movies.  Three of the four sci-fi/fantasy nominees in this category also receive honorable mentions for my having written about either the movie itself, a prequel in the series, or a nominated performer in the film.  Follow over the jump for what I have to say about them along with a bonus feature about the Robocop musical.  Yes, there is such a thing.

I linked to two critical (pun intended) analyses of the Transformers 4: Age of Extinction in the series in Hunger Games, Leftovers, and Transformers--other bloggers' perspectives.  Both of them make very serious points about a very silly movie.  Chad of The Hipcrime Vocab showed up in comments to link to and quote two more.*  As for the film itself, it earned more Razzie nominations (seven) than any other.  I'm surprised it didn't rate a mention in the CNN segment.  I suppose it's because it might actually not win most of its categories; there are worse movies, remakes or sequels, screenplays, directors, and performers nominated.  "Saving Christmas" in particular will likely get worst movie, director, and screenplay.

I haven't blogged about the Atlas Shrugged movies since 2011, but that's because I don't think I have much new to say since I posted 'Atlas Shrugged' gets the reviews and box office it deserves (Part I of a series).  At least there was enough money to produce bad sequels for the lulz.

While I haven't written anything about the TMNT movies that I can recall, I did make fun of Megan Fox, who was nominated for Worst Supporting Actress for her performance, in Next Media Animation on Canada leaving the Kyoto Protocol, plus a Rick Perry joke.  Here's the macro.


I think this image is from the first Transformers movie, so it completes the circle.  Also, zombies!

Unfortunately for "The Legend of Hercules," unless there is something mythological that I can use to comment on a post-apocalyptic scenario, I'm not likely to mention it or any other sand and sandals epic any time soon.  Sorry.

As for the rest of the nominated movies, they're mostly bad comedies, and nothing's worse than a bad comedy.

Finally, here's the bonus clip from WXYZ about Robocop The Musical.

The star and director of Robocop the musical talk about the show.

Detroit represent!

Stay tuned for the Sunday entertainment entry, which will be about the Oscars.

*Here's what the first review Chad quoted had to say about the film's director, Michael Bay.

Although they may look like soulless corporate studio product, they are really examples of personal cinema, expressions of the will and imagination of their director, Michael Bay. The narrative incoherence is a feature, not a bug. Mr. Bay’s strongest films are those in which the battle between sense and sensation ends in a rout. If you spend any time thinking about why the C.I.A. and an Apple-like technology corporation would be in cahoots with an intergalactic bounty hunter in an anti-Autobot pogrom you are missing the point.

I concurred.

The NYT is absolutely right about Michael Bay. He's all about the BOOM! My wife and I are watching "The Last Ship." When I heard it was a Michael Bay show, I knew to expect a lot of action and things being blown up. I have not [been] disappointed.

Some Sunday this summer, I'm going to have to write about "The Last Ship," which is an OK post-apocalyptic drama that probably will seem more relevant and urgent after last year's Ebola epidemic.  For example, in a case of life imitating art, one of the Ebola treatments looked very similar to a treatment for the disease in the TV show.  That's not something I expect out of a Michael Bay production.