I gotcha, I don't want to make anyone feel uncomfortable, nor feel like I'm attacking them individually. I'll choose my words more carefully. I apologize if my intention was not clear.

 

True, the music is not terrible. Even if it is pretty formulaic. It could have worked well with any real substance we cared about.

 

Yeah I thought the music was good, but it was too 'epic' too often. If everything is epic then nothing is.

 

Both scores matter, but you have to put more than two brain cells together to read into them properly.

High critic rating, but low audience score? Arthouse film with tricky/controversial/challenging subject matter.

Low critic rating, but high audience score? A fine popcorn flick. Probably dumb, but a whole lot of fun. (Transformers as a franchise in its entirety largely resides here, with the possible exception of Beast Machines, which veers in the more cerebral direction. Everything else is squarely in the realm of "dumb fun". The better parts of the franchise are just more consistent, or use that "dumb fun" baseline to occasionally subvert and deliver something more poignant on occasion. To pretend Transformers anything is "high art" is utterly delusional.)

High on both ends? Film is strong on artistic merits but doesn't forget to be fun, so good times all around.

Low on both ends? Who even greenlit this shit?

Treat either score as a letter grade? Then you're the idiot. The Tomatometer isn't a measure of quality, but of favourability.

 

P. Cullen has been one of the few positive notes in this continuing shitfest of awful live action TF movies. I hate every second of any Bayformers movie, no matter how many people did enjoy them.

 

Well, at least Peter auditioning for the first Michael Bay film, was nowhere near as insulting as imitating an imitator of HIS OWN VOICE

When I first watched Peter's interview, I swear I imagined John feeling like this:

This also makes me wonder if what went down with Peter is exactly why there hasn't been a Honest Trailer to Bumblebee yet.
As to him being a good friend, from what I've read, Bailey has gone down the path of the "pedantic celebrity", as in fame has gone up to his head, and as such he's not as nice to people, and folks no longer feel comfortable hanging out with him. He's unfriended a lot of people he became friends with over the years

 

Oh, really? I wasn't aware of that, he always struck me as a nice enough guy. Interesting to hear...

In any event, and while I'm sure Peter didn't mean anything personally by it (or even knew the name of his impersonator), I'm sure hearing that interview must have been crushing for Bailey. That was probably the most upset I've ever seen Peter Cullen.

 

Sheesh, sad to hear that about John, though, looking at his IMDB page, his biggest roles really are Soundwave and Shockwave. He does a bit of video game work, and he has landed some nice animation roles, but to think of yourself as a celebrity with that. I mean it looks like the credits list of a solid working actor who can move some glossies at a 'con, but celebrity is a real stretch.
I do wonder what it felt like hearing Culen say that about him. You are a big transformers fan, you work in VO, Peter Cullen would be your idol. All that's missing is John eating a chili made from his parents.

Though for the reason why Travis had John initially fill in, I would like to hear his side of story. Could be anything from scheduling issues, budget, to evil mind games from Jada Pinkett Smith.

 

I find it highly unlikely that Cullen felt offended to have to audition for a voicework job, considering he has done that surely thousands of times in his life.

 

Back on topic, have a gander at a 27 Year old Peter Cullen in a very old children's show!  

 

Doubt Cullen was offended, he hadn't played the role in almost twenty years. And others had also played an Optimus by this point.

All this talk reminds me of poor Ernie Hudson auditioning for the role of Winston in the Real Ghostbusters (a role he could definitely claim as uniquely his!)...and he didn't get it. Lost out to Arsenio Hall...

 

Hudson really is just Winston IRL. The second stringer/"substitute", but becomes the franchise's biggest supporter and cheerleader (as long as there's a "steady paycheck" involved).

 

Assumming that is true, that would be a real shame.

 

Just my opinion, but Transformers wouldn't have been as hand in glove as it obviously was in 2007 without Cullen as the through line. Granted the SFX, sound/score and overall way that Bay put the film together was the true selling point, but having Cullen's Optimus Prime in the film was absolutely the cherry on top.

 

I appreciate posts like this, because then I know who to just outright block, FFS.

 

What are you talking about about? I'm talking about voice actors doing voices for animated characters, not actors doing lave action characters. VOICE actors are trained to create characters using only their voices. Then when it's time to get actors to do voices, A list actors are always hired instead of the voice actor. Shoot! They'll even hire A-list actors over B-list actors. They hired Chris Evans over Tim Allen for "Lightyear". And Bay had NO IDEA that voice actors could do many voices as stated by Cullen.

 

Well that just showed how lazy Bay and co. were in pre-production. Yet another sin to heap at their feet. You are doing a film that will require voice over work. But they were thinking A-list actors puts asses in seats when it really doesn't anymore.

When I was saying it was outmoded, I meant for the public it is outmoded. To that precious 18-34 year old demographic your average person can recite the whole Kardashian family tree but couldn't pick George Clooney out from a cast photo of 'Intolerable Cruelty'. Studios still think that way. Marvel, when they started (pre-Disney), did not want to dole out money for a-list, so did not follow that model. They got a former a-lister who was down on his luck (Robert Downey Jr.) and more unknown actors, with the exception of Sam Jackson, then later Scarlett. I think about the number animated films done, where they try and sell you on the cast even though seasoned voice actors would have done better jobs.

Their might have been 'politics' of various kinds going on in the background as to why Tim Allen didn't star in Lightyear.

 

Except they weren't. The voice casting across these movies has been top notch and overwhelmingly filled with career voice actors (like John DiMaggio, Jess Harnell, Charlie Adler, Tom Kenny, and of course Cullen and Welker).

Any time they did cast a known live action actor in a voice role, there was almost always a specific reason behind it and the actor actually had significant voice acting experience, like John Goodman, Tony Todd and Leonard Nimoy.

Even Hugo Weaving had a handful of voice credits to his name prior to playing Megatron, and again as part of the process of developing the movie and auditioning the actors they felt that the OG Welker voice wasn't going to cut it, and I can't say I blame them.

So voice acting never has been an issue in these movies.