If you think you'll like Transformers, go see it!

Part modernized childhood nostalgia, part military recruiting, Transformers is 100% kick ass. From the opening minutes till the end the intensity never let up--directly correlating to how muscle fatigued I felt afterward--except for a few Michael Bayesque drawn-out and melodramatic moments.
Before I go any further, why the hell did NYTimes let Manohla Dargis review this film? "...Epically assaultive noise and nonsense"? Hey, Paris Je T'aime is playing in the artsy theater down the street and Little Children is probably coming out on DVDs. Beat it. No one who's pumped up about Transformers wants to hear about her political and social whineries; in fact, I shouldn't even have read her review, an epically assaultive waste of my geek literary quota. She obviously did not grow up with the international Transformers phenomenon and thus cannot appreciate, and her snobbery automatically disqualifies her every opinion of this film.
On to the cool stuff. True, it was distracting for me that throughout the movie when the subtitles suggest that it's some place--Middle East, Nellis--I knew what's what. But who cares? Edwards re-pre-sent! That flightline and tower belongs to the 412 OSS, biatch! I didn't mind, I was just so proud. The Air Force really dealt out all kinds of favors for Michael Bay, supplying almost every type of kick ass planes we've got and enough technical advice to keep their appearances believable. Psss...a bit of insider knowledge: Predator drones are still only prop-driven! Finally, nothing beats the moment when SSgt Rat's face is on screen for an entire 2 seconds, with a heroic head turn and an enthusiastically delivered line! Someone I know and worked with is on screen in a movie that's going to be seen by millions of people! My stock just went up another few points. Wait till Ironman, I don't care how crappy it's gonna be, especially if Manohla thinks so.

Shuttle is gone

Atlantis took off from Edwards back to FL. I missed it again.
But at least I'm not burning in the desert.