emember Transformers? You know, those little die-cast robots that, if you pounded hard enough, would turn into cars and trucks and maybe, if you were lucky, a plane or something?
And there was a TV show. They were "Robots in disguise!" And now, they're getting their own live-action movie. In fact, I just saw the trailer online.
"Citizen Kane" it's not. It looks ... "fun," I guess, is the best word.
It's a Michael Bay production, which means two things: 1. There will be a lot of explosions. 2. Pretty people will run away from the explosions.
If we're lucky, someone will die a heroic death saving someone else, a beloved pet or everyone in the entire world from the explosions.
After I watched the trailer, I giggled like a small child for several seconds. "Transformers," it seems, will be the popcorn flick to end all popcorn flicks.
It comes out July 4. It features giant space robots. There are lots of explosions, and a guy in soldier gear who (if I can extrapolate from the trailer) will fall in love with a pretty blonde girl.
It features GIANT. SPACE. ROBOTS. And the robots turn into helicopters and mustangs and eighteen-wheelers. It looks AWESOME.
It also looks like a turn-your-brain-off movie.
Winter, it seems, is the thinky-movie season. It's close to when they present the Oscars, so movies like "The Queen" get released late in the year so they'll be fresh in the Academy's mind.
There are exceptions, of course: Pixar, for instance, tends to alternate between summer and winter releases.
Summer, on the other hand - well, let's just say there's a reason "summer movie" is about as illustrious a cultural distinction as "beach read."
There's a rule somewhere - there must be -¡- that in every summer movie season there has to be at least one noisy, big-budget action flick.
I can enjoy a good popcorn movie as much as the next person. Now and then it's nice to just sit back and vegetate and watch somebody else save the world for a couple hours. But I wouldn't want the bulk of the movies on my shelf to fall into this category.
Popcorn movies are the Little Debbie snacks of the movie world. Sure they're darn tasty and they're a lot of fun, but apart from the sugar there's no nutritional value. Live on nothing but Little Debbies and you'll quickly get fat, sluggish and generally ill.
If you want to stay physically healthy, you have to eat healthy foods and give your body and muscles a reasonable amount of exercise. In movie terms, this translates into watching a winter release at least every once in a while.
On the other hand, watching nothing but "Gosford Park" every weekend isn't healthy for you, either.
The key, as with anything, is to find a reasonable medium that works for you.
Some people can get away with watching mostly action movies. Others prefer movies with plots a little more complex than "man make planet not go boom." Still others, like myself, enjoy an equal combination of high-brow and high-concept movies.
I may go see some popcorn movies this summer, but I'll also seek out classic films from years past to balance them out. I try to give everything a try once, and that, more than anything, I believe, is the key to a healthy mind. And the popcorn movies can be an awful lot of fun.
Just don't expect me not to giggle at the robots.
Joanna Lees is a senior magazine journalism major and wrote this 'The Scenic Route' for the Daily News. Her views do not necessarily agree with those of the newspaper.
Write Joanna at jllees@bsu.edu
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