PATT Blog - Michael Bay is killing my childhood one franchise at a time...

It's a slow burn death, too, apparently. (Rotten Tomatoes scores in parenthesis)

Michael Bay is one of the biggest named directors in Hollywood. He has created movies like Bad Boys (43%, Bad Boys II - 23%), Armageddon (39%), The Rock (66%, the only "fresh" movie he's done), Pearl Harbor (25%) and of course the Transformers (57% 19%, 36%, and 18%)  movies. He actually got his start as a music video guy, and graduated to movies, and you can still see it in his films, when they do a montage shot, and they have a panning camera that looks like it's right out of a music video.

I do not like his Transformers movies. In fact, while the Bad Boys series was fun, and I did like The Rock and Armageddon, they led to his seemed fascination with 70's/80's horror films, and cartoon franchises, especially when he got Steven Spielberg's blessing to make Transformers.

Michael Bay is also a producer, as mentioned above, of horror film franchise reboots, like Texas Chainsaw Massacre (36%), Friday the 13th  (25%) and Nightmare on Elm Street (15%). All were exceedingly bad, and yet, somehow, he was given the keys to drive those off cliffs with his handpicked directors.

Finally, there's Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (20%) currently in theatres. I have not seen that one, but I have to tell you, when you look at these review scores, he obviously isn't interested in giving us the movies we want, but ones that will gum up the summer months and have us waste our hard earned money trying to recapture something we lost a long time ago...our childhood.

The guy's track record isn't very good, though he does do that look up and see what's above you pan over shot extremely well to show a sense of danger and explosion.

Why are we continuing to give him our licenses, imaginations and more than anything else...money?

I can't suspend my disbelief for his films anymore, and even Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson could only muster a tomato of 50% for Pain and Gain, a movie that was near and dear to both Bay and Johnson.

Please, consider this a PSA...stop giving Michael Bay your money. We'll all be better off because of it.

(Rotten Tomatoes scores were used because this is how they are calculated (from their wiki): The website keeps track of all of the reviews counted for each film and the percentage of positive reviews is calculated. (Major, recently released films can attract up to 300 reviews). If the positive reviews make up 60% or more, the film is considered "fresh," in that a supermajority of the reviewers approve of the film. If the positive reviews are less than 60%, the film is considered "rotten".

"Top Critics," such as Roger Ebert, Desson Thomson, Stephen Hunter, Owen Gleiberman, Lisa Schwarzbaum, Peter Travers, and Michael Philips are identified in a sub-listing that calculates their reviews separately. Their opinions are also included in the general rating. When there are sufficient reviews, the staff creates and posts a consensus statement to express the general reasons for the collective opinion of the film.^{[citation needed]}

A Certified Fresh logo.

This rating is indicated by an equivalent icon at the film listing, to give the reader a one-glance look at the general critical opinion about the work. The "Certified Fresh" seal is reserved for movies that satisfy two criteria: a "Tomatometer" of 75% or better and at least 40 reviews from Tomatometer Critics (including 5 Top Critics). Films earning this status will keep it unless the positive critical percentage drops below 70%.^[12] Films with 100% positive ratings but fewer than required reviews may not receive the "Certified Fresh" seal.

- Potsy