Transformers: Age of Extinction – ★½

I miss Sam Witwicky.

All the human stuff is so bad in this movie, even in comparison to the first three Bay Transformers movies. The actual Transformer related content and action are pretty on par though, which means it is sometimes fun, sometimes dumb, and almost always less intelligible than it should be.

This may be the worst representation of small town Texas ever put on film. Why does Paris, Texas have a nearby beach with surfing, roving bands of half naked models, and mid 20s Irish guys hanging out around high schools?

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Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem – ★★★★

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem

This is so cool to look at and funny as heck in a bunch of spots, but also kinda shallow maybe in ways I can’t put my finger on. Not that it doesn’t have heart, just maybe that a few too many of its jokes were references to other timely things?

Is the humor of this going to age poorly a la Shrek versus the timelessness of the Pixar classics?

It’s really amazing with this and Spider-Verse and Mitchells vs. the Machines how many really remarkable, beautiful animated movies are coming out recently.

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💿 Buy TMNT: Mutant Mayhem on Blu-ray

Epic Games cuts around 830 jobs, selling Bandcamp

Epic is laying off over 800 people and selling Bandcamp.

This is direct and predictable result of all the consolidation in games industry and in general. It’s not like Epic isn’t colossally profitable.

Why on earth does Epic needs over 8,000 employees and why do they own Bandcamp in the first place?

This is why the Microsoft/Activision merger deserved all the antitrust attention it got from regulators, if not more.

Star Trek: Lower Decks

Is it weird that Star Trek: Lower Decks is pretty much the only Star Trek tv series I’ve ever watched? (Not counting the TNG I passively consumed growing up with nerdy brother.)

It’s just a great, consistently funny show. And it’s 22 minutes long.

Braves clinch 6th straight NL East title

Braves beat the Phillies to clinch their sixth straight National League East title.