I feel like a proctologist....

...because I'm surrounded by assholes.

See, here's the problem with internet forums. Everybody's more or less anonymous, hidden behind a goofy avatar, so they use it to throw out opinions and argue and say things they think makes them sound cool and smart. Such as this guy:

"On both occasions, all were in agreement - it's a bloody awful film, really, really bad. Aside from the CG work and the robot battle setpieces, it's one of the worst examples of filmmaking - even popcorn entertainment filmmaking - I have ever watched. It's plotless, structureless drivel; you could do away with two thirds of the film and it would make no difference (except possibly to improve it) - an atrocious, sprawling, relentlessly idiotic mess."

Really. He went on to say:

"By contrast, I thought the first film was great fun, and has stood up to repeated viewing."

Ah. The Megan Fox avatar was only a hint towards this man's obvious stature among the elite minds of the world.

So my little jaunt through this thread was met by other passionate haters of this film, including one member who was very willing to argue every point I made about TF2. Interestingly enough, I learned later on that the dumb limey twat hasn't even seen the movie.

But the kicker is the involvement of a moderator. Let me explain to you about internet forum moderators. Like I mentioned before, people on internet forums are more or less assholes who use their anonymity to behave like pricks and throw out of bunch of witless nonsense. In other words, they are even worse than bloggers. Now, most of these forums have rather lengthy lists of rules, and a group of users called moderators enforce these rules.

Now, if being virtually anonymous gives the regular users a sense of entitlement, imagine how the people who are in charge act.

Here's a sample:

"And you sound like a joke character that's really no longer funny. Your gimmick had a good run, but really, it's old now.

How much more critical evidence do you want or need from across the board to show that the first movie was superior on levels that matter to film making as an 'art', about conveying the story through both dialogue and film techniques? Really, it's fine that you love it so much you have to white knight every slight against it in here, really it is, but there is no reasonable argument that can be made to say that RotF is a better crafted piece of cinema, because it really isn't.

Lack of objectivity for the fucking lose."

This was in response to my claim that he was presenting his opinions as fact, after telling me that mine were wrong.

I wasn't being a "joke character", I was discussing the topic at hand. Mr. Moderator had to come in and throw his 2 cents in about how he didn't like the movie (which really wasn't on-topic). I responded with a personal experience that was relevant to the topic. From there the conversation was joined en masse by people who absolutely hated the film, and degraded into several non-topic talking points, such as the unworthiness of TF2 to make the money it has, the perceived lack of talent Michael Bay has as a filmmaker, and the apparent pursuit of people trying to get those who didn't like the film to see it again.

The people who hate this film simply can't stand for people to disagree with them. For example, I'll repeat the question asked of me...

"How much more critical evidence do you want or need from across the board to show that the first movie was superior on levels that matter to film making as an 'art', about conveying the story through both dialogue and film techniques?"

First off, how about just 1 example of "critical evidence" showing how TF1 was superior in conveying the story through "both dialogue and film techniques"?

Was it the stereotypical Indian telemarketer who picked his nose? Or perhaps it was Bernie Mac's classic line "I'll bust you in the head, you old bitch"? Maybe it was a high-schooler selling antiques in history class (for "Columbus Day" gifts, no less). Or the repeated importance of a father's garden path.

Maybe it was in the beginning, when Blackout killed everybody... except for the group of soldiers that attacked him directly. No, that group somehow got away. Or how Blackout just goes away for the bulk of the movie, only to show up at the end. Maybe it was how there was no explanation whatsoever of how the Autobots even knew to come to Earth in the first place. Or how two Decepticons who can fly in jet modes somehow missed a convoy of cars traveling over 20 miles through the desert to another location, only to immediately know where they are in a big city. Or the logical reasoning behind moving a 3-story tall robot from the Arctic to the desert, and somehow posing him so he looks cool (without waking him up, of course). Or how Optimus Prime, for some reason, decided running through the streets as a robot would make more sense than actually transforming into his disguise... and bonus cinematic masterpiece points for it actually working! Not to mention the suberb film editing of the scene where Optimus hides under a bridge while in full view of the helicopters looking for him... and who for some reason stop for a break right under him.

Don't get me wrong, I love TF1. But it is a movie with a lot of story problems & very shaky dialogue (seriously, "my bad"???) Even the writers noted that the structure of the film was too scattered and that switching between 3 plot elements was a bit much. There was very little information about the actual Transformers in the story, and the movie was highly criticized for the camera angles used during the Transformer fight scenes.

TF2, on the other hand, cannot be faulted for a lack of Transformer information. We got a lengthy backstory of their history, and even though we got 3 plot elements, 1 was completely Transformers-based and the other 2 involved them directly. The camera work during Transformer scenes was noticeably pulled back in comparison to TF1 (in addition to there being 50% more screentime for them - another notable TF1 criticism).

This is not to suggest that TF2 is a perfect film; I've made no secret of my utter distaste for the design of the Twins and the entire concept of "Alice". There are continuity errors and 1 actual plot hole that I've noticed, and characters do show up and disappear with no regard or explanation. And if those sort of things ruin a movie for you, then I suppose I can understand. But they're present in every film, especially films that are as complex as TF2. I'm not saying it's an excuse, I'm saying that given the nature of moviemaking, mistakes are going to happen and it's best to allow some forgiveness when it comes to watching films.

But to say that the popularity of TF2 can be directly correlated with the "dumbing down of America" or that Michael Bay should be executed over Hitler or Stalin, then perhaps you take movies a little too seriously, and should probably find another hobby.