Why do people hate Michael Bay so much?

Michael Bay has real talent, but his talent is in makings things extremely visual and cool looking. Not a lot of depth, and often, as others mentioned, crass of juvenile. But there is no denying that he has incredible visual style and while his work is superficial, it has a beautifully flashly and extremely cool visual style.

Detractors disagree saying cinema is about story - I think it is about both. Others disagree saying he cuts too much or doesn't stay true to more classic cinematography styles, and therefore they hate it.

He is pretty arrogant, which I think helps fuel the fire.

Bottom line, I think his visual style is great. As far as his personality as a person, not so sure... I think he gets haters who disagree with him to start, and his arrogance gives them reason to hate.
 
filmguy123 said:
Michael Bay has real talent, but his talent is in makings things extremely visual and cool looking. Not a lot of depth, and often, as others mentioned, crass of juvenile. But there is no denying that he has incredible visual style and while his work is superficial, it has a beautifully flashly and extremely cool visual style.

Detractors disagree saying cinema is about story - I think it is about both. Others disagree saying he cuts too much or doesn't stay true to more classic cinematography styles, and therefore they hate it.

He is pretty arrogant, which I think helps fuel the fire.

Bottom line, I think his visual style is great. As far as his personality as a person, not so sure... I think he gets haters who disagree with him to start, and his arrogance gives them reason to hate.
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I agree.
 
The imagry was ok... I take that back, the imagry was very good. But between Ben Afflec and turning a war movie into a chick flick, I couldn't stomach it. Afflec needs to go where he works best, with Jay and Silent Bob.

As far as Bay goes, 200 million in special effects does not equal a good story. That is why Transformers was just ok instead of awesome.
 
Ugh...Armageddon was pure anguish, just based upon what I remember from introductory High School physics, let alone anything approaching storytelling.
 
Armageddon wouldn't have been so bad, if there wasn't already a movie with an almost identical plot in Asteroid? Kind of like Gigli and Jersey Girl... only Gigli sucked because... I couldn't say for sure. I never saw it.
 
I was along for the ride :)

I'll be honest, these days there are very few movies I don't enjoy... I've changed the way I watch movies now... I turn my critique knob off and just watch for pure enjoyment. :)
 
Brandon Rice said:
I was along for the ride :)

I'll be honest, these days there are very few movies I don't enjoy... I've changed the way I watch movies now... I turn my critique knob off and just watch for pure enjoyment. :)
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I actually envy you.

My critique knob seems to be stuck in the on position, most of the time.

Maybe I should try getting slobbering drunk before seeing Bay movies.

Not to suggest that's what you do, just what might work for me.
 
Sad Max said:
I actually envy you.

My critique knob seems to be stuck in the on position, most of the time.

Maybe I should try getting slobbering drunk before seeing Bay movies.

Not to suggest that's what you do, just what might work for me.
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When I first started working in film... I was the same way... for some reason I hit a point about a year ago when I just stopped watching movies to analyze them, but instead just watched to enjoy... even when I watch something more than once, its the same way now... its really a freeing feeling... and I hope it helps me judge my own work better by being able to watch it as an audience member.

I usually take my projects home, and watch them there, that way I am not thinking about it as the "maker" but as an audience member... its a mental thing I guess...
 
It's not so much I hate his films, I actually like watching his films. They're fun! I just don't like the way he treats people on set. He doesn't have much respect for others. He doesn't have a friendly personality not enless he knows you're going to make him money.
 
Sad Max said:
I actually envy you.

My critique knob seems to be stuck in the on position, most of the time.

Maybe I should try getting slobbering drunk before seeing Bay movies.

Not to suggest that's what you do, just what might work for me.
Click to expand...

I want to be transported every time I go see a film, but when a movie isn't working on some level I start going into critic mode pretty fast. At the same time I don't start doing intellectual breakdowns on the spot, I just start feeling this or that isn't right. After the fact I'll gather my thoughts and start pulling the film apart to figure out why it didn't work for me.
 
I could pick apart anything I watch, if I tried hard enough. But I am much like Brandon, I just want to enjoy a flick, so it has to really bad to turn me off. Hell Comes to Frogtown is a perfect example.
 
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