MICHAEL BAY'S TRANSFORMERS: IMAX

On 9/21 (next Friday), this summer's mega-blockbuster Transformers will be released on IMAX screens nationwide for a limited engagement. Here's the kicker: 5 new minutes of footage. Hopefully all five of those minutes will include more robot-on-robot ass-kicking. Either that or more shots of Megan Fox. If you missed this extravaganza the first time around in theaters this past summer, don't miss it now. It's an incredible ride. Bay's visual sense is just astounding and the robots themselves are, to put it midly, awe-inspiring. Sure, the script is beyond ludicrous and the characters are wafer thin, but Shai Lebouf turned out a great star-in-the-making performance and the previously mentioned Megan Fox is white-hot. But what would a $150 million Transformers movie be without insane action scenes? Not much to be honest. But leave it to Bay, who was practically born to direct this movie, to set the bar once again as far as seamless CGI and practical effects are concerned. The last 40 minutes of the movie is one extended robot/militay battle all filmed in downtown Los Angeles. The sight of Optimus Prime tackling Megatron and toppling over the 105 freeway into oncoming traffic is nothing short of staggering. Shooting in his customary over-the-top style, Bay and his amazing team give the audience one astonishing sequence of destruction after another. You'll see multiple tanks flipping through the air, fighter jets transform into robots in mid-air and landing on a city street, robots throwing each other through buildings and much, much more. And to top it off, there is a humor and genuine sense of gee-golly-whiz entertainment packed into every scene. It's the ultimate summer pop-corn film, one of the best of it's kind. Of all time. Leave it to Bay (and exec-producer Steven Speilberg) to set the standard for summers to come.