These heavy metal Hasbro movies have been a thing for a decade now, but director Michael Bay promises Transformers: The Last Knight will be his last go round with the series. (Don’t worry, there are two more Bay-less films in the pipeline and enough stories for 14 more piled away.) Human star Mark Wahlberg also says he’s walking away from the franchise, though his ’70s-style hair cut is only one of the minor reasons. But those goodbyes notwithstanding, the rock-em, sock-em robots are back this week, and every potential box office challenger has demurred. So lets talk techno.
Our Philip Martin has experienced at least some of the Transformers phenomenon, and he writes about Bay and his (very genuine) aesthetic in his On Film column. Meanwhile, a shellshocked Dan Lybarger has crawled from the wreckage of an advance screening with a report. In other news, Karen Martin provides those looking for counter-programming options with the latest in home video. And there’s more in the Style section of Friday’s Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.