Second Screening - The Transformers: The Movie (1986) 40th Anniversary

Note: This review contains spoilers for The Transformers: The Movie (1986).

In celebration of the 40th anniversary of The Transformers: The Movie (1986), Hasbro held a promotional campaign framing it as an Apology Tour, centering on the trauma many ‘80s kids faced from the infamous death of Optimus Prime in the film and culminating in a special theatrical screening from Fathom Events. While this campaign was meant to be tongue-in-cheek, the recent passing of Optimus Prime voice actor Peter Cullen shortly before the planned screening made the whole thing very awkward, leading both Hasbro and Fathom to downplay the Apology Tour aspect, save for whatever was too late into production to change. Truth be told, before Peter Cullen’s passing, I was actually planning to skip the screening entirely until I learned there was to be a new animated coda attached to it, at which point I got tickets when they went on sale; similarly, I was also going to skip the upcoming 40th anniversary Blu-ray set (I already own the Rhino DVD, Sony DVD and both of Shout! Factory’s 30th and 35th anniversary sets since they all have different bonus features on them) until I learned said coda was going to be included. As for the screening itself, I still found the movie worth celebrating for Transformers fans, but felt mixed about the extra content.

Stubs: Citizen Kane - A Second Screening

Citizen Kane (1941) Starring: Orson Welles, Joseph Cotton, Dorothy Comingore, Ray Collins, George Coulouris, Agnes Moorehead. Directed by Orson Welles. Screenplay by Herman J. Mankiewicz, Orson Welles. Music by Bernard Hermann. Produced by Orson Welles. Run Time: 119 minutes. U.S. B&W Drama.

There is a real difference between watching a film on home video and watching it in a theater. This recently happened to me with Citizen Kane, which recently was part of a Fathom Event, celebrating its 85th anniversary. I had previously reviewed the film for this blog, based on watching it on disc. I won’t go through the history of the film, or a detailed synopsis, please see the previous post for that.

Classic Hollywood films, of which this would definitely count, were made to be seen in theaters and that is really the only way to get the full experience filmmakers intended. While I had seen the film several times, I did get a different appreciation for it, seeing it in a theater.

We were treated before the film with an introduction by Leonard Maltin, the well-known film critic/historian. In his prologue, he lauded Citizen Kane as the greatest film ever made. That’s a high honor to lay on something and the only way to prove that is to watch the film.