Saw Transformers yesterday. Liked that one part in the end when that fighter jet kept changing in midair from plane to robot to plane again in the downtown fight scene. That was wild. Only one thing really bothered me about the whole movie. Okay, two things — first off, why didn’t the Transformers have more discernible heads and faces? Didn’t get that, but no big deal. What really got to me is the Strokes T-shirt that Shia LaBeouf (pictured) sported for the entire second half of the show.
Anybody else irrationally irked by this? Don’t get me wrong — I’m a Strokes fan, I hate it when people bash ‘em (and their third album last year was much stronger than the band got credit for, especially the song "Ize of the World"). I also usually don’t mind product placement that much; I’m grateful to GM for helping bring the movie in at a reasonable budget. And I get that the design and font of the Strokes logo is metallic, industrial — Transformers-esque, if you will. But for some reason I couldn’t stop focusing on LaBeouf’s distracting torso for the last hour there. The kid might as well have been wearing a T-shirt with a pair of airbrushed female breasts on it. So, good for the Strokes, but bad for the movie, I say. Who disagrees?
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I haven’t seen it yet, but just looking at the photo, I can tell I would agree with you. I think it’s funny that if any teens watch this movie 20 years or so from now, they’ll all be like “Who the hell are the Strokes!?”
“I couldn’t stop focusing on LaBeouf’s distracting torso for the last hour there”
This out of context….
Slow news day?
Haha to both comments that aren’t mine:)
Maybe there’s a deeper reason why you couldn’t help but focus on his torso?
this is funny b/c i had the exact same reaction to this shirt. i mean the strokes are fine, but.. idk… THE STROKES. whatever and i had an ex boyfriend who had that shirt, so i suppose that makes more sense.
Dear Gregory,
You quibble too much!! Are you supposed to fill up a word quota in the popwatch section…and since your asinine brain can’t think of anything you’ll just write about a T-shirt?!?! Merde! Bwahahaha!!
It’s a T-shirt. No one gives a flip.
And yet again, another waste of ‘popwatchers’ time.
Move on to more interesting things Mr. Kirschling.
I have enver cared for the Strokes. I think they’re overrated. You have to understand my disgust. Even before that first album back in 2001, the pre-release industry hype had them being groomed as the next Velvet Underground, which is kind of ironic considering that the Velvets made their impact on musical influence rather than record sales. This T-shirt seems like a co-oping of what the marketers consider “hip.”
Transformers is a fabulous movie!
It has a lot of action and it also has some romance.
Oh, and another thing, Shia LaBeouf is a hottie!
I want Shia in more movies!! :p
Eh, it didn’t bother me. Mainly because i couldn’t look away from the transformers. you know, those giant robots? yeah. that’s where my attention was.
So what you’re saying is the movie bored you so much, that you rather concentrate on a T-shirt logo. Well, thanks, I know what I won’t be doing this weekend.
I bought that same t shirt on sale for $5 some five years ago. It struck me to see that shirt so prominently featured, but it also reminded me of the Public Enemy Shirt that Edward Furlong wore in Terminator 2. The band wasn’t part of the soundtrack and hadn’t really been considered super cool for a few years.
IMHO, A better bet would have been to put Shia in some Fred Perry, Ben Sherman or Merc clothes if they wanted to make him kind of hip yet kind of “underground” at the same time.
I agree completely. (Although it was more distracting in publicity stills.) The whole movie is one big product placement bonanza however so what’re you gonna do?
I definitely saw it as an homage to Eddie Furlong’s Public Enemy shirt from T2. both have robots in them so who knows maybe Michael Bay just loves T2 and wanted to give a shout out to his boy Jimmy Cameron
I haven’t seen the movie but what bothers me is the name of the actor – Shia LaBeouf. Don’t know how to pronounce it and I get the feeling that those who do, love to say it over and over again.
I just got home from seeing this and would have to agree that the entire movie was one big commercial. I was not okay with GM branding every scene of their movie. I felt ripped off paying $10 to see a 2.5 hour commercial for GMC, Chevy, and Pontiac.
After seeing the movie, I feel more sorry for The Strokes, the logo will forever be linked to that toilet loaf of a movie.
If the Strokes tee was the most distracting part of the movie(versus the general terribleness of the movie) then I envy you,
Nevermind the T-shirt. The movie stunk. 2 1/2 hours of closeups on machinery.. wow. Don’t waste your money on Transformers. Slam you fingers in a car door… at least it will illicit an honest emotional response.
oh shut up. the movie was a silly, big summer blockbuster and you should have known if youd like it or not before you bought a ticket. i knew what to expect and ended up having a good time, so stop posting about how you hated a movie that obviously wasn’t for you. for the t-shirt business, i didn’t even notice, so i guess it didn’t bother me too much
I didn’t even notice the T-shirt. I was too busy being distracted by how terrible the whole movie was.
I dont know what the heck is the big deal about the stupid tshirt. I didnt even notice it, I was paying attention to the story, which I might add was in my opinion, the best movie I’ve seen all year! Shia is a hell of an actor, and very funny! Kudos to you Shia!!
I didn’t even notice it.
Did anyone notice that the girl kind of looks like Lindsay Lohan?
I didn’t even notice the shirt. My attention was else where. Like on the giant robots.
i haven’t seen the movie, but that t-shirt bugs me in every photo it appears in. its so lame! and accomplishes nothing.
Pish. Whatever. A teen boy likes the Strokes…not so controversial!
Hey, I think Adrienne and Kate are onto something.
The t-shirt is meaningless advertisement people, get over it!
Now I’m not down for commercials in movies, but what everyone seems to forget is that Transformers started out as an action figure, hence it started as a commercial. I saw Transformers on Saturday, and it’s def. not Oscar worthy, but there was enough things blowing up that I didnt notice what kind of Tshirt Shia was wearing. Besides, I think any other young actor in the movie would have destroyed it. He held that movie together as far as I’m concerned. But watching it doesn’t make me want to listen to the Strokes nor does it make me want to buy a new car. I’m still paying off the last one.