I was planning to see Transformers but I'm not encouraged by Manohla Dargis of the NYTimes calling it "cretinous." Variety predicts big Box Office bucks and says it has an "enhanced arsenal of special effects, which helmer Michael Bay deploys like a general launching his very own shock-and-awe campaign on the senses." Variety is much less condescending than Ms. Dargis but notes the new Transformers features"machines that are impressively more lifelike, and characters that are more and more like machines."