It’s all science fiction this week at Daily Stream, ahead of Flick Filosopher announcement. And if anyone had told me five years ago that I would ever wholeheartedly recommend a Transformers movie, I’d have yeeted you into the sun, as the kids today say. But 2018’s Bumblebee is a charming delight, perhaps not least because it harkens back to the action-adventure dramedies of my teendom, like E.T. and other 80s kiddie sci-fi. This is a cute, funny, heartfelt throwback that is nostalgic without being mindlessly retro, a gentle girl-and-her-alien-robot-car lark that hits all the right notes of organic-metallic friendships. Hailee Steinfeld as the teen is wonderful, and there’s nary a whiff of Michael Bay — who made all those other, deeply terrible Transformers movies, but not this one — about it. (Read my 2018 review.)
US: stream on Paramount+ (via Prime and Apple TV); rent/buy on Prime and Apple TV
UK: stream on Prime (till September 30th); rent/buy on Prime and Apple TV
See Bumblebee at Letterboxd for more viewing options.
