I think the style of transformers has its genesis in just about every big movie Lucas or Spielberg ever made. The film has tons of homages. But it clearly recalls the prequels type of over the top cgi and i don't think hollywood going to go back to making movies the old school way ever again.
The Lord of the Rings trilogy may be one of the last to use traditional tecniques along with cgi and be shot on film instead of HD video. I know that other movies like Serenity also did both.
Trek 2009 like Sky Captain is and the matrix is probably 90%or more designed in a computer.
To me LOTR is the last of the great trilogies i love it second only to the original star wars trilogy. Every other modern thing is either garbage or entertainment for 2 hours that you never ever watch again.
Maybe some exceptions like Spider Man 1 and 2 and x-men 1 and 2. I will never watch transformers again, or x-men 3 or spider man 3.
And I would add Batman Begins. I'm kind of split on the dark knight. I think the movie was way over rated and over hyped. Still a good movie. As for Iron man or the new hulk i don't understand the hype over those crap films. Iron Man like the upcoming Terminator had great design by the Stan Winston studio but beyond that there is not much else i can say. Its another blockbuster with rediculous unnecessary over the top cgi.
I'll admit Iron Man has heart, and is better than the fox made marvel films. Still it is a very silly movie based on a comic book and the cgi takes center stage and the acting is second place.
It does well for its genre and does not pretend to be something that its not. Unlike say the star wars prequels and indiana jones IV which roped you in with the promise as being as good as the originals and then crapped all over your memories. The trailers lied and said they were epics and action packed awesome films. Then you see the finished turd projected on screen.