Is Bay The Demise of Cinema?

Michael Bay's influence on films is undeniable, but in most cases his influence has inspired others toward comedy. "South Park" creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone delivered Team America: World Police, which was just as much a visual slam on Jerry Bruckheimer films as it was Bay, and they did it again in an episode of "South Park".

"Robot Chicken" took their own spin on Bay with "Baysplosions" seen to the right and Edgar Wright and Simon Pegg used the director's flashy editing and often used action choreography to bring us Hot Fuzz. Everyone gets the joke, and it's funny, but what has it done for his public image and people's opinions/expectations of his films?

I ask this based on a comment left on my posting of the teaser trailer for the A Nightmare on Elm Street remake where someone wrote, "Michael Bay will be the death of cinema."

Bay's production company, Platinum Dunes, is behind the film and it is their fifth remake of a classic horror film (sixth if you count the Texas Chainsaw Massacre prequel), but none of them were directed by Bay. He's simply listed as producer and who knows how much he's actually involved in the production if at all.

Yet even the mention of his name conjures up a negative reaction. Considering this all comes on the heels of his last two Transformers films earning $1,541,666,202 worldwide with only 2005's The Island serving as his lone domestic flop, but even that one managed to make $127 million in foreign markets. So how can his name drum up so much ire and is he the death of cinema?

Does the fact Bay seems to realize he's a maniac for explosives grant him any clemency, such as when he made the above Verizon commercial that swept the Internet following the release of Transformers? How about the New Commonwealth Bank commercial he made or the fact he directed the "got milk?" commercial to the right