LOTR - Looking really dated.

[thinfourth2]

DrTre said:

cazzer said:

Although I loathe over use of cgi....
Even the worst cgi is better than the rubber blow up Arnie head in Total Recall....

Aye, that's true...the flipside is that even the best CGI is nowhere near as good as the transformation scene in American Werewolf, or as mentioned, the wirework in Once upon a time in China which is amazing.

One thing (most, I think Peter Jackson has) directors haven't grasped in the use of CGI is that unless it's very carefully used, the onscreen narrative is lost.

There was an (IMO) interesting article in one of the papers a couple of years ago about how pre-CGI the narrative was aided by using the "screen real estate" more sparingly and intelligently (like keeping scenes shooting in one, consistent direction or tracking so the audience knows what is where at all times) and by simple things like having baddies wearing black hats, goodies wearing white so there were easily recognisable visual cues.

Directors (and editors) now just chuck as much CGI at the screen in the mistaken belief that it's exciting...it's not...it's just a mess. I've lost count of the number of times I've lost interest in a film at the first "action" scene because it's just dull.

CGI just doesn't let me suspend disbelief like theatre or prosthetics etc, it's all there on a plate and in one eye, out the other.

I actually think LOTR has dated very well with that in mind (and I'm not a fan of the books or films) and it's to PJs credit that he made the story as transparent as he did, a nigh on impossible task with such an convolutedly boring story to begin with.

Look at jaws

A very good film about a huge man eating shark but you almost never see the thing due to when filming the model was fooked so it made the director use his head instead of a large rubber shark

[james_gt3rs]

One of the worst bits of CGI I can think of is in the Bond film, Die Another Day, where he surfs on the water holding the parachute. Just awful.

[deevlash]

james_gt3rs said:

One of the worst bits of CGI I can think of is in the Bond film, Die Another Day, where he surfs on the water holding the parachute. Just awful.

Thats the bit I think of when I think of guff cgi

[Guffy]

qube_TA said:

mat205125 said:

chris watton said:

At least LOTR has a story, and is always watchable – the polar opposite, IMOHO, to the last three Star Wars films, which had no real direction, annoying CGI characters, real life characters that were just as wooden as their CGI counterparts – me and the kids still watch the originals a lot more than the new ones! Same with the new Indiana Jones movie – the first is still a great movie.
Lucas – please, step away from that director’s chair!

You seen the scene in Clerks 2 where Randall depicts the entire story line for the Lord of the Rings films in 30 seconds?

9 hours to watch 2 people walk to a volcano.

rubbish films.

Heretic! Burn the witch!!

I dust off my extended DVD boxset once a year and enjoy their brilliance each time. Even sat through them all with directors commentary running!

[T89 Callan]

Guffy said:

qube_TA said:

mat205125 said:

chris watton said:

At least LOTR has a story, and is always watchable – the polar opposite, IMOHO, to the last three Star Wars films, which had no real direction, annoying CGI characters, real life characters that were just as wooden as their CGI counterparts – me and the kids still watch the originals a lot more than the new ones! Same with the new Indiana Jones movie – the first is still a great movie.
Lucas – please, step away from that director’s chair!

You seen the scene in Clerks 2 where Randall depicts the entire story line for the Lord of the Rings films in 30 seconds?

9 hours to watch 2 people walk to a volcano.

rubbish films.

Heretic! Burn the witch!!

I dust off my extended DVD boxset once a year and enjoy their brilliance each time. Even sat through them all with directors commentary running!

As a standalone piece of filmaking the LOTR's trilogy of films are simply brilliant.

I actually once heard someone say... "Lord of the rings, I thought it was all a bit far fetched"

[Mojocvh]

JustinP1 said:

FourWheelDrift said:

cazzer said:

Although I loathe over use of cgi....
Even the worst cgi is better than the rubber blow up Arnie head in Total Recall....

I always thought that was just a brilliant piece of acting from him?

Actually that bit is part of a dream sequence so the overstated or even cartoon like graphics would actually be diegetic and coherent with the plot. :P

Yes, think that WAS the point.
Brilliant sci-fi film, from a awesome novel.
Sighs, them were the days.

[branflakes]

Mojocvh said:

JustinP1 said:

FourWheelDrift said:

cazzer said:

Although I loathe over use of cgi....
Even the worst cgi is better than the rubber blow up Arnie head in Total Recall....

I always thought that was just a brilliant piece of acting from him?

Actually that bit is part of a dream sequence so the overstated or even cartoon like graphics would actually be diegetic and coherent with the plot. :P

Yes, think that WAS the point.
Brilliant sci-fi film, from a awesome novel.
Sighs, them were the days.

<sadgeekmode>
1. That bit of the film was both part of a dream sequence AND the climax of the film.
2. It was based on a short story by Philip K. Dick, not a novel.
</sadgeekmode>
But yeah, best acting Arnie has ever done.