Star Wars: The Force Awakens (12/18/15)

[pixletwin]

Re: Star Wars: Episode VII (2015) Discussion Thread

I didn't like the fliperdee-doodle disney ride feel of the Goblin Town. Weeeeee watch me ride a piece of bridge down a 300 foot chasm with a laugh at the end... weeeeeeee!

Didn't just take me out of the movie. It took me out, stomped on my head, and put a screwdriver in my eye.

 

[IrishJedi]

Re: Star Wars: Episode VII (2015) Discussion Thread

Neill Blomkamp didn't seem to have a problem delivering photo-realistic CG in his short films, DISTRICT 9, and (hopefully) ELYSIUM. Again, it's CG that has that "organic" quality... it looks and feels like it's actually there and fits in perfectly with the actual live action stuff. And it's not overdone. That makes all the difference in the world.

 

[The Josh]

Re: Star Wars: Episode VII (2015) Discussion Thread

I didn't like the fliperdee-doodle disney ride feel of the Goblin Town. Weeeeee watch me ride a piece of bridge down a 300 foot chasm with a laugh at the end... weeeeeeee!

Didn't just take me out of the movie. It took me out, stomped on my head, and put a screwdriver in my eye.

The bridge part was a tad much but for me personally it never took me out of the film. I do understand how its a bit OTT for folks though.

 

[Khev]

Re: Star Wars: Episode VII (2015) Discussion Thread

I didn't like the fliperdee-doodle disney ride feel of the Goblin Town. Weeeeee watch me ride a piece of bridge down a 300 foot chasm with a laugh at the end... weeeeeeee!

Didn't just take me out of the movie. It took me out, stomped on my head, and put a screwdriver in my eye.

Temple of Doom's mine cart sequence was like a rollercoaster on crack. Goblin Town was like TOD's mine cart on crack.

 

[IrishJedi]

Re: Star Wars: Episode VII (2015) Discussion Thread

I didn't like the fliperdee-doodle disney ride feel of the Goblin Town. Weeeeee watch me ride a piece of bridge down a 300 foot chasm with a laugh at the end... weeeeeeee!

Didn't just take me out of the movie. It took me out, stomped on my head, and put a screwdriver in my eye.

That's exactly the type of over-the-top CGI that I feel is too rampant in big movies these days.

Another: the world builder "tentacle" stuff in MAN OF STEEL. God how I hated that idea from its inception to execution. Lots of stuff like that in PACIFIC RIM, IRON MAN 3, etc. too. Hell, pretty much all of these movies now. It needs to stop.

 

[IrishJedi]

Re: Star Wars: Episode VII (2015) Discussion Thread

I just thought of another example of properly utilized CG that doesn't pull you out of a movie every 5 minutes: DREDD.

 

[Khev]

Re: Star Wars: Episode VII (2015) Discussion Thread

I just thought of another example of properly utilized CG that doesn't pull you out of a movie every 5 minutes: DREDD.

The constant CG bloodspray did for me.

 

[VintijDroidGutzz]

Re: Star Wars: Episode VII (2015) Discussion Thread

Needless to say..

JURASSIC PARK is STILL the benchmark.

 

[IrishJedi]

Re: Star Wars: Episode VII (2015) Discussion Thread

The constant CG bloodspray did for me.

I'd actually forgotten about that. Thankfully, it was sporadic enough. But there was a lot of other CG in that movie that didn't have that "cartoony" aesthetic. And it was used properly, for the most part. Even the SLO-MO drug effect worked well.

Needless to say..

JURASSIC PARK is STILL the benchmark.

Indeed.

 

[IrishJedi]

Re: Star Wars: Episode VII (2015) Discussion Thread

Another CG pet peeve: The overuse of lens flairs (this is almost universal, unfortunately... and I'm not talking the JJ Abrams kind) and night/rain sequences (PACIFIC RIM, I'm looking at you) in an attempt to make said cartoony, over-the-top stuff more believable. Instead, it's already become its own trope. Again, this is where Blomkamp is already schooling people... DISTRICT 9's major FX sequences are all in broad daylight, and without a lens flair to be found.

 

[furystorm]

Re: Star Wars: Episode VII (2015) Discussion Thread

There was this lens flare in The Wolverine that was so off base, it pulled me from the film and had me trying to figure out what the hell it was doing there. I seriously couldn't figure it out. They're at the airport, and theres a flash off the car, that just should not have been there. Weird!!!

 

[rushmore223]

Re: Star Wars: Episode VII (2015) Discussion Thread

I think the realism of CG is compromised by the sheer amount that is used in a film. Jurassic Park T-Rex, Gollum and District 9 are examples of well done, believable CG. But when a film has an enormous amount of CG, a limited budget, and a relatively short time frame to get it all finished, or even a Director that just doesnt care, than we get sub-par, suspension of disbelief destroying CG. It can be done well, but I dont think that most movies bother taking the time to fully realize the CG that they use.

Another example of really good CG from an older film is Starship Troopers. Mind you, I have not seen the movie in years, but from what I recall, the bugs looked very real, or at least they did to me at the time.

Another CG pet peeve: The overuse of lens flairs (this is almost universal, unfortunately... and I'm not talking the JJ Abrams kind) and night/rain sequences (PACIFIC RIM, I'm looking at you) in an attempt to make said cartoony, over-the-top stuff more believable. Instead, it's already become its own trope. Again, this is where Blomkamp is already schooling people... DISTRICT 9's major FX sequences are all in broad daylight, and without a lens flair to be found.

Try watching the Total Recall remake, there is lens flare going on in almost complete darkness. Hilarious.

 

[Khev]

Re: Star Wars: Episode VII (2015) Discussion Thread

Again, this is where Blomkamp is already schooling people... DISTRICT 9's major FX sequences are all in broad daylight, and without a lens flair to be found.

Considering the fact that he staged pretty much the whole movie as if it were a History Channel Documentary (where lens flares are typically nowhere to be found) they would have been even more inappropriate if he did include them.

Thank God he didn't. I do think it's cool when filmmakers have a little fun with pretending that the CG is "real" (like the bug that splatters CG guts on the camera lens in Starship Troopers or the two quarreling wolves who apparently knock a camera off a tripod while they're fighting in Twilight: New Moon.) Lens flares play into that a little bit but yeah, way overdone.

Imagine if every swing of a goblin dislodged a virtual camera in UAJ.

 

[Irvy]

Re: Star Wars: Episode VII (2015) Discussion Thread

One of the coolest uses I've seen is in ROTK when they utilised a shot where the camera accidentally bumped and swung around on the rig to show Minas Tirith in the background of Gandalf riding the horse.
It looks natural rather than some forced ridiculous sweeping vista of the city.

 

[TURINS~BANE]

Re: Star Wars: Episode VII (2015) Discussion Thread

One of the coolest uses I've seen is in ROTK when they utilised a shot where the camera accidentally bumped and swung around on the rig to show Minas Tirith in the background of Gandalf riding the horse.
It looks natural rather than some forced ridiculous sweeping vista of the city.

Yes i remmember..

some of the cgi in Clones looked terrible, but the frog battle in TPM looked off too but that was 99, pod race looked great though. so glad they are using locations with ep 7.

 

[IrishJedi]

Re: Star Wars: Episode VII (2015) Discussion Thread

The animated Pod race, with its silly, colorful and comedic cartoon characters was actually better in the 70s...

 

[jye4ever]

Re: Star Wars: Episode VII (2015) Discussion Thread

I loved Goblin Town as well. It was really darn cool IMO. The Warg chase was a bit wacky again.

There are a few things in The Lord of the Rings. The Warg chase scene comes to mind as one. I don't know how anyone can dislike that Moria halls sequence. It's one of the coolest moments in all three films

 

[Vader AL]

Re: Star Wars: Episode VII (2015) Discussion Thread

It definitely hurt their acting, but I think if they had a better script it wouldn't have been as much of an issue. Also at that time there wasn't as much bluescreen in use so they probably weren't ready to act in that way.



It's easier for something to look real when it's based off something that actually is, like how he's done CG sets in many of his movies. But he also likes doing some things that aren't at all natural with CG.

Good points.

 

[jye4ever]

Re: Star Wars: Episode VII (2015) Discussion Thread

GL/ILM got so wacky with the cgi that they were actually replacing, creating, erasing, rotating, stitching, flipping, inverting and god knows what else with shots that any credible filmaker would've just captured correctly from the start.

Nothing natural anymore with GL method of filmaking.

Don't worry, we'll fix it in post.

 

[RavenEye]

Re: Star Wars: Episode VII (2015) Discussion Thread

I think a good representation of bad GGI is the 501st in ROTS. Look closely at the right hands of each clone in this pic. The anatomical proportions of the wrist is off with the forearm. SO... yeah... CGI fails...