CGI or models/puppetry?

[blue]

yeah, my issue with transformers was that the decepticons in particular just look like big piles of scr@p metal.  what were they thinking!?!?

[Philly Q]

Come to think of it - and back on topic - Transformers would be a million times better if it was stop-motion, rather than CGI.  And if it was directed by a non-idiot, rather than Michael Bay.

[Nadz1lla]

Models and Puppets all the way, I think CGI's place should be filling in the blanks and helping the models / puppets work well.

Not just my honest opinion, but I have to say it anyway, I have a friend who used to do sculpting and creating puppets / models and work is really hard to come by. He survives by sculpting scale models and stuff for...I think the British Institute? Some kind of museum I think anyway. It sucks to know he has to do that when his past includes designing and building Jabba the Hutt for Return of the Jedi, a whole load of stuff for The Dark Crystal and more recently, designing and building the costume and prosthetics for "The Diva" in The Fifth Element (the tall blue singing lady...)

A man with such legendary credentials shouldn't be making models of frickin' Antarctica. Down with CGI, give the real artists their jobs back!  :)

[dave_mc]

I wouldn't necessarily call either of them "realistic", especially since almost any "historical" movie with Mel Gibson attached is likely to be about as accurate as an episode of Blackadder. I just meant that the battle scenes in LOTR don't connect with me at all; it's like suddenly switching from live-action to a cartoon, it takes me completely out of the movie. The best thing about Braveheart is definitely the Lee & Herring alternative ending...

ah, ok. I get you now :)

you have strong points philly

but lets not forget this is transformers - you go to see giant robots fighting each other. the script of the original TV series and movie wasn't exactly at shakespearian levels of rhetoric or irony. "me grimlock" etc etc

for me the weakest part of transformers was the reimagining of megatron

edit: having said all that, Transformers:The Movie (the animated one) did deal with some pretty complex ideas

good job you came in with that edit, can't have people slagging off the original 1986 cartoon!

That being said i actually liked transformers (the one with leboeuf), though the big CGI fight at the end kind of sucked. EDIT: as did the soundtrack, compared to the original, anyway. Hmmm, 80s metal or linkin park?  :shock:

Haven't seen the second one yet.

grrr, the darn quote thing has stopped working for me again... i hate when that happens. Anyway:

"It's strange that most of us - at least on a forum like this - would object to bland, manufactured, lowest-common-demominator music, but we're much more prepared to accept it in films.  "

Makes perfect sense if you ask me, we're more music buffs than film buffs. though i like plenty of trashy music too. Don't make me bring up winger again! :lol:

[Philly Q]

Makes perfect sense if you ask me, we're more music buffs than film buffs. though i like plenty of trashy music too. Don't make me bring up winger again! :lol:

Yeah, but it's so obvious when music is manufactured, it's completely soulless.  And I think it's exactly the same for films.

And....

WINGER IS NOT TRASHY!


 :lol:

[dave_mc]

i love winger. I just mean that lots of other people would consider it trashy.

I agree about the money/manufactured thing. But even manufactured stuff can occasionally be decent.

[nfe]

It's strange that most of us - at least on a forum like this - would object to bland, manufactured, lowest-common-demominator music, but we're much more prepared to accept it in films. 

 :?

A high percentage of this forum love 70's/80's stadium rock, I can think of few things more bland. :lol:

[Philly Q]

It's strange that most of us - at least on a forum like this - would object to bland, manufactured, lowest-common-demominator music, but we're much more prepared to accept it in films. 

 :?

A high percentage of this forum love 70's/80's stadium rock, I can think of few things more bland. :lol:

OK, I'll take out the word "bland", now you've had your fun.  :P

[nfe]

 :lol:


In all fairness, I think there's a lot of great tunes amongst manufactured pop, and I think there are plenty great "lowest-common-denominator" films. There's a time and a place for these things. I love steak, but sometimes I just really want a kebab, y'know?

[_tom_]

I really do love good films Philly, but sometimes all you need is a cr@p predictable action film. I find that rubbish films have their own charm as well. Rubbish music is just, well.. rubbish.

edit - nfe basically posted the same thing as me :) Also agree with him about the manufactured pop stuff

[Philly Q]

Tom, nfe, I don't disagree with either of you.

Believe me, I watch and enjoy a lot of rubbish films.  But there's "so bad it's good"...... and there's just plain bad.

But to reiterate, I'm mainly objecting to the fact that so many mainstream Hollywood films are rubbish.  Especially when, as I said, the main problem is almost always the script - the bit which doesn't cost tens of millions of dollars.

[_tom_]

hm yeah I agree.. I've recently seen so many adverts for films which just look shite. Like that one where that guy is forced into marrying his boss. Cant remember the name. Just terrible - not even worth a download!

[Philly Q]

[cough] The Proposal. [/cough]


Last night I watched Max Payne.  There's nothing "so bad it's good" about that.  It's just 95 minutes of torture-by-boredom.

[_tom_]

haha I turned off Max Payne after about 15 minutes. Mostly because of the sound, it was atrocious. All seemed really compressed, it was fatiguing to my ears. Never had that with a film before!

Oh and there was something about shadow monsters or something :?


edit - just saw an advert for something called Dance Flick. Clearly its a spoof but it looks so bad :(

[Philly Q]

The flying shadow monsters were just hallucinations caused by the drug. 

So the only bit of the film which was slightly non-boring... wasn't actually there.  :(