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  1. In Memory of LAJ_FETT: Please share your remembrances and condolences HERE

Down in Front: - This week, SCOTT PILGRIM VS. THE WORLD.

Discussion in 'Fan Films, Fan Audio & SciFi 3D' started by Teague, Apr 6, 2009.

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  1. Teague

    Teague Jedi Padawan star 4

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    Apr 9, 2006
    Actually, yeah, I'm like the least healthful person I know. I suffer consequences left and right.

    But they don't see my kidney stones and lymph infections, so !@$& 'em.
     
  2. elemental_fantasy

    elemental_fantasy Jedi Padawan star 4

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    Mar 6, 2006
    ^^ lol...

    The GB commentary was okay... but not as insightful as the actual GB commentary track.

    TPM was great cause you guys knocked the **** out of it. Rightfully so...
    I would actually PAY for an episode 2 and 3 commentary from you guys. Any chance you'll make those commentary tracks?[face_praying]
     
  3. Teague

    Teague Jedi Padawan star 4

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    Apr 9, 2006
    Definitely.
     
  4. FX_guy

    FX_guy Jedi Youngling star 3

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    Jun 7, 2002
    If it's insight you want, then yes - the actual makers of the film are probably gonna be better at that. We're the drink-hard-lemonade-and-yell-random-stuff guys.

    I had hoped never to have to watch those two flicks again in this lifetime.

    But if there's money in it, then hmmm. How much pay we talking here? [face_thinking]
     
  5. Lrd_Radon

    Lrd_Radon Jedi Youngling star 1

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    Apr 18, 2009
    After listening to your commentary for Starship Troopers, I couldn't help wondering if any of you guys noticed the myriad similarities between this movie and the video game Starcraft. For one, Starcraft is largely about humanity's fight against a race of genetically mutated crab/bug like creatures called the Zerg. This fight takes place across many planets employing, among other things, marines in power suits. The Zerg, like the Bugs, have the power to take knowledge from the humans they capture. The Zerg also have an Overmind as their unifying, telepathic "leader". I just thought it was interesting that Starcraft seemed to take so much from the lore of this story. That is, unless many of the elements of this story are considered to be among the standard tropes of sci-fi.
     
  6. Lord_Charisma

    Lord_Charisma Jedi Padawan star 4

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    Feb 9, 2001
    Meh. It's a common sci-fi setup. Starcraft stole mercilessly from Warhammer 40k.
     
  7. Spiderfan

    Spiderfan Jedi Knight star 5

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    Mar 9, 2004
    Glad to see you guys are back in one form or another. Loved each commentary, but especially love anything GB.

    Its a shame these aren't done live via talkshoe anymore (I understand why) as I would have loved to chime in many times to add my own two cents. :p Probably exactly why you guys dropped the interactive portion.

    But like the fanboy I am I still need feel the need to address something from the commentary.

    Trey's major beef with GB2 seems to be that it depended on the premise that no one believes in Ghosts anymore and how can that be after everything occurred in the first film. Well how can people still think that the moon landings or 9/11 were faked? Most of the incidents in the film were individual hauntings with a few eye witnesses (there are "eyewitnesses" to Big Foot, UFOs and Nessie). Much of the climax occured on a roof top out of sight, and from the ground looked like a lot of expensive loud pyrotechnics. And lets not forget that there is an agency determined to discredit and unmask the Ghostbusters as frauds, who successfully get a C&D against the GBs, and are followed by many other agencies who claim the GBs are responsible for the disaster and sue them. The only thing that would credibly work in the Ghostbusters favor and diminish all doubts would be Stay Puft.

    Simply put it seems entirely plausible that most of New York would believe they are fakes. Yes there would certainly be those that do believe (the crowd of people standing outside Central Park West) but would likely be called crazies and lumped in with the Big Foot eyewitnesses.

    I certainly agree that GB2 had its share of problems (namely the issue Michael addressed about the production team hijacking the script) but I don't agree that this is one of them.
     
  8. EagleIFilms

    EagleIFilms Jedi Grand Master star 5

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    Apr 6, 2001
    What on EARTH are you talking about? The Ghostbusters ran a successful, famous business for months, catching ghosts all around the city. Then, there was a HUGE supernatural occurrence in the middle of the city, and a GIANT MARSHMALLOW MAN walked through the streets.

    In the next movie, no one believes in ghosts.

    You don't see the problem here?

    You think that a tiny, insignificant number of crazies believing the lunar landings were faked is ANYWHERE similar to an entire world refusing to believe in something that was witnessed and caught on film and videotaped by hundreds of people?
     
  9. Spiderfan

    Spiderfan Jedi Knight star 5

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    Mar 9, 2004
    All of which was explained as staged events using "sense and nerve gasses" to create hallucinations (the ghosts) and "fake electronic lightshow" that the Ghostbusters created to con people out of their money. They were subsequently sued by "every agency in the City, County and State" and their cease and desist was maintained. The supernatural occurrences mostly consisted of few eye witnesses (easily brushed off as crazies), with only the climax taking place in front of hundreds of people, much of which was a pyrotechnics show on the roof of huge metropolitian apartment building far out of sight.

    As I stated the Marshmellow man was the only thing the EPA and other agencies couldn't easily otherwise explain.

    Furthermore the second film doesn't establish that no one believes in Ghosts, simply that the majority was largely apathetic.
     
  10. AdamBertocci

    AdamBertocci Manager Emeritus star 7 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

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    Feb 3, 2002
    I absolutely cannot believe I am getting involved in this discussion, but:

    "Ghostbusters II" does NOT deal with the notion of people not believing in ghosts.

    The problem at the beginning of the film is that they've put themselves out of business because after the Gozer incident the ghosts stopped surfacing. There haven't been enough incidents to keep going, particularly with a stream of lawsuits to clear up, and they've packed up and gone their separate ways.


    There are four obstacles in their way who, it can be argued, have difficulty believing them.

    (1) The judge character. We KNOW he doesn't believe in ghosts. Guess what. He's a jerk and it's played for comedy.
    (2) The prosecutor character. Well, we don't actually know her personal convictions, but still.

    Remember, they're not on trial because ghosts don't exist. They're on trial for tearing a hole in the middle of the street, for posing as Con Ed men and for violating a court order telling them not to do paranormal investigation stuff. Even if the judge and the prosecutor both believed in ghosts, that still doesn't establish the legality of digging a hole in First Avenue.

    (3) The Mayor. He's a problem. The problem here is, he doesn't really have anything to offer them. He gives them an audience, he listens to their story, and (rightfully) asks: well, what am I supposed to do about it? Maybe you have to be a New Yorker to understand the beauty of the line "Being miserable and treating other people like dirt is every New Yorker's God-given right." He probably could have afforded to keep them around a little longer, but also, he's not the one who locks them in the ward.
    (4) Hardemeyer (Kurt Fuller, the mayor's assistant). Again, he's a jerk.
    Remember: by the middle of the movie, there really ARE ghosts all over town. He pulls a few strings and has the Ghostbusters thrown in a psychiatric ward anyway. It's not because he doesn't believe in ghosts, it's because he's a slimeball looking to move a political football. He doesn't want the mayor involved with the guys who became a liability. He pushes that point even in the face of certain destruction (witness his behavior in the scene where the Mayor decides they have to call the Ghostbusters).

    The plotline here isn't "The Exorcist", getting people to believe, it's more like "The Incredibles": society punishes its heroes. The entire point is that five years ago the guys saved the world, and their reward for it was the bill for cleaning up Central Park West and few lawsuits.

    Which is part of why the credits end with them getting the key to the city under the restored Statue of Liberty. (Heaven knows how they got it to back in place, but.) The city is a happier, mellower place, and the Mayor figures, you know what, if you can't beat 'em, join 'em.


    Ghostbusters II has its problems, many problems, but this ain't one of them.



    Rick McCallum loves you!
     
  11. DorkmanScott

    DorkmanScott Manager Emeritus star 6 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

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    Mar 26, 2001
  12. elemental_fantasy

    elemental_fantasy Jedi Padawan star 4

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    Mar 6, 2006
    ^ I'll have to watch that one tonight.
     
  13. VaporTrail

    VaporTrail Jedi Grand Master star 6

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    May 19, 2002
    Adam, you raise a valid point. However...
    Fixed.:D



    Ugh. And you. Californians.
    You guys couldn't have moved that podcast to Thursday? While I was there? For the MATRIX?!? Man, did we spend Wednesday doing the wrong thing. :oops:


    Downloading. I forgot that was the topic this week, but it's funny cuz I picked up both Matrix video games for uber-cheap just yesterday with some leftover scrap during a trade-in. 'Tis the season.
    The clerk mentioned to me "Did you hear they're making a fourth one?", and we had a mini-discussion about how Neo might not actually be dead... but a quick Google search provides no proof of his claim from any later than 2004.

    [shrug]
    EDIT: Funny, you guys mentioning first bullettimes. I haven't seen the GAP commercial in question, but I did see both Lost in Space, which featured a freezetime with characters shifted around digitally to appear in motion, and then Wing Commander which came out just weeks before The Matrix, had a a more bullettime-like freezetime, except I believe the cameras all took their pictures at the same time, instead of in sequence to allow motion.

    EDIT 2: Oh, this is going to happen a lot today. I'm basically sitting here listening to this... my DVDs are already packed and ready for transit.
    Anyway... you guys forgot about Speed. That would probably be Keanu Reeves' "Die Hard", as you put it. Matrix certainly made him action superstar, but it wasn't his first time or anything.

    Anyway. Carrying on.
     
  14. Teague

    Teague Jedi Padawan star 4

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    Apr 9, 2006
    Out of curiosity, how do all of you access the show? Do you live download off of the site, or stream from the posts, or are you subscribed in iTunes?
     
  15. tumblemoster

    tumblemoster Jedi Padawan star 4

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    Dec 1, 2000
    I've downloaded a few, but I haven't had any time to watch! Best I did was 10 minutes of the first one. You should do up a couple of short films for us short attention span theater types.
     
  16. VaporTrail

    VaporTrail Jedi Grand Master star 6

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    May 19, 2002
  17. EagleIFilms

    EagleIFilms Jedi Grand Master star 5

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    Apr 6, 2001
    For the record, it's been years since I saw GBII, I was simply taking Trey and spider's statements that the plot revolved around 'nobody believing in ghosts' at face value. I certainly disagree with Trey on other things (everything?), so it's entirely possible he was quite wrong here as well.
     
  18. Black_Chameleon

    Black_Chameleon Jedi Master star 3

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    Jan 9, 2004

    Killer Bean has moves. :eek:
     
  19. elemental_fantasy

    elemental_fantasy Jedi Padawan star 4

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    Mar 6, 2006
    I saw some parts of the matrix comm. It's pretty good.

    Although... Bullet Time has been around for a while. It wasn't first used with the Matrix.

    I remember this crappy movie called Wing Commander, that was the first I saw bullet time. I remember I went to see Wing Commander just to see the teaser trailer for Episode 1 in theaters. They also showed it in the trailer...
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CQC9MdupzPo - 48 secs.

    It's funny that it was such a crappy movie that nobody ties that great effect with it.
     
  20. Teague

    Teague Jedi Padawan star 4

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    Apr 9, 2006
    Yep. We say explicitly in the commentary that bullet-time existed before The Matrix. Hadn't seen Wing Commander, though.
     
  21. elemental_fantasy

    elemental_fantasy Jedi Padawan star 4

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    Mar 6, 2006

    lol :p no...

    I remember explicitly in the commentary Mike Scott saying the first time they had done bullet time was in the Matrix.

    I loved... "films should start a discussion, not be one."
     
  22. FX_guy

    FX_guy Jedi Youngling star 3

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    Jun 7, 2002
    "Bullet time" yes, since it was The Matrix that led to that phrase being used.

    But "frozen time" was used in the earlier projects that were mentioned. The technique is the almost the same, except in frozen time the cameras in the array all fire at once, so you can simulate a camera move around a single moment.

    The Matrix upgrade that has become known as "bullet time" was triggering the cameras in rapid sequence rather than all at once. So time doesn't completely freeze, just slows down tremendously during the virtual camera move.
     
  23. tumblemoster

    tumblemoster Jedi Padawan star 4

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    Dec 1, 2000
    I think Speed was Keanu's Die Hard. Matrix was more like his comeback.
     
  24. VaporTrail

    VaporTrail Jedi Grand Master star 6

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    May 19, 2002
    Beat me to it.
    Wing Commander came out just a few weeks before the Matrix, and the Matrix's shots are so much more hardcore. I think considering they basically had the same technology but came out with drastically different results (the Wing Commander shots don't even flow into the edit that well) speaks to the minds of the effects folks on the Matrix.

    Then again, I don't think Wing Commander really took itself that seriously to begin with. It's got some AMAZING space action though, and if the Prinze Jr./Lillard bit don't irk you, is worth seeing.


    The Lost in Space remake also did an early version of freeze-time, but I think it was done with compositing over backgrounds that were either digital or shot in freeze-time. The characters move around, but they look like shifting and free-floating still images.
    WC basically ripped off this scene for their freeze-time (they also used it for their hyperspace jump), but their multi-camera method sells it a lot better.
     
  25. Laszlo

    Laszlo Jedi Padawan star 4

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    Nov 9, 2006
    Boy have you got it all wrong... First instance of ?bullet time? as such that I?ve ever seen was in the old time traveling film Trancers. In it the guy uses (only once) a device to slow time down to a crawl to avoid getting himself and his girl getting shot. You see a bullet slowly go by as the time cop, or whatever he was, escape in slow mo fashion, which always made me think that rather than Hiro-style time freezing, his perceptions where hyper-accelerated.

    Because Trancers also had future people ?downloading their brains into the past? it seemed both a precursor to Quantum Leap and later The Matrix.
     
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