The CGI overuse discussion

I think TPM and AOTC had the perfect blend of CGI and real life.

 

I actually think TPM gets too much credit for it's CGI, as if the film has some startling breakthrough which wows the audience, I don't think it does.

T2 was a big Wow!
Then Jurassic Park was just jaw dropping, I thought it would be another 10 years before they'd be able to do animals and yet it was so soon after T2.

I like the pod race, but other than that there's not much great in the FX in TPM. I know that JJ is supposed to be this big breakthrough, but we'd had 'acting' performances from CG characters before then - Dragonheart and Casper.

Even in terms of quantity I don't think TPM was so great, Starship Troopers did that a couple of years before, those shots of hundreds of bugs swarming over the landscape are a lot better than TPM's gungans.

g

 

Well stated,

In fact the truth of the matter is Starship Troopers was more effective as a story with corny actors and great CGI than TPM could ever hope to be.

Those bug battles were far more convincing than that silly gungan garbage Lucas forced me to watch in the end.

 

I think TPM had better acting and better CGI effects.

 

Episode One is certainly no "Clash of the Titans."

Personally, seeing a 6 foot Jawa was kind of cool.

 

How can you compare a trashy SciFi war movie like Starship Troopers to a mix of different religions, classic tales, adventures and 50´s SciFi shows?

I see this thread will never go any further in smart discussions than we already had on page four. Vegas and Stryphe are the CGI bashers and Go-Mer and me are the defenders- sorry if I didn´t mention everyone else.

 

Billy_Dee_Binks
it's pretty obvious were everyone stands by reading their posts, but thanks for confirming any assumptions.

Sorry I miss the intellectual pinnacle of this thread, but I would agree that the computer generated images in Episode One were way better than a bunch of bugs running across the desert. HOO YOOOO!!! A triumph in movie making!

But in my humble opinion, nothing beats a man in a rubber suit stepping on toy trains and model cities or a puppet with a stick up his @$$.

 

I think TPM had better acting and better CGI effects.

Absolutely.

 

In fact the truth of the matter is Starship Troopers was more effective as a story with corny actors and great CGI than TPM could ever hope to be.

Oh, man, can't agree. Troopers was painful, IMO (of course).

 

I respect a movie that's purposefully corny though. Not that Starship Troopers is a good film, but I can accept it because it doesn't try to be anything that it's not. It's just a dumb mindless action movie and makes no claim otherwise.

The Phantom Menace tries being something more but turns into a dumb mindless action movie.

 

The Phantom Menace >>>>>>>>>>> Starship Troopers

 

Okay, I am going to ask this one very simple question.

Was there ANYTIME in the movie where the special effect actually overwrote the movie? Where it actually interfered with the plot instead of advancing the story.?

For example, the tweny minitues Star Trek The Motion Picture flying over V'ger.? Or Stanely Kuberics 10 minute light show when David Bowmen entered the Oblisk?

If the question is no, then there wasn't any overuse of special effects.

 

I remember in a A&E biography of the flannel one, Ron Howard commented on Lucas and his experience working with him on "American Graffiti" that Lucas did not spend much time with the actors and told Ron Howard that editing and creating effects were the best parts of making movies. This attitude appears to be the forefront of Episode One. Additionally, on the special collector's VHS edition of Episode One, the featurette with Lucas, spends a large amount of time with him discussing the use (or overuse depending on your point of view) of cgi and other effects within the film, and really nothing much about plot or themes.

Starship Troopers, is upfront with its campy elements and many consider to be the best film of its kind since Robocop.

 

You asking for TPM or either PT, Lukecash?

 

"Starship Troopers, is upfront with its campy elements and many consider to be the best film of its kind since Robocop."

So, its finally ascended to mediocrity. Where next? Semi-decent?

 

Darth Stype

Well, this is phantom menance...so I think we should limit our discussion to that movie.

I take it you got a few waiting in the wings?

 

-HEI- "So, its finally ascended to mediocrity. Where next? Semi-decent?"

Isn't humerous that Episode One is often compared to such films? Talk about ascending to mediocrity.

 

I take it you got a few waiting in the wings?

Not on TPM, that's why I asked.

 

"Isn't humerous that Episode One is often compared to such films? Talk about ascending to mediocrity."

TPM is still better IMHO, even if it does go overboard with the CGI.

 

{b]Darth Strype[/b]

Well, since you are a moderator- (and you can yell at your self at derailing the topic )- I want to hear where you think that Star Wars movies (or others for that matter) had an overuse of special effects.

 

nothing annoys and angers me more than anti-CGI people, it is just absolutely absurd, As Lucas said, "All movies are fake." Whether its a cgi background or an old fashion wood and paint mock-up of New York City. It's still fake. Movies are people pretending to be someone that they aren't in a place where they are not. When you begin to agrue over the level of fakness in movies it becomes upserd.

 

And judging by your sig, you seem to possess the same problem in believing in characters in a not-so-real setting.

The argument here centers on CG overuse, not an attack on CG itself.

 

As Lucas said, "All movies are fake." Whether its a cgi background or an old fashion wood and paint mock-up of New York City. It's still fake. Movies are people pretending to be someone that they aren't in a place where they are not. When you begin to agrue over the level of fakness in movies it becomes upserd.

That's irony as its best! It upserd to make such a comment when Lucas devotes most of his time, energy and finances into increase his level of fakeness far beyond anyone else. (see special features on Episode One.)

anger leads to the path of the Dark Side

 

AOTC is the only movie I think went overboard on special effects when it didn't serve the story. It could be argued with the underwater segment in TPM did this, too, but since I really like the effects in that scene, I don't complain.

 

AOTC is the only movie I think went overboard on special effects when it didn't serve the story.

I also think TPM didn't go overboard with special effects. Could you clarify about AOTC? I'm interested.