And those where the CGI was stupidly unrealistic

The Lord of the Rings

and

Anaconda

5/27/2008 12:57:24 AM

First star wars trilogy

Second star wars trilogy

5/27/2008 1:06:38 AM

gone with the wind

5/27/2008 1:37:51 AM

Transformers

and

Snakes On A Plane

5/27/2008 1:39:05 AM

NERD TALK BOO

SEVENTIES YAY

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[Edited on May 27, 2008 at 1:41 AM. Reason : ]

5/27/2008 1:41:23 AM

Ghost

5/27/2008 1:58:55 AM

TRON

and

TRON

5/27/2008 2:08:36 AM

CGI almost never looks good. The only movie it seemed to blend well (because it was used in extreme moderation, was Terminator 2.

every other movie since then sucks.....i mean look at the new Hulk movie, its a CGI fest and it looks like crap. I mean honestly, dont directors realize it looks like shit and fake as hell....why do they use it

5/27/2008 7:35:36 AM

beowulf

sorta

5/27/2008 7:42:21 AM

Jurassic Park

5/27/2008 8:19:41 AM

Lord of the Rings wasn't that bad. They had the right mindset for a lot of their effects. Use models and real things that are enhanced with CG.

And yes, I think the new Hulk movie looks terrible (from the trailer). I guess the directors don't mind going for that Roger Rabbit feel.

Terrible CGI:
The Mummy Returns. Scorpion king. It's very obvious that they were under a tight schedule to get a summer release and the deadline came before they were finished. They should have hired some more people and bought a few more Nintendo 64 dev kits.

Any portion of any movie that features the hyper-extended jaw. Totally overused and totally does what any CGI shouldn't do - call attention to itself. Good CGI is the kind where you never stop and think "hey, look at that CGI"

Almost forgot Jumanji. The CG had to have been as bad as it was on purpose.

[Edited on May 27, 2008 at 9:03 AM. Reason : -]

5/27/2008 8:40:17 AM

I Am Legend belongs in the latter category

[Edited on May 27, 2008 at 9:03 AM. Reason : add]

5/27/2008 9:03:20 AM

jumanji was pretty well done for its day

admittedly it doesn't weather the test of time all that gracefully

5/27/2008 9:06:41 AM

yeah

good thing the early pixar movies have quality stories to fall back on

shrek will never stand the test of time

5/27/2008 9:07:39 AM

WHY DON'T YOU GO BACK A LITTLE FURTHER

AND START SUCKING SNOW WHITE'S DICK?

5/27/2008 9:09:30 AM

i don't care for disney except for fantasia

and robin hood

5/27/2008 9:18:49 AM

you forgot



do not force me to destroy you

5/27/2008 9:33:50 AM

i guess i didn't consider Shrek and Pixar movies to be a part of this discussion. Considering they are 100% computer animated.

i thought this was about movies with CGI gracefully implemented into real footage.

5/27/2008 9:44:40 AM

the matrix

5/27/2008 9:49:19 AM

I am going to have to put Zodiac in the good category. If you watch that movie you would never believe how much CGI is actually being used. Watching the making of the movie I was shocked at how many of the exterior shots were pure CGI.

5/27/2008 9:49:23 AM

Yes, I was not talking about movies that were 100% cgi/animated.

And I forgot I Am Legend. That CGI was horrible

I thought the cgi in the first Matrix was pretty well done

5/27/2008 9:49:30 AM

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind had some well done CGI effects.

5/27/2008 9:56:11 AM

I almost never say "Man that CGI was god-awful"

Usually I don't notice and just accept it as part of the storytelling, like stop motion miniatures or green screens.

5/27/2008 9:58:10 AM

Yeah, I find it weird that people bitch about CGI endlessly, but I never heard anyone complain about obvious costumes and puppets (Chewbacca, Jabba the Hutt, Greedo).

5/27/2008 10:03:58 AM

^ its basically comes under the general reason why I don't pay attention to 95% of people's opinions

people love to be a neigh-sayer

5/27/2008 10:09:07 AM

i still don't understand how the first jurassic park still looks better than some movies that come out today

5/27/2008 10:10:40 AM

the cgi in jurassic park looks better than MOST movies that come out today

5/27/2008 10:13:47 AM

Quote :

"Yeah, I find it weird that people bitch about CGI endlessly, but I never heard anyone complain about obvious costumes and puppets (Chewbacca, Jabba the Hutt, Greedo)."

a lot of times the costumes actually seem more realistic to me. IE chewbacca seems much more real than jarjar...

and yes jurrasic park was done so well.

5/27/2008 10:20:15 AM

I love the fact that directors and producers, at one point in time, had to be really creative about how they did their SFX/stunts. Nowadays if a director comes upon a roadblock in production, they are just like "aw fuck it, lets use cgi."

Granted, cgi has its uses, in movies that have been mentioned thus far, and I would probably take cgi any day over stop motion animation (Although I love Army of Darkness, you have to admit the stop motion was horrible)

5/27/2008 10:29:01 AM

i dunno...there's a hand craft to stop motion that's sometimes lost in cgi

in my 21st century brain, i'd never think anything Ray Harryhausen was real, but the skeleton scene from jason and the argonauts is pretty awesome

5/27/2008 10:32:58 AM

Clash of the Titans is another stop motion heavy movie

I enjoy it

5/27/2008 10:37:46 AM

nay sayers say nay

5/27/2008 11:13:31 AM

Quote :

"Nowadays if a director comes upon a roadblock in production, they are just like "aw fuck it, lets use cgi." "

i think nowadays Joe Everyman can direct a "hollywood blockbuster" and Joe Everybody can star in one. Don't get me wrong, I am not a independent film snob the least bit. But I think gone are the days of classic film making.

5/27/2008 11:14:53 AM

Quote :

"people love to be a neigh-sayer"

a horse, if you will.

5/27/2008 11:19:17 AM

Always nay-saying! Everything I create! You piece of shit, you create something like inward singing!

5/27/2008 11:25:51 AM

Indiana Jones

5/27/2008 12:34:38 PM

The Frighteners should also get honorable mention for good cgi of its day

5/27/2008 2:10:58 PM

Quote :

"jurassic park"

5/27/2008 2:14:54 PM

spiderman was stupidly unrealistic to me.

5/27/2008 2:17:11 PM

Best - Shark Attack 3: Megalodon

5/27/2008 2:19:00 PM

indiana jones 4 had some straight up terrible cgi.

5/27/2008 3:43:50 PM

I'm not sure about the first one, but Blade II and III had terrible, cartoony CG

5/27/2008 3:58:27 PM

lets put it this way, usually using a real object, even if its a well done costume or a model looks better on film than CGI because its real.

i mean the ships in the first 3 star wars looked cooler because they were real models than the ships in the second 3

5/27/2008 4:16:19 PM

Lt. Dan's legs in Forrest Gump are CGI and they look great. You can tell if you go back now and look for it, but at the time I had no clue how they did it. The presidential footage isn't nearly as good, of course, but that's the nature of that sort of thing.

5/27/2008 5:49:57 PM

300's was done tastefully (for the most part) considering the style. same goes for things like 5th element.

i always thought spiderman was pretty bad too. the web slinging scenes always have him looking really slick and plastic. not nearly enough texture to make him look real.

5/27/2008 6:09:36 PM

i thought iron man's cgi blended very well

5/27/2008 6:27:00 PM

id like to note that there was nothing wrong with the robots in star wars generally. its when they try to do more organic things that start to look shitty. then again, extreme closeups of yoda look really awesome.

so i guess when you do organic things from a full-body perspective, ur just asking for it. otherwise ur fine.

5/27/2008 6:39:16 PM

cgi is usually great for background stuff

it can even be good for some foreground stuff but usually you're better off using a model

5/27/2008 6:52:48 PM

Quote :

"Second star wars trilogy "

the whole movie seemed like a fucking video game, plus it seemed like lucas filmed the entire film in front of a green screen

5/27/2008 7:30:56 PM

Quote :

"CGI almost never looks good. The only movie it seemed to blend well (because it was used in extreme moderation, was Terminator 2. every other movie since then sucks.....i mean look at the new Hulk movie, its a CGI fest and it looks like crap. I mean honestly, dont directors realize it looks like shit and fake as hell....why do they use it "

Transformers did a really good job.

5/27/2008 7:32:51 PM