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PS: I loved Prometheus, and as long as visuals are comparable to that film (and we get to see a few Engineers), I should be happy in a few weeks.
I really enjoyed Life as well.
I know what you mean. I rewatched Inferno last night and really enjoyed it, which is in contrast to my tepid response on first viewing last year. In fact, it's now probably my 2nd favourite of the Dan Brown adaptations and I actually have an urge to view it again sooner rather than later. Irfan Khan is a riot in it and Omar Sy, Felicity Jones & Sidse Babett Knudsen are all excellent as well. I hope they make more of these and develop the relationship between Elizabeth Sinskey and Langdon more (there's a new novel entitled Origin out later this year) but it's touch and go given Inferno wasn't a huge money maker for Sony.
You are a a brave man @DaltonCraig007. I wish you luck with the viewing. Hopefully the action makes up for any failure on the script front!
That review has put my mind at rest that I definitely won't bother with it.
Sick to death of lazy, crap CGI.
Give me a 'man in a suit' any day of the week. At least I know it's there
The creature effects in Alien and Aliens are very well done and are far superior to any computer generated effect in my book.
The makers have to work harder and be more ingenious with practical effects. With CGI everything becomes lazy and nowhere near as effective. Thank Christ it wasn't around back then. The original Alien wouldn't have been half as good.
Perhaps it's my age....
Even animatronics & prosthetics can look bad if poorly done. Remember all the crappy horror flicks from the 80's which sported this stuff.
Bottom line though is that I see far too much bad CGI these days which takes me out of the experience, and that includes at critical moments in some of the recent Bond films. It's just not necessary, because if done well CGI can be quite effective. As I said somewhere, the new Pirates film seems to do a very good job of it based on the trailers.
I find it works best when augmenting a scene, but the colour palette and granularity gives it away normally (probably done to compensate and hide the effect) when there's too much of it, like in some of the Marvel flicks.
Exactly right @bondjames
CGI when done properly can be effective, but it's used way too much for my liking.
Bad CGI does take you right out of a movie (That godawful sequence at the start of Age of Ultron is a case in point)
But it can also be incredibly good (Gollum/ The new Planet Of The Apes films)
When I stop believing what I'm seeing on screen is real it's game over and you're taken out of the experience as mentioned by bondjames.
If that were the case, people wouldn t complain about that "bad cgi" when there was no cgi at all in the shot. I have seen it here more than once. Some people (falsely) believe a shot contains cgi and therefore the scene sucks and looks fake. Pretty ironic and revealing.
If a scene is filmed in a manner which has excessive use of filters or bad lighting, contrast & exposure then it's quite possible that some would think it was done poorly with CGI.
Such a conclusion, even if incorrect, would be perfectly reasonable I would think, given the prevalence of computer generated graphics we see everywhere in films these days.
This Arrow Video box set is stunning: featuring three cuts of the film; the 116 minute Italian version with hybrid sound, the 110 min international version, and the 83 min America cut which is retitled 'Creepers'. Also a cd of the soundtrack.
Starring a young Jennifer Connelly, she looks beautiful throughout this film; and a great turn from Donald Pleasence with Scottish accent. Arrow have done a 'phenomenal' job with this release. The whole film looks stunning with some close ups, usually of Pleasence, breathtaking.
The film does have some logic and wtf moments (as is usual with these types of film), I mean really, who disposes of a straight razor in a public bin?! But all in all a great viewing experience, and I'm looking forward to seeing the 110 and 83 minute cuts to see how they hold up. Arrow should be congratulated on another outstanding release (I do believe this one is almost sold out) and I'm really looking forward to their box set of The Bird With The Crystal Plumage out mid-to-late June
And did they really have electric razors back then? Just look at those football hairstyles.
For the record, I like both CGI and practical effects. I suppose it all depends on its execution as to whether I think it looks good or not. Story-wise, nothing will surpass the original Alien, as it was a smart, compact and prototypical movie. As a prequel, Covenant won't be able to achieve the same level of intensity and originality, especially as we know the ending isn't going to be consequential or unpredictable. The outcome has already been established. That said, it does feel that Scott has abandoned his promise of expanding the Engineer's backstory, which might be a mistake. I'll have a better idea of this when I see Covenant at the end of next week.
I'm more likely to give newcomers like Skull Island a pass because they don't have such a storied history. The trailers definitely indicated to me that the film was played pretty much for laughs anyway. I didn't feel frightened even once because most of it was so fake looking.
SPY (2015)
I was in the mood for something different. I've been getting a kick out of watching some of the Bond films of late, and so wanted to stay in the genre, but decided to give 007 a break. The options included Kingsman, MI or something else. I decided to go for something else, and put in this spy comedy, released in the same crowded year that gave us SP, as well as the superb Vaughn and Cruise entries. Essentially a parody of the genre, it stars the chunky Melissa McCarthy as Susan Cooper, a lowly CIA analyst who is forced to go into the field to avenge a colleague (Jude Law, replete with obvious thick hair transplant & facelift, but yet surprisingly effective as dapper Bond style agent Bradley Fine). The villain responsible for Fine's untimely demise is Rayna Boyanov (played convincingly by the delectable Rose Byrne). The CIA are forced to use Cooper because all their other operatives (including Jason Statham as overconfident show off Rick Ford) have been compromised. Armed with a few embarrasing accessories from the CIA's version of Q branch, Cooper goes to Paris and then Budapest to infiltrate Rayna's operation and bring her down. She is aided by her deskbound analyst friend Nancy (played by the always hilarious Miranda Hart). The film boasts an all star supporting cast, including the charismatic Bobby Cannavale (a terrorist financier), Allison Janney (as CIA boss), Peter Serafinowicz (as randy Italian facilitator) & the lovely Morena Baccarin (as Karen Walker, another CIA operative).
I viewed the unrated version, which has quite a bit of cuss words & a couple of unexpected but overused shots of a male appendage. The location work is very good in the film, and it's entertaining throughout. There's quite a bit of money up on the screen. McCarthy is certainly not for everyone, but even if she's not one's cup of tea, it's worth watching just for Law, Statham, Byrne and Cannavale hamming it up. There are worse ways to spend a couple of hours.
I'm really hoping we get a Rick Ford movie someday. Jason Statham was the funniest and the best thing in the film.
Surprised with the great theme and soundrack.
Surprised how good Jude Law looked in the tuxedo and suits.
Surprised how funny Jason Statham was,and how good he is at comedy.
I also loved the colour of the film,and Rose Byrne is brilliant in.
The only downside is that I would rather have seen a more impressive villain and a big name actor.