The snake thing in Conan looks dumb in the same way the Clash of the Titans trailer was ruined by that fifty-million dollar yawn-monster at the end. What's around the corner, Perseus, what's making that noise? It's....it's....COMPUTER MATH.
Fact is, the throne room scene in Flash Gordon (1980) looks more exotic and exciting than the sweeping video game cut-scene they're calling Oa. It's possible kids will accept the "visual vocabulary of the present cinematic age," in the way we, as kids, accepted the skeletons in Jason and the Argonauts or King Kong, etc, but...I don't think any kids are excited about this movie. I mean maybe a few nerdads are pushing them toward it. Kid: I wanna see Thaw. Nerdad: What about, Green Lantern, buddy? Don't you wanna see a guy who has a ring? Kid: Like...the one you got for mom? Thaw has a hammaw. Nerdad: Ha, ha, no no, like the...ok, let's see Thor. Thor has a kajillion effects in it, but....Thor himself looks like a person. You can relate to him. I think a "glow" or something around a real costume would have gotten across the idea of the ring generating clothing. Maybe it's an "uncanny valley" issue. Like Shag articulated, its not that the effects look baaaad, it's that the whole thing is effects. Like with Lord of the Rings, I guess, the idea is people will buy the DVD and pause every few seconds so they can jizz over all the detailed design work at whichever speed they jizz at, but...that aint gonna help opening weekend. As you point out, Luke, people complained about the effects in SW (though isn't there something about it looking different on tv than on the big screen? Like, those yellow squares around the TIE Fighters were a tv thing? Someone?), but...people saw SW in the theater and continued to see it and talk about it. No one will see Green Lantern. Bomb ahoy. Should we have another bet thing like with Watchmen and Scott Pilgrim? I say it gets crushed by....Mr. Popper's Penguins!!! You down with MPP?!! That trailer, btw, was cut by amateurs. It looks teerrrrrible! And yet....it will kiiiilll Green Lantern!! Then, GL will be buried by Cars 2 the following week to disappear forever! Sinestro wins! -----Original Message----- From: Luke <[email protected]> To: The Unique Geek <[email protected]> Sent: Thu, May 5, 2011 3:45 am Subject: [The Unique Geek] Re: New Green Lantern trailer shows off the Guardians of the Universe - io9 I'm more disappointed by the CGI monster in the new Conan trailer than any of the CGI in the Green Lantern trailers, frankly. That's the visual vocabulary of the present cinematic age. You want an eye opener? Go read some contemporary genre magazines when Empire or Jedi came out. Cinefantastique especially lambastes some of ILM's work. We idealize these physical effects in our minds, but I still cringe everytime I watch the original version of Empire with the God awful travelling mattes in the asteroid field. Even as late as 89 (Last Crusade) its pretty easy to spot complaining criticism of ILM's work. So not liking special effects and thinking things look "fake" is a time honored nerd tradition. On May 5, 10:05 am, Edward Crosby <[email protected]> wrote: > Again, I have no problem with the CGI costume, I think it looks fine. And, I > think it does look like it could exist in the real world. Remember, the GL's > costume in the comic books, for the most part, is energy constructed by that > GL. I can imagine the costume having that glow in the real world. > > ---------------------------------------- > Have a Better One, > Edward Crosbyhttp://about.me/edwardcrosby > > > > On Thu, May 5, 2011 at 9:55 AM, <[email protected]> wrote: > > For me it's not a case that the CGI looks bad, it's the sheer volume of > > CGI. In some shots there is simply too much going on (all done by CGI). > > For example, in Revenge of the Sith, the space battle featured too many > > things going on (all done by CGI). So while the battle was more massive > > than the space battle in Return of the Jedi, there was just too much to > > see. The space battle in Revenge of the Sith is less exciting than the > > Return of the Jedi battle for that reason. > > > In regard to the Green Lantern costume, the choice to go with CGI is > > disappointing. It makes the costume harder to believe it's real. It just > > doesn't look like it could exist in the real world. A simpler real-world > > costume with a CGI aura might have worked better. > > > Just my two cents. > > > The Irredeemable Shag > >http://firestormfan.com > >http://onceuponageek.com > >http://twitter.com/onceuponageek > > > -------- Original Message -------- > > Subject: Re: [The Unique Geek] Re: New Green Lantern trailer shows off > > the Guardians of the Universe - io9 > > From: Edward Crosby <[email protected]> > > Date: Thu, May 05, 2011 9:47 am > > To: [email protected] > > > Yeah, I am confused why people keep stating that the CG looks bad > > (Ravenface and other TUG members). As compared to what? Avatar? Sure. Tron > > Legacy? Absolutely. Sucker Punch? Maybe. Iron Man 2? No way. > > Widge made a really good point on the last recorded TUG podcast recording > > and I agree with him. He stated, and I'm paraphrasing, that we all have such > > a high standard of CG these days that if something comes along that meets or > > doesn't exceed the bar then we turn our heads in disgust. From what I have > > seen, the CG in this movie is by far some of the best we have seen in > > today's live action movies. I think another reason we turn our heads in > > disgust of the CG in this movie is because there is so much of it. But there > > has to be as this is a Green Lantern movie set mostly in a fictional world > > and fictional universe that has to be pulled out of one of the most extreme > > mediums that is the comic book. There is no way this movie could have been > > done well with all the CG needed five years ago. > > I'm not making any judgement about this movie now, if I can help it. At > > first, yes, I judged the teaser trailer and cringed. Recent trailers give me > > more hope that this may be an entertaining movie. I know it will not be a > > blockbuster movie but I will reserve judgement of whether it is good or not > > after I have seen it when I see it opening weekend. > > > ---------------------------------------- > > Have a Better One, > > Edward Crosby > >http://about.me/edwardcrosby > > > -- > > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > > "The Unique Geek" group. > > To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. > > To unsubscribe from this group, send email to > > [email protected]. > > For more options, visit this group at > >http://groups.google.com/group/theuniquegeek?hl=en.- Hide quoted text - > > - Show quoted text - -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "The Unique Geek" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected]. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/theuniquegeek?hl=en. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "The Unique Geek" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected]. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/theuniquegeek?hl=en.
