Anyone else getting tired of CGI?

Grumpyrocker

Tom Cruise? 2012? What has he got to do with that film?

Anyway, not going to join the shouting at clouds.

fields5069

Hmm. My immediate reaction is that I don't see what is added/removed between the 2 scenes in the thumbnail, in terms of impact.

Sassafras

Last time CGI impressed me was in The Abyss.
Apart from the final scene.

WiresDreamDisasters

Also the blood in Rambo (2008) was cack too.

Cols

WiresDreamDisasters said:

Also the blood in Rambo (2008) was cack too.

There’s quite a lot of that sort of thing unfortunately - CGI blood instead of having to rig a squib, or CGI flames instead of actually setting shit on fire.  It falls under the heading of “lazy film making”.  The result is damage to the audience’s suspension of disbelief and a worse film.

The safety coordinator on set probably loves it though.

LastMantra

It's great when done well. I think that as it gets cheaper the tech gets better and easier and people start getting more inventive with it there could be some cool stuff.

I agree though it's often overused and unconvincing. 

WiresDreamDisasters

Grumpyrocker said:

Anyway, not going to join the shouting at clouds.

Don't then! We're all having a fun time, so sod off!

WiresDreamDisasters

Philly_Q said:

I don't blame the CGI, I blame the people who misuse it.

Yes this is true of course. My flippancy notwithstanding, I don't hate CGI as such, I dislike the formulaic superhero/post apocalypse/end of the world/white house/big ben/tower of dildos get destroyed by a really big boom-cloud, etc etc.

Jalapeno

Neil said:

I guess CGI is cheaper and lazier for the studios.

Compare the real aircraft in The Battle of Britain with CGI stuff in Pearl Harbour, the difference is laughable.

And the old epics like Spartacus etc with hundreds of extras and massive sets instead of a computer generated scene.

Honestly most films nowadays are just like watching a computer game but then my choice is mainly Film Noir from the '40's where a great story could be told in 90 minutes not this modern overblown tripe that goes on seemingly forever. 

I found World War Z's use of CGI appaling - the zombie hordes looked like 8-bit computer game animations.

WiresDreamDisasters

Jalapeno said:

Neil said:

I guess CGI is cheaper and lazier for the studios.

Compare the real aircraft in The Battle of Britain with CGI stuff in Pearl Harbour, the difference is laughable.

And the old epics like Spartacus etc with hundreds of extras and massive sets instead of a computer generated scene.

Honestly most films nowadays are just like watching a computer game but then my choice is mainly Film Noir from the '40's where a great story could be told in 90 minutes not this modern overblown tripe that goes on seemingly forever. 

I found World War Z's use of CGI appaling - the zombie hordes looked like 8-bit computer game animations.

Straight up couldn't even finish it. Which appalled me, because I *LOVE* the book!

Sassafras

Jason and the Argonauts.
Brilliant use of CGI.

axisus

DiscoStu said:

fob said:

For me, Terminator 2 was the first 'oh my God how are they doing that?' film. Not really been bettered in 30 years I'd say.

And the first Jurassic Park. It still looks phenomenal.

Yeah, those two were both amazing.

Another film that I thought had good use of CGI was ....... Forrest Gump. The bit with Gary Sinise on the bed, I'm thinking "oh yeah, the old legs through a hole in the bed trick", then someone picks him up and he has no lower legs! It was a real wow moment.

RaymondLin

I am not tired of CGI, I am tired of bad CGI.

axisus said:

DiscoStu said:

fob said:

For me, Terminator 2 was the first 'oh my God how are they doing that?' film. Not really been bettered in 30 years I'd say.

And the first Jurassic Park. It still looks phenomenal.

Yeah, those two were both amazing.

Another film that I thought had good use of CGI was ....... Forrest Gump. The bit with Gary Sinise on the bed, I'm thinking "oh yeah, the old legs through a hole in the bed trick", then someone picks him up and he has no lower legs! It was a real wow moment.

That's good use of CGI. 

sinbaadi

Saying you hate cgi is like saying you hate acting.  What you mean is you hate bad cgi, because I guarantee that there is cgi in a film you like, that you never noticed.  
There is of course also cgi which looks super realistic, but you know it's cgi because they didn't build a giant robot or whatever, and that's a matter of taste.  A still frame can look realistic but if the motion is not natural then the effect is ruined.

Grumpyrocker

Here's some of the best CGI of the last decade.

RandallFlagg

Fargo season 4 has just started. Forget your CGI movies this is proper telly.

Philly_Q

WiresDreamDisasters said:

Philly_Q said:

I don't blame the CGI, I blame the people who misuse it.

Yes this is true of course. My flippancy notwithstanding, I don't hate CGI as such, I dislike the formulaic superhero/post apocalypse/end of the world/white house/big ben/tower of dildos get destroyed by a really big boom-cloud, etc etc.

I like some of those films, I like the way they use CGI to create the environments they're set in.  What I don't like is the way every film has to end in some big showdown in New York or somewhere with explosions, cars being crushed, buildings toppling etc.  That's the misuse of CGI.  It doesn't have to be the-bigger-the-better.

Now I've started, I really hate the Peter Jackson school of "if you can computer-animate it and it looks good, then that makes it believable".  The Hobbit films (in particular) are full of people jumping from one crumbling column to another, or swinging on ropes which aren't obviously attached to anything but can take you from anywhere to anywhere, or falling down holes and landing on six-inch-wide ledges, or shooting arrows which bounce off something and kill two bad guys simultaneously.  It's all bollocks.

monquixote

CGI is fine except when you notice it.

I watched the original Jurassic Park the other day and it still looks great as they were careful to restrict the CGI to where it would work and not look crap.

Many many newer films look terrible.

My biggest problem with modern action films is "shakey cam". I ended up turning off one of the Transformers films because I simply had no idea what was going on.

jonnyburgo

Agreed, it took away from the gritty reality of the Hobbit movies.

WezV

I think some need to remember superhero movies come from comic books . 

 Its really not uncommon in the Marvel/DC universes to have a comic with a massive 2 page spread battle scene.  the comic book equivalent of the CGI battle scenes you see in things like the avengers films.