Surfs up!

[Buddy]

Grabbed these from the trailer, looking good so far.

Havn't seen the first FF film but by all accounts it's pish... hope this turns out better.

[Bico]

I thought the Silver Surfer looked a bit half-finished in the trailer, but I thought that Fantastic Four was okay as superhero movies went.  It tried something different with the formulaic format of superhero movies, which can be summed up thus: character X gets powers, suffers tragedy that drives them to seek justice, gets framed for a crime and is pursued by police - with only minor variations, this has been pretty much the entirety of every superhero movie ever made in the western hemisphere.  FF had some characters suffer a tragedy, see the bright side of it, and then become media darlings by helping people out.
After the cliche of tragedy as entertainment that most other superhero movies do by the numbers, it was nice to see something that was meant to be fun and throwaway - and the use of a bodysuit instead of cgi for the Thing must surely merit some sort of humanitarian award.
/subjective opinion
However good, cgi is at the stage of it's development where it's still too obviously an effect (the Silver Surfer is a good example), and it lacks warmth and character in the way that stop-motion doesn't.  Bad stop-motion can be laughed at, while bad cgi just looks cheap.
/opinion off

FF2 looks like it might be good fun, though I think Galactus' appearance might just be as a cameo at the end of the film as a cliffhanger for the third installment.  Still going to see this, though.

[TordelBack]

Bad stop-motion can be laughed at, while bad cgi just looks cheap.

For me, it's not just that stop-motion can be laughed at, it's that I can always admire the craft (however flawed) of physically rendering something in the real world, with all the hurdles and limitations of scale, gravity and lighting - at worst, there's a model to peer at and scrutinise on the screen.  Bad CGI on the other hand, just looks like bad CGI.

For example, as an incorrigible Star Wars fan, I'm far happier looking at the slightly jerky Tauntaun modelwork from ESB  and thinking about the gruesome need to use hair from unborn calves to get follicles that 'worked' at such a small scale, than I am looking at the majestic swish of Jar Jars senatorial robes and thinking about the new 'moving drapes' algorithim that had to be developed.  Ah well.

[Buddy]

Bear, you might just have sold FF to me on that.

I totally agree about the formatt these films take.

Gets powers by accident - wanted by cops (after getting framed my arch nemesis) redemes self and gains public support, exposes nemesis etc....

I love stop motion but also loke watching cgi.

Aardman did a neet trick in their CGI movie 'Flushed Away', although the models are CGI they are animated like stop motion, it's hard to describe but watch the way their mouths move. It's not on a smooth realistic manner like something likr Shrek but rather you can see that the shape of the mouths have been 'moulded' to the sound they make and have snappy movements between mouth shapes.

Anyway, it's quite a good film and if you do see it you'll know what I'm talking about.

Interesting to see how the animation is when the surfer talks, just might go all pear shaped.

And yeah, if Big G makes an appearance I think it'll be at the end.

[Funt Solo]

There's also a tendency to show off (breaking the fourth wall) with CGI, which I don't recall from stop-motion effects.  

Jar Jar is a prime example - just why does he have to dance around quite so much?  Because he's a CGI character - look - he can go *behind* the real actors - and look - his tongue can go elastic!

Other crimes in this genre:
*The colloseum in Gladiator.  For no reason whatsoever (linked to any of the characters in the story, anyway) we get this long panning shot replete with flock of birds effect.  The characters, we left on the ground, along with the audiences suspension of disbelief and immersion in the story.

*Lord of the Rings.  As the camera does a flyby past the head of one of those giant statues at the Falls, it scares some nesting birds into taking flight.  The virtual camera scares the supposedly real birds.  A step too far.

When it's done well:

*Donkey in Shrek races down the stairs of the tower/windmill they spent the night in, with his eye winking madly as he rushes at the camera shouting "look at me!" (or something).  It worked because they were taking the piss.

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I'm still surprised that Golem worked so well in the LOTR trilogy.  Especially his schizo tour de force in the second one.

[Funt Solo]

I think I need to go and watch FF now.  

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Is X-Men 3 any good?

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My favourite superhero movie is Unbreakable.

[johnnystress]

Add the overlong dinosaur stampede in King Kong to the "showing off for the sake of it " cgi animation


actually, i'm tired of animated 3D dinosaurs altogether

[Buttonman]

The trouble with most superhero films such as Daredevil, Fantastic 4 and the first Spider-Man is that they spend so long on the origin that there is no room to squeeze in any plot.

In the first Spider-Man when he gets bitten/Goes wrestling/doesn't stop the burglar I was bored senseless thinking 'I know where this is going for the next hour'.

They should hand out an origins leaflet with each ticket for people to read during the ads so they can just get on with a decent story.

Despite Michael 'The Shield' Chikless as The Thing I thought the FF movie was really dull. Hopefully it'll mirror Spider-Man 2 and have a better sequel.

X-Men 3 was OK but too preachy by half - don't judge people, accept our differences yeah yeah I get it, it's a metaphor for intolerence in our own society.

[The Cosh]

*The colloseum in Gladiator. For no reason whatsoever (linked to any of the characters in the story, anyway) we get this long panning shot replete with flock of birds effect. The characters, we left on the ground, along with the audiences suspension of disbelief and immersion in the story.

By and large, I agree with what you're saying, however, I have to disagree with this particular example. This scene seemed to me to be an example of a cinematic tic of Scott's which echoes the panaromic cityscapes of LA in Blade Runner and Osaka in Black Rain. Yes, the fact that it needed CGI to work does make it jar, but it didn't bother me as I was sort of expecting it.

[El Spurioso]

Agreed.  The Coliseum bit was actually pretty spectacular.

It's just a shame about the rest of that godawful hideously overrated desperately overacted pile of turgid nonsense.

[Funt Solo]

Well, probably not the best example, given the low quality of the rest of the movie.  And, Cosh, I get your point - I'd never make the same complaint about Blade Runner.

How about...the whole of Daredevil?

[johnnystress]

What about The Incredibles?

wait, what's this thread about again?

[Funt Solo]

The Silver Surfer is the only comic (character) that my big sis will even contemplate reading.

Naked, muscly, silver dude on a surf board.  Uh-huh.

[SamuelAWilkinson]

I watched Daredevil the other night on BBC3. While not a great superhero film, it wasn't the crap-fest I've been led to believe.

[Buddy]

I thought the Daredevil bits were great but everything with Matt Murdock was pish.

Worst bit by far was the dopey 'fight' in the playground.

At no stage did Electra think - 'wait a fuckin minuite here, you're supposed to be blind, how the fuck you jumpin about like that. Piss off!'

I think the obigitory directors cut is quite a bit longer with more fights and shit.

It's on my pick it up if it's on offer list.