CGI VS. Practical Effects

If you look back at movies from the past 30 years you can witness the gradual decline of practical effects and the sequential growth of CGI (Computer-generated Imagery). Some people have chosen sides in the matter and have embraced CGI completely forgetting Practical effects (I'm looking at you, George Lucas) or they have decided to stay under the rock in which they live and not geo with the ever changing technology.

Great directors realize that the area in which they should fall is in between. They need to meet half way and realize if it can be done practically and realistically, maybe it's not the best time to call your buddies at Industrial Light and Magic. CGI can be used for good, but it shouldn't be used for everything.

If you ask me, the effects looked more realistic in 1983.

I am cursed with the ability to pick out what is Computer-generated and what isn't. To me, "Avatar" just looked like a video game, albeit a very well made video game (I just vomited a little). Every time I am reminded that something is computer generated, it takes me out of the story and makes me enjoy the movie less. The transition from reality to computers should be flawless and in my mind, unless it's an animated film, there should never be a shot that is 100% CGI. Not even 90%.  Unfortunately, very few movies will be like that.

I really respect a director that will do everything to make the world he is creating real and who will only use CGI as a last resort. Check out this featurette for "The Cabin in the Woods".

This is a great example of using a combination of CGI and Practical Effects. They shot each individual elevator with a real, physical thing and then used computers to put them all together into one shot. If this has been all CGI, it would have looked terrible.

I understand that some movies cannot be done without CGI. "Life of Pi", one of my favorite movies of last year, is one of them. They have been trying to make that book into a film since it was first published in 2001. But no one could figure out how to do it. Even 10 years ago, technology was not advanced enough, and no one was going to throw an actor into a boat with a full grown tiger and throw water onto the both of them. That's just crazy.

Even with all of the CGI in "Life of Pi", they still did a lot of things practically. Water effects that could have easily been done with computers were done practically. Parts of the carnivorous island were actually built. And of course, the life boat was always real.

This generation has forgotten how much can actually be done practically, if they even knew at all. Up until the 80s, computers were never used to create an image on a screen. When "Tron" came out, it was nominated for Best Costume Design and Best Sound, but not Best Visual Effects. Many people thought that it would be unfair to put the film in because they "cheated by using computers". Yet before "Tron",  we saw Luke Skywalker destroy the Death Star. We saw a Great White Shark terrorize the town of Amity. We saw Roy Neary interact with with UFOs.

And there has been plenty of classic scenes after the integration of computers into film.

"Jurassic Park" is a perfect example of how CGI should be used. The only time you see a Computer-generated image is when you see the entire body of a dinosaur or if it's moving. And even then, not always.

I love watching how movies are made, and I find it so much less fascinating when the answer is "We did it all with computers". While I admire the talent it takes to create images using computers, the answer, when broken down to the very core, is always the same with computers. When things are done practically, there are always new challenges and new innovative ways to achieve different things.

The hours and hours of hard work that goes into making practical effects is simply amazing and has an amazing story. Movies with mostly CGI special effects don't have interesting stories behind them. As much as I love "Life of Pi" the behind-the-scenes featurettes are not nearly as intriguing as "Jurassic Park" or "Cabin in the Woods".

The reason I wanted to write this was the video below. And even though it will be mostly CGI, "Pacific Rim" still has this... and Guillermo del Toro reads my mind at 0:53.

Dr. Wierdlust: Or How I Conquered the Oscars and Almost Slapped a Woman in the Face

Tonight, in about three and a half hours, is the Academy Award Ceremony. Usually, I only see about three to five of the Best Picture nominations, which was pretty good when there were only five. But I came to conclusion that that wasn't fair to the rest of the nominations, because If a Film I hadn't seen won Best Picture (As "The Artist" had last year. I have since corrected that lack of brilliance in my life.) I had no right to complain. And I love complaining. So this year, I decided to do something crazy.

I made the Oscars my bitch.

The safety word was "Oscar". Needless to say it caused

much confusion that day.

Pictured above is myself and some homeless guy named Alan (or possibly Steve) that followed me around all day. Luckily, he never asked for change. But we spent from 10:00 AM Saturday until 9:30 AM Sunday morning watching all of the Best Picture Nominations. It was an arduous journey that required several liters of caffeine and a copious amount of pee breaks, as well as endurance and the self control to not slap the stupid woman who said stupid things after every stupid movie because she was a stupid head. I'll tell you more about that later.

First up, was "Amour". Being the only film in the showcase I hadn't seen, I was glad they were getting it out of the way. And being an Austrian French Language (Make up your mind, Austria!) film with subtitles, if they had shown it at the wee hours of the morning, there may have been a riot in which several fat and lazy American citizens (myself included) declared war on French-India, French-Canada, French-Africa and French-France.

They're saying, "I am French! I am so Very French!" 

Over and Over Again.

"Amour" was a beautiful movie that told the story of a man whose wife has a stroke. As her quality of life steadily goes down-hill, he stays with her, caring for her and taking on the stress that comes with it. Because, well, he loves her. It was so sad and so French.

Alan-Steve may have had to poop. I can't be sure.

After a relatively quiet ending to the film, the lady, who had not shown her true face until this point, said "Well that was stupid" in a very loud and obnoxious voice. While homeless man Steve (or Alan) was holding me back from fighting her ( I totally could have won), I was well aware that she was entitled to her opinion. And she is (until a statement she made later). But did she have to be so obnoxious about it? I chocked this one up to her loneliness. She was alone and had no one to share the experience with or to quietly and respectfully critique the movies with. So I put my shirt back on, which  was now ripped and tattered from me going hulk on it, and sat down and continued munching on my popcorn and Reese's Pieces.

My Grade for "Amour": B

Next up was "Lincoln". Steve-Alan and I were still going strong. We were ready to watch everyone's favorite President kick some Democratic butt! (Copy Right. All Rights Reserved. Campaign Motto of  George Bush, 2004). 

You can read my critique of "Lincoln" here. But not here.

The demon in a woman's body began talking to the gentleman behind her. This would have been fine, had she not had the voice of one thousand Animals from the Muppets.

"DRUM, BITCH, DRUM!"

Then the unforgivable happened. I will never forget the pain she caused everyone in the theater after she uttered what should be deemed as a terroristic threat or at the very least high treason. She eased into her set-up for chaos by bringing up Oscar snubs. A fair topic at such an event. First, she stated that Ben Affleck didn't deserve a nomination, thus shrugging off the obvious hate crime to "Reindeer Games".

As a single tear rolled down my cheek, I thought the worst was over. There was no other way she could be anymore of a meany-pants-stupid-head than that. But I was wrong... I was dead wrong. She said, "I think the biggest snub this year was the fact that "Twilight: Breaking Dawn Part II" wasn't nominated for best picture".

Artistic rendition of my reaction.

I don't remember what happened next. All I remember was waking up and standing over her lifeless body. Her eyes were pierced with straws and her mouth and throat filled with popcorn. I then quietly returned to my seat.

The next two films were "Argo" and "Django Unchained". Then we broke for dinner. Please enjoy this collection of pictures in which I write things underneath of them.

Don't worry, Ben. I forgive you.

Pissing off Spike Lee since 2012.

I have scientific proof that a diet of popcorn, Reese's Pieces, 

Wendy's Chicken Nuggets, Burgers and Fries and an inhumane 

amount of Coke Zero will make you loose 10 pounds overnight!

After dinner, Alan McSteve and I went back to the theater, ready to take on 5 more movies. "Les Misérables", a story where a man fought the law and the law went and killed himself was next. (SPOILER ALERT! Sorry I wrote it after, but if you didn't know that already that just means you don't care and therefore don't matter) 

Then came "Zero Dark Thirty". It started at 12:30 AM. By 2:00 AM, there was still an hour left in the movie, and I had been up for 19 hours straight. So I decided to take a nap, because whats more American than killing Osama Bin Laden in your sleep? According to Steve McAlan, my snores during the raid scene made everyone cry tears of patriotism.

I tried Googling "Patriot Tears" But all 

that came up were pictures of Tom Brady crying.

 And he's had a hard enough year as it is.

After my 'MURICA nap. We only had three films left. "Life of Pi", "Silver Linings Playbook" and "The Beasts of the Southern Wild". We went through the two former without any situations. But before the last movie of the night... or day.... The Beast of the Northern Domestic came back! The woman whom had been quiet the past six movies came back for her revenge. "ONE MORE MOVIE" she roared repeatedly as the rest of us attempted to rip off our ears. I knew what I had to do. I had to slay the dragon once more. But as I approached her, she fled in fear. For she saw the fire in my eyes and decided ain't nobody got time for that! As she stormed out, the theater cheered and chanted "Go, guy! Go, guy!" Because why would they chant my name? They don't know me! And when "Amour" seems so sad and so French ago, the last movie started.

"The Beasts of the Southern Wild" is a story about a little girl who lives with her daddy in a sub-culture of Louisiana (I'm guessing) where they live south of the Levees and no one works and all they do is drink all day and set off fire works. Alan-Steven the third thought it was heaven, until a storm hits and their homes are flooded. With her fathers health growing worse by the day, they try to cope with the worsening conditions of their home.

This is definitely the most unique film of the entire list. It is a very poetic movie seen through the eyes of a child, and has the best musical score of the entire year, in my opinion. But the academy disagrees. Because they're communist spies from the USSR. It's 1969 right?

Just take a listen. Especially around 1:05.

My Grade: A-

I don't agree with this, but my sister would.

I do agree with the "I'm not crying. You're crying" part. 

That's exactly how Alan-Steven and I reacted after.

Below is the list of nominees from best to still good but not as good, in my opinion.

1. "Argo"

2. "Lincoln"

3. Silver Linings Playbook

4. Les Misérables

5. Life of Pi

6. The Beasts of the Southern Wild

7. Django Unchained

8. Zero Dark Thirty

9. Amour

Actual picture of the drive home that actually happened.

Not planned at all, I promise

Life of Pi

Tom Hanks had it easy in Cast Away. He just had to open coconuts with an ice skate and fish with a hand made spear. Pi had to share a life boat with a tiger.

Life of Pi is the story of a man who is shipwrecked in the middle of the Pacific and loses his entire family. He finds himself on a life boat with a tiger.

Funny thing about tigers. They like to eat. A lot.

Pi must learn to survive with the tiger, rationing his food while also feeding the tiger which is the connection he still has with his dead family. Through the struggles of living on a 12 foot boat with  a tiger, Pi finds that behind the instinct to kill for food, predators as well as all other animals have souls.

This movie is hard for me to write about. While I did enjoy it, nothing really stood out to me. Suraj Sharma was pretty good in his silver-screen debut, but not incredible. The special effects were good, but not great. The writing was solid, but not outstanding.

The story, however, is compelling and moving enough to keep you watching and keep you from staring at your phone. Which is the main goal of any movie.

Irrfan Khan, however, surprised me in his relatively small role. His role was more emotional from the other characters I have seen him portray. He usually plays a man in a suit. At least in the English films he's been in. I haven't seen any of his Indian films.

My Grade: B