Just me or has CGI in movies flatlines since around 2003?

[Auric]

Um, the Matrix was amazing. All of these hyper action CGI movies are just copying that.

Or is it the other way around?

https://youtu.be/KNrSNcaYiZg?t=120 versus https://youtu.be/3ykdb8Zen-o?t=215

I rest my case.

 

[Regs]

I love the matrix, but it's CGI is very dated. Go watch it again.

I can agree in a way. Neo fighting the 1000 Agent Smith scene, he looked like Reed Richards from the fantastic 4 the way he stretched.

 

[Regs]

Or is it the other way around?

https://youtu.be/KNrSNcaYiZg?t=120 versus https://youtu.be/3ykdb8Zen-o?t=215

I rest my case.

Well done

 

[Blanky]

2015

Were they doing that in 2003?

It was good but VERY slightly freaky.

The CGI for the new planet of the apes movies is actually very, very close to perfect.

Go to :40 here for close up of talking ape. Looks completely believable.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CI9U_qXJqQM

 

[MongGrel]

One of my favorite movies is Startship Troopers (1997), and I'm still amazed how good the CGI is in that movie. It even manages to render bright sunlit scenes, which many modern movies still avoid since there's no where for the bad CG and textures to hide.

I actually hated that movie, just because it was so far borked from the book.

Someone needs to remake that one if they are going to make any movie over.

Was a ruined Classic book.

The CGI on the bugs was pretty good at the time, I guess they spent all the money there and Verhoffens excuse for the WWII blah blah, their was no use of MI like it should have been.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Starship_Troopers

He shot his load on the bugs att, and none on the way the MI should have been.

Was no powered armor in the movie, although others have done it a lot since then.

Maybe I'm being a bit too much of a purist in those regards, but it was not anywhere near the book there and could have been a classic.

 

[The Boston Dangler]

like makeup, it's best when you can't notice it.

also like makeup, it's plastered on by brain-dead whores. for example, george lucas.

 

[WHAMPOM]

The CGI in the Terminator trailer looks fake as heck... not really much better than what was in T3.

You have $million dollar ground-breaking CGI and ten years later you have $thousand dollar schlock CGI using the same technigue by people who don't know how to use its potential. Pretty much just cheap CGI.

 

[Eug]

I can agree in a way. Neo fighting the 1000 Agent Smith scene, he looked like Reed Richards from the fantastic 4 the way he stretched.

That scene had horrible CGI.

 

[IHateMyJob2004]

CGI was used to complement plot in 2003. In 2015, it is a crutch.

 

[MarkXIX]

Rocket Raccoon was pretty amazing CGI.

 

[Phoenix86]

like makeup, it's best when you can't notice it.

And apt description for 90% of CGI, with obvious exceptions like CGI dragons and shit.

 

[purbeast0]

It was good but VERY slightly freaky.

The CGI for the new planet of the apes movies is actually very, very close to perfect.

Go to :40 here for close up of talking ape. Looks completely believable.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CI9U_qXJqQM

yeah the CGI in dawn of the planet of the apes is probably the best i've ever seen. it prompted me to immediately watch the extras on the bluray, which i rarely do. it's really awesome how they did some stuff in that movie.

life of pi also had some really good CGI. i don't think most people could pick out the scenes of richard parker that were CGI and which were a real tiger, with the exception of when he goes overboard and climbs back into the boat.

 

[Sonikku]

John Adams had good CGI.

 

[Sho'Nuff]

Say what you want about the quality of the plot, but the CGI in Avatar (2009) was nothing short of amazing. Hell the whole movie was basically CGI.

 

[purbeast0]

Say what you want about the quality of the plot, but the CGI in Avatar (2009) was nothing short of amazing. Hell the whole movie was basically CGI.

yeah that movie is a masterpiece imo as far as visuals go.

i think my overall favorite scene in that movie is when jake has to capture the dragon thing. the sound and visuals are just incredible on that whole scene.

the visuals when they are in the forest at night and it's glowing purple is awesome too.

 

[poofyhairguy]

I love the matrix, but it's CGI is very dated. Go watch it again.

I have watched the series recently. The first movie has pretty excellent CGI because it wasn't overused. The bullet dodge, the covered mouth, bending surfaces, etc. It has allowed the first Matrix to age much better than the second one (with a few bad CGI fight scenes) or the third one (with a city made of CGI). Just like a movie like Contact has aged better than say Serenity.

 

[Murloc]

I can't notice CGI used to make realistic scenes anymore.

When it comes to stuff like monsters, I see a gradual change, nothing revolutionary. But that's how it is.

 

[Mr.IncrediblyBored]

It's way easier to do non-human CGI. King Kong looked fantastic. The apes in the recent Planet of the Apes looked great too. Avatar looked great because of the great use of color and texture. The indigenous people weren't human so it was easy to tune out the fact they were CGI.

 

[Lonyo]

2015

Were they doing that in 2003?

I kind of assumed that CGI was Paul Walker from the first film CGI'd into the new one, rather than his brother's face CGI'd, because it looked like a replica from one of the earlier films rather than being a new scene with someone else's face being CGI'd.

 

[88keys]

Kinda funny that the OP mentioned Termynator considering that T2 was groundbreaking in terms of CGI when it came out in 1991.

 

[MongGrel]

A lot of people didn't like Sucker Punch, but I did just for the CGI.

Everything else was pretty lame, but it was just made for the CGI to begin with.

Sucker Punch

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0978764/?ref_=nv_sr_1

 

[motsm]

It's gotten better, it's just that it's often overused now. Instead of selectively using CGI in situations that play to its strengths, it's just heaved blindly into every shot, regardless of the other tools available.

 

[Fingolfin269]

We were just talking about basically this same topic at work on Friday. Seems special effects have stalled. I remember T2 being amazing. I remember Matrix being amazing. Some of the things Weta did in LOTR were pretty cool. Maybe the 3d in Avatar. I don't see a lot of ground breaking stuff happening now. Just a lot of overused old tech or lazy film making due to the easily available use of cgi.

Get off my lawn.

Actually, the Matrix trilogy as a whole kind of sums up my feeling on this. I feel like the first one was great because they had to actually be smart since the budget was limited. Once they were given the green light to do pretty much whatever they wanted it went to absolute shit.