Do you remember when movies were cool and magical? I do. Some of my favorite movies as a kid were ones that had amazing puppets and practical effects that made you want to jump into the screen and be part of that world. Movies where the hero's were killing monsters and just being bad ass just for the sake of it.
When I watch movies today coming out to theaters you see very little of this. When I saw the second Hellboy movie a few years back I was blown away by how amazing the makeup and costuming was, and how they managed to blend the CGI so well that it didn't pull away from anything. I just watched M. Night's After Earth the other night and was blown away once again but this time by how terrible this movie was. The special effects were tight but they just left you not caring about anything. The giant alien was not believable and all of the other CGI animals were much the same. You could tell that they were acting against nothing and it really takes you out of the movie. I saw Jurassic Park again this year in 3D and it was phenomenal. The T-Rex still looked real and scary, the movie still took you to their world and you wanted to be part of it. Nothing about After Earth made me feel anything but anger and disdain.
One of my favorite movies is Predator. This movie is a little dated but still rocks. I know the movie buff in me says I should like Alien more because of how it changed the face of cinema and blah blah blah but it doesn't have a line like "If it bleeds we can kill it". There is just something about a group of huge dudes with guns getting picked off one by one that really keeps you interested. You don't really care why the alien is doing what he is doing and watching Arnold kick ass in his prime is always entertaining. I had the displeasure of watching the latest Die Hard movie. I was so bummed because I really liked the 4th one. It was PG-13 but still had a car flying through the air and smash into a helicopter without having to say the F-Word every few seconds. The 5th installment was so trashy and awful and tried so hard to pull a younger demographic into the mix by sexing it up with a younger male lead. Come on there is only one Bruce Willis and he makes Die Hard what it is. I am just getting tired of the movie industry telling me what they think I need to see and how I should see it.
I guess I am just ranting out of frustration about the state of the movie industry but it will never take away my classics.
When I watch movies today coming out to theaters you see very little of this. When I saw the second Hellboy movie a few years back I was blown away by how amazing the makeup and costuming was, and how they managed to blend the CGI so well that it didn't pull away from anything. I just watched M. Night's After Earth the other night and was blown away once again but this time by how terrible this movie was. The special effects were tight but they just left you not caring about anything. The giant alien was not believable and all of the other CGI animals were much the same. You could tell that they were acting against nothing and it really takes you out of the movie. I saw Jurassic Park again this year in 3D and it was phenomenal. The T-Rex still looked real and scary, the movie still took you to their world and you wanted to be part of it. Nothing about After Earth made me feel anything but anger and disdain.
One of my favorite movies is Predator. This movie is a little dated but still rocks. I know the movie buff in me says I should like Alien more because of how it changed the face of cinema and blah blah blah but it doesn't have a line like "If it bleeds we can kill it". There is just something about a group of huge dudes with guns getting picked off one by one that really keeps you interested. You don't really care why the alien is doing what he is doing and watching Arnold kick ass in his prime is always entertaining. I had the displeasure of watching the latest Die Hard movie. I was so bummed because I really liked the 4th one. It was PG-13 but still had a car flying through the air and smash into a helicopter without having to say the F-Word every few seconds. The 5th installment was so trashy and awful and tried so hard to pull a younger demographic into the mix by sexing it up with a younger male lead. Come on there is only one Bruce Willis and he makes Die Hard what it is. I am just getting tired of the movie industry telling me what they think I need to see and how I should see it.
I guess I am just ranting out of frustration about the state of the movie industry but it will never take away my classics.