On THX-1138

[Scrivener]

*removed* Please stop posting stuff like this here.

I was looking forward to the new DVD release of THX-1138. But when I heard that Lucas was adding CG, I got antsy. I mean, he carnally violates Star Wars every 5 years or so. He talked Spielberg into ruining ET. How many other ways could he screw the film loving public?

This is one way - THX-1138 isn't just being digitally restored - new scenes aren't just being added. He went back and decided that we needed to be beat over the head with the story until we had a cartoon-worthy lump sticking out of our hair. I guess he really dosn't think much of the public. If his dog tilts it's head, the story isn't clear enough.

And what is with this bloody obsession with CG? It's crap. It will take another 5-10 years before CG technology reaches a level that can compete with live action or big-scale miniatures. You can smell CG. You can sense it's fakeness - even the best has its problems, and the best is usually combined with animatronics/miniatures/physical footage to abolish the pervading sense of CG fakeness.

He has NO sense of subtlety. No vision. No ability to tell a story in a way that might make you think or invest or care.

The Full Review

In other news: George Lucas has just purchased the Sistine Chapel from the catholic church. He plans to repaint it with characters from the new film trilogy. The paint, it is said, was formulated to last forever. Lucas' renovators have begun to scrape off the original paint in preparation for the new.

[ 09-11-2004, 09:29 AM: Message edited by: Supreme Cmdr ]

[Gol_Stoan]

There seem to be two philosophies I have seen concerning CG, George Lucas and Peter Jackson. Lucas seems to like to only use models if he can't use CG. And even when he uses models now, they look like CG. Go watch the "making of" featurette on the SW:EP2 disc two to see what I mean.

Peter Jackson on the other hand only uses CG when he can not use models. If Lucas had done LOTR all of the Orcs would have been CG.

[TSCavalier]

"In MY day we didn't have these fancy-pantsy gadgets called Com-Pu-Ters to make our movies for us... AND WE LIKED IT!"

I think people should stop making Star Wars what it isn't. The latest Star Wars movies are tech demos for ILM.

Star Wars IS a special effect, so blaming it for having too much, or looking fake is silly. Nothing in Star Wars is real... never was... it's all make-believe.

I think movie-goers, especially sci-fi fans, are far to fickle these days. They conciously HUNT for CG effects in movies. How many effects DON'T you notice? Quite a few, I'm sure, and you don't realize it. Stop being cynical and just go with the flow and enjoy the show.

I do agree that special effects should serve the story, not the other way around. LotR did a good job at this, other's don't.

I think it's the "Bee Gees" syndrome. We all thought CGI was the bomb when it first came out... now it's been overplayed and everyone is sick of it...

[Scrivener]

Hmm, my offical review post dissapeared... I'm pretty sure I didn't post anything wrong. *shrugs*

Well - the summary is this: It's boring. Don't see it.

I went with two other friends, representing wildly different viewpoints on what makes a good movie (one of which actually enjoyed Resident Evil 2 *natch*), and all three of us agreed - THX 1138 is a terrible way to waste 2 hours of your life.

SPOILER ALERT

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So basically this guy gets thrown in jail for going off his meds and falling in love. With the help of this hologram guy, he escapes from the underground city to the surface.

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END SPOILER

It's really 20mins of content stretched into 120 agonizing minutes of plodding pointless dialogue and people in white cloths walking through cooridoors with white walls. I can see why it was originally a short film. It should have stayed that way.

3/10

P.S. The CG changes are totally A-Ok. If Lucas made these types of adjustments to Star Wars - then the special edition would have been totally fine. For the most part, the CG is integrated into the film well enough that you wont notice it. The film itself is where is problem lies - the concept is inherently not interesting. Brazil and 1984 blow this one out of the water.