MovieChat Forums > General Discussion > Early CGI films that have stood the test...

Early CGI films that have stood the test of time?

posted 7 years ago by billbrown7071 (3194)
38 replies | jump to latest

Ok, So I spent a good 15 years intentionally avoiding The Lord Of The Rings Trilogy.

Literally from the time they came out until 2015, I refused to watch even 1 second(even going as far as refusing to go to the movies to see Return Of The King With a Girl I was trying to hook up with in High school)

I never read the books, know nothing about the stories...so I just never cared....

Mid 2015, I decided to watch the first one to see if I could get interested....I became hooked right away, I then Watched the entire Trilogy in what turned out to be the single greatest Movie experience of my life....I've since watched The Trilogy 6 times and Even Love The HObbit Trilogy(although feel its a Huge step down)

one thing that blows me away about TLOTR trilogy is, almost all the CGI still holds up today(yes obviously if they were made today, it would have better CGI) but the CGI, Creatures, Incredible Battles, All still Hold up and Looked incredible to me the very first time I watched it in 2015...

my question is....what other films in the 80s and 90s when CGI was just getting big still hold up well even now?

[–] Stratego (30500) 7 years ago

I think no CGI truly holds up, but I think early CGI still looks okay in movies like The Abyss, Terminator 2, Jurassic Park. I still prefer early CGI, because now they're just overusing it.

[–] captainbucky (15252) 7 years ago

Good calls

[–] [deleted] 7 years ago

The Perfect Storm (2000)
Gladiator (2000)
The Abyss (1989)

[–] AngularTurnip (3337) 7 years ago

None of it -- or, at least none of it will in time. LOTR still holds up because it hasn't been very long. Another forty years and LOTR will look as cheesy as a lot of the sci-fi movies of the '50s look today. Of course, a lot of those sci-fi films hold up not because of the effects work but because of their allegorical properties which still have relevance right now. If LOTR holds up it will be because of its content ... which I'm not quite sure yet if it has a great deal of.

[–] [deleted] 7 years ago

So...you could have potentially gotten laid and seen a flick that at the worst would have sucked and turned into a 3+ hour make out session prior to the sex you surely would have had...passed because you werent interested in the flick...then ended up digging the flick 15 years later...irony do be a bitch! But yeah...the cgi was boss for the time😉

[–] billbrown7071 (3194) 7 years ago

yes exactly....

Thats exactly why I put the story in...

to properly explain/articulate just how much I avoided and wasnt interested in seeing things film...

as you said, I literally passed up the opportunity to go to the movies with An Extremely hot classmate, in which I think there was a pretty good chance either Sex or BJ would have happened just because I was THAT AGAINST seeing any of the LOTR movies...

lol I was not exaggerating when I said I INTENTIONALLY avoided these movies for 15 years, The Girl in High school was just me trying to articulate how much I avoided them, I also remember being over at a friends house for a get together, about 8 people, they were watching The Two Towers on Direct TV, I instead went to the basement, drank a few more beers, snorted some OCs and passed the hell out instead of watching 1 second of the film...

now...there is another part to the high school girl story....It WAS The RIGHT decision...because A......I ended up hooking up with the girl about 3 months later....and B. as I stated, when I watched TLOTR trilogy in 2015, it turned out to be the single greatest movie experience of my life.

had I went to see return of the king with the girl back then, I at the very least would have known how the Story ends, and remembered much of the action....which would have made The experience I had in 2015 Not as Great....

So all in All...It may have been one of the better decisions of my life.

It basically was a decision that resulted in 2 great things instead 1

Had I went to the movies with her, I may have had sex with her that night....which would have been great

but by not going going, It resulted in 2 Greats things, I just had to wait a little, 3 months later we has sex, 15 years later I had Greatest movie experience of My life discovering and watch The Trilogy...

[–] [deleted] 7 years ago

Platinum lining in that cloud😉

[–] billbrown7071 (3194) 7 years ago

Platinum lining in that cloud😉

^

ok just so I'm clear what are you suggesting I'm lying about...

Avoiding the Movies?

passing up going to the movie with a hot girl because I didnt want to see the movie that bad?

watching the movies 15 years later having the best movie experience ever?

having Sex with the Girl 3 months later?

Passing out in a basement to avoid The Two Tower?

are you suggesting I'm lying about 1 of the above or everything?

who could or would make this up?

and why? lol

[–] [deleted] 7 years ago

Woa down there Nelly...had to stop reading at lie..you seem to have the wrong impression...you found what many like to call....a silver lining in a dark cloud...
Imagine you are at the park...cloud comes up...you think rain...so you leave...hour later a jet crashes at park...no survivor on plane or ground. Yeah you had to leave the park(bummer) but you survived the jet crash(,silver linilng).

Considering you were so impressed with the outcome of the event you described...I up graded your lining to platinum...please God tell me you understand now! Maybe not...let's try this...yours was a very impressive glass half full story...it was a complement...

[–] billbrown7071 (3194) 7 years ago

My Bad....Just Completely Misread "Lining" for "Lying"

[–] [deleted] 7 years ago

No problem my man! I was very impressed with your optimistic take on the situation!!! Also...very well composed👍

[–] [email protected] (690) 7 years ago

Love your side story. Here's mine:

When I was 20 I worked with an attractive woman a year younger. We ended up dating and went to see Kramer v Kramer back when it was new. She insisted on sitting in the very back row, which I thought was odd but we did.
Before you think anything salacious, nothing happened. We simply watched the movie, which is what I assumed we were supposed to do.
Later we were making out in my car and she did something I wasn't expecting. After we broke up, I realized she was a really horny chick I probably could have had a ton of sex with, but I was so naive I didn't think that's what people did, have furtive sex at every opportunity.
When I think back on all the situations where I could have got a little sumpin', (and not just involving her), I gotta laugh - and cringe - at what a dope I was.

[–] R_Kane (15828) 7 years ago

Coraline, which is a magical combination of stop-motion animation and CGI, in addition to telling a great story. In any era, the story is more important than the FX. The original King Kong, with stop-motion FX by the great Ray Harryhausen, is in many ways still the best Kong movie, because of how it tells the story. Stratego is saying that, today, the story goes right out the window in favor of a bunch of disconnected FX, and I completely agree with that. Welcome to our increasingly desensitized world.

I’d also say that The Crow has held up very well, because of the story and Brandon Lee. This was the first film to composite an actor into a scene. They needed one shot depicting a resurrected Eric returning home that clearly showed the audience Lee’s face.

[–] MikeCable (1843) 7 years ago

I don't think anything from the 1980s compares to today in terms of CGI realism, but I adore films like The Last Starfighter which was 100% CGI for the space scenes.

[–] Frogarama (12942) 7 years ago

The first CGI character in a movie was Young Sherlock Holmes (1985), which was a favorite of mine in my youth, and highly recommended if you haven't seen it.

The use of CGI still holds up well: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aKb61j8P4fU

Go watch it!

[–] DarpaDrone (39) 7 years ago

I think i'm also going to go with Terminator and Jurassic Park. Not sure how much CGI was really used, but both movies were lauded at the time for the amazing practical efffects/animatronics that were used (which I personally much prefer over CGI).

[–] R_Kane (15828) 7 years ago

Terminator, to the best of my knowledge, had no CGI, but used stop-motion animation. Terminator 2 was groundbreaking in terms of CGI, done by Cameron’s Lightstorm division. The protean T-1000 was an outgrowth of the space/subsea alien-controlled water technology that Cameron introduced in that massively logistically-challenging film, The Abyss. All Terminator films thenceforeward used CGI.

[–] DarpaDrone (39) 7 years ago

Intersting. I can see the connection between the T-1000 and the Alien water drone tentacle thing from the Abyss. The actual aliens and spacecraft in the Abyss look more like models, though. James Cameron is a true master, I just hope he doesn't go too overboard with the upcoming Avatars.

[–] R_Kane (15828) 7 years ago

I am sorry to say this, and hope that I am wrong, but I am not looking forward to the new Avatar films. Cameron wrote the script for Avatar and then waited 10
years for the technology to be created to make the movie. As a 3D tour-de-fource, it was absorbing and remarkable. It came out at the dawn of 3D TVs and 3D Blu-rays and 3-D Blu-ray players. As such, it was a terrific sales tool for me, because I design and sell custom home theater systems. People bought the sizzle, but finally realized that the steak was Grade B, and tough. In short, the story was bad. The psychedelic scene in the garden? Visually amazing! The banshees plunging headlong earthward afront the waterfalls? Cinematic inspiration! Their importance to the trite narrative? Irrelevant. This is a series that wants no continuation.

[–] DarpaDrone (39) 7 years ago

You're aboslutely right. But unfortunately style over substance seems to the current trend these days for most blockbusters. One can only hope that the old-guard of directors/producers like Cameron and Spielberg stick to their principals and still know how tell a good/original story.

[–] R_Kane (15828) 7 years ago

Pendula swing both ways, my friend. One era of excess usually leads to a more enlightened era, which then leads to a new, excessive one. I believe that a cracking good story will out over a CGI hypefest any day of the week. Of course, dynamics may have changed. I am uncertain that current audiences either know or care about the narrative. They may care more about their sensory stimulation. Have we become that corrupt? I don’t want to think so. I absolutely DO know that people are educable, if you take the time to talk to them in terms that they understand. My concern is that there are very few terms that our species longer understands.

This is, I hope, unnecessary, but here it needs nonetheless is: This is my three thousandth post. Do NOT celebrate the number. If you
see value in the quality, then celebrate that.

[–] DarpaDrone (39) 7 years ago

Well, it is as you say, quality over quantity.... in movies and all things. Also, I tend to think of it from an economic point of view. It's all about $$$'s now, younger audencines are more wealthy now than they used to be back in the day, and so studios cash in; Producing/financing whatever pulls the crowd in, and right now what pulls the crowd in are massive amaze-balls super special effects. So many recent reboots of classic sci fi movie/franchines have also been ruined because of this (e.g. star wars, blade runner, thing, alien)

[–] [email protected] (690) 7 years ago

I was exactly the same way with Harry Potter. Avoided it, rolled my eyes when adults talked about it, don't care about kids being wizards. Then I was depressed and unemployed and watching a lot of TV and ran into a marathon. Started from the beginning, liked it a little, and it just kept getting better until I really felt invested in the whole thing. Still great fun.

[–] billbrown7071 (3194) 7 years ago

funny you should mention The Harry Potter series...

I also spent 15 years avoiding that series too...

after Watching The LOTR Trilogy in 2015 and falling in love and realizing A made a Huge Mistake Avoiding these films , I immediately started The Harry Potter series after I finshed The LOTR Trilogy(well Not Immediately, after finishing The LOTR Trilogy I of course couldnt watch The Hobbit Trilogy fast enough, Which I loved, To me they werent nearly as great in Quality but almost as fun)but Immediately after Watching The LOTR and Hobbit Trilogy, I instantly thought of the Harry Potter Franchise, I wanted to start watching them too because of The Experience I just had With LOTR...

I watched the entire HP Series in about 6 days, which I very much enjoyed, did not have the same experience as I did with The LOTR , But I'm proud to say I enjoy the franchise, have since watched the entire series again and am currently liking and looking forward to The Fantastic Beasts movies...

basically in the span of about 3 weeks I watched 15 Films that I spent 15 years Avoiding in The LOTR, Hobbit and Harry potter Franchises...I liked and enjoyed them all VERY MUCH.

[–] R_Kane (15828) 7 years ago

Harry Potter gets darker as it goes on. I wouldn’t give you a wooden nickle for the first, kiddie, one; but they get better and better after that.