OT: Let's talk about Movies and TV Shows, Part XXX (...how can this possibly go wrong)

[Retired]

Sportsnet and RDS pretty much give you everything
And someday soon RDS will get Saturday nights back because LOL TVA is crumbling by the day

Cheers. Any advantage with tsn over rds? They have 4-5 channels instead of the 2? I don’t mind either language otherwise.

 

[kyne]

The Japanese were very brutal, especially with prisoners. Their never surrender attitude, coupled with the general racism in the American military didn’t help either.

As Canadians, so tightly tied with the US, it’s natural to know more about Europe. The Americans did not deploy as many forces in the Pacific as well. Not sure if that affected the media coverage as much, but given based on math, fewer Americans died, it doesn’t get talked about as much.

This is also just me thinking out loud, but as I mentioned, the Pacific was dirty and ugly. I wasn’t around and can only go by what I’ve read and seen in some of the movies we’ve discussed, but I don’t think Americans view the Pacific front as romantically as the European front for those reasons. That’s actually why I enjoyed Hacksaw Ridge because it showed a lot of the ugly side of the Americans, but was still a heroic story. Granted, there was some creative liberties taken, as in all true event movies, but you should definitely check that one out also.

It is an interesting contrast to how Japan treated POWs in the First World War. They were exemplary in their treatment of German POWs when they captured Tsingtao, for example.

The intense xenophobic militaristic society that arose in the 1930s featuring the cult of Bushido and a Japanese military traumatized by the increasing savagery of the war in China ongoing since 1931 turned the IJA into an organization that was just as brutal and sadistic with its own soldiers and civilians as it was with Allied POWs. The Americans, Commonwealth, Dutch, French and Filipinos faced a completely brutalized opponent by 1941 not much better than some of the German or Eastern European members of Einsatzgruppen operating in Belarus. There was no mercy or Geneva Convention. No camps like Stalag Luft 3 where you received Red Cross parcels.

 

[Grate n Colorful Oz]

Yes and no for me. Definitely, if it‘s real, of course it looks better. More depth, grit, more natural.

CGI will work if the environment is completely unreal, for obvious reasons… that environment cannot be replicated. That said, the right amount of money and time would need to be spent or else you get effects like the first Black Panther movie. Yikes!

On that note, there’s a channel on YouTube, Corridor Crew, which they break down a lot of CGI stuff. They got a series called CGI Artists React which is great because they’ll bring in actual industry experts. I’m not an artist but I’m fascinated with the work put into it.

I'm kinda tired of people snobbing CGI. Too much nostalgia and rose colored glasses for the olden days. Bad practical effects were just as bad as bad CGI. Not only this, but people think CGI is easy. It's not. It's an art form, just as much as practical effects.

Using Star Wars and LOTR as examples is also extremely disingenuous. It's the pinnacle of practical effects. Should we talk about all the bad ones? The list is pretty long.

People complain about CGI, but imo they're pointing their weary fingers towards the wrong culprit. If you want to find culprits, start with Star Wars, which opened up Hollywood to prioritizing spectacle over storytelling and all advancement in technology since then has only widened the gap, where today, almost every movie is a generic spectacle. That's not the fault of CGI. That's greed, plain and simple.

 

[Barriwhite]

Currrently watching The Bear season 2. Crazy how each character is likeable in a show where people yell at each other half the time.

 

[Runner77]

 

[sandviper]

I'm kinda tired of people snobbing CGI. Too much nostalgia and rose colored glasses for the olden days. Bad practical effects were just as bad as bad CGI. Not only this, but people think CGI is easy. It's not. It's an art form, just as much as practical effects.

Using Star Wars and LOTR as examples is also extremely disingenuous. It's the pinnacle of practical effects. Should we talk about all the bad ones? The list is pretty long.

People complain about CGI, but imo they're pointing their weary fingers towards the wrong culprit. If you want to find culprits, start with Star Wars, which opened up Hollywood to prioritizing spectacle over storytelling and all advancement in technology since then has only widened the gap, where today, almost every movie is a generic spectacle. That's not the fault of CGI. That's greed, plain and simple.

I agree. I felt this way when people were snobbing over modern films not being the same quality as the golden era. There are great films in that period, as well as say 2023. There are PLENTY of duds also.

On the topic of CGI vs real, it actually was on the Corridor Crew channel where the artists and I think the guy who was in charge of the Mission Impossible FX where they criticized CGI in some movie (forgot which) where it tried to create something surreal but used real-world references. This looked “off” because we naturally recognized this as not real.

I look at a movie like Avatar. That was truly groundbreaking and that’s not a movie you can replicate with miniatures. In fact, if you try to “real-world” that stuff, it‘ll be jarring.

As for Star Wars and spectacle over story, that’s also something I agree with, particularly with the sequel trilogy. It’s kind of why I love the Filoni-verse where it‘s truer to Lucas’ vision while telling new stories. On that note, I’ve been enjoying Ahsoka immensely but the most recent episode was eye candy in terms of CGI (it was freaking unreal) as well as storytelling.

Even with a TV budget, the lightsaber duel blows away anything we saw in the newest movies in this one episode. There’s also a lot of great FX shots, but there’s a scene with ships flying over an ocean and I was blown away how great it looked.

 

[Habs Icing]

People complain about CGI, but imo they're pointing their weary fingers towards the wrong culprit. If you want to find culprits, start with Star Wars, which opened up Hollywood to prioritizing spectacle over storytelling and all advancement in technology since then has only widened the gap, where today, almost every movie is a generic spectacle. That's not the fault of CGI. That's greed, plain and simple.

I agree with the highlighted part wholeheartedly!

 

[ArtPeur]

Let's watch a movie and put your brain to sleep time.

 

[LaP]

I agree. I felt this way when people were snobbing over modern films not being the same quality as the golden era. There are great films in that period, as well as say 2023. There are PLENTY of duds also.
On the topic of CGI vs real, it actually was on the Corridor Crew channel where the artists and I think the guy who was in charge of the Mission Impossible FX where they criticized CGI in some movie (forgot which) where it tried to create something surreal but used real-world references. This looked “off” because we naturally recognized this as not real.
I look at a movie like Avatar. That was truly groundbreaking and that’s not a movie you can replicate with miniatures. In fact, if you try to “real-world” that stuff, it‘ll be jarring.
As for Star Wars and spectacle over story, that’s also something I agree with, particularly with the sequel trilogy. It’s kind of why I love the Filoni-verse where it‘s truer to Lucas’ vision while telling new stories. On that note, I’ve been enjoying Ahsoka immensely but the most recent episode was eye candy in terms of CGI (it was freaking unreal) as well as storytelling.
Even with a TV budget, the lightsaber duel blows away anything we saw in the newest movies in this one episode. There’s also a lot of great FX shots, but there’s a scene with ships flying over an ocean and I was blown away how great it looked.

It works in Avatar because it's a totally made up world with mostly non human characters. But CGI tends to looks fake with real life story or humans and real animals. Specially anything real that is animated. A mix of CGI enhanced props/sets/miniatures usually works best.

 

[LaP]

Let's watch a movie and put your brain to sleep time.

I'd like to put my brain off but my brain will refuse to do so while watching a bunch of 80 years old guys kicking asses after eating 10 pills to regulate their high blood pressure in the morning. There so much my brain can take before waking up by himself telling me hey LaP this shit is pure non sense you should go outside instead

 

[LaP]

I'm kinda tired of people snobbing CGI. Too much nostalgia and rose colored glasses for the olden days. Bad practical effects were just as bad as bad CGI. Not only this, but people think CGI is easy. It's not. It's an art form, just as much as practical effects.
Using Star Wars and LOTR as examples is also extremely disingenuous. It's the pinnacle of practical effects. Should we talk about all the bad ones? The list is pretty long.
People complain about CGI, but imo they're pointing their weary fingers towards the wrong culprit. If you want to find culprits, start with Star Wars, which opened up Hollywood to prioritizing spectacle over storytelling and all advancement in technology since then has only widened the gap, where today, almost every movie is a generic spectacle. That's not the fault of CGI. That's greed, plain and simple.

If by Star Wars you mean the original trilogy i'd disagree. While the original trilogy was not a staple of story telling it was a honest tale that was rather original at the time. Space opera was simply not really a thing in cinema. The characters were somewhat interesting and there was a very good chemistry between the actors (best part of the trilogy imo). More importantly they were not all super heroes. It was very amateurish at time i'll give you that and it was fan fiction quality but it was honest and driven by passion more than greed. You could tell Gorges Lucas was passionate about his project. I don't think you can properly evaluate the original trilogy if you were not born at the time. I'm born in 1976 and i still vividly remember when i say this on TV when i was about 4 or 5. It was magical. A really special experience even on a 21 inch TV with bad color.

Very different that what we have today. A bunch of sequels and prequels and reboot driven 100% by greed. Everyone is a super hero nowadays. There's no struggle. If Predator would be made today they would all have super powers and would kick this Predator ass into orbit. If you rewatch Predator it's surprising how much of a struggle it is to kill the Predator. Their muscles don't matter at all. When the big native guy go to fight the predator 1 on 1 there's not even a fight he gets owned off screen. The Predator is killed only because he is too confident in his abilities to kill those human insects. That's so different that the awful stories we have today. Predator script is nothing special. It's a simply story. But the way it is delivered is vastly different than today. It's an original take on an old story with a well designed alien, interesting characters with a personality and a struggle by the hero to survive. It's the same in T2. Simple story almost fan fiction at time lot of holes. Very interesting characters. No super heroes even the T800 struggle.

Personally i despise cinemas these days. There's still good movies here and there. But for the most part cinema today is just another super hero with a different costume. The same story over and over. The same delivery all the time. No originality. The Marvel formula can't die soon enough.

 

[Cournoyer12]

All right people, gettin stir crazy for a Habs game, gonna mix in some lines from my favorite movie of all time! Pretty sure you can guess it! Anybody bad mouths the Habs, spends a night in the box, Anybody don’t think Carey Price is a 1st ballot Hall of Famer spends a night in the box Anybody doesn’t think the Montreal Canadiens are the greatest hockey club of all time, spends a night in the box !!! NOW GET AT THEM BEANS!!!!!

 

[Grate n Colorful Oz]

If by Star Wars you mean the original trilogy i'd disagree. While the original trilogy was not a staple of story telling it was a honest tale that was rather original at the time.

It's based on Seven Samurais and follows the hero's path and Syd Field's paradigm to a T. The only thing original was that it was in space with tech, instead of on land with horses.

You could've renamed Luke, Perseus or Perceival, two stories which it borrows from.

 

[LaP]

It's based on Seven Samurais and follows the hero's path and Syd Field's paradigm to a T. The only thing original was that it was in space with tech, instead of on land with horses.

You could've renamed Luke, Perseus or Perceival, two stories which it borrows from.

It's a movie. I mean it's not a book. The movie was artistically interesting and original. Darth Vader remains one of the coolest villain in my book. Yeah the script was bad but it was not "just another super hero with a different costume" like we are served today. I mean in term of originality i'd easily declare Star Wars a winner in front of something like Aqua Man or Whatever Man. Only thing remotely comparable today would be Guardian of the Galaxy which i like to call the real new Stars Wars personally.

 

[Grate n Colorful Oz]

It's a movie. I mean it's not a book. The movie was artistically interesting and original. Darth Vader remains one of the coolest villain in my book. Yeah the script was bad but it was not "just another super hero with a different costume" like we are served today. I mean in term of originality i'd easily declare Star Wars a winner in front of something like Aqua Man or Whatever Man. Only thing remotely comparable today would be Guardian of the Galaxy which i like to call the real new Stars Wars personally.

Yeah sure, but my point is that it was more spectacle than anything we had ever seen and its popularity opened the door to prioritize that over story telling, afterward.

 

[Guy Larose]

It's based on Seven Samurais and follows the hero's path and Syd Field's paradigm to a T. The only thing original was that it was in space with tech, instead of on land with horses.

You could've renamed Luke, Perseus or Perceival, two stories which it borrows from.

And The Empire Strikes Back was based on The Hidden Fortress.

 

[Grate n Colorful Oz]

I agree. I felt this way when people were snobbing over modern films not being the same quality as the golden era. There are great films in that period, as well as say 2023. There are PLENTY of duds also.

On the topic of CGI vs real, it actually was on the Corridor Crew channel where the artists and I think the guy who was in charge of the Mission Impossible FX where they criticized CGI in some movie (forgot which) where it tried to create something surreal but used real-world references. This looked “off” because we naturally recognized this as not real.

I look at a movie like Avatar. That was truly groundbreaking and that’s not a movie you can replicate with miniatures. In fact, if you try to “real-world” that stuff, it‘ll be jarring.

As for Star Wars and spectacle over story, that’s also something I agree with, particularly with the sequel trilogy. It’s kind of why I love the Filoni-verse where it‘s truer to Lucas’ vision while telling new stories. On that note, I’ve been enjoying Ahsoka immensely but the most recent episode was eye candy in terms of CGI (it was freaking unreal) as well as storytelling.

Even with a TV budget, the lightsaber duel blows away anything we saw in the newest movies in this one episode. There’s also a lot of great FX shots, but there’s a scene with ships flying over an ocean and I was blown away how great it looked.

I bought a 4k 75inch recently, my first 4k. Wasn't in a hurry to buy one until i bought a PS5. So anyway, to enjoy beautiful cinematography I rewatched BCS as it was fully made in 4K, but then I started rummaging through streamers to find 4k movies and the first one I watched was Super Mario Bros, which I rented.

Animation movies are actually in their golden age because of CGI. SMB was superbly done.

Then I stumbled on Prometheus on Disney+. Hadn't realized it was made in 4k. So I rewatched it. Prometheus isn't Scott's best storytelling, but the cinematography is excellent and CGI is well done, with the usual mix of practical and CGI.

Not sure if you know this, but Prometheus is closer to Scott's original idea for Alien. He couldn't make it work because he lacked the tech at the time, which made him pull back and make his story more simple. He created space survival horror as we know it because he didn't have the means to make it as he wanted. Don't think it would've turned out as good if he had made Alien more like Prometheus back in the 70's.

Point is, tech gives creator better means, but the tech will always get abused by those looking to make a buck. Same happened with practical effects.

Also, I'm not a big fan of elevating originals over the rest. Yes they are the groundbreakers, but it's far easier to break ground when there's nothing already built there. Stories nowadays have a hard time being original, because there's just so much that has been created already.

 

[Ezpz]

I bought a 4k 75inch recently, my first 4k. Wasn't in a hurry to buy one until i bought a PS5. So anyway, to enjoy beautiful cinematography I rewatched BCS as it was fully made in 4K, but then I started rummaging through streamers to find 4k movies and the first one I watched was Super Mario Bros, which I rented.

Animation movies are actually in their golden age because of CGI. SMB was superbly done.

Then I stumbled on Prometheus on Disney+. Hadn't realized it was made in 4k. So I rewatched it. Prometheus isn't Scott's best storytelling, but the cinematography is excellent and CGI is well done, with the usual mix of practical and CGI.

Not sure if you know this, but Prometheus is closer to Scott's original idea for Alien. He couldn't make it work because he lacked the tech at the time, which made him pull back and make his story more simple. He created space survival horror as we know it because he didn't have the means to make it as he wanted. Don't think it would've turned out as good if he had made Alien more like Prometheus back in the 70's.

Point is, tech gives creator better means, but the tech will always get abused by those looking to make a buck. Same happened with practical effects.

Also, I'm not a big fan of elevating originals over the rest. Yes they are the groundbreakers, but it's far easier to break ground when there's nothing already built there. Stories nowadays have a hard time being original, because there's just so much that has been created already.

Just be careful with Netflix, most ISP's rate limit you so Netflix 4k only streams in 1080p. That's the only reason anyone still buys physical media or pirates movies.

 

[Grate n Colorful Oz]

Just be careful with Netflix, most ISP's rate limit you so Netflix 4k only streams in 1080p. That's the only reason anyone still buys physical media or pirates movies.

Yeah, if you have a cheap connection.

And you can rest easy as I immediately know when it's 1080p vs 4k, because I have very keen eyes for details. It's a professional deformation. I spend my work hours making visual corrections on small details.

BCS is in full 4k on netflix. You can almost see Bob's wrinkles they tried to hide away with makeup.

 

[Ezpz]

Yeah, if you have a cheap connection.

And you can rest easy as I immediately know when it's 1080p vs 4k, because I have very keen eyes for details. It's a professional deformation. I spend my work hours making visual corrections on small details.

BCS is in full 4k on netflix. You can almost see Bob's wrinkles they tried to hide away with makeup.

It was a scandal a few years back, maybe things have changed. I haven't watch TV in a long time.

 

[Runner77]

Let's watch a movie and put your brain to sleep time.

Guns, explosions, CGI. Sprinkled with mono-syllabic, neanderthalish screamed gibberish. Followed by moar guns and explosions.

Or, instead of that, just go for the Habs’ forum version, the “expandables” — cause that’s how several in here will spell it.

 

[LaP]

Cheers. Any advantage with tsn over rds? They have 4-5 channels instead of the 2? I don’t mind either language otherwise.

Very often the 17 TSN channels all present the same event.

 

[the valiant effort]

Point is, tech gives creator better means, but the tech will always get abused by those looking to make a buck

Pretty much. I was browsing Crave one Sunday afternoon and decided to drop mid…way into Midway, thinking it’s gotta have a cool battle scene going at this point. That’ll be fun. Immediately I’m treated to some kind of uncanny valley “carrier” floating on an “ocean” under a “sky”. Just a putrid visual experience for my tastes. I threw on a Tarkovsky youtube clip to cleanse the palette.

 

[Grate n Colorful Oz]

Pretty much. I was browsing Crave one Sunday afternoon and decided to drop mid…way into Midway, thinking it’s gotta have a cool battle scene going at this point. That’ll be fun. Immediately I’m treated to some kind of uncanny valley “carrier” floating on an “ocean” under a “sky”. Just a putrid visual experience for my tastes. I threw on a Tarkovsky youtube clip to cleanse the palette.

I quit on Crave last month. There's very little to crave, having to wait till seasons 2 of TLOU and House of the Dragon inbetween Raised by Wolves getting canceled, a mediocre list of shows, streaming channels being removed from Crave Total, I got fed-up. I'll plug back in once the aforementioned season 2's come back, or if I feel like watching GoT all over again.

 

[ArtPeur]

Guns, explosions, CGI. Sprinkled with mono-syllabic, neanderthalish screamed gibberish. Followed by moar guns and explosions.

Or, instead of that, just go for the Habs’ forum version, the “expandables” — cause that’s how several in here will spell it.

I would probably make that mistake