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In Reply to: Retro future posted by jbmcb on April 7, 2005 at 20:47:38:
>>>Sky Captain and the World Of Tomorrow is also great, if you avoid paying attention to the plot and just focus on the pretty pictures<<<
Sorry, but as a rule, I don't like effects just for the sake of effects.
I found Sky captain to be very tedious, and it left me with a headache. It was the worst movie I've seen in years. Good FX are not a substitute for a good story-The Day after Tommorrow is a perfect example of FX in desperate need of a story-another waste of FX.
Jack
Follow Ups:
> Good FX are not a substitute for a good story-The Day after Tommorrow is a perfect example of FX in desperate need of a story-another waste of FX.Eyecandy movies have their place, I find they are actually better with little to no plot instead of a bad plot. Sky Captain, to paraphrase the great Joe Bob Brigs, had "... no plot to get in the way of the story."
If I feel like watching a mindless movie, I'd rather there be lots of really nice scenery with minimal talking/plot mucking up the pretty pictures. Star Wars Episode I is an excellent example of a crappy plot and bad acting getting in the way of amazingly good visuals.2001 is the ultimate example of the semi-plotless movie. It looks amazing, but doesn't have a plot in the conventional sense of the word. I've heard theories that the plot is actually based on music, with a first, second and third "movement" pretty well delineated (Dawn of man / 2001 / Beyond the infinite) The music in the movie progresses in the same fashion (no music/noise -> classical -> avantgarde, Philip Glass-esque opera)
The "plot" of 2001 is convoluted, sure, but it has one: the visting of earth by a far more evolved society and its impact.
Of course, it is also the most intelligent (condensed greatly) history of human science and the ultimate fate of the species that so alters "nature."
As time passes, we shall find out if the computer is really our friend or as Clarke/Kubrick envisioned.
> Jesus, you're bringing 2001 into a discussion of Captain?Yep, in film analysis and comparison any movie is fair game :)
> The "plot" of 2001 is convoluted, sure, but it has one: the visting of earth by a far more evolved society and its impact.
Well, that's the plot in the book. They never come right out and say the monolith is alien technology in the movie. It's more of a symbol, or placeholder for human evolution, or perhaps the punctuated equilibrium thereof. The plot of 2001 deals with human evolution and the human reliance on technology, which isn't really a complete plot unto itself, it's just what the film is about.
> and the ultimate fate of the species that so alters "nature."
Interesting question: if humans are the products of natural evolution, how are the creations of humans unnatural? Are bird nests unnatural? Are beaver dams unnatural? Of course the movie posits that external forces shaped human evolution, and tool use is not a factor of natural evolution. Fascinating, as Mr. Spock would say :)
> As time passes, we shall find out if the computer is really our friend or as Clarke/Kubrick envisioned.
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HAL wasn't really evil, it was just carrying out it's instructions, which were to lie, which it was programmed never to do, hence the breakdown. A computer, like any tool, isn't evil* in and of itself, it's only evil if it is used for evil purposes. HAL, being somewhat sentient, could be an exception, however it's evil acts were brought about by human intervention. Without the human's requirement of duplicity, HAL would not have "malfunctioned."* Define evil as irrationally bad/damaging behavior as caused by any reason you prefer (insanity, demonic posession, chemical imbalances, moonbeams, whatever.)
/*Music is subjective. Sound is not.*/
I agree that eye candy has its place, and I've enjoyed a few myself, but I do think that it is easy to go overboard. Sky Captain and Day After Tomorrow are perfect examples-at best they bored me, at worst made me ill. I thought the original Star Wars trilogy was eye candy, with minimal fairy tale stories. I didn't care for Episode 1-it bored me.
For eye candy with a little more thought, you might wish to try Casshern-visually stunning and emotionally draining.
Jack
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