Films/DVD Asylum

Posted by Audiophilander (A) on March 13, 2007 at 00:25:25

In Reply to: Top 10 F/X Scenes in Movie History. posted by AudioHead on March 12, 2007 at 10:40:36:

This is why I hate lists, it's not just that they're highly subjective, which is a given, but it's that so often they're obviously skewed off the mark in order to create controversy or ignore better suited films by misinterpreting their own criterion.

First of all, if one is talking "Movie History" then it should include all periods of film history since film started and all nationalities, not just FX since 1970, unless they set that as firm rule.

My list would include both current and past ground breaking special effects, and those not necessarily groundbreaking where the FX employed are used extremely well. Yes, LoTR and Jurassic Park would fit and possibly Star Wars, even though the second of the series had more impressive FX due to budget given the time of release, but my list might've included (as alternates):

Metropolis (1927) - Maria transformation & rising, Moloch, etc.
Faust (1926) - various transformations & use of miniatures
The Abyss (1989) - shape shifting seawater
King Kong (1933) - armatured models of Kong & dinosaurs
Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within (2001) - CGI with anatomical realism
Wizard of Oz (1939) - tornado and various process shots
Jason and the Argonauts (1963) - Skeletons, harpies, hydra, etc.
The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951) - Saucer landing; Gort laser
Forbidden Planet (1956) - animated ID & ID footsteps; subterranean FX
AI: Artificial Intelligence (2001) - robot/human FX; future world
The Thing (1982) - Best realization of an alien capable of adaptation

Heck, even the X-Men and Spiderman films have FX worthy of consideration.

I would agree with the listing of:

Perfect Storm
Terminator 2: Judgment Day

...because they do stand out in their respective years, but not Forrest Gump, The Day After Tomorrow, Cliffhanger, The Polar Express or Tron. Some are great films, but none are especially noteworthy FX films except perhaps Tron and Polar Express and the former was rapidly dated while the latter was just creepy in it's misguided attempt at looking more real than real.

Of course everyone's mileage varies. C'est la Vie.

AuPh