Is CGI killing movies?

When asked if CGI is killing movies, most would simply state "No." In a way these people are correct. Since CGI has become common place, movies are doing better than ever. I still get my kicks out of the occasional hollywood summer blockbuster, but what is the cost of relying almost specifically on CGI special effects?

I am not a CGI hater by any means. If used correctly then CGI can do some amazing things that are simply impossible to do in real life. Remember the Liquid Metal Terminator (T-1000) from Terminator 2: Judgement Day? That is a perfect example of how to correctly use CGI special effects. It would have been impossible to create a believable liquid metal man without the use of CGI. Now the problem comes when a film relies too heavily on CGI and the story suffers. I am not going to bore you with another "Avatar is Dancing With Wolves" or "Transfomrers 2 Was Stupid" rant, becuase quite frankly we have all heard enought of that. I actually enjoyed Avatar and admit it is a visually stunning film. The CGI was amazing and I can't fault it just because it relies on CGI. Now does that mean Avatar deserves to be the highest grossing film of all time? Absolutely not, but it doesn't make it a bad movie. I admit even Transformers 2 has some redeaming qualities (at least on the visual level.)

My only fear is that movies are heading towards an age of visually stunning films that do nothing but show you pretty pictures. Hollywood knows what sells tickets and right now that is big explosive visually stunning CGI movies. CGI has it's place, but I can't help but feel I have been robbed of one of my favorite parts of cinema, the question of "Wow, how did they do that?"

One of my favorite films of all time was Ghostbusters. I believe this is due partially because of nostalgia and partially because of the amazing special effects.

I loved the ghosts they used in the movie, they had a truly other-worldly feel to them that I think would have been lost if this movie had been made in the age of CGI. It was fun as a kid to look at these Ghosts and wonder how they mad these otherworldly apparitions come to life? I would later learn about the art of puppetry, stop motion animation, and rubber suits put to scale models, but even then it was always fun to wonder which effect they used. There is a lot of talk about the third Ghosbusters film that may be in the works in the near future, and I will be horribly disappointed if they make it another CGI film.

On a more shameful note I also grew up loving the Ninja Turtles Movies. Looking back I have no idea why I loved these stupid movies, but I think a lot of it had to do with the time and effort they put into the Ninja Turtle Costumes. Regardless of how stupid the plot was or how laughably ridiculous the premise was, you can tell they put a lot of work into making these costumes look as realistic as a four mutant ninja turtle could look. In fact not too long ago they actually did make a Ninja Turtles movie using CGI.

Comparing the two, it's just not a competition in my book. Maybe I am just old fashioned and nostalgic but it just seems like a lot of movie magic has been lost in this new age of special effects. This fourth installment in the series is arguably the best in the series, but I could never agree because in my mind it will always need the amazing costumes to be a true ninja turtles film.

Probably the biggest CGI atrocity was when they added CGI effects to Star wars. I love the original films. As a special effects geek, I spent hours trying to figure out how they did everything in the original films. I can remember being horrified when they released some fancy new special edition a few years back "The Way It Was Meant To Be Seen!"

Take a look at the original Jabba the Hut on the left and the CGI Jabba they added on the special edition version on the Right. Tell me which one is the infamous space mobster and which one looks like a lazy attempt to mimic one. This new version was nothing but bigger explosions, changing the color of Luke's light-saber, and throwing way to much distracting things on the screen.

The Original Star wars films will forever be immortalized in film history, their prequels.... not so much. In these films the CGI just comes off as lazy sometimes and distracting most of the time. I cannot describe how bad some of the CGI creatures in Episode 2 looked compared to the puppets or suits worn in the original trilogy. The Rancor of episode 6 will always beat out the mentally retarded Jar Jar of Episode I.

Indiana Jones was not spared the infamous CGI sequal, as we saw in Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. This film was bad on several levels, but one of the biggest flaws was that CGI took out all the magic that the original films had. I spent forever watching the boulder scene and the nazi face melting scene in Raiders of the Lost Ark trying to figure out how they did that. It turns out they used a wax dummy and melted it. Using time lapse film played at a super fast pace it appeared that the face was melting off... Now that's movie magic! Unfortunately now if they tried this it would probably just be a really stupid looking CGI image.

Let's face facts, CGI is just not organic. I hate when people make fun of old films for their special effects, because watching them I can see how much time and effort was put into them. I have always been a believer that CGI should be a last resort when making a film. You should only use it when it is impossible to do so otherwise. Hopefully hollywood will take notice of this before it is too late.

I feel like I could go on and on, but I will cut my rant short. I think Disney said it best himself when he said, "You can design and create, and build the most wonderful place in the world. But it takes real people to make the dream a reality."

Forign Delights: Battle Royale

What can I say about Battle Royale? It's the type of movie that American censorship cringes at the thought of, and yet I cannot remember the last time I was so drawn into an action movie. The film is dark, brutal, and the very premise of the film is enough to make the average movie goer uncomfortable. Battle Royale is essentially Running Man with children. It takes place in the near future Japan. In this dystopian future, the younger generations are growing up with little respect for their elders and little desire to conform to social norms in Japan (a phenomenon that is all to real in Japan today). As a result the government orders a group of high school students to compete in a very deadly competition known as Battle Royale.

Thinking they are being taken on a field trip, the students get on a bus and arrive on an abandoned island. Each is given basic supplies and a random weapon with witch they are to kill their fellow classmates. If they refuse to do so, or if there is not a winner by the end of their time on the island, then they will all be killed by exploding collars attached to their necks.

This is obviously a very dark film, but it is not simple mindless blood shed. The film plays on the emotional and psychological terror of the situation very well, and most of the kids in the film have very different personalities so you learn quickly to love or hate each one of them. Seeing how the characters react to the situation is one of the most intense parts of the film. Some play along with the game and are prepared to kill in order to win, some try to hide and find a way to escape without killing, and a few even go so far as to kill themselves so that they won't have to play this twisted game (a metaphor for the high suicide rate in Japan from the pressure to succeed).

The entire film is a metaphor for the cut throat competition that teenagers and college age students go through in real life Japan, as well as the culture clash that exists between the rebellious young generations and the traditional elder generations in modern Japan. The competition is fierce and is meant to represent the competition and stress put on so manly Japanese youth.

The acting is good about 90% of the time, with a few awkward lines here and there. It is hard to tell if this is because of the actors themselves, the dialogue they were given, or the fact that Japanese doesn't always translate well into English.

Takeshi Kitano plays the teacher who instructs the students in the rules of Battle Royale and monitors them to make sure that they all play the game. I have loved every character that Kitano has ever portrayed and this is no exception. The instructor was a middle school teacher until one day he was stabbed by as student. Having lost faith in the youth of today, he was promoted by the government to head the Battle Royale program. I simply love ho nonchalant this guy is about the game and watching young teenagers brutally murder each other.

Shuya, Noriko, and Kawada make up our protagonists in this film. They are likable enough to follow, but in all honesty I found Shuya and Noriko to be the most boring characters in the movie. I don't want to blame the actors for this, because their characters were written to be normal and mild mannered, which makes them pretty boring compared to the other students.

Kawada on the other hand kept me on the edge of my seat most of the time he was on the screen. His character was one of two competitors that were added to the game later for reasons unknown. He is very good at the game, but shows a lot of sympathy for Shuya and Noriko. It also seems that while he is not reluctant to kill, he takes no pleasure in it. Part of the fun of this character is that you simply have no idea what his motive is until the very end of the film.

Now I couldn't talk about Battle Royale without mentioning Kazuo Kiriyama, played by Masanobu Ando . This is by far one of my all time favorite movie villains. He is a quiet killer, who enjoys the game way to much, and is far better at it than anyone should be. Kiriyama is the seacond player to be added on to the game, but unlike Kawada he seems to get a sick pleasure out of killing. I don't want to give anything away, but this is one twisted psychopath you don't want to cross.

There is one scene in this movie when Kiriyama is cornered by a gang of rival students wielding guns. Because of bad luck Kiriyama was given a paper fan as his weapon, but you quickly see how resourceful and dangerous this character is. Just looking at him (see image left) gives you the feeling that he is not all there in the head. I have no problem putting him very high on my list of all time favorite movie villains.

Essentially that is what makes Battle Royale such a good film. It is pretty much a love letter to villains everywhere. You have your evil masterminds like Kitano, your murderous psychopaths like Kiriyama, and your average Joe and Jane fighting to keep their inner killer at bay, while still trying to survive. I think it is obvious that I love this film and I recommend it highly for anyone who wants a psychological thriller with plenty of blood shed. I would definitely not recommend this for everyone, so please use caution when deciding to watch.

Final Grade: -A

Blacula: Cult Classic or Blacksploitation Flop

Welcome to Thoughts of the Amazing Homosapien. Today I will be reviewing the 1972 cult classic Blacula.

Let me start off by saying that this film is probably not at all what you expected, at least I know it wasn't for me. I went into this film expecting a movie so bad it's good, but in all honesty this film was not that bad. It certainly is miles above other blacksploitation films of it's time. Unlike other cheap horror knockoffs of the 70's this film deserves some respect (not much but some). This is almost entirely in part to William Marshall who takes the lead role of Blacula/Mamualde.

In the original script Blacula was a jive talking pimp vampire (comedy gold, but certainly cinema trash). This was changed when William Marshall signed on. He suggested that the character should become the regal African Prince Mamualde that we see in the film today. It is true that Marshall does tend to overact at parts, but you have to give the man credit for trying to bring some class into a truly classless project like Blacula. If it were not for the rediculous tile his character is given he could have almost passed this film off as a serious vampire movie. Now this is not to say that this film is a masterpiece by any streach of the immagination, but it is nice to see an actor really put out the effort Marshall does for this role.

The film opens up with Mamualde and his wife Luva meeting with a very elderly Count Dracula (who technically shouldn't have aged considering he is a vampire). The Count is played by Charles Macaulay, one of the worst actors ever to play the part of Dracula. I have a feeling if Bela Lugosi saw this film he would roll over in his grave.

Mamualde has come from Africa in order to discuss a possible end to the slave trade in Transylvania. I bet you didn't know there was an African slave trade in Transylvania.... Well that's because there wasn't. The movie completely made up this fact, but did you really expect historical accuracy in a film like Blacula?

It turns out that not only is Dracula a blood sucking vampire but also a huge racist, rambling on and on about how fun slavery is for the master and how it is a complement for a white man like himself to look lustfuly at Mamualde's wife. This scene is just plain painful to watch. The acting is terrible and the writing is just plain bad. The writers of this scene might as well have put a stamp on his head that read "I AM A RACIST!" Then again this is a blacksploitation film, so you have to expect white antagonists to act this way.

Needless to say things go sour and Mamualde is locked in a metal coffin and cursed by Dracula with one of the stupidest curses I have ever heard. I won't spoil it for you, but you have to hear how badly delivered and poorly writen this line is.

After this we return to the presant day of 1972, where black people all have afros, talk jive, and dress in colors so bright it would make your head spin. Two of the biggest gay stereotypes I have never seen named Bobby and Billy are purchasing Dracula's castle to sell the antiques inside for proffit back in America (Because Dracula's castle would easily be in the buyin range of a middle class gay couple from Los Angeles.) Blacula's coffin is shiped back to LA, where Billy and Bobby open the tomb looking for anythign to salvage.

As you probably have gusessed by know, Blacula has risen and is out for blood, revenge, and his long lost love Luva. From here on the film is a mixture of cult film gold and cinema trash. We get some decent performances from Vonitta McGee as the love interest Tina and Thalmus Rasulala as Dr. Gordan Thomas (the soul brother equivilent of Dr. Van Helsing.) We also get some hilariously bad balcksploitation dialogue: "That was the RUUUUUUDEST Nigger I have ever seen!" The film also suffers from a poorly structured and rushed love story, and some laughably bad bat special effects. Yet in the end this film is still far above the quality that has come to be expected from blacksploitation films.

I really have to give this movie two scores, because like most cult films you have to know what you are getting into before you can enjoy it.

Casual Observer Rating: C-

Cult Film Score: A