Avoid this one!

[Bealman]

Being a sci-fi guy from toddler days, I thought I'd take a look at the Netflix production The Electric State.

Don't.

This is the biggest (and probably most expensive) load of computer generated crap I've ever seen.

I lasted about three minutes and turned it off. However, over about 4 sittings over an equal number of days, I saw it out to the end, from sheer masochistic determination.

There's no doubt that the CGI is indeed amazing, but there lies the point - you're not watching a movie - you're watching what is essentially a cartoon with a few live actors thrown in.

A bit like that sequence in Mary Poppins where Dick Van Dyke (who is 99 now and doing quite nicely, thank you) dances with the cartoon characters.

Except that was a thousand times better.

Avoid this load of crap at all costs. It's an embarrassment.

Of course it'll probably make heaps of money.

[Adam1701D]

I've not heard good things about this one. Over-reliance on bad CGI is one of my biggest movie hates.

It is ironic that some of the CGI and model work from films over 20 years old is way superior to most of the stuff being churned out today, despite the leaps in technology.

I hold the scene from Spielberg's War of the Worlds where the tripod first emerges as one of the best effect sequences of all time. ILM seamlessly combined models, live action and CGI to incredible effect.

[ChrisGH]

just watched Hacksaw Ridge. The CGI in the battle scenes is absolutely brilliant.
Chris

[Moonglum]

I still think "Forbidden Planet" (1956) was way ahead of its time and the special effects still hold up today.

"Forbidden Planet is a 1956 American science fiction action film from Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, produced by Nicholas Nayfack, and directed by Fred M. Wilcox from a script by Cyril Hume that was based on a film story by Allen Adler and Irving Block. It stars Walter Pidgeon, Anne Francis, and Leslie Nielsen. Shot in Eastmancolor and CinemaScope, this landmark film is considered one of the great science fiction films of the 1950s,[4] a precursor of contemporary science fiction cinema. The characters and isolated setting have been compared to those in William Shakespeare's The Tempest, and the plot contains certain happenings analogous to the play, leading many to consider it a loose adaptation.[5]

Forbidden Planet pioneered several aspects of science fiction cinema. It was the first science fiction film to depict humans traveling in a human-made faster-than-light starship.[6] It was also the first to be set entirely on a planet orbiting another star, far away from Earth and the Solar System.[7][8] The Robby the Robot character is one of the first film robots that was more than just a mechanical "tin can" on legs; Robby displays a distinct personality and is an integral supporting character in the film.[9] Outside science fiction, the film was groundbreaking as the first of any genre to use an entirely electronic musical score, courtesy of Bebe and Louis Barron.

Forbidden Planet's effects team was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Special Effects at the 29th Academy Awards. Tony Magistrale describes it as one of the best examples of early techno-horror.[10] In 2013, the film was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".



Tim