What older movies made a good use of either side stepping special effects or have effects that somehow still hold up today? Why are they good movies?
The Thing. Effects hold up astonishingly well today.
Lord of the Rings.
Almost, if not everything, Stan Winston ever had a hand in making. Looking at the new Predator movie out just now, and its all CGI. But back in 87, Stan was creating something that looked so fucking real it was actually scary. Think back even further to 79, and what Carlo Rambaldi, among others, were doing with the “Alien”. Carlo focused on the head of the creature, and fucking hell, it holds up like fucking gangbusters. Carlo would go on to help bring ET to life as well.
Having less to worth with, made for some VERY smart people to create timeless works of art. Not only using clay, rubber and glue, but light and shadow as well. CGI has made modern Hollywood lazy, IMO. When was the last time a monster actually lived up to the hype once you saw it? I remember back in 2001, watching Jeepers Creepers and thinking it was the best horror movie in years. Then I got to the mid point and they revealed the monster and it… dropped off a fucking cliff.
Thinking back to Alien, and Carlo engineered the Alien’s head with over 900 moving parts, using a system of cables and hinges to create the lifelike jaw and inner mouth movements. This level of engineering gave the creature a physical presence that actors could react to in real time, rather than a fucking tennis ball and some guy shouting “Now imagine its a big Alien. Its mean looking, its got teeth and eyes, and you’re scared of it.”.
Only thing I can really think of that matches this level of detail, was the rings trilogy. And you can see the difference when you watch the hobbit. It just doesnt hit as hard because its CGI. And no matter how good CGI is, you can always tell and pulls you out of it a little.
The ridiculous, videogamesque barrel ride pulled me out of the Hobbit completely. I just couldn’t take the movies seriously after that.
Jurassic Park comes to mind. The scene with the raptors in the kitchen uses a mix of puppets and CGI.
pre-cgi pretty much. pratical effects, animatronics> cgi. the shows that cgi usually better from the start is mostly scifi shows.
I was kind of shocked how well Flight of the Navigator held up when I rewatched it for the first time as an adult a couple of years ago. The effects used for the ship were great.
It was a favourite growing up (up there’s with Explorers, The Goonies to me back then), I hadn’t watched it in decades till a few years ago. I also thought it held up really well. Besides the exterior spaceship there’s minimal effects anyways (plus cute aliens of course which were practical) it’s more an odd buddy (new friend?) comedy. I still thought what was there was for the ship effects held up better than expected for the time.
Course may be rose tinted glasses and all, but I really enjoyed it last time still, plus time travel is always awesome.
Just compare Gladiator vs Gladiator 2 to see how awful CGI is today vs what could be achieved using it modestly before.
Barry Lyndon.
Kubrick managed to make every single frame look like a period painting, and used Zeiss 50mm f/0.7 lenses, originally built for NASA to photograph the dark side of the Moon, to film scenes by candlelight (granted, even with that lens he had to use lots of special candles with three wicks to get enough light; if I recall correctly some actors ended up with thermal burns from the radiated heat).
Tremors.
Great practical effects for the time the movie came out. Further, they were very clever about only showing you the worm a few times. Screamers style graboid rooster tails during chases was campy, but just the right kind of campy.
Do not talk to me about anything after tremors 3 because none of that shit is Canon imo. Honestly tremors 3 was the beginning of the end but ill still always love them assblasters
Off the top of my head:
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Pan’s Labyrinth (CGI augments excellent practical effects)
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Ghostbusters (1984)
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The Cell (CGI augments excellent set and costume design).
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The Abyss (1989)
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Interstellar (had to check if this was CGI).
With research: Speed and The Edge of Tomorrow are fun. Also, I am annoyed at myself that I forgot Aronofsky’s the Fountain — a beautiful, painful film.
Practical scenes with mentioning:
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That one scene in Chinatown, “they lose their noses!”
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That one scene in Boogie Nights, “I’m a big bright shining star.”
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That last arrow in Throne of Blood
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2001 looks awesome still, despite being a space film from the 60s
Matrix 1. Other than some CGI, it doesn’t have so much special effects as much as it has special camera tricks.
How dare you, matrix does not qualify for old movie yet. Right? Right???
Anything before the year 2000 is old. Ask any Gen Z/Alpha.
probably the best simpsons quote ever
Older than LOTR and has aged better, in my opinion.
I agree. Even when it was new and I went “wow look where the technology has gone!” I still felt that it was insufficient and would age. Honestly the movies are fantastic until they try to show giant orc armies and then it’s a bit MEH.
Young Frankenstein
12 angry men.
Came here to mention this.
The way Lumet uses camera angles to create tension and reinforce the personalities of the characters, especially how he makes the room look smaller and more claustrophobic as time moves on, is simply masterful.
I did not expect the viewing journey when I started to watch it. I was so impressed!!
Tron. Vector graphics and filters gave a better effect than any of the weak sequels.
Forever underappreciated. They were hiring research professors at universities to do that stuff. It was so cutting edge that it was actually experimental.
And they got disqualified from the Oscars “because they cheated” – the following year there was a brand new nomination category for computer generated effects…
Just like the monkeys in 2001. They were so good, the Oscar jury thought they were animals instead of actors.
Yeah that part made me very sad.
