CGI

For reasons that don’t make a lick of sense, superhero blockbusters continue getting more expensive, but the CGI is getting worse. The overworked and underpaid effects teams worked to the bone is definitely a contributing factor, but it’s galling to see any $200 million blockbuster boasting effects that are ripped straight from a PlayStation 2 cutscene, with Black Adam the most recent offender. Now that Dwayne Johnson’s divisive DCU debut is available to rent and buy on-demand in many territories,…

Despite being Marvel’s most controversial phase to date, the Marvel Cinematic Universe devotees have found one aspect in which they think Phase Four has outdone its predecessors: the cinematography. A viral Reddit post is praising recent Marvel productions’ visuals, light work, and photography. Over ten thousand upvotes seem to indicate that a large portion of the MCU fandom agrees with the post’s statement that “it seems quite noticeable that Marvel has improved on their cinematography game.” User Bruhmangoddman chose…

Hollywood actor Brendan Fraser has finally addressed the abysmal visual effects that were used in `The Mummy Returns` to bring Dwayne Johnson`s Scorpion King to life 21 years ago. According to Variety, during a retrospective interview with GQ magazine, when discussing the 2001 sequel, the actor wasted no time in bringing up the maligned CGI of the film. Fraser said that even the film`s VFX artists knew the Scorpion King CGI was awful, and they warned Fraser about it on the film`s red carpet premiere. "I never met Dwayne…

Get our free weekly email for all the latest cinematic news from our film critic Clarisse LoughreyGet our The Life Cinematic email for freeThe Mummy star Brendan Fraser has defended the “janky” CGI in the film’s sequel, The Mummy ReturnsThe action-adventure movies were released between 1999 and 2008 and starred Fraser as the lead, Rick O’Connell.In The Mummy Returns (2001), Dwayne Johnson made his acting debut as the Scorpion King, a role that inspired the following year’s prequel film The Scorpion King. Unfortunately,…

Get our free weekly email for all the latest cinematic news from our film critic Clarisse LoughreyGet our The Life Cinematic email for freeInitially, CGI was funny because it was so rudimentary. Think pixelated monsters with unblinking eyes, supposedly living beings with stiff robotic arms, explosions more laughable than scary. But even now it’s become incredibly sophisticated, CGI often remains a punchline. Computers might be able to render the soft wisps of hair on a forearm or the subtle shifts in tone on the face of a…

Image via FLIM Henry Thomas knows he’ll always be Elliot, the 11-year-old protagonist of E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial to the millions of fans that grew up with the childhood classic. He’s a fan of the film himself, and its moving story of a young boy that helps an extra-terrestrial being return to the stars — which may be why, just like his fans, he isn’t particularly fond of the changes that were made to the film when it was re-released for its 20th anniversary in 2002.…

Legendary Hollywood director James Cameron, on Wednesday, unveiled the official trailer of the much-awaited sci-fi action film Avatar: The Way of Water. Taking to Instagram, James Cameron shared the trailer which he captioned, "Pandora awaits this December. #AvatarTheWayOfWater."The almost two-and-a-half-minute-long teaser shows the stunning landscape of Pandora, an Earth-like habitable extrasolar moon of the gas giant Polyphemus from the Alpha Centauri system, which was earlier shown in the original film.In the clip,…

The star of this family adventure is meant to be an eight-foot CGI singing crocodile called Lyle (voiced by Canadian pop star Shawn Mendes). But then along comes Javier Bardem with a thinning comb-over and a moustache to rival Hercule Poirot; giving another lip-smackingly juicy performance, Bardem marches away with the film as flamboyant failed showman Hector P Valenti. Next to his dazzle, everything else about Lyle, Lyle Crocodile, adapted from Bernard Waber’s much-loved picture books, looks a bit average.It begins when…

Marvel’s latest cinematic release, Thor: Love and Thunder, has finally arrived on Disney+.The film, a sequel to 2017’s Thor: Ragnarok, stars Chris Hemsworth, Natalie Portman and Christian Bale.When Love and Thunder was first out in cinemas, it attracted substantial criticism for its CGI effects, including from the film’s own director, Taika Waititi. Particular condemnation was brought upon one scene in particular, which saw Thor talk to the disembodied spectre of a child’s head in a vision.As observed by Twitter user…

via Warner Bros./Universal The Marvel Cinematic Universe has been coming under fire throughout Phase Four for its substandard CGI, which also happens to be coinciding with a number of visual effects artists speaking out on adverse working conditions, and we’d be foolish to think the two aren’t related in some way. Of course, underwhelming digital creations have become a regular blight on the good name of cinema since James Cameron and Steven Spielberg kicked the doors open in the early 1990s with Terminator 2:…