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[Zoramon089]

Hey, Zoramon here. Long time poster, but I don't think I've made more than a topic or 2 since I've been here. Anyway, I was wondering GAF, what are your favorite special effects. I'm not talking about what movies you think had the best CG/SFX (although I guess you could give them as answers) but the small touches that you really thought were cool or unique.

My choices would have to be:

-The fire trail the delorean in Back to the Future leaves behind whenever it goes through time. It's just such an awesome effect, especially in the 3rd movie when you just see a trail of fire leading off from the tracks into the air

-Whenever the Millennium Falco goes to warp speed and you see the stars "stretch" as it speeds past them. Another really cool effect that I always enjoy seeing

 

[SCULLIBUNDO]

T1000 freezing in the liquid nitrogen.

Teddy from A.I.

Alien Queen.

Pretty much anything by Stan Winston's team.

The spinning set in 2001 - especially when you see them climb the ladder as if it were upside down. Brilliant.

 

[NumberTwo]

• Lightspeed effect in Star Wars.
• The new Warp speed look and sound effect from the 2009 Star Trek movie.
• The breaking of the sound barrier in Iron Man.

 

[Powerslave]

I love seeing large objects move or get destroyed. They always have a slow and heavy notion and the camera is usually static at those shots. It blows my mind somewhat.

 

[MIMIC]

X-Men 2 - Nightcrawler's smoke after teleportation

Final Destination 2 - The logs falling off of the truck. The shaking of the camera makes it even more dramatic.

 

[The Librarian]

• Lightspeed effect in Star Wars.
  [*]The new Warp speed look and sound effect from the 2009 Star Trek movie.
• The breaking of the sound barrier in Iron Man.

Which look exactly the same.

Any special effect in 2001. You really have to wonder, back when they were making the movie, how they did it. The Star Child, the "Stargate" sequence, inside the Discovery...

 

[SCULLIBUNDO]

Oh, bullet-time. Can't forget bullet time. But only in The Matrix. Everywhere else it is used is horrible.

Despite what people think about the quality of the CG, I love love love the Burly Brawl in Reloaded. My jaw was on the ground throughout that entire sequence when I first saw it.

 

[NumberTwo]

Which look exactly the same.

Any special effect in 2001. You really have to wonder, back when they were making the movie, how they did it. The Star Child, the "Stargate" sequence, inside the Discovery...

Not really. In the new Star Trek, the stars become really bright for a second, they streak just a little bit, and it ends. There is a clip of it on youtube. In Star Wars, all they do is just streak pretty much.

Not to mention when I saw Trek in theaters, I could pretty much FEEL the ships jumping to warp with the deep dynamic sound effect they used. It was amazing.

 

[The Librarian]

Not really. In the new Star Trek, the stars become really bright for a second, they streak just a little bit, and that is pretty much it. There is a clip of it on youtube. In Star Wars, all they do is just streak pretty much.

Are you talking about in the prequels or sequels? Because, from what I remember of the prequels, the FTL drive jumps look exactly the same as Star Trek's.

 

[Blader]

 

[NumberTwo]

Are you talking about in the prequels or sequels? Because, from what I remember of the prequels, the FTL drive jumps look exactly the same as Star Trek's.

I'm talking referencing all Star Wars films; in comparison to the NEW Star Trek movie, the old is effect (from Trek) is pretty much the same.

 

[JB1981]

Seriously

 

[The Librarian]

I'm talking referencing all Star Wars films; in comparison to the NEW Star Trek movie, the old is effect (from Trek) is pretty much the same.

I was mainly speaking about how the ship just moves faster and faster then disappears out of sight. Not what was going on around it.

 

[Wii Will Rock U]

The plane crash in Knowing.

 

[Alucard]

State. Of. The. Art.

 

[Pai Pai Master]

Tons of the effects in T2 still look fucking amazing today. Probably my favourite in film history.

 

[industrian]

State. Of. The. Art.

If you mixed the genes of The Rock, Nicholas Cage and a scorpion, you'd get that IRL.

The monsters in I Am Legend looked shitter than that though.

 

[sarcastor]

when i learnt that this was 100% CGI (well 92% if you don't include the eyes), i nearly shat bricks

 

[btkadams]

im a huge special effects fan but i cant really seem to think of any classics at the moment. honestly, int he past few years this one really wowed me the most:

transformers transforming in bay's movies look totally awesome.

 

[Guled]

when i learnt that this was 100% CGI (well 92% if you don't include the eyes), i nearly shat bricks

this

 

[badcrumble]

Davey Jones still blows me away a couple of years later. That, and the RIFUCKULOUS compositing in the scene where the Endeavour blows up.

 

[pseudocaesar]

Yeh Transformers 2 was just all different kinds of awesome. I also love the effects in the Harry Potter movies (well the last couple, and the upcoming one). Gotta love big budgets.

 

[Forceatowulf]

Various scenes from Children of Men
Various scenes from Jurassic Park
Various scenes from Saving Private Ryan
Various scenes from Transformers
Various scenes from Star wars saga
Various scenes from Lord of the rings trilogy

 

[Darklord]

when i learnt that this was 100% CGI (well 92% if you don't include the eyes), i nearly shat bricks

You'd expect good CGI from a $300m movie.

 

[TAJ]

when i learnt that this was 100% CGI (well 92% if you don't include the eyes), i nearly shat bricks

You got it right the first time. His eyes are CG, too.

 

[Kamillio]

Jurassic Park has excellent CGI for something over a decade old. Still more believable than some films today IMO.

 

[Goreomedy]

Pan's Labyrinth, but not one of the grand spectacle fantasy moments...

It's when the colonel stitches together his own cheek, puts a piece of gauze over it, and then takes a swig of whiskey. The alcohol leaks out of the cut, mixes with blood, and soaks into the gauze as he winces.

I remember the entire audience in the theater howling at the sight.

 

[Jesus Carbomb]

 

[Spire]

Basically the whole thing.

 

[jett]

Yeah Davy Jones is my favorite CG character so far. But only in POTC2. In the third one Ithe director/ILM got a little cocky...the close-up of Jones wiping his tears with one of his tentacles looked terrible.

Jurassic Park has excellent CGI for something over a decade old. Still more believable than some films today IMO.

That's because it's used sparingly and actually most of the time a dinosaur is on screen it's actually an animatronic. Nowadays they plaster CG on anything and everything...

 

[Calcaneus]

Bullets going in slow motion right past the guy and he is barely able to dodge them. Its going to take a hell of a lot to wow me as much as that sequence did.

 

[Stinkles]

Basically the whole thing.

The Blu Ray updated fx are amazing.

 

[TAJ]

The last truly revolutionary effects film was Dragonheart, though.

 

[The Librarian]

The Blu Ray updated fx are amazing.

Still haven't gotten Blade Runner on Blu-Ray. Been meaning to, though.

 

[Dice]

The first person perspective in The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, especially at the beginning. How did they do that?

 

[Forceatowulf]

Damn, can't believe only one guy mentioned the Matrix so far. Oh how easily we forget.

 

[jett]

The Blu Ray updated fx are amazing.

They didn't really update anything. Only thing they did was erase the cables on the flying cars and fix a couple of errors(which is pretty impressive how they did it, they show that stuff in disc 5 ). But the original special FX are as just as good as they were in 1982.

Blade Runner is a movie that will forever stand the test of time.

 

[Sol..]

Pootie Tang scene where he and Dirty Dee are standing staring each other down. And it alternates between close ups of their faces until all of a sudden they are face to face then back to back facing away.

Not a amazing trick. But probably the most effective editing/special FX gag i've ever seen. Just thinking about it has me rolling. Especially the part where it happens and they are like "wait...what?" That movie was pure genius. People just don't realize it yet.

I also really enjoyed the special FX in the first matrix. I'd say it was the last in the great run of the 90s where CG was well placed and somewhat natural. Everything upwards to the end (for obvious reasons) looked believable and not particularly overdone. I must have rewound "Dodge This" a million times. Well done...just fucking well done.

 

[Goreomedy]

They didn't really update anything.

The work they did on Zhora's "retirement" scene is enough to merit inclusion in this thread, imho.

 

[StoOgE]

The stuff they did on those long tracking shots in children of men are fucking amazing.

 

[PhoncipleBone]

They didn't really update anything. Only thing they did was erase the cables on the flying cars and fix a couple of errors(which is pretty impressive how they did it, they show that stuff in disc 5 ). But the original special FX are as just as good as they were in 1982.

Blade Runner is a movie that will forever stand the test of time.

And after seeing the theatrical rerelease last year, the effects hold up well on the big screen too. Truly one of the timeless sci fi movies out there.

The effects in the original Star Wars movies still hold up to me, and I am still in awe of the final space battle in Return of the Jedi since it was all done with motion control. The sheer amount of ships flying around in it is astounding.

The T1000 in Terminator 2 has aged extremely well too.

Of current films, Davey Jones in Pirates is amazing, as are all the robots in Transformers.

For lower budget effects that actually look really damn good, most of the work in Battlestar Galactica is amazing. They are operating on a TV budget and most of the time pull off stuff that looks better than most movies. I would LOVE to see those guys get a real budget and be let loose.

 

[DarthWaiter]

Basically the whole thing.

Ugh what a horrible movie. It's on my worst 5 movies ever list. I can't believe people liked this turd.



Jurassic Park still remains supreme honestly.

 

[2 Minutes Turkish]

Surely Transformer detail when they transform?

Dinosaurs in Jurassic Park

Lightning absorb in Higlander after he kills an immortal. Dodgy, but I love it.

 

[Goreomedy]

Ugh what a horrible movie. It's on my worst 5 movies ever list. I can't believe people liked this turd.

Quick, what are the other four?

 

[kozmo7]

Ever since I was a kid, I've always found this one of the coolest effects in film.

Hard to find stream shots that aren't the video game....

 

[agrajag]

 

[DarthWaiter]

Quick, what are the other four?

Top 5 worst movies ever for me:

Robocop
Ghostbusters
Blade Runner
Transformers
Children of Men

 

[Dan]

The human face

 

[Spire]

Top 5 worst movies ever for me:

Robocop
Ghostbusters
Blade Runner
Transformers
Children of Men

:lol

Classic.

 

[tomjr]

In Spielberg's War of the Worlds, at the beginning of the movie when Tom Cruise is driving the van, the camera is flying around the van as he talks to his son. I suppose this is no different from a car commercial, but it was so subtle to me that took a while until I noticed.