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?
Would Aliens be acceptable here?.The practical effects were incredibly well done as were the matte paintings.
Wizard of Oz sepia “filter” fits in here?
I’m also going to in honesty pick Brazil (1985). It still holds up really well.
The Thing. Effects hold up astonishingly well today.
Lord of the Rings.
Jurassic Park comes to mind. The scene with the raptors in the kitchen uses a mix of puppets and CGI.
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.
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.
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
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.
2001 looks awesome still, despite being a space film from the 60s
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
The Abyss holds up fantastically for being from the 80’s.
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The fifth element.
Who Framed Roger Rabbit is a masterpiece of clever tricks, superb acting, and professional animation.
The Thing still has the best practical movie monster effects I have ever seen. And the most upsetting.
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon is a breathtaking film that uses wirework choreography to transport you into a storybook fantasy.
+1 who framed Roger rabbit. The performance and eye contact is unreal. Watch Disney new vfx remakes, no one can match that.
During COVID lockdowns, my husband and I started coming up with movie anthologies or themes we could watch so we would A) always know what to watch next and B) further educate ourselves in film. My favorite anthology to date has been John Carpenter. I had never seen a John Carpenter movie before and we went through all of them and it was a blast. But out of all of his films, The Thing was by far the most impactful. My husband and I both grew up on the Internet and are highly desensitized to gross and scary things. But we were both on the edge of our seats while also appreciating the masterful prosthetics and puppetry that went into that movie. I always have to warn people, that I can’t recommend it enough but it’s not for the faint of heart. Definitely one of the Great horror films ever made.
I love Redlettermedia and that was a great series!
Yay! 😁
Two out of these three are movies I keep coming back to.
Welp, guess I can’t avoid the Thing for much longer. Unless, of course, I can.
I’m not much for horror. But, it’s also sci-fi. I’m torn.
On a scale of 0 to Event Horizon and Alien (1979), I assume the Thing is beyond even these.
I love Event Horizon, but I don’t put it quite on the same shelf as Alien and The Thing. It’s “A” tier against “S” tier for me. But they are all what I’d consider sci-fi horror. If you like those two, pull the trigger and watch Carpenter’s masterpiece.
The Thing, Terminator 2, Jurassic Park, Alien(s), ET - just from top of my head. The Thing would be my favorite out of the bunch. No CGI, just pure and hardcore man-made effects.
Terminator 2 and Jurassic Park make heavy use of CGI. The liquid metal effects in T2, and any time you see an entire dinosaur that is standing up and moving around in Jurassic Park, are computer generated. They were just done very well.
Of course T2 and Jurassic Park has CGI and it holds fucking strong today still. When I was talking about no CGI, I was talking about The Thing being my fav out of the bunch because of no CGI and just looking awesome so many years later.
Jurassic park is a classic one to list in this category. The reason is that they mixed a lot of practical with the CGI and (imo more importantly) because they used the CGI sparingly and in a way that was basically “what if there was a bigger animatronic there” without going over board with it.
Still my favorite movie of all time
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!!
