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What old movies hold up because of a lack of special effects or because clever use of effects? (sh.itjust.works)
submitted 11 months ago by to c/asklemmy@lemmy.world
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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?

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[–] 67 points 11 months ago* (12 children)

2001 a space odyssey's effects are completely practical, which make sense since it came out before the first moon landing. it's all physical models and cut-out photographs being moved in stop-motion, or huge rotating sets to simulate centrifugal gravity, or colored film being spun over a set of rollers.

personally i think it's worth it to watch it for the effects alone, which is just as well because its influence is such that it has been eclipsed story-wise by things that came after it and so feels a bit shallow.

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  • [–] 34 points 11 months ago (1 child)

    Kubrick was in charge of faking the moon landing, but he insisted on shooting it on location.

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  • [–] 3 points 11 months ago*

    Nonsense. Kubrick hated travelling. He filmed it in London, like Fullmetal Jacket.

    Being a perfectionist, though, he had NASA land astronauts on the moon to take reference pictures for the backgrounds.

    In exchange for filming it NASA gave him the lens he used to film Barry Lyndon's candlelit scenes.

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  • [–] 8 points 11 months ago (2 children)

    Gotta agree with this. The only effect that doesn't look 100% real is when the space stewardess walks up the walls to deliver food to the cockpit of Aries moon lander. Everything else looks amazing.

    And don't watch it in 480p on a phone screen. If you can, get yourself the 4K Blu-Ray version (the copy I ripped is 72 gigabytes. Yes it's worth it).

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  • [–] 9 points 11 months ago (1 child)

    She’s walking funny on purpose. Those are meant to be some kind of velcro or magnetic slippers she’s wearing. She’s walking carefully because she doesn’t want to go drifting around in microgravity while carrying a tray of food.

    That’s my interpretation, anyway.

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  • [–] 1 point 11 months ago*

    That's very plausible, but it still doesn't work well and looks silly IMO. The storytelling doesn't quite work there.

    Edit: Also the little shuffle still doesn't make sense to me even with your framing. I'd still expect her to take somewhat larger, less awkward steps. And sway a little less. Except the room is rotating around her.

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  • [–] 4 points 11 months ago (4 children)

    I tried watching this movie but couldn't get further than 20-30min. I was just bored out of my mind. None of the sci-fi or story elements were interesting enough to keep me engaged.
    It might be a good movie but I think it's just not for me

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  • [–] 5 points 11 months ago (2 children)

    it's very slow and esoteric, it was criticised for it even at the time. if you approach it as a demonstration of pre-digital film techniques, and try to figure out how things were done, it may hold your attention longer. if you're into that sort of thing.

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