cgi spiders aren't scary

[pauraque_bk]

We just rewatched Chamber of Secrets, which I own for some reason. I hadn't seen it in a really long time, probably not since about the time I got into the fandom, which was around when it came out on DVD. My impressions were these:

- This movie is so long.
- Absolutely everything that happens is followed by four or five reaction shots. Sometimes the reaction shots are of characters who don't even have names or lines!
- Movies were better before CGI existed.
- This movie is all about hats. Arthur's pointy hat. Minerva's tartan hat. Lucius's furry hat. Harry pulls a deus ex machina literally out of a hat. Hats, man.
- Jason Isaacs and Kenneth Branagh totally saved everything.
- Snakes can't hear. Well, technically they have earlike structures that can detect vibrations. But they sure as hell can't hear you whispering, nor that pebble Harry threw. And they can certainly smell, so Harry should have gotten eaten either way.
- Hagrid's homecoming scene is SO OVERBLOWN that it gets into self-parody territory. Standing ovation WTF??
- Everybody in the world wants to get into Harry's pants.

Comments

[ook.livejournal.com]

A friend dragged me to see this film in the theater (I was not a Potter fan at the time). I fell asleep TWICE...the film was so long and there were so many scenes of people just TALKING.

The snake could have felt the vibration of the pebble that Harry tossed, but wouldn't have been able to hear Harry whispering.

Yes, film were much better before the use of CGI. I just watched a clip where Dumbledore's blackened, withered hand (in Half Blood Prince) was shown as being added in using CGI. WTF? Why not just use a simply rubber prosthetic hand?

[pauraque]

CGI effects can never look as good as physical effects, because they can't possibly get the lighting to EXACTLY match up to the rest of the things in the scene. Even very good CGI always looks a little off.