OK Movies That Could Have Been Great

[Jim H]

"I like the way the characters move in "Fire and Ice," especially when running - that looks quite good."

I assume you're aware of the animation technique it uses, rotoscoping, right?  If you haven't seen the DVD yet, it has some pretty nice footage of the actors doing stuff in live action to be traced over.  Pretty cool actually.  Fire and Ice is probably his most solid film overall. 

My vote goes out to Kibakichi.  Samurai quasi-Werewolf fantasy chambara film.  Decent opening, quite entertaining finale, but the entire middle hour of the film is BORING.  It should have been trimmed A LOT and there should have been at least ONE action scene in the middle hour of the film.  How about giving us a hint of Kichi's werewolf look before the climax, for example?

[akiratubo]

I'd like to see Bakshi do some more movies, though I know "Cool World" put a pretty big dent in him.

Cool World is another good example of a movie that could have been a lot better.  From what I understand - I don't know how true this is - Bakshi wasn't near done with the movie, particularly the live-action segments, when the studio cut off his funding and told him to just edit together what he had.  If that's not true, it was certainly edited to hell and back.  Cool World sure seems like it's missing a lot of important details.

[Andrew]

I assume you're aware of the animation technique it uses, rotoscoping, right?  If you haven't seen the DVD yet, it has some pretty nice footage of the actors doing stuff in live action to be traced over.  Pretty cool actually.  Fire and Ice is probably his most solid film overall. 

Sure did know about the rotoscoping, and it looks pretty good for evil creatures when they fill in with black or other dark colors, like they did in "Wizards."    For some reason, those scenes and other serious ones all fit together with the characters such as Avatar and Elinore, which are much more cartoony in appearance.

I did not realize there was a short feature on the DVD about the making of the movie.  Will be pulling the DVD out to watch that, because it sounds interesting.  Thanks for the heads up.

[Just Plain Horse]

Yes, Cool World could have been a lot, lot better... but I can't help but think a plot that seems to hinge so much on act of sex- and clearly not performances, since the best actors are are all hampered in some way (Bryne comes and goes, Basinger's animated most of the time, and Brad... well, he looks the part, I guess)- can't work when there's really no sex to speak of. It was about as intense as an Archie comic, only animated, and with better music...

I finally saw the new Kong, and boy was it overblown. Some good parts on the island, but overall, it seemed like a mess. Still, at least I didn't have to pay to see it.

Ah, Deanzilla. Never forget, lest such a travesty be repeated. Gumballs, anyone?

[Jim H]

I assume you're aware of the animation technique it uses, rotoscoping, right?  If you haven't seen the DVD yet, it has some pretty nice footage of the actors doing stuff in live action to be traced over.  Pretty cool actually.  Fire and Ice is probably his most solid film overall. 

Sure did know about the rotoscoping, and it looks pretty good for evil creatures when they fill in with black or other dark colors, like they did in "Wizards."    For some reason, those scenes and other serious ones all fit together with the characters such as Avatar and Elinore, which are much more cartoony in appearance.

I did not realize there was a short feature on the DVD about the making of the movie.  Will be pulling the DVD out to watch that, because it sounds interesting.  Thanks for the heads up.

Er, just to be clear, it's the Fire and Ice DVD that has the documentary stuff I meant.

Fire and Ice is almost entirely rotoscoped, so they have quite a bit of the footage (along with rough, colored, and final animation over it) on the documentaries (I think there are two) on the DVD.  DVD is quite expensive, but it has some nice extras.

[Andrew]

Yes, I had assumed that was the DVD in question.  Already have it in my collection.

[SaintMort]

[quote author=clockworkcanary link=topic=112076.msg122405#msg122405 date=1165945657

My proposal for a halfway decent D&D movie is as follows, and this is something Kevin Smith could probably pull off, although I'm not a huge fan of his -seems to be up his alley:

They need to make a D&D movie from the players' perspective ... show the group of players getting together around the table, dealing with the antics of trying to play a game and then intercut it with animated sections of the gameplay/adventure itself. 

This way, they could insert a lot of comedy - you know, show the guy who always shows up to the game late, the other guy who's girlfriend keeps calling and interrupting the game, the guy who always seems to get killed/ko'd, etc.,  And they could showcase each type of player as well: the manly man/real man, the brainac puzzle solver, the thespian who tries to talk to every npc, the loon, and the munchie.  They need to showcase the best elements of the game - players making fun of each other, throwing cheezy puffs at one another, etc.,
[/quote]

Check out a indie short film (short like 55 minutes) called The Gamers. That's the exact premise. It's hilarious, my friends and I tend to watch it about once a week. it's done by a group called the dead gentlemen i think their website is www.deadgentlemen.com; you're going to have to buy it becuase I'm pretty sure you can't netflix it or rent (i might be wrong) but it's well worth your money.

[SaintMort]

I'd like to see Bakshi do some more movies, though I know "Cool World" put a pretty big dent in him.

Cool World is another good example of a movie that could have been a lot better.  From what I understand - I don't know how true this is - Bakshi wasn't near done with the movie, particularly the live-action segments, when the studio cut off his funding and told him to just edit together what he had.  If that's not true, it was certainly edited to hell and back.  Cool World sure seems like it's missing a lot of important details.

I was just on IMDB looking at this movie the original plot to cool world was so completely different, the studio re-wrote the script without his permission... the original film was about a live action animator who has sex with his cartoon creation and she gives birth to half cartoon/half live action child. The Child grows up hating what it is and goes into the real world to track down it's father... it was suppose to be a R-rated horror movie.

I say he remakes Cool World as that movie instead... I'd see it.

[CoreyHeldpen]

Pretty much all of the Sci-Fi Channel's films, even some of their better ones, could have turned out much better. As a matter of fact, I think the Sci-Fi Channel should change its name to the Wasted Potential Channel.

[Doggett]

Robocop 2

I've always thought that film had a lot of potential if they only followed their ideas through.

[God the Worms]

Pretty much every Puppet Master after the first one. I do like some of them, but I felt like none on them ever caught the same magic as the first. I'm talking about the series itself, not vs. Dollman, Demonic Toys, or anything of those.

Pumpkinhead had really cool atmosphere and an excellent story, but it seemed lacking in it's overall delivery. Actually, my favorite of the series is one of the Sci-Fi originals.

[Zombies 2012]

Pretty much all of the Sci-Fi Channel's films, even some of their better ones, could have turned out much better. As a matter of fact, I think the Sci-Fi Channel should change its name to the Wasted Potential Channel.

You just made my whole day. 

[Used Meathook]

A lot of the Full Moon films. I found a lot of them to be rather tame in terms of the violence and gore. If you're going to make a low-budget cheesy horror movie, at least give the audience something to cheer for aside from some neat makeup/effects. It's almost like Full Moon is actually afraid to show somebody getting "offed" in some of their films.

[Skull]

A lot of the Full Moon films. I found a lot of them to be rather tame in terms of the violence and gore. If you're going to make a low-budget cheesy horror movie, at least give the audience something to cheer for aside from some neat makeup/effects. It's almost like Full Moon is actually afraid to show somebody getting "offed" in some of their films.

My wife and I was watching the Subspecies series a few months back and I'd actually believe they could of been much better if the background music wasnt so "slugglish" it makes me sleepy at times and the slow, slow moving stop motion monsters looks too silly... often I'd wonder their purpose besides looking cool in the 90's.

In general most Full Moon films needs a little push and for whatever reason the producers dont. Maybe it's because they assume direct to video sales would be more then enough for the franchise.

[Kaseykockroach]

The first two Tremors movies.
I'm sure it's just me, but I just can't stand romantic plot tumors in my monster movies. It really brought down the films for me. I'm only saying the first two due to not having revisited 3 & 4 yet, so I don't recall whether or not these were also plagued by godawful mushiness.