50 Most Influential visual effects films of all time

[Zeus]

As chosen by the Visual Effects Society:

http://www.mania.com/54668.html

Let the debate begin (especially about #25 :-)

[Flip]

Hmmm, i thought Toy Story and T2 would be much much higher, like to 10. Plus, #8? Close Encounters was a good movie, but the visuals sucked and there wasnt really a lot of it... that movie worked on intrigue.

[Eric]

Where the fuck is Get Rich and Die Tryin?! That movie had great visuals! Like when 50 got shot in the face!

[Oracle]

This ranking has one GLARING problem that therefor (in my eyes) invalidates it.

They ranked Fellowship of the Ring higher in visual effects than BOTH Two Towers and Return of the King (Gondor anyone?).


Edit : and yes I know it's a rating of INFLUENTIAL effects, so therefore FotR would have influenced TTT and RotK, BUT I DONT CARE!

[Zeus]

Hmmm, i thought Toy Story and T2 would be much much higher, like to 10. Plus, #8? Close Encounters was a good movie, but the visuals sucked and there wasnt really a lot of it... that movie worked on intrigue.

You gotta look at it for the time. Close Encounters was what, 1973? We're talking pre-Star Wars, Aliens, and all the others that dragged special effects kicking and screaming into the new age.

I'm happy none of you are complaining about Forrest Gump and Titanic. They were very important in their own right showing how effects could blend seamlessly into live action. T2 did it somewhat but Gump and Titanic were two of the bigger films that showed just how good it could really look.

[Julius Seeker]

I don't know a lot about the history of special effects, but I think it is a bit biased towards Star Wars films. Starwars, from what I saw, didn't really do anything that hadn't been done before in things such as Star Trek. What movies did Starwars influence besides (maybe Krull) Starwars 2?

Terminator 2, in my opinion, should be #1.

Then with the Fellowship of the Ring, keep in mind that it didn't influence the Two Towers or Return of the King because all of them were in development at the same time.

[Blotus]

I don't know a lot about the history of special effects, but I think it is a bit biased towards Star Wars films. Starwars, from what I saw, didn't really do anything that hadn't been done before in things such as Star Trek. What movies did Starwars influence besides (maybe Krull) Starwars 2?

Watch the documentary "Empire of Dreams". Most of the technology that fueled the special effects of Star Wars were created by the production team for that movie. THX and Industrial Light and Magic were born from Star Wars. Where THX set an industry standard for sound (and picture) quality, ILM is responsible for the special effects in hundreds of movies. I'm sure they were responsible for the effects in many movies on this list.

They also worked on Terminator 2.

Take a look at the list:
http://imdb.com/company/co0072491/

[Zeus]

I don't know a lot about the history of special effects, but I think it is a bit biased towards Star Wars films. Starwars, from what I saw, didn't really do anything that hadn't been done before in things such as Star Trek. What movies did Starwars influence besides (maybe Krull) Starwars 2?

Terminator 2, in my opinion, should be #1.

Then with the Fellowship of the Ring, keep in mind that it didn't influence the Two Towers or Return of the King because all of them were in development at the same time.

You really have no clue just how important a film Star Wars was, do you? There's a reason the film institute showed it this year at their annual gathering....and these are artsy fartsy, tent-pole-up-their-asses film "experts" we're talking about. They wack off to The Queen and turn their noses up to The Matrix.

That movie did three insanely important things for movies:

1) It invented the idea of good special effects. Star Trek and everything before it was cheesy-assed shit. See Lotus' post for more details.
2) It invented the idea of the blockbuster. There was no such thing as the blockbuster film before then. You had insanely popular films (2001 lasted over a year in theatres) but nothing that everyone rushed to go see. The whole deal of the big movie with the hype and marketing started with Star Wars
3) It invented the idea of merchandising. Lucas didn't get a whole lot of support from Fox, they basically took a flier on him and gave him the bare minimum support. That's why the guys would essentially work on the movie after their real jobs were over (how ILM and the effects were invented). So he said "fine, give me a minimal salary but I want all merchandising rights". He was laughed at 'cause that was nothing back then. With a $3B industry, who's laughing now? Next to saying the roundhouse kick isn't the most effective way of killing a man, this is widely considered to be the worst thing mistake ever made.

On top of all that, it made Fox into a studio. Fox was a nothing studio before Star Wars.

In many ways, it really is one of the most important films of all time. It's influence is still felt today.

[Julius Seeker]

I don't know a lot about the history of special effects, but I think it is a bit biased towards Star Wars films. Starwars, from what I saw, didn't really do anything that hadn't been done before in things such as Star Trek. What movies did Starwars influence besides (maybe Krull) Starwars 2?

Watch the documentary "Empire of Dreams". Most of the technology that fueled the special effects of Star Wars were created by the production team for that movie. THX and Industrial Light and Magic were born from Star Wars. Where THX set an industry standard for sound (and picture) quality, ILM is responsible for the special effects in hundreds of movies. I'm sure they were responsible for the effects in many movies on this list.

They also worked on Terminator 2.

Take a look at the list:
http://imdb.com/company/co0072491/

Oh yeah, I wasn't thinking of that at all. I guess perhaps Starwars was quite influential.

[Julius Seeker]

2) It invented the idea of the blockbuster. There was no such thing as the blockbuster film before then. You had insanely popular films (2001 lasted over a year in theatres) but nothing that everyone rushed to go see. The whole deal of the big movie with the hype and marketing started with Star Wars

I am quite sure Spielberg invented the contemporary blockbuster film.

[Eric]

I don't know a lot about the history of special effects, but I think it is a bit biased towards Star Wars films. Starwars, from what I saw, didn't really do anything that hadn't been done before in things such as Star Trek. What movies did Starwars influence besides (maybe Krull) Starwars 2?

Watch the documentary "Empire of Dreams". Most of the technology that fueled the special effects of Star Wars were created by the production team for that movie. THX and Industrial Light and Magic were born from Star Wars. Where THX set an industry standard for sound (and picture) quality, ILM is responsible for the special effects in hundreds of movies. I'm sure they were responsible for the effects in many movies on this list.

They also worked on Terminator 2.

Take a look at the list:
http://imdb.com/company/co0072491/

Oh yeah, I wasn't thinking of that at all. I guess perhaps Starwars was quite influential.

Eh? No arguement? That's out of character for you. I demand you pull up stats and links and prove Zeus wrong! SPIN IT DAMNIT, SPIN IT.

[Zeus]

2) It invented the idea of the blockbuster. There was no such thing as the blockbuster film before then. You had insanely popular films (2001 lasted over a year in theatres) but nothing that everyone rushed to go see. The whole deal of the big movie with the hype and marketing started with Star Wars

I am quite sure Spielberg invented the contemporary blockbuster film.

No, it was Star Wars, period.

[Kupek]

Uh, Jaws is actually credited with being the first summer blockbuster.

[bovine]

Jaws is 1975 and Star Wars is 1977. I'm going with Kupek on this one.

[Eric]

50 Cent, shot in the face, come on!

[Zeus]

Jaws is 1975 and Star Wars is 1977. I'm going with Kupek on this one.

Me too. I concede this point to Kupek and Seek, they were right. Star Wars was basically the second one.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blockbuste ... ainment%29

I will however point out that the other points made regarding Star Wars' importance are still valid

[Julius Seeker]

Watch the documentary "Empire of Dreams". Most of the technology that fueled the special effects of Star Wars were created by the production team for that movie. THX and Industrial Light and Magic were born from Star Wars. Where THX set an industry standard for sound (and picture) quality, ILM is responsible for the special effects in hundreds of movies. I'm sure they were responsible for the effects in many movies on this list.

They also worked on Terminator 2.

Take a look at the list:
http://imdb.com/company/co0072491/

Oh yeah, I wasn't thinking of that at all. I guess perhaps Starwars was quite influential.

Eh? No arguement? That's out of character for you. I demand you pull up stats and links and prove Zeus wrong! SPIN IT DAMNIT, SPIN IT.

Dude, you already did and you're right. I'm not arguing against that =P