Which 'older' CGI/ Visual FX still hold up really well today?

[levcore]

Of course Jurassic Park is the obvious one, and is always mentioned. Whilst the FX are great, watching it recently does reveal the CGI to be very much of its time. It's expertly employed but some of the shots do look a bit spotty now. It's rare to find 'older' CGI shots that look absolutely flawless. I watched Red Planet (2000) the other day and the AMEE robot looks absolutely superb in that and could easily hold its own with todays VFX. Any other good examples of excellent CG work from slightly older movies?

[NoFro]

Despite the criticism the film gets for its use of CGI, I think there is a lot of stunning work in The Phantom Menace.

In fact, all the prequels have work that's way ahead compared to the other blockbuster films of their time. It's crazy to think that Attack of the Clones and Spider-Man came out the same year.

[levcore]

Originally Posted by NoFro

Despite the criticism the film gets for its use of CGI, I think there is a lot of stunning work in The Phantom Menace.

In fact, all the prequels have work that's way ahead compared to the other blockbuster films of their time. It's crazy to think that Attack of the Clones and Spider-Man came out the same year.

This. I think The Phantom Menace has some astonishing world building CGI that does hold up really well. Yes there are a lot of creatures etc that don't, but a lot of it is still excellent and IMO looks better than stuff that showed up 3 years later in Attack of the Clones.

[Kryptonic]

Originally Posted by NoFro

Despite the criticism the film gets for its use of CGI, I think there is a lot of stunning work in The Phantom Menace.

In fact, all the prequels have work that's way ahead compared to the other blockbuster films of their time. It's crazy to think that Attack of the Clones and Spider-Man came out the same year.

Only AOTC suffers slightly in some shots. I think they were over extending a tad at times with the technology of the time, but 95% of the movie still looks stunning. ROTS is amazing. There are still some shots in TPM where I have a hard time figuring out what's practical and what's CGI - the close-up's of the Battle Droids emerging from the tanks at the end, for instance.

An older one that I feel still holds up remarkably well is Close Encounters of the Third Kind. The ships and lights and opticals still look extremely impressive and natural.

Obviously, 2001 looks just as amazing as the day it was released.

And I still think there are some shots in Superman: The Movie that hold up to recent films. One of the my favorite shots is near the end when Superman is searching for Luthor and we see him fly past from the inside of an office building. That shot still looks amazing.

[L.J.]

Pitch Black still looks good.

[tigertron]

Originally Posted by Kryptonic

Only AOTC suffers slightly in some shots. I think they were over extending a tad at times with the technology of the time, but 95% of the movie still looks stunning. ROTS is amazing. There are still some shots in TPM where I have a hard time figuring out what's practical and what's CGI - the close-up's of the Battle Droids emerging from the tanks at the end, for instance.

I agree, they hold up very well.

I think T2 holds up well too.

[Kryptonic]

Originally Posted by tigertron

I think T2 holds up well too.

Yeah, the smart thing that Cameron and Muren did was realize what the limitations of the CGI were, so they used it sparingly and worked hard to make those shots work as well as they possible could. Quality over quantity. And then the rest was a mix of practical and opticals that blended nicely with the sparing CGI effects.

[ChainsawJedi]

Terminator 2, Star Wars I, II and III, Spiderman and The Lord of The Rings.

[Saccharin]

Why didn't expand the Thread with none computer FX or do you mean this with Visual FX if it so than here are some that :
John Carpenter: The Thing
John Landis: A American Werewolf in London
Clive Barker: Hellraiser
Wes Craven: A Nightmare on Elmstreet & all the sequels
Paul Verhoeven: Total Recall
Ridley Scott: Alien & Blade Runner
Steven Spielberg: JAWS, Close Encounter of the Third Kind, E.T.
Fritz Lang: Metropolis
James Cameron: the Terminator

For CGI:
James Cameron: the Abyss
Wachowski Siblings: The Matrix
Christopher Nolan: Inception (maybe to fresh)
Robert Zemeckis: Forrest Gump
David Fincher: Zodiac
Martin Scorcese: the Aviator

Well that is it me for now. I hope this is what you all mean by this

[Mr. Chaverria]

Originally Posted by Kryptonic

Yeah, the smart thing that Cameron and Muren did was realize what the limitations of the CGI were, so they used it sparingly and worked hard to make those shots work as well as they possible could. Quality over quantity. And then the rest was a mix of practical and opticals that blended nicely with the sparing CGI effects.

T2 is the best example for me.

The scene w/ the coffee machine works really well. Among others.

And the things they did w/ it are pretty big deal. They worked real hard to make it work. I miss that Jim Cameron.

[ChainsawJedi]

Originally Posted by Kryptonic

Only AOTC suffers slightly in some shots. I think they were over extending a tad at times with the technology of the time, but 95% of the movie still looks stunning. ROTS is amazing. There are still some shots in TPM where I have a hard time figuring out what's practical and what's CGI - the close-up's of the Battle Droids emerging from the tanks at the end, for instance.

[mastadge]

Starship Troopers. Okay, the brainbug is a bit spotty but the space effects and especially the bug effects still look better than similar effects in many more recent movies.

[Monterey Jack]

Originally Posted by mastadge

Starship Troopers. Okay, the brainbug is a bit spotty but the space effects and especially the bug effects still look better than similar effects in many more recent movies.

Yep...that film looked AMAZING in 1997 and still impresses today.

[octagon]

Originally Posted by NoFro

Despite the criticism the film gets for its use of CGI, I think there is a lot of stunning work in The Phantom Menace.

I haven't seen TPM on a big screen since its release but yeah, the effects do hold up very, very well. To the extent where people still have a hard time distinguishing the practical and digital effects.

Originally Posted by Kryptonic

An older one that I feel still holds up remarkably well is Close Encounters of the Third Kind. The ships and lights and opticals still look extremely impressive and natural.

I was blown away by this when it was released. Not exactly in the same way or to the same degree as Star Wars but it was very, very impressive. And I kind of expected to be a little let down when I watched the BD and was very pleasantly surprised at how well it held up.

And to follow the practical effects train of thought even farther back, I really can't believe how good the matte work is on Forbidden Planet. A lot of those effects are very good but pretty much scream '1950s' but some of the matte stuff is almost completely transparent.

[Prog5000]

Originally Posted by NoFro

Despite the criticism the film gets for its use of CGI, I think there is a lot of stunning work in The Phantom Menace.

In fact, all the prequels have work that's way ahead compared to the other blockbuster films of their time. It's crazy to think that Attack of the Clones and Spider-Man came out the same year.

Phantom menace still looks great. Still many models in use. Clones on the other hand looked like a ps2 game on release, especially the sets, and time hasn’t changed that.

[levcore]

Yeah the tech wasn't quite there in 2002.

[DR Herbert West]

Starship Troopers still holds up.

[Ernest Rister]

[TheWildWhelk]

Originally Posted by Prog5000

Phantom menace still looks great. Still many models in use. Clones on the other hand looked like a ps2 game on release, especially the sets, and time hasn’t changed that.

I remember seeing Clones in the cinema back in '02 and i really wasn't blown away with the CG in the film. Menace looks stunning, but quality control for the trilogy slipped with Episode 2. It got back on track to stunning effect with 'Sith' though, the CG is a generation apart in that film, especially any of the Coruscant scenes.

[Bluyoda]

Two words:

Davy Jones

Jar Jar Binks looks great, as does Watto, well if they hadn't DNR'd everything so much that is.

Yoda from ROTS is perfect.