Rise Of The Silver Surfer: Teaser Trailer...

[Sharktopus]

I really doubt Uatu will mkae an appearance. The movie way too goofy already with a silver guy on a flying surfboard and a yet-to-be-seen planet-eating cosmic entity. There's just no room for a giant-headed bald guy in a toga who just watches. I want to know what Jack Kirby was on when came up with this stuff.

The real questions are how will the do Galactus? (I could see some influence from Warren Ellis' Ultimate Galactus being incorporated.) And how will Doom feature in this? Because they screwed him up royally.

Screw the millions of people it will alienate! I wants my Uatu! 

The only piece of casting they really got right was Michael Chiklis as the Thing, though I would've liked to have seen a CG version of the character.

I'm pretty happy with the casting besides Sue and Doom. I think Ioan Gruffudd is as close as you can get to a real Reed while still being likable. (Let's face it, Reed in the comics is a dick.) I thought Alexis Denisof (Buffy/Angel's Wesley) also could've been Reed as well. Chris Evans makes as good a Johnny as anyone - loud, brash, kind or irritating but generally good-hearted. As for Ben, I think the prosthetics and whatnot are fine. I'd like him to be a bit bigger, but it's worth it for Chiklis to be able to act through the suit. With the budget limitations they have, a CG Thing would look way worse. When they cast Andre Braugher but didn't say who he was playing, did you think Puppet Master too? Man, that would be cool...

[J-Proof]

Okay - so I really think Jessica Alba is like.... one of the most beautiful people in movies....smokin'...... And her acting ability isn't nearly as bad as Britney Murphy's, which you can see plainly in Sin City. And I can think of many other actresses with much worse acting abilities than her... In fact, I think Alba is capable of good stuff, she just needs the right role.

That being said - F4 was really bad (and Alba cannot be blamed for it- the movie just seemed to lack that necessary umf).... I really hope they do Silver Surfer justice in this movie, and based on the preview, this movie looks better than the first (tho previews that aren't RiffTrax trailers usually lie). I really hope Silver Surfer, one of the best comic book personalities around, is done correctly.

[Tarantulas]

Okay - so I really think Jessica Alba is like.... one of the most beautiful people in movies....smokin'...... And her acting ability isn't nearly as bad as Britney Murphy's, which you can see plainly in Sin City. And I can think of many other actresses with much worse acting abilities than her... In fact, I think Alba is capable of good stuff, she just needs the right role.

That being said - F4 was really bad (and Alba cannot be blamed for it- the movie just seemed to lack that necessary umf).... I really hope they do Silver Surfer justice in this movie, and based on the preview, this movie looks better than the first (tho previews that aren't RiffTrax trailers usually lie). I really hope Silver Surfer, one of the best comic book personalities around, is done correctly.

Here's hoping they go into space, die, and pave the way for a Marvel Zombies movie

[Sharktopus]

Okay - so I really think Jessica Alba is like.... one of the most beautiful people in movies....smokin'...... And her acting ability isn't nearly as bad as Britney Murphy's, which you can see plainly in Sin City. And I can think of many other actresses with much worse acting abilities than her... In fact, I think Alba is capable of good stuff, she just needs the right role.

Saying someone's a better actor than Brittany Murphy is not exactly high praise.

Here's hoping they go into space, die, and pave the way for a Marvel Zombies movie

I would eat your brains to see a Marvel Zombies movie. You've heard about Ash Vs. Marvel Zombies, right?

[Pak-Man]

Here's the thing about things looking "Overly CGI."

With things like The Hulk, or Silver Surfer, there's only 2 ways to go. You can put them in cheesy costumes, or you can CGI 'em, but either way, your brain shouts out FAKE. Silver Surfer looks like a man made out of silver. There's no way your brain's gonna take in a man made out of silver, and think anything but, "That has to be a special effect! I'll bet it's CGI! It looks like CGI!" It's exactly the same thing as it was back in the day when people would go to movies and come out saying, "I could tell Greedo was wearing a rubber mask!" Ya think!? The point of movies is to suspend disbelief. As long as Silver Surfer is competantly represented (And I think he is) then the CGI is done well enough. :^)

[Sharktopus]

Pak makes a good point. But I think the biggest factor in selling an audience on a CG character isn't how it looks so much as how it moves. Gollum worked because they motion captured Andy Serkis, a talented physical actor. I' not sure how they animated the Hulk, but he ended up moving like a puppet. (Plus Hulk's rendering just never looked real-world to me...) I know they have Doug Jones for the Surfer, who was Abe Sapien in Hellboy and a couple characters in Pan's Labyrinth, so hopefully the Surfer will move in a believable manor.

[kodiakthejuggler]

Here's the thing about things looking "Overly CGI."

With things like The Hulk, or Silver Surfer, there's only 2 ways to go. You can put them in cheesy costumes, or you can CGI 'em, but either way, your brain shouts out FAKE. Silver Surfer looks like a man made out of silver. There's no way your brain's gonna take in a man made out of silver, and think anything but, "That has to be a special effect! I'll bet it's CGI! It looks like CGI!" It's exactly the same thing as it was back in the day when people would go to movies and come out saying, "I could tell Greedo was wearing a rubber mask!" Ya think!? The point of movies is to suspend disbelief. As long as Silver Surfer is competantly represented (And I think he is) then the CGI is done well enough. :^)

In my case, I did CG character animation in college, and it just jumps out at me when I see it. Sure, my brain knows it's not a real person, but when it's not mo-cap, the human movement aspect of the equation is much harder to capture. Some of the movements the Silver Surfer made in the trailer did not look realistic. The same goes for movies like Spiderman, when he does the crazy moves in the air, they switch to a fully CG character, and the current state of the industry has not made it to perfection just yet.

It's not far away from fully CG human characters that are indistinguishable from real people.

[mrbasehart]

I' not sure how they animated the Hulk,,,

I'm pretty sure he was motion-captured and Ang Lee was the one acting out the part.  I agree with you on the CG aspect of it, and as I said, my initial reaction to the look of the Silver Surfer may be that I haven't really seen him represented properly onscreen before.  I still want Uatu, though! He's so kitsch that he'll either ruin the movie or save it.

[J-Proof]

Mo-Cap can even suck, as Kodiak said. Even Spider Man looks really fake..... And the Matrix sequels... don't even get me started.

Why Gollum worked is that even tho some instances looked fake, he was still trated like a real character, not a stunt double, know what I mean?

[kodiakthejuggler]

Mo-Cap can even suck, as Kodiak said. Even Spider Man looks really fake..... And the Matrix sequels... don't even get me started.

Why Gollum worked is that even tho some instances looked fake, he was still trated like a real character, not a stunt double, know what I mean?

Gollum looked great, and Serkis's acting is better than Oscar-worthy. The lucky thing is, Gollum is not 100% human-like. He is very exaggerated, small, hunched over, etc. The mind is more easily fooled in that case. And, I think the animators were just that much better than the Hollywood animators. WETA's talent is more apparent.

For the Matrix sequels, even though the CG characters did suck(big time), they were in The Matrix, so an argument can be put forth that the "human" look of the characters begins to diminish once they are able to manipulate the Matrix, and can do those things that ordinary humans can't do in real life.

OTOH, it was just crappy CGI.   

[Sharktopus]

For the Matrix sequels, even though the CG characters did suck(big time), they were in The Matrix, so an argument can be put forth that the "human" look of the characters begins to diminish once they are able to manipulate the Matrix, and can do those things that ordinary humans can't do in real life.

You can make the same argument for the Silver Surfer, Spider-Man, or the Hulk. They're not human, not really, so they can move in ways humans can't. Spidey's far more flexible and agile than any human, the Surfer is pretty much liquid metal like the T-1000. You could argue Hulk is still restricted to human movements, I haven't really given it much thought. In fact, if you're using CGI to create a character, then it's probably not a human anyway, or else you'd have a human play the part.

[Pak-Man]

Exactly. It's not like we'd get a better surfer with a bunch of aluminum foil and some face paint. :^)

[sarcasm_made_Easy]

Exactly. It's not like we'd get a better surfer with a bunch of aluminum foil and some face paint.

That depends on the casting.  Im willing to bet face paint and a ball of foil would out act keneau

[Andrew1911]

It looks like more of the same which is bad news.

[Variety of Cells]

For the Matrix sequels, even though the CG characters did suck(big time), they were in The Matrix, so an argument can be put forth that the "human" look of the characters begins to diminish once they are able to manipulate the Matrix, and can do those things that ordinary humans can't do in real life.

You can make the same argument for the Silver Surfer, Spider-Man, or the Hulk. They're not human, not really, so they can move in ways humans can't. Spidey's far more flexible and agile than any human, the Surfer is pretty much liquid metal like the T-1000. You could argue Hulk is still restricted to human movements, I haven't really given it much thought. In fact, if you're using CGI to create a character, then it's probably not a human anyway, or else you'd have a human play the part.

The problem isn't so much with motion as it is with texture and light reflections.  They've gotten the motion down pretty well, because they have developed ways to capture motion.  But you can't see every pore on the person's face, because they don't exist.  You might argue that you can't see every pore on real actors faces either, but you can see the effect of every pour and every strand of hair has on the light.  They've come up with a bunch of tricks to mimic it, but the light that falls on the cgi is still fake, and only an interpretation of what it would actually do.  That seems to be the only reason to go with models over cgi.  But models just aren't practical in all situations.