Hey guys, this is a quick tip for people who might be interested in particle world effects for Adobe AfterEffects. This is a way to make rain, or balls (among other things) that move around a screen in an organic manner. It's very likely that I will be adding this effect for my next speed painting in the first opening 6 seconds that all my videos have. You can even compare any previous video with the upcoming one and see the difference yourself. If you would like a good step by step on how to do it, I have just the video for you.
Sunday, 8 March 2015
Thursday, 5 March 2015
Avengers: The Most Overated Movie of all Time
DC fanboy! Hater! Internet hipster! Let it out. Let. it. out. Now that you're feeling a bit better after frothing at the mouth when you read the title, keep reading. I keep hearing here and there that Avengers is the best comic book movie of all time. Now this rustles my jimmies. I try to be reasonable and accept other opinions and preferences. But I draw a line somewhere, both literally and metaphorically. Some people for example have the nerve to find football ("soccer" for North Americans) boring. The nerve of someone enjoying a different sport and not liking the exact same thing as I do.
Let me start off by saying that I enjoyed the first Avengers movie. The main issue was that every time I thought about it, the worse it got. When I saw it at the theaters with all the bells & whistles, the shine allowed several of its problems slip by me like a thief. Still at the end of the day, one thing most people cannot deny about the movie is that it's enjoyable. It still has a lot of flaws, but it's fun to watch. I don't think I will ever watch it again since the movie got a lot worse the second time around. Marvel movies in general aren't good for viewing a second time around, so this was no different.
As I said, the movie is fun. The main protagonists are fun as hell to be around and they all have great chemistry with one another. You want to root for them, you want them to win. The comedy even though it's very sitcom-like and incredibly overdone, is still pretty damn funny. The CGI is always on point and the action scenes are pretty good, so you're always enjoying yourself. Also bringing in so many characters from so many movies as seamlessly as they have is something that's never been done so well nor do I think will be bested for a very long time, if ever.
Now that I got that out of my chest, lets get to the bad. A huge problem I have is Loki. He's a terrible villain, the worst in all Marvel movies which says something considering how bad their villains generally are. It's a huge problem when half the Avengers team can solo the main villain of the movie. It's worse when one already did it in a previous movie. It's even worse when he gets humiliated by another one for sitcom-comedy. I have no idea why Marvel didn't write one of Thanos' devastating subordinates coming out of that hole. Then we would have had a proper tie-in to Thanos two movies earlier, showing that one of his soldiers can cause this much damage.. imagine what will happen when Thanos eventually comes. Marvel completely fucked up any chance for a sense of danger and need for accomplishment in that regard. You can pick any C rated generic action flick and find such uninspirational villains as Loki in the Avengers. He was better in Thor.
Other issues that are (mostly) not as big.. well, here's a list of them: Comedy witty banter often past the suspension of disbelief, everyone is a professional 1-line comedian machine. Captain America not being captain of the Avengers. It's basically Tony Stark as the leader until a 10 minute sequence at the end of the movie when Rodgers gives a few orders. Tony even saves the day, and I wouldn't mind as much if he wasn't the star beforehand. The hole closes, and all the villains conviniently get taken out? Plot convenience at its finest. The movie is by the numbers and not particularly deep at all (ie. no point re-watching it again). It also contains what I consider one of the two worst pieces of writing in a comic book movie. One is in a flashback scene with Clark in Man of Steel watching a certain event happen, and the second one is Banner turning into Hulk and being magically able to control himself. No development, no hints, nothing. Just purely out of plot necessity. Only thing it needed is a cool 1-liner of "I am always angry" to rub the salt on the shitty writing.
Ok, that felt good. I feel better, looser, shed a few pounds talking about that. Saying all that, I still am very excited about Avengers 2. Ultron already looks like a far better villain than Loki so that already looks like a massive improvement. Whether it will have the other issues of Avengers 1, I don't know. But I sure am excited to see this movie.
Let me start off by saying that I enjoyed the first Avengers movie. The main issue was that every time I thought about it, the worse it got. When I saw it at the theaters with all the bells & whistles, the shine allowed several of its problems slip by me like a thief. Still at the end of the day, one thing most people cannot deny about the movie is that it's enjoyable. It still has a lot of flaws, but it's fun to watch. I don't think I will ever watch it again since the movie got a lot worse the second time around. Marvel movies in general aren't good for viewing a second time around, so this was no different.
As I said, the movie is fun. The main protagonists are fun as hell to be around and they all have great chemistry with one another. You want to root for them, you want them to win. The comedy even though it's very sitcom-like and incredibly overdone, is still pretty damn funny. The CGI is always on point and the action scenes are pretty good, so you're always enjoying yourself. Also bringing in so many characters from so many movies as seamlessly as they have is something that's never been done so well nor do I think will be bested for a very long time, if ever.
That's supposed to be the main villain ?... Loki, you're a shit villain.
Now that I got that out of my chest, lets get to the bad. A huge problem I have is Loki. He's a terrible villain, the worst in all Marvel movies which says something considering how bad their villains generally are. It's a huge problem when half the Avengers team can solo the main villain of the movie. It's worse when one already did it in a previous movie. It's even worse when he gets humiliated by another one for sitcom-comedy. I have no idea why Marvel didn't write one of Thanos' devastating subordinates coming out of that hole. Then we would have had a proper tie-in to Thanos two movies earlier, showing that one of his soldiers can cause this much damage.. imagine what will happen when Thanos eventually comes. Marvel completely fucked up any chance for a sense of danger and need for accomplishment in that regard. You can pick any C rated generic action flick and find such uninspirational villains as Loki in the Avengers. He was better in Thor.
Other issues that are (mostly) not as big.. well, here's a list of them: Comedy witty banter often past the suspension of disbelief, everyone is a professional 1-line comedian machine. Captain America not being captain of the Avengers. It's basically Tony Stark as the leader until a 10 minute sequence at the end of the movie when Rodgers gives a few orders. Tony even saves the day, and I wouldn't mind as much if he wasn't the star beforehand. The hole closes, and all the villains conviniently get taken out? Plot convenience at its finest. The movie is by the numbers and not particularly deep at all (ie. no point re-watching it again). It also contains what I consider one of the two worst pieces of writing in a comic book movie. One is in a flashback scene with Clark in Man of Steel watching a certain event happen, and the second one is Banner turning into Hulk and being magically able to control himself. No development, no hints, nothing. Just purely out of plot necessity. Only thing it needed is a cool 1-liner of "I am always angry" to rub the salt on the shitty writing.
Lets see how big of an improvement it will over the original
Ok, that felt good. I feel better, looser, shed a few pounds talking about that. Saying all that, I still am very excited about Avengers 2. Ultron already looks like a far better villain than Loki so that already looks like a massive improvement. Whether it will have the other issues of Avengers 1, I don't know. But I sure am excited to see this movie.
Monday, 2 March 2015
Speed Painting 33: Bloodborne
I played Demons Souls on the PS3, and its spiritual successor has finally come out on the PS4. These games are hard as hell, and you basically get your ass kicked on a regular basis. However saying that, the gameplay is fantastic and it's incredibly addictive. The atmosphere and music just adds more to each of these (similar) series.
I used one of the settings from the game and added (one of) the main characters along with one of the enemies you have to fight. The tone is pretty mellow.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)