As time goes on, and as standards shift around alongside the progression of VFX technology, the world’s incisive obsession with CGI effects in film is only going to evolve and, subsequently, be the source of many an audience member’s grievance; indeed, what looks great today will be unbearable to look at tomorrow (unless you’re The Flash, in which case you already look unbearable today).
It’s worth bearing in mind, then, that while CGI is about as far from evergreen as it gets, practical effects will forever and always have an entirely undeniable charm to them, even if they aren’t always what you’d call realistic-looking.
It’s hard to say if Hollywood will ever embrace a more frequently balanced relationship between CGI and practical effects, but while we wait for that day, the r/movies faithful have taken to naming the movies whose practical effects can lay a hefty claim to the crown of creativity.
It didn’t take long for the science fiction elite to come crawling into the conversation; from Alien to 2001: A Space Odyssey to The Thing, Scott, Kubrick, and Carpenter’s sets boasted some of the finest practical creatives of their time.
The California Water Wars-inspired noir thriller Chinatown also received a shoutout for its very believable cutting off of Jack Nicholson’s nose, which may or may not have actually happened.
And, of course, you can’t have this sort of conversation without name-dropping Phil Tippett, the godfather of practical effects himself who, just last year, released his critically acclaimed stop-motion horror film Mad God after 30 years of development.
The value of CGI should never be counted out, of course; in the right hands with the right discipline (looking at you, James Cameron), CGI is capable of building and bolstering films beyond our wildest imaginations. But, whenever it manages to nail that healthy balance with ever-timeless practical effects, the bang for one’s buck skyrockets immaculately.