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CGInconsequential
Nice to see such a fun and fibrus debate RE: Terence & Deadguy over something we all seem to have an opinion about. Certainly, strong arguments have been made for both sides, as is usually the case in most matters.

Yes CGI must be considered art, just as golf is considered a sport and rap is considered music. New times bring new realities, and computer generated characters, like it or not, are here to stay.

My personal issues with Jar Jar Binks (or Biggs, or whatever the hell it is...again, who cares) wasn't his CGI lifeform. It was the stupidity of the personality they gave him, along with a ridiculous dialect which, when I think about it, closely resembles the natives in "The Gods Must Be Crazy", which is an excellent film I highly recommend.

If Deadguy's mention that Lucas's intention was to satisfy the comic palet of 9-year-olds, then I guess Lucas did one helluva job, because only totally imaginative non-adult thinking partisans could have seen any use in JJ.

On the ET front, my problem stems from being a loyalist to originality. In the scatterbrained world of today's Hollywood, anything to make a buck has transcended the cruelty of the remark. I offer up as evidence the CGI ET, which looks nothing like the original. Oh, sure, it looks like ET enough to pass muster with today's movie goer, but to people like Terence and myself, its oddity is enough to turn us off. Again, I have to stress that the main issue here is the original work, and that it CLEARLY stands alone as more than just an expert peice of film, but film history!!! Surmising that the intention of Spielberg in all this was to make money is close enough to being accurate whether it was personal monetary gain, or an effort to reinstall ET as the top grossing film of all time...again (which is my personal belief).

CGI certainly has its place, and Mike brings up several quality points. Most times, I enjoy what they can do when given in the way of Matrix and The Mummy (which are both excellently done). I also got off on the extra Millinium Falcon footage, as well as the city celebrations in Jedi, in the re-release of the Star Wars trilogy to movie theaters. Naturally, the CGI Jabba the Hut looked like a character someone inserted via computer at a date later than the original release of the movie....therein lies the problem.

But, alas, I'm always reminded of two films which had no CGI enhancement, therby making them much more artistic. Let's face it, if "Jaws" and/or "John Carpenter's The Thing" were done today, they wouldn't be CLOSE to the originals in terms of the gruel and grit that came thru so ferociously in both films. They did not have CGI, and neither suffered from it. In fact, they benefited. The stories were virtual thrill-rides themselves, aside from the genius it took to pull them off. This takes me back to when I saw "Deep Blue Sea" in the theater. Sure, it was suspenseful and full of thrills, but it was the CGI you walked away thinking about, not the movie. In "Eraser", Arnold fought man-eating 'gators, and let me assure you, they were the most highlighter-lime-transluscent-colored 'gators I ever saw. In a word.....fake.

Certainly time will advance and eventually they'll be able to give us humans, if they can't already, who can pass for real on film. This could open up a plethora of possibilities, as I'd have absolutely no problem whatsoever in a Boris Karloff CGI Frankenstein monster stalking new prey, or Chaney Jr.s Wolfman, or Lugosi's Dracula. Then, I assure you, I will be all over it!!! Right, Nolan?
For fan films it would be interesting, but I'm not so sure I want to encourage the notion of big studios recycling dead movie stars for box-office potential. There has already been too much of that, CGI and otherwise. However, if this technology can be mastered, the temptation to do so will, no doubt, be overwhelming.
   If I read all you guys correctly, the current CGI argument centers around whether one appreciates being FOOLED by it--Deadguy's motif--i.e., photorealism for its own sake, preferable over a stop-motion scene for the latter's usual inability to avoid giving itself away (with some rare exceptions)----or whether it can be considered a CRAFT; a construct by a skilled artisan who may or may not accomplish a realistic effect, but whose unique talents are more humanly identifiable than a photoreal dinosaur (or ET) accomplished by a bank of computers manned by nameless, faceless computer geeks. Can the latter be considerd an "art"? Or is it even important?
   From where I sit I see two camps divided by conditioning: if, besides action movies, one is EXTREMELY into 3D video games (Deadguy), the holy grail is photorealism however it's accomplished. Anything else is second-best and ruins the movie or whatever. For the rest of us, the Ray Harryhausen/stop-motion/Phil Tippet/go-motion approach is just more enjoyable somehow (I agree with Terence and Matt that a badly-executed computer animation is more difficult to sit thru than its counterpart in stop-motion---and Terence's point about Dragonslayer (1981) over Dragon Heart (1994) is well taken). True, no Ray Harryhausen film can compete with Jurassic Park on a TECHNICAL level. BUT, on balance, stop-motion movies remain more consistently entertaining and there are no bad Harryhausen movies to me (I even eventually embraced "Clash of the Titans", har har).
   That said, in all fairness, I can't see how we could've had all those wonderful Discovery Channel "Walking With Dinosuars" specials if it hadn't been for computers. Conversely, the wild-ride freak show that was "John Carpenter's The Thing" was a complete success without a computer in sight; in fact it would likely have suffered without Rob Bottin's mad crafting, again I agree with Matt here.
   Please note that at no time am I referring to the 3D cartoons such as "Shrek" or "Monsters, Inc". Those are cartoons whose special characteristics are uniquely suited to computers and I appreciate that. They are all great and I dare say it appears to be supplanting the "Fantasia" style of animation already (mostly due to expense).
   The frustrating call producers have to make is usually time vs money. They can see a computer effect in real-time. They have to wait months to see a stop-motion effect they may or may not even like.
   However, I'll wager that a hundred years from now, the hand-crafted stop-motion-type movies will have withstood the test of time better than computer-animated ones 10 to 1---Nolan

POPE CALLS PRIESTS TO ROME
As I thought would be the case, Pope John Paul II has called all Cardinals in the United States to Rome to discuss the recent flood of child molestation charges being brought against several priests. Surely this has to be the WORST possible scandal to ever befall an organization, be it religious or secular, and that it appears to be so far reaching compounds the sadness, grief, and anger I'm sure these families, and all of us, must feel.

This all started with the trial of former Boston area priest John Geoghan who is accused of molesting more than 130 children in some 30 years of "service". Found guilty only a few months ago, he is now serving a prison sentence for that lone conviction. Other acts of lewdness concerning him are most certain to follow.

The unbelievable lack of concern for innocent children is laid out in documents released in connection with Geoghan's trial, which showed Cardinal Law and and least 5 other bishops knew about his sexual "problems" but continued to move him from parish to parish.

Understandably, people in Massachusetts are insisting Law step down, but he refuses to do so. In a letter to his particular parish, Law stated that, in time of crisis, families come together, they don't run away. There are at least 130 families out there in full bloom suffering that can sympathize with that remark. And while initially I agreed with him, there can be no denying or confusing the issues as I've laid them out for you.

Aside from the fact he's a man of God, his first reaction as an adult should have been to protect these poor victemized kids. Instead, he opened them up to any type of insane behavior such as that of a pedophile, which he should have removed from his position of trust.

Being unfortunate enough in my own life to have knowledge of this type of horror gives me no reason for optimism concerning these children or their families, aside from the Lord. The one organization they ran to for support was the same one that let them down in the worst of ways. From my own experience, it took me until around 1994 before I came to realize it wasn't my fault. My situation went unchecked for years, until my father discovered the truth and saved me from further assault. Even so, I was tormented and confused most my life, and only thru Christ's love for me was I able to forgive the offender, and finally move on.

In the end, He was the only one who brought me peace. And the more I turn to Him, the greater His presence in my life. I pray that the kids and their families realize that truth, that God is still as true as He was before this happened, and turn to Him for support. Thereby sparing themselves the years of grief I had to endure. Because sadly, forgiveness doesn't come easy, and it isn't until you reach that day, that your abuser is truly out of your life and has lost his hold.

Till next time, take care and, naturally...God bless.
Matt

   I've known Matthew a very long time and am familiar with the heart-wrenching case he cites as having affected his life. I'm actually shocked he has chosen to share this heretofore extremely personal and private episode with our readership, but am very proud of his strength and willingness to identify publicly with the victims of the above-stated tragedies.
   Matt did not go into unnecessary lurid details of his own case, nor does he need to, but after reading his column, I'm afraid that some readers may get the wrong idea--so in the interests of clarity, I need to point out that Matt's particular case, while horrifying, had NOTHING to do with the Catholic church or its priests.
   In any event, we're all glad he found the road to recovery.---Nolan