MovieChat Forums > Pinocchio (2022) Discussion > Zemeckis =(

Zemeckis =(

posted 2 years ago by enriquesingh (1771)
5 replies | jump to latest

He was one of my favorite filmmakers... Used Cars, Romancing The Stone, Back To The Future, Who Framed Roger Rabbit, Death Becomes Her (underrated), Contact, What Lies Beneath, Forrest Gump, Cast Away... some better than others, but I enjoyed-was always looking forward to his next movie.

*I TRUSTED HIM*

Then he began making his uncanny valley CGI fests abominations... I even paid for and watched in theaters A Christmas Carol... rented Beowulf (that's the one I liked the most out of those motion capture experiments).

Since then the only movie I liked from his was Flight (and it's a downer - not as re-watchable/entertaining as many films from his earlier filmography).

I don't know what happened, maybe he's just going through the motions because his CGI experiments failed? I cannot believe someone as extremely talented not only technically but someone I thought of as a MASTER STORYTELLER can produce this crap and not be aware of the sub-par product he's producing.

The same thing happened to me with HBO Max's The Witches.

I wonder if he is just going through the motions using his reputation... conning fans like me... maybe also he has lost some power on his own films since he hasn't had a hit in a long time... if he has little control over the movies he's been making?

[–] LanceDance (1085) 2 years ago

It's possible that his failed attempt at changing cinema by trying to pioneer those CGI films had long-term negative consequences on him. He seemed to be really on board with that genre, you'd think he was trying to be James Cameron or something, but alas, it never really worked.

I enjoyed Polar Express and Beowulf well enough, I still watch them every now and then, but I never watched Mars Needs Moms, and I'll admit the two former movies haven't aged well in terms of animation, with a few exceptions for certain characters or scenes. What hurts more is that Japan was able to make far better CGI movies on a much smaller budget. Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children, a direct-to-video animated movie, came out in between Polar Express and Beowulf and still looks better than both even today.

[–] sONOMArEturns (1253) 2 years ago

i mostly agree with this.

zemeckis was focused too much on pioneering CGI, but made generic and boring films. i'm actually a defender of marwen and allied, but pinocchio and the witches feel like he slept-direct through them.

[–] Guitar King (4356) 2 years ago

We can "throw him on the pile" of greats like George Lucas and Spielberg who have lost it.

[–] Scape (504) 2 years ago

I completely agree with you, Enrique.
He was such a great story teller/director. His older films you could always admire in many different ways. He had a unique voice & always seemed to try something new/different with each film.

Going from comedies “Used Cars” to action-adventure “Romancing”, to family entertainment “Back Future/Who Framed” etc., to horror genre with “Death Becomes/What Lies…” & “Tales From The Crypt”.

Like you the only two films I’ve somewhat enjoyed since his “change” has been “Flight & Beowulf” both of them not up to old school Zemeckis standards, but better than his other outputs.

He was one of those directors where if he was directing the film, I’d watch it. Same thing happened with James Cameron.

It sucks even more because truly talented directors who direct original ideas seems to be a thing of the past, at least as of today.

[–] enriquesingh (1771) 2 years ago

Scape, reading this is like someone got inside my head and wrote my exact thoughts. Agree 100% lol