The Robert Zemeckis Intervention Thread
 

Hi Bob, have a seat. I asked you here today because you need help. You're addicted to motion capture and it's killing you...It's killing us.

I didn't say anything when you made Polar Express. Everybody experiments and I was hoping that's as far as it would go. And although I prefer my Christmas movie characters NOT to resemble a character out of a Silent Hill video game, Polar Express actually wasn't horrible.

I started to worry when I saw Beowulf. I thought "we may have a problem here, It may have gotten a hold of him". When Beowolf was chasing the dragon I knew it was actually you, Bob, who was chasing the dragon.

Then I saw A Christmas Carol and knew you were addicted and needed help. A Christmas Carol? Really? You thought the world really needed another version of this story? The MoCap addiction got you, you couldn't control what you were doing? Could you? Please tell me that's it.

I miss the good old Robert Zemeckis who gave us Back to the Future, Cast Away, Contact and even Forrest Gump. Damn you Bob, for making me long for the days of Forrest Gump!

And now Mars Needs Moms? No, Bob, we NEED you. We need you back for another Who Framed Roger Rabbit. Hell, I'd even take another Used Cars!

I was relieved only for a moment when I saw that at least you didn't direct Mars Needs Moms. I thought it was over. I thought you'd kicked it. Then I see you're making Yellow Submarine! Please Stop. We love you and want you back...Come back to us Bobby.

Re: The Robert Zemeckis Intervention Thread
 

Well...since you did all the talking. Is this where I rape him or is that after he leaves the building?

Re: The Robert Zemeckis Intervention Thread
 

Give it a break. BEOWULF was a fun adventure/fantasy and A CHRISTMAS CAROL was actually a solid film, save for a goofy chase sequence.

Don't blame him for MARS NEED MOMS, aside from the visuals if they were that big of an issue. The guy didn't write it or direct it.

Re: The Robert Zemeckis Intervention Thread
 

Never really cared for him as a filmmaker. I didn't like the BTTF films, and I positively loathed Forrest Gump and Contact.

WFRR and Used Cars are the only Zemeckis films I really like.

Re: The Robert Zemeckis Intervention Thread
 

I've enjoyed a ton of Zemeckis stuff. Love BTTF and Roger Rabbit. Thoroughly enjoyed Gump and Castaway, and found Death Becomes Her and What Lies Beneath entertaining.

The mo-cap stuff has had zero interest from me, and I thought Beowulf was terrible. I'd love to see him do more "normal" stuff again.

Re: The Robert Zemeckis Intervention Thread
 

I agree. I want the old Zemeckis back, the one that gave us some truly great movies. Polar Express wasn't bad, but I didn't really care much for the style of animation; still, the story was good and anything with Tom Hanks is already that much better for it. But Beowulf was pretty dull and the style of animation wore thin after only one movie. I had absolutely zero interest in seeing A Christmas Carol and his Yellow Submarine remake, if it ever gets released, will likely be a disaster.

http://cdn.nextround.net/wp-content/...t_thesnail.gif

Re: The Robert Zemeckis Intervention Thread
 

I don't think I've ever heard of someone not liking Back to the Future before. Seems odd, but I guess everyone's entitled to his opinion.

As for the OP, I agree completely. I've had no interest in anything he's put out lately.

Re: The Robert Zemeckis Intervention Thread
 

http://media.lehighvalleylive.com/tv...c043_large.jpg

Intervention! Intervention!

Yeah, I hate the mocap shit, too.

Re: The Robert Zemeckis Intervention Thread
 

I don't like BTTF. They're good films but I don't like them. I grew up on different stuff.

I'd rather watch Rambo, Predator, or an 80s Jackie Chan film much more than BTTF.

Re: The Robert Zemeckis Intervention Thread
 

To be fair, I didn't grow up with these films. I was eighteen when Back to the Future was released and for me it didn''t contain any magical allure. The films are well-made, but aren't particularly funny or dramatic. The writing and execution is a hodgepodge of mediocrity.

Re: The Robert Zemeckis Intervention Thread
 

"Hodgepodge of mediocrity" pretty much sums up Robert Zemeckis' career.

Zemeckis is giving animation a bad name with this shit he puts out. --Mo-cap isn't animation btw, sadly it's just terrible film making technique that the uneducated general public thinks is animation.-- I'm pretty sure the reason he relies so heavily on mo-cap now is because he's lost faith in himself as a director, plus the movies he has decided to make would be insanely expensive if they were shot normally. So he hides his filmmaking abilities behind a computer skin, a very, very bad computer skin.

Unfortunately for the OP an intervention will never work on Zemeckis for one plain and simple fact... he has sold his soul to the devil. Robert Zemeckis is addicted to cash, lots of it and if he had to sacrifice every creative ounce of blood in his body to make more money by only making mo-cap movies, well it's obvious he will never make another "normal" non mo-cap movie again as long as he lives. You can hope, pray, wish all you want... but Robert Zemeckis is no longer that film maker you want him to be, that Zemeckis died years ago and now all we are left with is an empty shell of a once semi decent director.

Re: The Robert Zemeckis Intervention Thread
 

The actual process of motion capture isn't animation, but putting it onto film requires computer animation. So yes, Zemeckis's films (Polar Express, Beowulf, A Christmas Carol) are all animated films, they just happen to use motion capture as part of the animation process.

Re: The Robert Zemeckis Intervention Thread
 

Robert Zemeckis made Contact? Damn, I love that movie.

...And looking back over his filmography, that's about the only one I care for.

Re: The Robert Zemeckis Intervention Thread
 

It's been over 20 years since he made a film I really enjoyed (WFRR), so I don't expect much from this intervention.

Re: The Robert Zemeckis Intervention Thread
 

Since James has done better with his technology of performance capture on Avatar, Mr. Zemeckis, you may just stop now.

Re: The Robert Zemeckis Intervention Thread
 

Besides Who Framed Roger Rabbit, I'm not a huge fan of his. BTTF is fun, but I've gotten burnt out on them over the years.

Criminal that WFRR never got a sequel. I imagine if they did it now, Zemekis would have Eddy become a toon and use his mocap to make it look like Polar and Christmas Carol.

Re: The Robert Zemeckis Intervention Thread
 

Enabler!

I know I shouldn't blame him for Mars Needs Moms, yet somehow, I do.

Of course, if I wanted to bring up the projects which he chooses to produce, those Dark Castle, PG-13, horror crapfests could take up a thread of their own...

Re: The Robert Zemeckis Intervention Thread
 

Have faith, my man. I'm 100% confident that Robert Zemeckis is surfing the web, right now as we speak, and he'll stumble upon my paragraph length, hastily written rant and realize the error of his ways!

Re: The Robert Zemeckis Intervention Thread
 

NONSENSE! Zemeckis won't be deterred by a nobody!

Seriously...never thought about comparing the two but...in the aspect of capturing a performance via that tech. Cameron just beat him up in an alley w/ one arm tied behind his back. In the aspect of using this tech to get a performance for an animated, I feel that Zemeckis may feel that he's changing the game and whatnot..but...if someone like Cameron gets that shit practically perfected (at least I think it's fucking perfect in how they captured the performances on the faces)...wtf does Zemeckis have left to do in that tech? Get a fucking great story and build off what Cameron has..then you have something. Problem is...Zemeckis hasn't really had an amazing story...well...ever. None of his films have amazing stories. His actual filmmaking is great, his storytelling is kind of above average but for the most part it's how he constructs the story that makes it better.

Re: The Robert Zemeckis Intervention Thread
 

The only Zemeckis mo-cap film Ive enjoyed has been Christmas Carol, its the one where I finally found the style to be okay for the most part (the leads)

I dont see the point in a film like MNM being mo-capped. Theres no reason for it, it could have been a regular old CGI movie. Same with Polar Express, totally needless, as it would have worked just fine as Live Action. Christmas Carol though, like I said, achieved a pretty good style and I feel it was a worth while use of the tech.

Beowulf Im kinda split on. Tech wise, its a huge improvement over Polar, however, the only advantage I can see to it having been made with Mo-Cap was allowing Ray Winstone to be a buff as shit warrior lead.

Obviously, I find the use of Mo-Cap to be a brilliant addition to the filmmakers toolbelt when its used to augment live action (King Kong, Avatar, LOTR, Pirates of the Caribbean).

As far as full length Mo-cap animated features, I expect Spielberg's Tintin to completely slap the shit out of all of the movies that Zemeckis has done. Im definitely retaining my final judgement on mo-cap animated films until Tintin is released.

Re: The Robert Zemeckis Intervention Thread
 

Zemeckis and his onetime writing partner Bob Gale should do a sequel to their TRESPASS screenplay and get Walter Hill back to direct it. Or Zemeckis can direct it himself--in live-action, none of this motion capture bullshit. TRESPASS is still my favorite film with Zemeckis' name on it, although WHO FRAMED ROGER RABBIT is not far behind.

Re: The Robert Zemeckis Intervention Thread
 

Re: The Robert Zemeckis Intervention Thread
 

I didn't particularly like BTTF, either. I found it cloying, bland, and forgettable, and its popularity baffles me. And I was about thirteen or fourteen when I saw it, so I was at the right age for it.

Re: The Robert Zemeckis Intervention Thread
 

Next to Cameron and Spielberg, Zemeckis is the best commercial director there is, but the animated stuff is getting old.

Re: The Robert Zemeckis Intervention Thread
 

'Used Cars' is pure, unadulterated genius.

It's mind boggling how great that film is.