The AI Filmmaker
Not too long ago, a clip went viral on social media – Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt in a fight on top of a building in a city of ruin. Cruise and Pitt have never been in a movie together, though. And sure as shit they weren’t in a real fight. The scene was courtesy of a new AI, Seedance. The output is pretty scary in terms of realism. It’s still not quite perfect, but I’d argue that in the age of CGI generation, we get a lot of action scenes where characters – even normal everyday people – are defying physics in ways that are unrealistic. (As an aside,…
Why Superman II Still Has the Best Ending Ever
Although it’s forty years old, I still rate the climax of Superman II (1980) as the best climax to any superhero film. It does something that the numerous superhero movies since have never bettered: it surprises us. One of my issues with the superhero genre is that too often, the final battle is won through sheer will and/or strength. In The Dark Knight Rises (2012), Batman’s victory can only come through physically besting Bane. In The Dark Knight (2008) – which is meant to be a test of wills and intellect, since the Joker confesses he can’t win a fist fight against Batman – Batman still has to physically incapacitate…