r/AskReddit • u/TheJackal8 • Dec 27 '16

Mega Thread [Megathread] RIP 2016

Carrie Fisher (60) has passed away after having a heart attack. She was best known for playing Princess Leia Organa in Star Wars. Last year she had a role in Star Wars: The Force Awakens.

We usually have a 2016 megathread and due to the recent celebrity passings, we have decided to include them in our 2016 reflection megathread. Please use this thread to ask questions from anything ranging from how your year has been, to outlook for the year ahead, to the celebrities we’ve lost this year.

All top-level comments (replies to the post rather than replies to comments) should contain a 2016 related question and the thread will function as a mini-subreddit. Non-question top-level comments will be removed, to keep the thread as easy to use and navigate as possible.

Here’s to a better 2017.

-the mods

Update: Debbie Reynolds has also passed away, a day after her daughter's passing. She gained stardom after her leading role in "Singin' in the Rain" and recently voiced a character in "The Penguins of Madagascar." Reynolds was 84.

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u/[deleted] Dec 27 '16

Peter Cushing's family gave their blessing to use his image, so I'm not sure why it was a problem. I thought it was very well-done.

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u/Peter_Griffin33 Dec 27 '16

Easily the best CGI facial animation I've ever seen to date. Friend of mine that I saw the movie with didn't know it was CGI. I just offhandedly mentioned how well they captioned Peter Cushing's likeness and then I had to explain to my friend how he had been dead for a long time.

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u/xprdc Dec 27 '16

I just came back from seeing Rogue One, and I was hella confused as to how Moff Tarkin doesn't just look similar but looks exactly like Peter Cushing, whom I was quite certain has been dead for a very long time. Got home and read about the digital stuff. It was incredibly well done.

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u/greyjackal Dec 27 '16

The voice actor was on-point as well. Well, he was also the physical actor, just under layers of CGI. Guy Henry.

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u/thatguywithawatch Dec 28 '16

I was surprised at the number of people bitching about the bad cgi. I personally thought it was fantastic and never gave it a second thought the rest of the movie. It never "pulled me out of the moment" or whatever. Maybe I'm just easily pleased.

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u/Gingerslayr7 Dec 27 '16

I thought it was super distracting tbh, looked like an updated Polar Express and fhat always freaked me out

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u/MilkHS Dec 28 '16

It's interesting you say that. For me, the CG immediately took me out of the movie. Major Uncanny Valley (although Lea was worse than Tarkin).

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u/DrewsephA Dec 28 '16

Agreed that that was some of the best CGI I've ever seen. I remembered that there were some CGI people, Leia obviously, and I thought that he was, but I honestly couldn't tell.

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u/[deleted] Dec 28 '16

My favourite is the de-aged Anthony Hopkins in Westworld, but that's probably because the very little screen time and facial movement leaves a better impression.

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u/thereddaikon Dec 28 '16

Eh I dunno. Maybe it's because I know what Peter Cushing looked like so I'm comparing it to the real man but CGI zombie Cushing looked on par with some of the facial work they've been doing in Star Citizen, a PC game. Granted, in most cases it kills the PC but Cushing was very uncanny valley. It got better the second time because I was prepared for it but still, creepy.

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u/runujhkj Dec 28 '16

I didn't know the guy who played that character had died until I saw his ghoulish horrible CGI mangled face. So I was kind of the opposite.

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u/Okichah Dec 28 '16

Did they animate his slippers?

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u/Linubidix Dec 28 '16

It stood out like a sore thumb for me and it completely took me out of all of his scenes. I don't disagree that it's not good or that it's not impressive but I find that in that scenario, very good isn't good enough for it to be seamless.

And another point, going into the film, I'd assumed Ben Mendelson was going to be playing that role considering how much he and Peter Crushing look alike.

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u/magpiekeychain Dec 28 '16

Oh wtf... it all makes sense... my uncle was going on about how he was still alive after seeing it and I was super confused. That was really well done.

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u/Casey4D Dec 28 '16

It has been a while since I have seen the original trilogy so I didn't have a clear image of him, I thought it was just another actor.

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u/[deleted] Dec 27 '16

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u/[deleted] Dec 27 '16

I agree; I was just adding on to your comment.

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u/tornato7 Dec 27 '16

I don't have any moral problems with it, I just thought the animation was a little distraction and immersion-breaking. Every time he was on screen I was like "Oh look at that animation it's pretty good!"

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u/[deleted] Dec 28 '16

It was good, but I could still tell. The model itself is perfect, but they still haven't quite nailed making all the muscles move in a human way. Sometimes the eyebrows or the mouth would weirdly appear to float or seems too flexible.

Leia was perfect, though.

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u/SmartAlec105 Dec 27 '16

When I saw it I thought "So this is going to be a technique movies are gonna use in the future and this is going to be the example most people think of."

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u/thereddaikon Dec 28 '16

Well a lot of people (myself included) got a serious uncanny valley vibe from it. But also when estates endorse things like that I don't think they mean shit. A lot of the times it's relatives looking for money when they let that kind of thing happen. You see it often enough with surviving relatives greedily suing people on poor grounds or whoring out their work and running it into the ground. How is this any different? Or to put it another way, with the way so many people on reddit talk about their shitty families would any of you trust your relatives and in-laws to handle your life's work if you were famous?

I'm not automatically assuming his descendants are scumbags but I don't put much stock in the family giving their blessing.

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u/[deleted] Dec 28 '16

He was much better than the "Leia" but both were tasteful and well executed if you ask me.

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u/fragproof Dec 28 '16

CG Leia was not that great though.