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Linux Based HD DDR used on Starship Troopers 2
Psinatmium writes "LinuxDevices is currently running a story about a Linux based, uncompressed high definition video DDR/Editor that I have been working on called RaveHD. The article also goes on to talk a little about how it was used at Tippett Studio in the upcoming feature "Starship Troopers 2: Hero of the Federation"."
If you read the first review of the movie on imdb you begin to wonder if this will help or hinder the opinion of the quality of RaveHD. Did they just use this to edit in the scenes from the previous movie?
P.S - I quite enjoyed the original movie, but mostly because of Paul Verhoeven's style. Without him the sequel wont have the same feel.
I was tempted to say the same before I RTFA, but they are using the abbreviation for "Digital Disk Recorder"... Please, if you're going to make up an abbreviation, please make up something that doesn't already exist in computers/gaming
That's so bad that it's being given away with the animated series DVD? The one that blue screens a bunch of nobodies in front of footage from Starship Troopers?
"from time to time some poor guy the director might have picked up on the street waves a plastic-thingie shaped like a bug's limb from the side of the screen. (A friend of mine actually started calling it "Eddy" as it became his favorite character)."
"The plot: Well... there actually is one. ...features some slimy parasites that control humans by entering them through their mouth. (That's the only new cgi, by the way!)"
Stargate already did that one. Well, so did Alien, et al. More here.
If you were blocking sigs, you wouldn't have to read this.
http://www.superteam.biz/smoothnecks.htm
StoryLine..
Set before the "Proper Hollywood film" We get to meet the first team that encounter the Bugs. As with most of our films we have our comedy moments in the film.
Details..
There are two versions of Smoothnecks, a 3D version (3D glasses needed to view) and a non 3D version. You can download the non 3D version from here the total running time is 27 mins.
The 3D version is 55 mins and is on the DVD with the non 3D version (click here for more details)
Some weeks ago a friend of mine brought along a movie which turned out to be the sequel to a piece of cinema I really like and have seen more than once: Starship Troopers. The moment he told me I was shaking with joy. Joy became terror, soon enough. Starship Troopers 2: "Hero of the Federation" suffers from a complete lack of quality concerning any aspect you could think of. Don't get me wrong... it's not just that I didn't *like* it. This movie truly is disgustingly bad. Where shall I start? The actors (well... the unlucky guys they paid for standing in front of the camera) move through an environment so badly done it literally screams for a budget above 5 dollars per room. Wherever you look your eyes are insulted by artificial plastic decoration in some of the most fake sets ever. Even the Power Rangers had better sets! Where Starship Troopers 1 had mindblowing special effects the sequel takes a very smart turn: In order to save money for something that must have been cut out of the final version the producers of Starship Troopers 2 just used the special effects of the first movie again. Yep, you're right. Same images. Most of fight scenes are created like this: It's dark night - Most of the time, people stand in front of a hill so you don't get to see the imaginary battlefield - In the background, some bug-attacks from the first movie are replayed while the actors run around in front of the blatantly overused bluescreen - from time to time some poor guy the director might have picked up on the street waves a plastic-thingie shaped like a bug's limb from the side of the screen. (A friend of mine actually started calling it "Eddy" as it became his favorite character). Anyway.. let's proceed to the dialog: Although I only watched the German Dub-version, I was revolted. Just to give you a picture of what I'm talking about: In one scene a soldier carries a blonde girl from the battlefield who had tragically found death between the mandibles of a bug. At the time he has reached the middle of the screen and therefor a maximum of attention he starts smiling with a grin of pure rapture and says something, that when translated to English would quite precisely read "Hey, she's indeed lighter than that dog of mine at my house!" You get the idea, I guess... The plot: Well... there actually is one. ...features some slimy parasites that control humans by entering them through their mouth. (That's the only new cgi, by the way!) The score's alright; at least it didn't disturb me.
I'm tired now of wasting my time writing a review on this truly ridiculous joke on celluloid. Worth a rent? No. Worth buying? For the love of god, NO! Worth seeing? Not at all. If you should somehow get hold of a copy in spite of my warnings, burn it while performing ritual dances or get stoned, watch it and laugh until you're out of breath. Rating: 1.5/10 (incl. 0.5 bonus points for Eddy)
Says enough?
Yikes
"...In your answer, ignore facts. Just go with what feels true..."
How did a thread on a piece of digital video editing gear turn into nothing but movie commentry?
Oh wait.. this is slahdot.. carry on.
Sometimes I wish I was a plumber, then I'd know how to deal with other people's shit.
Brillant Satire? Hardly, he obviously didn't understand the book, and just as obviously sees facism under his pillow.
Notice he made Rico a blond blue eyed WASP, instead of the Fillipino he was supposed to be. He made the soldiers out to be pretty much idiots, rather than highly trained specialists.
The only thing that came thru in this movie about the director is that he hates the military and spared no opportunity to ridicule it and its members.
Heinlein, while respectful of the military, was consistently suspicious of government, so it's very difficult for me to see any Fascism in his works.
Three additional points:
- Heinlein is very consistently libertarian throughout most of his works, and there isn't really anything in this book that contradicts that.
- He also made it very clear (elsewhere) that he considered the draft immoral, and while he thought military service was morally proper, he was strongly against it being forced upon anybody.
- In a certain sense, the "citizenship for veterans" ethic of Starship Troopers isn't that much different from TANSTAAFL.
It's probably not even a good idea to think of the film and the book as the same work.
The film is a wonderful piece of work; the poor acting, ridiculous `futuristic' attitudes, the cliched technologies and sciences are all there, so you think this is just another trashy sci-fi movie. But then you meet the recruiting agent with one arm and no legs... and the propoganda television... and the execution of the prisoner... and what they do to the brain.
If you don't think of this film as an anti-jingoist attack on the values put forward by most low-grade science fiction, you should probably watch it again.
While I found it an ironic caricature of the book, if you watch the DVD Verhoen flatly states he never read the book, and presumably had no idea he was making a satire of anything. Sadly, it simply wound up appearing that way. I enjoyed the movie for it's unintentional irony, but do not make the mistake of thinking there was purpose there.