Wally Pfister calls The Avengers "...an appalling film". Thoughts?

brynsank said:
So you think it was just laziness on the part of the director/dp? That I find hard to believe. They have reputations to uphold too.
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Even if it was (arguably) poorly executed, that doesn't mean that they didn't put their best foot forward. Might have just been the wrong marriage of concept and talent, or poor operating, or a poorly set up rig, or any number of other factors. It could have been laziness too.
 
I agree with Wally's opinion, actually. There were a few times while watching the movie I thought to myself the cinematography was odd, and after the movie ended, my friends agreed. The shot I specifically remember not liking was the one that went upside down on Loki's staff. There were a few others, but that's the one I have off the top of my head.

However, I also think Wally made a few mistakes with TDKR. Overall, it was beautifully shot (as usual with Pfister's work) but some scenes/shots weren't that great.
 
Now I would not agree and say the cinematography was appalling, but it was not Skyfall level or one of the greatest ever. Joss and the DP for the look of The Avengers wanted the movie to match the source material and go for a comic book look. That is why some of the shots might look strange to some.
 
Not sure why I logged in for this, but I've seen the Avengers, twice. Liked it a lot both times.

I've seen The Dark Knight Rises. Once. Didn't find it worth another go.

The absolute best thing to come out of the whole Batman rebirth grumbly voice thing is this: Bane Outtakes.

Could a big budget action / sci-fi comic book movie have had more thought put into some camera angles?

Are we really asking this question?


P.S.

Long extended shots of Scarlett Johansen's black leather-clad ass... end of discussion.
 
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theres a big decline in strong, clear action storytelling- use of the 180 rule to give the audience a sense of geography, framing the shot so that the stunt/choreography/action is clear, etc. Ya know, making it so that the audience can tell whats going on. And The Dark Knight, as much as I love it on the whole, is part of that trend; so much of Batman fighting is out of frame, and the car chases, though good, have nothing on lets say, anything in T2.

The action scenes from the Avengers were great, but again, nothing on Aliens or T2 (James Cameron during his height)

I would love to see an acton flim from a director who has his fundamentals down, mixed with mosty practical FX and spots of tasteful CGI like Nolan does. It sucks- theyve been some good superhero films but were still being cheated when is someone with crazy mad (basic) skills gonna step up to the plate?
 
nycineaste said:
theres a big decline in strong, clear action storytelling- use of the 180 rule to give the audience a sense of geography, framing the shot so that the stunt/choreography/action is clear, etc. Ya know, making it so that the audience can tell whats going on. And The Dark Knight, as much as I love it on the whole, is part of that trend; so much of Batman fighting is out of frame, and the car chases, though good, have nothing on lets say, anything in T2.

The action scenes from the Avengers were great, but again, nothing on Aliens or T2 (James Cameron during his height)

I would love to see an acton flim from a director who has his fundamentals down, mixed with mosty practical FX and spots of tasteful CGI like Nolan does. It sucks- theyve been some good superhero films but were still being cheated when is someone with crazy mad (basic) skills gonna step up to the plate?
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I agree with everything. Making a film is really hard. These guys who do it, they themselves are among the top 5%... sure there may be many better yet undiscovered, but the point is, it's really freakin' hard. Most indie guys who get it right, do so from high amounts of talent but arguably equal amounts of luck.
 
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