Archive for January, 2010

Top Ten Worst CGI Animals Ever!

Sunday, January 31st, 2010

I’m not at all shy in my dislike of CGI in movies. I HATE IT, HATE IT, HATE IT. Then tonight as I was watching ANTICHRIST, the Chaos Reigns fox scene sparked something in me that made me remember all of the other shitty movies with CGI animals in them. This list is by no means complete and I urge you to write your own worst in the comments section. This list is simply 10 examples that myself and my friend Tommy could come up with in about 20 minutes. We intentionally left out all SyFy movies, stuff like Frankenfish and KING KONG, but made it a rule that we had to have a YouTube video with each one to spotlight just how shitty the animals were in the scenes. I’ve also decided that putting the year next to the title of the film is essential so you can look at how, for instance, stuff in the new Indiana Jones movie is way worse than stuff in JUMANJI (I thought it would make the list, but compared to the ten we chose, it didn’t look that bad). If we would’ve had videos or videos that we would’ve been able to embed from YouTube, I AM LEGEND and DAY AFTER TOMORROW would’ve DEFINITELY been on the list. Since they weren’t, I present to you, the shittiest CGI animals ever created by man:

10. ERASER (1996)- CROCODILE

We have another crocodile scene coming up in the top 10, but the reason this one wasn’t ranked higher is because they actually used some real crocs in the scene AND this one was from 1996. Something we’ve noticed after we compiled the list is that the films from the 90′s are ranked lower than films in the late 2000′s.

9. DEEP BLUE SEA (1999)- SHARK

I legitimately like this movie and LOVE this scene. This kinda ranked up there with when Seagal bit the big one in EXECUTIVE DECISION as far as unexpected deaths go.

8. THE RING TWO (2005)- DEER

I stopped watching any horror out of Japan in the mid 2000′s and definitely wasn’t going near the remakes, so this one was pointed out to me by my friend Tommy. When I asked him what movies he could think of that had bad CGI animals in them, this was the first one he spouted off. I think you can see why.

7. ANTICHRIST (2009)- FOX

I know, I know. It’s hard to make a fox talk, but really? This? The vagina cutting and leg wheeling looked more believable. Someone get a fox voice coach over here on the double!

6. NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN (2007)- DEER

This scene destroyed me when I saw it for the first time in theaters. This was my favorite movie of 2007 and I’m still scratching my head as to why this looked so bad.

5. ROGUE (2007)- CROCODILE

After WOLF CREEK, I was so psyched that Doug McLean was going to be doing a killer croc movie in Australia. I couldn’t help but think that he had seen DARK AGE before and would totally one up it. Then, I put ROGUE in, actually enjoyed it for the first 9/10ths and then someone faxed this crocodile in and it totally ruined the thing for me. Boo!

4. INDIANA JONES AND THE KINGDOM OF THE CRYSTAL SKULL (2008)- CHOOSE YOUR OWN SHITTY CGI ANIMAL

I cannot begin to explain the problems with this movie, mainly being the ridiculously bad CGI. When the gopher popped out of its hole at the beginning, it was an omen. The monkey scene was also unforgivable. I found this Behind The Scenes clip of the ant scene on YouTube and it’s actually kind of perfect for this list. It shows you how many people go into the process of making these abominations and how they actually think this stuff looks good. Note: It doesn’t.

3. SNAKES ON A PLANE (2006)- SNAKE (DUH)

This selection was really easy. Like shooting CGI fish in a digital barrel. I gave myself a headache because I rolled my eyes so hard at this scene. There are lots worse looking CGI snakes in this movie, but this one kinda sums all of it up perfectly. Plus, “Snake Gets The Guy’s Weiner” could possibly be my favorite YouTube video title ever.

2. LOST (2004)- POLAR BEAR

Whoa mama! Right around the 10th episode or so, there is a scene where Walt is trapped behind some reeds and the polar bear is scratching at them. Yeah. If you saw that, it was mind blowingly shitty. I love the show, but like most things on this list….they almost reach perfection, but suffer from earth shatteringly bad digital effects.

1. LET THE RIGHT ONE IN (2008)- CATS

The absolute KING OF BAD CGI. This movie IS PERFECT except for this scene. I remember the first time I saw this I was sitting with about 8 other people in a theater at the Alamo. When this scene ended, everyone looked at each other and collectively asked what the hell was going on. It is so glaringly horrible! 1 real cat > 1,000 digital cats.

We’ve Been Framed: A Nightmare On Elm St.

Friday, January 29th, 2010

I love the matting on this poster! This is the NIGHTMARE ON ELM ST. by James Rheem Davis and comes from Mike’s collection. Apparently, this was the first poster he ever got from us.

Thanks, Mike!

If you want your poster featured on The Blog, email me your photos at Justin (at) MondoTees.com.

-Justin

Rapper Chain Of The Year Goes To…

Wednesday, January 27th, 2010

GUCCI MANE!

He also wins Best Chain for last year and 2011. And 2012. And 2013. And….

-Justin

We’ve Been Framed: Arturo Gutierrez

Wednesday, January 27th, 2010

Today’s We’ve Been Framed is my favorite yet! Arturo Gutierrez is a super fan of the Mondo Poster Series that lives in Mexico City and has done one of the most amazing frame jobs on his posters that I’ve ever seen.

Here is the photo of his room with the posters adorning the walls, but take a closer look at the two on the far wall…

Look how they are matted on a clear background so the color of the wall comes through. It looks like they are floating! SO AMAZING! Arturo, if you ever come over, I don’t want you to be mad. I’m stealing this idea!

Let’s keep this feature on the blog going. Send me your framed pics at Justin (at) MondoTees.com.

-Justin

Come And Test Our New Site And Get 25% Off!

Tuesday, January 26th, 2010

Hey Everyone-

We are getting ready to launch a new version of the site and want to get your feedback on it. Our new site is in a BETA phase right now, so things may not be absolutely perfect. That’s kind of the point of doing this. Click the following link to check it out:

http://mondotees.3dcartstores.com/

Enter in the discount code “BETA” when you’re checking out and you will receive 25% off of your purchase. In return for the discount, please email me at Justin@MondoTees.com and let me know what you think. If you like something, tell me. If you hate something, let me know. Even if you don’t buy anything email me. The more feedback, the better. Whatever the case, BE HONEST. We want to make things easier when you’re trying to get that limited edition item in a speedy manner. We’ve added several things to the site like Paypal, shipping based on where you live and also a checkout that doesn’t require you to login to your account.

Thanks for all of your support over the years. Let us know what you think of the site and we’ll make any changes necessary.

-Justin

Holy Mountain, Dark Side Of The Rainbow And Tommy Posters Available Now!

Tuesday, January 26th, 2010

UPDATE: DARK SIDE OF THE RAINBOW, DARK SIDE OF THE RAINBOW VARIANT and TOMMY VARIANT are SOLD OUT.

We’ve got three amazing screen prints up for sale this morning. SUPER limited editions on each. Get them now!

THE HOLY MOUNTAIN

Poster by Florian Bertmer. 24″x36″ screen print w/ metallic inks. Hand numbered. Printed by D&L Screen Printing. Edition of 125.

TOMMY

Poster by Jesse Philips. 20″x36″ screen print. Hand numbered. Printed by D&L Screen Printing. Edition of 50.

TOMMY- VARIANT

Poster by Jesse Philips. 20″x”36″ screen print w/ metallic inks. Hand numbered. Printed by D&L Screen Printing. Edition of 25.

DARK SIDE OF THE RAINBOW

Poster by Jon Smith. 24″x36″ screen print w/ metallic and glow in the dark inks. Signed and numbered by the artist. Printed by D&L Screen Printing. Edition of 35.

DARK SIDE OF THE RAINBOW- VARIANT

Poster by Jon Smith. 24″x36″ screen print w/ metallic inks. Printed on metallic silver paper. Signed and numbered by the artist. Printed by D&L Screen Printing. Edition of 15.

-Justin

We’ve Been Framed: Street Trash

Monday, January 25th, 2010

Today’s We’ve Been Framed comes from Bryan who is proudly displaying his STREET TRASH poster. Looks great… especially in front of his Pee-Wee’s Playhouse set!

-Justin

The Pee-Wee Herman Show Is Legit!

Monday, January 25th, 2010

This last weekend, I flew to LA to attend the Pee-Wee Herman Show at Club Nokia. I’ll be perfectly honest and say that as much as I love Pee-Wee, I was a little bit nervous about the show. There have been lots of performers and properties that have tried to recapture the magic of old and have failed miserably.  This was definitely not the case as the show, for the  most part, was great. There were some flat jokes here and there, but it was undeniably Pee-Wee. Something that must be noted was the set. It was unbelievable! The best part was definitely seeing Pee-Wee interact with Conky, Chairry, Magic Screen, Globey, Pterri, Randy, and even a new addition to the crew. It felt good to scream “Mecca lecca hi, mecca hiney ho” with Jambi (Paragon was back for it) and watch old cartoons presented by The King. It really brought back the fun of eating cereal and watching the show on a Saturday morning.

If you’re still wanting to go, tickets are still available. I cannot recommend this enough and if given the chance, I’d go again….no question. If you’ve been, let me know what you thought!

P.S. As we walked into the club, Laurence Fishbourne walked in right behind us which made me think that he would possibly have some involvement with the show, but no such luck.

-Justin

We’ve Been Framed: Iron Man

Friday, January 22nd, 2010

For today’s We’ve Been Framed, we have the Jesse Phillips IRON MAN poster from 2008. This comes in from Todd!

mondoironmanframed

If you have pics of your Mondo posters framed, shoot me an email at Justin (at) MondoTees.com.

-Justin

The Ultra-Meta Gremlins 2 Novelization

Friday, January 22nd, 2010

I watched GREMLINS 2: THE NEW BATCH for the first time a few weeks ago (I know, I know), and loved the self-referential scenes.  From Phoebe Cates’ Lincoln’s-Birthday-related “Why I Hate Christmas Speech” callback, to Leonard Martin’s criticism of the first GREMLINS movie, the numerous fourth-wall-breaking moments transformed what otherwise could have been a throwaway kids’ sequel into a film still worth discovering twenty years after the fact.

But in a film full of meta scenes, perhaps the most meta was the scene where Gremlins interrupt the movie to show clips from a cutie nudie flick, which forces Hulk Hogan to, well… see for yourself:

Shortly after I finished the film, I got online to see if I could find a copy of the novelization, which I vaguely remembered seeing classmates read when I was a kid.  I was curious to see how the novelist, David Bischoff, had handled the Hulk Hogan sequence.  After laying down $.75 + s/h (thanks Half.com) and waiting a few days, I had my answer.  And it was better than I could have imagined:

That’s right, Brain Gremlin waylays the novelist and writes two pages of a Gremlins New Capitalist Democratic Nice Folks manifesto. Click on the two images for a bigger picture, or just check out the text below:


There. The novelizer, Mr. David Bischoff, Esq., has been successfully waylaid and is now tied up in the bathroom of his Los Angeles apartment.

Do not attempt to adjust your book.

We have control of the programming.

Please excuse the rudeness. You have previously known me as the “Gremlin that drank the brain fluid” – or, as Bischoff quaintly called me, Mr. Glasses. Believe it or not, in the screenplay, I am referred to as BRAIN GREMLIN.

I want to take this opportunity to talk to you about our philosophy toward life, so that we will not be misunderstood and branded as “monsters.”

Yes, but faithful novel readers, I do not intend to cheat you. In the movie presentation, Gremlins take over the movie theater (ah, what a delicious conceit – excellent, Joe – was that you?) and Hulk Hogan comes to the rescue.

I do believe that Kenneth Tobey of THE THING is somewhere in there.

However, let us deal with more intellectual matters.

In the great paradigm of anti-intellectualism that is the vast American untermenchen, there needs to be a seismic quake of thought, a veritable avalanche of anarchy, to wake you somnambulent beings from your couch-potato torpor.

May I offer you the services of we Gremlins. You may hereafter refer to us as the New Capitalist Democratic Nice Folks.

Already our numbers are spreading out from the heart of America to aid you in this endeavor and although you may be viewing this physically for the first time now (except for those lucky citizens of Kingston Falls who received a foreshadow some years ago) our intellectual forces have been at work for some time, albeit embodied in human form.

According to my contacts with our crypto-CD’s the Church of SubGenius it is generally not know, for instance, that the entirety of network television is programmed by proto-Capitalist Democrats.

However, the past is merely prologue, introduction, forward, with some long footnotes thrown in.

Our time is now!

So, my dear readers (oh, the few, the chosen literate who have been intelligent enough to purchase this volume) prepare for a New Age of the New Capitalist Demo -

Oh dear. Mr. Bischoff seems to have successfully axed his way out of the bathroom.

Methinks I need to fly and return this temporarily liberated keyboard to his suburb, urbane and witty prose -

Back I fly to the Clamp Cent…


Wow… those few paragraphs – which contain references to the novelization, the GREMLINS 2 screenplay, Kenneth Tobey and THE THING, Joe Dante, and the Church of SubGenius(!), among other things – are even more meta than the cinematic sequence they’re replacing. Kudos to Mr. David Bischoff, Esq. (apparently he’s a lawyer, as well as an author) for putting waaaay more effort into the novelization than he had to.

If you’re ready to join me in the New Capitalist Democratic Nice Folks party, sign up in the comments.

Micah :: Reel Distraction