[Rob Babcock]

I've gotta say my favorite "special effect" is the gauze outfit Milla wore!  

[azryan]

Heheh...

When did this thread turn into best ‘assorted whatever scene’ in a DVD? Hehe

Best action flick -which is certainly not Spawn. Yes Rob I saw it which is why I said it sucked. I own the first 25+ issues of Spawn so I was really looking forward to it 'esp. with ILM doing all this CG work. Utter failure.

Best bass

Best use of black

Best picture quality

Yeesh

Since rob you didn’t say what  IN Spawn really stands out (I assume you don’t mean the entire film) maybe I’ll rent it again (free from the library) and give it a listen again. So forgettable I forgot it. hehe

And yes I do think a year and a half is not that long apart which is why I said that.    

“-It was some sound effects that have never been duplicated-“

So? That makes it a more impressive use of surrounds since it did things no one’s ever copied??
Not that you mentioned what those things are anyway.
                     
“-Ebert actually thought Dark City was the best movie of the year;-“

Great example of how insane Ebert actually is. It was decent, small, cool looking film but far from the best of the year.

I think he thought Minority Report years later was the best film of the year too or one of the best when it was weak in a lot of ways.

He loves a LOT of weak films IMO. He puts his thumb up almost everything. hehe

“-Is it just me or was The Fifth Element a bit overrated as a demo disc?-“

Most people used it for testing picture quality, detail and color (rich and great saturation and not animated like say Toy Story which is also these things so a ‘real life’ point of ref.) and yeah they thought that goofy alien pop/opera diva scene sounded good too. But they were wrong. Hehe

Bingenito,

Let me clarify... I don’t think surrounds are totally useless. I DO think that they do almost nothing most of the time in most films though.
That’s beyond opinion though.

It’s simply fact about what’s sent to the surround most of the time rather than opinion on how important that little amount is ‘worth’.

I don’t think it’s ‘wrong’ that films are mixed that way ‘cuz the action is up front and surround use should IMO be very very subtle most of the time or it’s distracting -which only usually works then in a cool action scene -like the very short clips/scenes being mentioned here.

I also don’t think my (or your) mains being line sources have anything to do with my opinion on surrounds though they can create a surround sound on their own if a 2 chan. recording is mixed to do it (like Q-Sound) and you sit dead center. Diff. topic though.

To the topic again...

The Haunting had both wild surround effect use and deep loud LFE. Awful film though which is IMO part of any ‘WOW factor’ for me.

‘The Others’ used some creepy surround use didn’t it?

And like Marbles said “-the sounds of the pipes creaking and the bolts blowing and shooting around.-“ on Das Boot is a classic surround effect IMO. Not to mention the insane depth charges (‘cuz it’s not the thread topic. hehe).

[Bingenito]

Dragonheart when the dragon is flying around the knight on the horse talking to him.

That was cool

[Rob Babcock]

Coolest part in Spawn has to be his confrontation with the Devil at the end.  Very cool spacial effects on Satan's voice.  I guess I shouldn't say no one have ever copied/duplicated it, but I've never heard it anyway.  The "Crashing the Party" scene has some great gunfire & sounds of stuff breaking- not SOTA perhaps, but cool from a mayhem standpoint.

Spawn was no masterpiece by any stretch, but I've seen a lot worse.  John Leguissamo (sp?) is amazing (he's the clown), but then he usually is.  Effects wise it's really no worse than Van Helsing, the Core, or any other throwaway summer craptacular flop.  The Core in particular has just about the worst effects I've seen this site of Anaconda (which just might be the worst movie ever made, btw).

[Digi-G]

Well,,, could be that surround effects aren't memorable.  Maybe they are more of an "instant gratification" thing - they sound good in the moment.  And they add to the overall impression of a movie - at least that's how I see it.

Surround/LFE effects won't save a bad movie, but it can elevate a 6 to a 7.5, or a 7 to an 8.5.  At least on my admittedly non-scientific scale.

Personally, I liked The Core.  Was it a great movie?  No.  But it was fun.  Maybe a little cheesier than I would have liked, but very enjoyable.  Certainly better than Mission to Mars or many other sci-fi releases (I'm not a fan of the sci-fi/horror movies, either). I particularly liked the Hitchcock-like bird scene.  The ending was a bit weak for me, though.  But Hilary Swank is easy on the eyes...    

[azryan]

Certainly better than Mission to Mars or many other sci-fi releases (I'm not a fan of the sci-fi/horror movies, either).

I totally disagree. Mission to Mars wasn't very good but 'The Core' is one of the worst movies in the past decade.
Astoundingly stupid and a massive blatant rip-off of Armegeddon (which was weak in a lot of ways itself).

I think you give way too much credit to surround/LFE 'effects' in your 20 point rating scale (BTW... try the 'official' AC 10 point rating scale. hehe).

Mission to Mars also had a brief cool surround effect where someone's voice circles the room speaker to speaker.

[Rob Babcock]

Yeah, I pretty much wish I could sue the producers of "The Core" to get my 2 hours back.  I hated it, and I love bad special effects movies.

[Ears]

I would not guess as to which effects were coolest, but the biggest dynamic swing in a surround track would have to be everytime Kutcher spazzes out, or goes back in time in The Butterfly Affect.

I gaurantee, anyone watching this flick at reference levels, definitly was checking to see if there speakers had blown

[Dean]

I would not guess as to which effects were coolest, but the biggest dynamic swing in a surround track would have to be everytime Kutcher spazzes out, or goes back in time in The Butterfly Affect.

I gaurantee, anyone watching this flick at reference levels, definietly was checking to see if there speakers had blown

Have to agree there, has some very cool effects and the sound really goes through your body. A few more good one's:

Fight Club: The part where Edward Norton imagines the mid air collision in the airplane, try not flinching at reference levels to that one.

Requiem for a dream: As the mother slowly goes mad, there's some cool scenes where the fridge starts moving and making noises.. they are extremely well implemented in the rear channels together with the sub.

Saving Private Ryan: Omaha beach but the whole film is top notch for surround effects.

[Johng316]

Another cool surround effect:

Spiderman 1 when Osborne is in his mansion, and the voice of the Green Goblin is haunting him thorugh the room.  Very nice surround dirctionality there.

My wife loves the scene in Twister when the mooing cow circles through the room.

I seem to remember a scene in Gladiator also where someone is spinning a ball and chain, and the "swoop" sound goes through the surround speakers.

John