History Main / GratuitousSpecialEffects

[[folder: Film ]]

* ''Website/ThatGuyWithTheGlasses'' features several movie and video game reviews. The hosts are not content with simply talking about various pop culture works. They often contain special effects such as when WebVideo/TheNostalgiaCritic had a laser shootout with WebVideo/TheAngryVideoGameNerd. The effects would be cutting edge a few decades ago in a fantasy film. Today, they're quirky, funny flourishes that anyone with a decent movie-making program can achieve.

* Averted by the British drama ''Film/{{Suffragette}}'', a historical drama set in the 1910s. This has nearly 200 effects shots (stitch that, Creator/MichaelBay!), but none of them are meant to be noticed by the audience. If you want modern London to look like old London, flogging the computers is a lot cheaper than hiring thousands of extras.
* Most of the CGI in ''Film/AlitaBattleAngel'' is used in a perfectly sensible way, but did they ''really'' need to give Alita BigAnimeEyes ''in a live-action movie''? Not only does it plunge her into the UnintentionalUncannyValley, but Creator/RosaSalazar already looks a lot like the character did in [[Manga/BattleAngelAlita the original manga]], making one wonder why they bothered with motion-capture.

* ''Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse'':
** Many films in the franchise use CGI where regular props or backgrounds would have sufficed. Perhaps most infamously, ''Film/SpiderManFarFromHome'' CG'd a [[https://www.reddit.com/r/Marvel/comments/cbm7d7/spiderman_far_from_home_before_and_after_vfx gun]] in one scene that would have costed a few bucks to depict with a simple prop.
** ''Film/BlackWidow2021'' turned out to have a [[https://old.reddit.com/r/marvelstudios/comments/otkzci/black_widow_before_and_after blue screened bar scene]] (with additional digital retouching of an arm gash). The responses show a whole gamut, from amusement at how it's unnoticeable, to thinking that the simple solution of building everything in a soundstage was bypassed to not bother with any unionized jobs.

* ''Film/SinCity'' was very over the top but when it comes down to it, it was a standard action movie that could have used the same special effects that have been around since the 70's. Instead, it broke ground in special effects by creating fully digital environments. You would expect this from a sci-fi movie that takes place on another planet, not a crime-thriller. This was done so that the movie could be as close to the original comic series as possible. Notably, the page picture isn't an ''unnecessary'' special effect - the character ("That Yellow Bastard") looks exactly like that in the comics, and indeed is practically the ''only'' thing in color in the entire series.

* The [[spoiler:birth of the [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6gylKAvCa_c baby]] ]] in ''Film/ChildrenOfMen''.

** Many films in the franchise use CGI where regular props or backgrounds would have sufficed. Perhaps most infamously, ''Film/SpiderManFarFromHome'' CG'd a [[https://www.reddit.com/r/Marvel/comments/cbm7d7/spiderman_far_from_home_before_and_after_vfx/ gun]] in one scene that would have costed a few bucks to depict with a simple prop.
** ''Film/BlackWidow2021'' turned out to have a [[https://old.reddit.com/r/marvelstudios/comments/otkzci/black_widow_before_and_after/ blue screened bar scene]] (with additional digital retouching of an arm gash). The responses show a whole gamut, from amusement at how it's unnoticeable, to thinking that the simple solution of building everything in a soundstage was bypassed to not bother with any unionized jobs.

* Most of the CGI in ''Film/AlitaBattleAngel'' is used in a perfectly sensible way, but did they ''really'' need to give Alita BigAnimeEyes ''in a live-action movie''? Not only does it plunge her into the UncannyValley, but Creator/RosaSalazar already looks a lot like the character did in [[Manga/BattleAngelAlita the original manga]], making one wonder why they bothered with motion-capture.

* ''Film/ThreeHundred'' is a ([[DanBrowned somewhat]]) historical war epic that makes use of prosthetics, GreenScreen and lots of computer graphics. The same battle was depicted in the movie ''The Three Hundred Spartans'' decades earlier with little more than fancy costumes and prop swords.

* ''Film/SinCity'' was very over the top but when it comes down to it, it was a standard action movie that could have used the same special effects that have been around since the 70's. Instead, it broke ground in special effects by creating fully digital environments. You would expect this from a sci-fi movie that takes place on another planet, not a crime-thriller. This was done so that the movie could be as close to the original comic series as possible. Notably, the page picture is NotAnExample - the character ("That Yellow Bastard") looks exactly like that in the comics, and indeed is practically the ''only'' thing in color in the entire series.

* ''Film/SinCity'' was very over the top but when it comes down to it, it was a standard action movie that could have used the same special effects that have been around since the 70's. Instead, it broke ground in special effects by creating fully digital environments. You would expect this from a sci-fi movie that takes place on another planet, not a crime-thriller. This was done so that the movie could be as close to the original comic series as possible.

* ''Film/BlackWidow2021'' turned out to have a [[https://old.reddit.com/r/marvelstudios/comments/otkzci/black_widow_before_and_after/ blue screened bar scene]] (with additional digital retouching of an arm gash). The responses show a whole gamut, from amusement at how it's unnoticeable, to thinking that the simple solution of building everything in a soundstage was bypassed to not bother with any unionized jobs.

* ''Film/TheIrishman'' is a mob drama that makes heavy use of DigitalDeAging by none other than Creator/IndustrialLightAndMagic to make Creator/RobertDeNiro, Creator/AlPacino, and Creator/JoePesci realistically change over the course of the decades the movie takes place in. The heavy demands that Creator/MartinScorsese placed on ILM (not have the actors use special equipment or doubles and be allowed to improv) forced them to use special infrared cameras that prompted even ''more'' CGI used for rather trivial matters (such as digitally adding car windshields and cigarette smoke since it interfered with the special cameras).

* ''Film/ForrestGump'': While SFX were used toward particular purposes (e.g., removing Gary Sinese's legs or inserting Tom Hanks into historical stock footage), there's also the feather {{bookends}}.

* Most of the CGI in ''Film/AlitaBattleAngel'' is used in a perfectly sensible way, but did they ''really'' need to give Alita BigAnimeEyes ''in a live-action movie''? Not only does it plunge her into the UncannyValley, but Creator/RosaSalazar already looks a lot like the character did in [[Manga/{{Gunnm}} the original manga]], making one wonder why they bothered with motion-capture.

* ''Film/ThreeHundred'' is a (somewhat) historical war epic that makes use of prosthetics, GreenScreen and lots of computer graphics. The same battle was depicted in the movie ''The Three Hundred Spartans'' decades earlier with little more than fancy costumes and prop swords.

* TakashiMiike's film adaptation of ''Film/PhoenixWrightAceAttorney'' introduces a bizarre holographic system for projecting evidence in the courtroom that was completely absent from the original game, most likely in an effort to get the dramatic effect across when Phoenix Wright shouts "Take That!", and shoves the evidence at the witnesses' faces.

[[quoteright:155:[[ComicBook/SinCity http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/yellowbastard_8800.jpg]]]]
[[caption-width-right:155:No, he isn't a RubberForeheadAlien from a sci-fi flick. He's from a DeliberatelyMonochrome crime-thriller.]]

[[AC: Film]]
* A large portion of the budget for ''Film/{{Amelie}}'' was CGI despite being a romantic comedy. In the beginning, she is shown playing doctor with a stuffed animal as a little girl. This is a common enough scene and a real stuffed animal could easily be used. The director used a CGI stuffed animal in order to show it moving '''slightly'''. It's barely noticeable by many audience members. There was also a scene in which Amelie turned into a puddle of water in order to convey a sad mood. These are just two examples.
* ''Film/SinCity'' was very over the top but when it comes down to it, it was a standard action movie that could have used the same special effects that have been around since the 70's. Instead, it broke ground in special effects by creating fully digital environments. You would expect this from a sci-fi movie that takes place on another planet, not a crime-thriller. This was done so that the movie could be as close to the original comic series as possible.
* ''Film/JayAndSilentBobStrikeBack'' is a stoner comedy, but it contains several fantasy sequences with big special effects and even a lightsaber fight (apparently, the movie they were shooting had real lightsabers and not props).
* ''Film/ForrestGump'': While SFX were used toward particular purposes (e.g., removing Gary Sinese's legs or inserting Tom Hanks into historical stock footage), there's also the feather {{bookends}}.

[[AC: Live-Action TV]]
* ''Series/{{Scrubs}}'' had an ImagineSpot OnceAnEpisode. They often featured somewhat elaborate special effects. For instance, in an early episode, JD imagines that his head blows up in a scene that would be more appropriate in a horror film. It was a comedy/medical drama.

[[AC: Web Original]]