Patrick Tatopoulos is a rather unlucky fellow

Discuss the original 2006 movie.

Moderator: Moderators

User avatar
Mr. Domino
Just Passing Through
Posts: 65
Joined: 15 Jun 2010
Gender: Male
Location: Texas, USA
Contact:

Patrick Tatopoulos is a rather unlucky fellow

Post by Mr. Domino »

Never before have I known of somebody who's done so much wonderful production work on so many great films that get so little respect. Almost every film the guy's worked on is one that I personally love, but that wasn't a particularly huge success, and generally wasn't critically well-received. The best examples of this are the American Godzilla film and Silent Hill.

The monsters in Silent Hill look fantastic. From the Grey Children to the Lying Figure to the Janitor to Red Pyramid to the Nurses, everything felt spot-on.

Here's to hoping that the guy gets a break soon and is attached to the megahit that a distinguished career such as his deserves.
I'm not a self-righteous, egotistical, arrogant bastard - but I play one on the internet!
User avatar
DistantJ
Rosewater Park Attendant
Posts: 1399
Joined: 18 Apr 2009

Post by DistantJ »

I love the Silent Hill movie anyway. I mean everything about it. Sure it's not SH2, but as it's own take on SH I love it, it's one of my favourite versions of SH (I consider Homecoming, Shattered Memories, 2, 4, etc. to all be different 'versions' of the idea, approaching from their own angle and style, just because the movie isn't profound and deep like SH2 doesn't mean it's bad imo) and I do love the detail put into it, especially since watching it on Blu-Ray.

The American Godzilla I can't say I was fond of (okay I like it, as a fun monster movie, but as THE monster movie it seems a bit lame don't you think?) but I'd certainly agree that it certainly is a well put together movie.

Lots of people go underappreciated in cinema I find... I think the biggest problems is so many people with internet connections don't allow themselves to have their own opinion - everybody likes to want to agree with everybody else and prove how smart they are by understanding the critics and all, thus enter any movie with a predisposition, be it positive or negative, and sometimes even change the way they look at something they have loved in the past. I've always tried to steer clear of this little 'agreeing club' and be more optimistic, love the things I love and ignore everybody's swipes at it. I mean I love the SH movie, as does my whole family, my girlfriend, my friends... So I'm sure there are tonnes of people out there who love the movie (and probably Godzilla too) but their opinions don't get heard (in fact most of the time they don't even get posted online or anything anyway).
Where we're from, the birds sing a pretty song, and there's always music in the air.
User avatar
JKristine35
Subway Guard
Posts: 1684
Joined: 12 May 2008
Location: Houston, Tx.
Contact:

Post by JKristine35 »

Tatopoulos works in creature flicks- which are underappreciated as a whole, both by critics and audiences who consider themselves to be 'above' that type of movie. His only attempt at directing was made with Underworld: Rise of the Lycans, another creature movie that was part of a series generally (IMO) underappreciated already. That gave him the unenviable position of being considered as 'the one to blame', both by the people who already hated the series, and the hardcore fans (such as myself) who were put off by the extreme amount of inconsistencies with the first two movies.
So yeah, I definitely think he's underappreciated, since his monsters are pretty awesome and it's not really his fault the writers of Rise of the Lycans couldn't remember major plot points from the first two movies.
User avatar
Mr. Domino
Just Passing Through
Posts: 65
Joined: 15 Jun 2010
Gender: Male
Location: Texas, USA
Contact:

Post by Mr. Domino »

JKristine35 wrote:it's not really his fault the writers of Rise of the Lycans couldn't remember major plot points from the first two movies.
The second movie had plot points?
I'm not a self-righteous, egotistical, arrogant bastard - but I play one on the internet!
User avatar
silenthill23
Just Passing Through
Posts: 64
Joined: 17 Jun 2010
Gender: Male
Location: Kentucky, USA

Post by silenthill23 »

I also loved the Silent Hill movie. The monsters are definitely well designed.
"If I could b anything, I'd b the water in your bath darling." - Prince
IceDhole
Just Passing Through
Posts: 64
Joined: 08 Jun 2010

Post by IceDhole »

While Silent Hill was received negatively by critics (30% on Rotten Tomatoes), both Metacritic's and Rotten Tomatoes' community/users rate it significantly higher, (RT being at 58%).

Also, I thought the American Godzilla Remake was crap. Any true Godzilla fan will think the same, but I'm over that phase :roll:
Fevered Dream
Gravedigger
Posts: 588
Joined: 13 Aug 2006
Location: I can't remember.

Post by Fevered Dream »

Yeah the monsters from the movie were pretty good. If he is a part of the next movie, which I hope is much more appreciated than the first, then I do hope though that he is a little more original with his monster designs as most of them were rip-offs of ones from the games.
Bitch, don't kill my vibe.
User avatar
Mr. Domino
Just Passing Through
Posts: 65
Joined: 15 Jun 2010
Gender: Male
Location: Texas, USA
Contact:

Post by Mr. Domino »

IceDhole wrote:Also, I thought the American Godzilla Remake was crap. Any true Godzilla fan will think the same, but I'm over that phase :roll:
Well, speaking as someone that owns every one of the japanese movies except for Revenge and Final Wars (haven't gotten around to it yet), I rank the American reboot right around the top.

The best legends are those that stand up to reinterpretation. The legends of old went through a thousand reinterpretations as they were passed down, both verbally and written, everything from King Arthur and Robin Hood to the christian Bible, to Grimm's fairy tales, have all gone through numerous incarnations, and they hold up to each one.

In more recent times, we've had other mediums for our legends to be presented in, but the need for their reinterpretation to match the current times remains the same. Everything from Star Trek to The Mummy, to Spider-Man and Batman, have all gone through modern screen reinterpretation, and have held up to it, because such was necessary for them to remain relevant. Unfortunately, due to the preservation of their previous versions, not possible in previous times, their reinterpretations are less successful than they could be, simply because people remember the older, or original, versions, and hold onto them, even though they have ceased to be relevant.

Now I say this as a devoted Trekkie who still thinks The Wrath of Khan is the best of those films, not the new one. However, I also understand that TWOK is no longer a movie that modern people can/will necessarily enjoy, thus reinterpretation was necessary.

Such was the case with Godzilla. He was a product of the 1950's, and of the era before CGI and modern filming techniques made truly believable giant monsters possible, therefore he was restricted to both a very humanoid form, and one amenable to the rubber suit which was the only way of presenting him. Do you really think he would have looked that way if he had not been created in the era of those limitations?

...

/rant, and apologies.
I'm not a self-righteous, egotistical, arrogant bastard - but I play one on the internet!
User avatar
Csilent Ihill
Just Passing Through
Posts: 37
Joined: 23 Mar 2010
Location: Sweden

Post by Csilent Ihill »

Patrick Tatopoulos' make-up and special effects in SH is quite impressive and well-made (except for some questionable CG-adjustments on the Gray Children, the irritating coach roaches surrounding PH and the blood coming through that Straight Jacket which Cybil shoots at). He seems very passionated and thorough about his work, and in SH his love for it becomes obvious. I don't like the movie (due to script, direction, characters) but the visual portion coupled with the sound production are godlike, so in one or two levels I appreciate and really praise the "shallow" aspects of the film; the visuals are something of an accomplishment in movie history.

The US remake of "Godzilla goes Jurassic Park and fails plenty" was silly, dumb and the effects were far from being impressive, I reckon.
Yeah, well... that is just like, ah, your opinion, man.
User avatar
Nightmareish Waltzer
Just Passing Through
Posts: 129
Joined: 22 Oct 2007
Location: Blüdhaven

Post by Nightmareish Waltzer »

Didn't Patrick Tatopoulos work on Stargate (1994) as well? I mean, its not a creature movie in the least (unless you count Ra and Horus and Anubis blokes "creatures"), but I swear I saw him in one of the special features for said film's DVD.
There's a hole in the wall. Naturally, the smart and sane thing to do would be to stick your hand inside it or crawl through it.
User avatar
simeonalo
Historical Society Historian
Posts: 3535
Joined: 27 Jul 2009
Gender: Male

Post by simeonalo »

He's a great costume designer. I like how intricate and awesome his designs were, the nurses even more.

He should do SH2: The Movie, in my opinion.
User avatar
Diabolic Dreams
Just Passing Through
Posts: 142
Joined: 08 Jun 2010
Gender: Male
Location: Bachman Road

Post by Diabolic Dreams »

His work truely was amazing, he nailed every creature and monstrosity dead on. I loved how he kept the "silent hill" feel to all of them instead of over doing it for the dumbed down masses. Screw what others rate the movie, it only got such low scores because those moron critics couldnt follow the story. I say let him work on SH2 and let it be for the fans.
Image
The best of nothing left...
User avatar
Mr. Domino
Just Passing Through
Posts: 65
Joined: 15 Jun 2010
Gender: Male
Location: Texas, USA
Contact:

Post by Mr. Domino »

Nightmareish Waltzer wrote:Didn't Patrick Tatopoulos work on Stargate (1994) as well?
Yep. Another good (if somewhat overlong) movie that really deserves better recognition, if nothing else than for Tatopoulos' stunning costume work. That was what I hated most about the TV show, was they took those great designs he did and threw almost all of them out the window until like the 5th or 6th season.
I'm not a self-righteous, egotistical, arrogant bastard - but I play one on the internet!
User avatar
Number 7
Brookhaven Receptionist
Posts: 872
Joined: 18 Jun 2004
Gender: Male
Location: Georgia, USA

Post by Number 7 »

I think this guy worked on Independence Day as well.

Basically if Roland Emmerich made it in the 90s, he was a part of it.
"He's underground now. His new name is Number Seven."
User avatar
JKristine35
Subway Guard
Posts: 1684
Joined: 12 May 2008
Location: Houston, Tx.
Contact:

Post by JKristine35 »

Csilent Ihill wrote: the blood coming through that Straight Jacket which Cybil shoots at). ,
As far as I can tell from screencaps, there was never any blood on the Armless Man. The substance that flies off of him is the black acid that drips through the hole in his chest. It can be assumed that his chest cavity is full of the stuff, so it makes perfect sense that it would go everywhere when her bullets hit him.
User avatar
Mr. Domino
Just Passing Through
Posts: 65
Joined: 15 Jun 2010
Gender: Male
Location: Texas, USA
Contact:

Post by Mr. Domino »

Number 7 wrote:I think this guy worked on Independence Day as well.

Basically if Roland Emmerich made it in the 90s, he was a part of it.
Yeah, that's true, I'd forgotten about ID4. Actually, it kind of refutes my point a little bit. ID4 was hugely successful, and is fairly well-remembered, even though it isn't a particularly great movie, which is the inverse of all the others that Patrick worked on.
I'm not a self-righteous, egotistical, arrogant bastard - but I play one on the internet!
User avatar
Csilent Ihill
Just Passing Through
Posts: 37
Joined: 23 Mar 2010
Location: Sweden

Post by Csilent Ihill »

JKristine35 wrote:The substance that flies off of him is the black acid that drips through the hole in his chest. It can be assumed that his chest cavity is full of the stuff, so it makes perfect sense that it would go everywhere when her bullets hit him.
You're right, it's black acid. Nevertheless, the effects were CG and it clearly looked fake and not real at all. =)
Yeah, well... that is just like, ah, your opinion, man.
User avatar
Magnolia
Just Passing Through
Posts: 135
Joined: 01 Nov 2010

Re: Patrick Tatopoulos is a rather unlucky fellow

Post by Magnolia »

Excellent. More food. Godzilla? The guy who made the 1998 Godzilla is still alive? Impressive. He must be like 80 by now.
Image Image
User avatar
AuraTwilight
Historical Society Historian
Posts: 11390
Joined: 01 Aug 2006
Location: I'm here, and waiting for you
Contact:

Re: Patrick Tatopoulos is a rather unlucky fellow

Post by AuraTwilight »

The original Silent Hill movie was fucking rad.
[quote="BlackFire2"]I thought he meant the special powers of her vagina.[/quote]
User avatar
alessas angel
Brookhaven Receptionist
Posts: 847
Joined: 23 Sep 2007
Location: alchemilia
Contact:

Re: Patrick Tatopoulos is a rather unlucky fellow

Post by alessas angel »

I aso enjoyed the Silent Hill movie. I would really like to see a second one. I realize that it strayed from the original storyline, but I feel that it was nice in its own right.
Life changes daily so go with it!
Post Reply