Half-Life 2: A Few Good Men [Archive]

Varsity

07-13-2005, 02:32 PM

While normally community-made videos aren't all that newsworthy, the new HL2 machinima A Few Good Men (http://www.nailbiter.net/gman/) bucks that trend in a huge way. A recreation of part of the courtroom showdown in the film, the video uses the game's choreography tools, lip syncing and facial animations to almost overwhelming power.

http://www.btinternet.com/~varsity_uk/evilavatar/fewgoodmen.jpg
Homepage + download (http://www.nailbiter.net/gman/)
Bittorrent mirror (http://www.filerush.com/download.php?target=fewgoodgmen.mov)

AbeLincoln

07-13-2005, 03:06 PM

Really impressed with Barney as Tom Cruise there. I found it interesting and well done. Kudos to the creator

kathode

07-13-2005, 03:09 PM

Very nicely done, though I don't feel that procedural lip-synching can keep up with Jack Nicholson's range. You can kinda tell how constrained the lips are when he starts yelling, and the lips are still moving the same amount as when he's talking normally. But that's just a limit of the technology for now. Excellent work all around.

bKangy

07-13-2005, 03:26 PM

Harr, I lubs it. I'd like see a machinima of some of the really dramatic scenes from 24, or Dr.Strangelove done within the Source engine, myself. Actually, I might give that a go ;)

I'd love to see Barney ride a big nuke down :D

TheKeck

07-13-2005, 03:37 PM

I'd love to see Barney ride a big nuke down :D

Now, THAT would be impressive!! :) (I love Dr. Strangelove.)

Cha-Ka

07-13-2005, 03:39 PM

Really impressed with Barney as Tom Cruise there. I found it interesting and well done. Kudos to the creator

Agreed! Barney out-acted Cruise at every turn. :o

Half the fun of Half-Life 2 is watching the puppetshows. The game was fairly entertaining, but the potential for that engine as a tool that advances the craft of storytelling in games...that's what excited me about this HL2. And this movie clip illustrates that point nicely.

Draft

07-13-2005, 03:40 PM

I think the most overwhelming thing was how Barney's eyebrows never move.

Reanimated

07-13-2005, 04:06 PM

Not exactly "overwhelming", but leagues better than any other machinima out there.

Fuzzy

07-13-2005, 04:09 PM

I think the most overwhelming thing was how Barney's eyebrows never move.

Just like Cruise originally acted the scene...

snubber

07-13-2005, 04:11 PM

Great job. Much better than most cut scenes or machinima (or perhaps all of them?). Most of the times game engine characters look way too wooden. I thought he did a good job in the calmer sections (the 1st half) with that though...little eye movements, head shakes, arm movements...all good stuff.

Although I do agree that during the 2nd half, when the colonel is spewing his tirade, the animation just doesn't hold up. For me it wasn't really lip-synch problems, it was more that g-man's head and upper facial expression (eyes, eyebrows, etc) didn't really change much. The voice was full of rage, but the character wasn't.

But anyway, still very cool.

Draft

07-13-2005, 04:14 PM

If I hear one more bad word about Tom Cruise's acting ability we are gonna have a problem. Yes, the man is bat shit insane, but GODDAMN he can act.

Sazime

07-13-2005, 04:16 PM

Anyone else have problems playing QT video? It's the only format that ever crashes my comp, and this vid does it faster than others have in the past.

snubber

07-13-2005, 04:20 PM

If I hear one more bad word about Tom Cruise's acting ability we are gonna have a problem. Yes, the man is bat shit insane, but GODDAMN he can act.

Wow. Speaking of good acting. You had me completely fooled! For a second there I thought you actually believed Tom Cruise was a good actor. A splendid performance, bravo!

thecrazyd

07-13-2005, 04:21 PM

If I hear one more bad word about Tom Cruise's acting ability we are gonna have a problem. Yes, the man is bat shit insane, but GODDAMN he can act.
Umm... no. He is a quite mediocre actor.

DeadPixel

07-13-2005, 04:23 PM

This is more enterntaining the then last 1/2 of the actual HL2 game.

KNOTE

07-13-2005, 04:26 PM

People diss source because it's not a per-pixel lighting monster like Doom 3, but the fact remains that they spent their time developing solutions to real problems, not just how to make shadows look "real". To all other developers: this is how you build an engine.

Flarnet

07-13-2005, 04:27 PM

LOL since when did questioning Tom Cruise's acting become questionable? What decennium packed with above-high-school-acting-class-for-detainees movies starring Cruise did I miss? Was there a decennium hidden inbetween the 90s and now that I missed?
What part of the old saying "even a stopped clock shows the right time twice a day" doesn't the people arguing his performance in Magnolia understand?

Sure, he's gotten better, but in the same way that the weather has gotten warmer on the north pole due to global warming - i.e. it's still fucking freezing.

Zanzibar

07-13-2005, 04:39 PM

This is Randall Glass? Hell yeah - he did 'Warthog Jump.' (http://halo.bungie.org/misc/warthogjumpmirrors.html)

Liquidize105

07-13-2005, 04:55 PM

God bless source engine.

Good job.

Chiggs

07-13-2005, 05:13 PM

This was very, very well done. The only thing that sucked were the animations of Barney walking around.

Chiggs

07-13-2005, 05:17 PM

Oh, and by the way, for all you individuals that are criticizing Tom Cruise and his acting ability - lets face it: The majority of you are only making fun of him because it's hip to do so right now (granted, he has been a little weird lately).

So, if it's not too much to ask, put a lid on your borrowed wit, and go rent Born On the 4th of July, Magnolia and Collateral. He's pretty fucking good in all three of those movies. Heck, he was even pretty good in War of the Worlds.

Also...

LOL since when did questioning Tom Cruise's acting become questionable? What decennium packed with above-high-school-acting-class-for-detainees movies starring Cruise did I miss? Was there a decennium hidden inbetween the 90s and now that I missed?
What part of the old saying "even a stopped clock shows the right time twice a day" doesn't the people arguing his performance in Magnolia understand?

Sure, he's gotten better, but in the same way that the weather has gotten warmer on the north pole due to global warming - i.e. it's still fucking freezing.

...this post sucks. DECENNIUM! DECENNIUM! DECENNIUM!

splatstick

07-13-2005, 05:32 PM

Um, Tom Cruise was amazing in Rain Man, and got almost no credit for it. Don't believe me? Watch it again.

On the video: Holy shit. That engine made me half-mast a little.

Chiggs

07-13-2005, 05:35 PM

Um, Tom Cruise was amazing in Rain Man, and got almost no credit for it. Don't believe me? Watch it again.

Yeah, he was pretty good in that. But, oh wait, it's hip to insult him; so actually, he stinks and you're gay if you like him!

Dirty Harry

07-13-2005, 05:36 PM

I bought half life 2 not for the game but for the mods, honest.

Himsa II

07-13-2005, 05:43 PM

Um, Tom Cruise was amazing in Rain Man, and got almost no credit for it. Don't believe me? Watch it again.

On the video: Holy shit. That engine made me half-mast a little.
you sir, need to get out more. :eek:

XxSATANxX

07-13-2005, 05:44 PM

to convert the file to divx just use rad tools. I hate QT.

Wow this was so kewl and steam free!!!

Royal Fool

07-13-2005, 05:50 PM

to convert the file to divx just use rad tools. I hate QT.

Wow this was so kewl and steam free!!!

QT runs fine on my Windows, but I can understand the gripe people have with it. iTunes runs like crap on my computer, which is why I don't use it.

Morrolan

07-13-2005, 06:11 PM

Cruise was good in A Few Good Men, The Rainman, Collateral and (for what the movie was,) Top Gun. Beyond that, he's never done anything particularly good, even in movies which were, overall, very impressive (eg: Minority Report.)

splatstick

07-13-2005, 06:17 PM

you sir, need to get out more. :eek:

You don't know the half of it, little buddy.

thecrazyd

07-13-2005, 06:30 PM

He's not a bad actor, just very mediocre. Nothing special.

Zanzibar

07-13-2005, 06:40 PM

You guys are just jealous because of who he's banged.

Here's a partial list:

Mimi Rogers (before she got old)
Nicole Kidman
Penelope Cruz
Sofia Vergara (she has quite possibly the hottest ass on the planet)
Katie Holmes

DeadPixel

07-13-2005, 07:04 PM

I don't know why you all clown Tom Cruise. Shure he overacts in many of his movies, bt it's not a horrible thing. He doesn't do that many movies and keeps a pretty low profile most of the time. Besides most of this movies are entertaining.

If you need to make fun of bad actors, pick Owen Wilson or Will Ferrell. Both of them play the same exact characters in every movie and keep getting new roles.

keeks

07-13-2005, 07:47 PM

Anyone else have problems playing QT video? It's the only format that ever crashes my comp, and this vid does it faster than others have in the past.

Just use Quicktime Alternative (http://www.free-codecs.com/download/QuickTime_Alternative.htm).

Also, use Real Alternative (http://www.free-codecs.com/download/Real_Alternative.htm) for your .rm decoding needs and get rid of that crappy Real Player (ugghhhh).

resikel

07-13-2005, 09:01 PM

Zanzibar, you had me at Sofia Vergara :D

theCurse

07-13-2005, 09:48 PM

I think the most overwhelming thing was how Barney's eyebrows never move.

What movie were you watching? His eyebrows most definitely moved.
Yet another example of Draft trying to sound clever but instead revealing his inadequacies.

(I really don't know much about Draft, I'm just being irritating.)

Adam Blue

07-13-2005, 10:17 PM

In the words of The Offspring(or more specific Dexter Holland)...

It's cool to hate...

*Legion*

07-13-2005, 11:17 PM

Not exactly "overwhelming", but leagues better than any other machinima out there.

What's "overwhelming" is that I went to sleep having played sprite-based games with 6 frames of animation, and woke up with characters who can act out a scene with mannerisms, eyes that can briefly look away and come back and focus on what they're looking at, etc.

I can not believe how fast we got from there to here. Was it really so long ago that we played Chrono Trigger and Street Fighter?

UnderHero5

07-13-2005, 11:33 PM

What's "overwhelming" is that I went to sleep having played sprite-based games with 6 frames of animation, and woke up with characters who can act out a scene with mannerisms, eyes that can briefly look away and come back and focus on what they're looking at, etc.

I can not believe how fast we got from there to here. Was it really so long ago that we played Chrono Trigger and Street Fighter?

Nope, it really wasn't.
Time flies in the world of videogames, heh (and in general, I suppose).
Even games just a few years old seem outdated, graphically, these days.
We'll probably hit a plateau pretty soon, as far as graphics go.
I personally can't wait for that day, then hopefully developers will be forces to concentrate on gameplay and we'll get some really innovative and new games out of it.

And on the topic of the Mechinima, it was definitely impressive, as far as the amount of scripting done, and facial animations... but I admit that I was pretty bored of it about half way through. I suppose that is mostly because I've never actually seen that whole movie (or that part).

ldi222

07-14-2005, 12:20 AM

I enjoyed it but the voice acting was by far its greatest strength.

Varsity

07-14-2005, 01:27 AM

Although I do agree that during the 2nd half, when the colonel is spewing his tirade, the animation just doesn't hold up. For me it wasn't really lip-synch problems, it was more that g-man's head and upper facial expression (eyes, eyebrows, etc) didn't really change much. The voice was full of rage, but the character wasn't.
If you watch the film's trailer it has some clips from the scene. The animation is actually quite accurate. That said he could have done with making the mouths open wider when they were shouting, as someone pointed out.

MrMeatshake

07-14-2005, 02:54 AM

If you need to make fun of bad actors, pick Owen Wilson or Will Ferrell. Both of them play the same exact characters in every movie and keep getting new roles.

IMHO owen wilson and will ferrell are 'comic' actors, not method actors. these people live or die by how funny they are, not by how good thier characterisation is. as such, i think both of them are ok. will ferrell just for 'anchorman: the legend of ron burgundy (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0357413/)' alone. i do agree that they're very typecast, though. and i'm sure at least some of that is thier fault.

i don't know to what degree you can be a good actor but still be very typecast, i mean, i used to quite like watchin hugh grant on screen, but he only plays one role. i've got fed up of him. vince vaughn always plays similar characters, but i nearly went to see -spit- mr and mrs (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0356910/) just because i saw he was in it.

bumgut

07-14-2005, 03:23 AM

Not bad at all.

More expression in the eyes/eyebrows of the g-man would have helped.

Eon

07-14-2005, 03:49 AM

Well, can I be the first to say "Very, very impressive - good work!"?

The rest of you are a bunch of jaded bastards - it's not the 90's anymore. We're allowed to like things now.

Taco

07-14-2005, 04:32 AM

Well Eon, everyone said it was impressive.

It's Tom Cruise everyone says sucks. A high quantity of movies does not equal a high quality of work guys. He's not bad but he really is nothing special. He's been around too long to be average, so now whenever you see a movie with him you think, "Hey that's Tom Cruise", rather than believing the part he's playing. He is the anti Harvey Keitel.

LouisWu

07-14-2005, 06:26 AM

Kefkataran

07-14-2005, 06:49 AM

Good comment, you captured a feeling I have more and more often lately. Playing Burnout 3 and fondly remembering games like Outrun really make me think about how quickly games are developing while also giving me great hope for the future of gaming.

I'll jump on the optimist's bandwagon. Stuff like this has me very excited for what's coming next and for the progress that's already been made.

Ravenlock

07-14-2005, 08:01 AM

Yeah, put me in the "dang, that was impressive" group.

I'm actually playing Col. Jessep in the stage version of A Few Good Mean (written by the same guy who did the screenplay, Aaron Sorkin, and the play came first) later this year. My primary challenge is to not suck while still not just totally imitating Jack Nicholson. :p

Eon

07-14-2005, 08:05 AM

Good luck with that, Ravenlock. The role could almost have been written with Nicholson in mind, couldn't it?

You could always try for icily chilling rather than that blustering with mad eyes look that he does, I suppose?

Ravenlock

07-14-2005, 08:44 AM

It's interesting - in the play, he's written as a younger guy, and the tension with Markinson comes from the fact that Markinson doesn't like taking orders from someone younger than him. They made them old war buddies for the film 'cause there's no way Nicholson looked younger. :p

I'll come up with something. Haven't even started rehearsal yet, so it'll depend what I have to play off of, I imagine.

NACIONAL

07-14-2005, 11:00 AM

dr_qwandry

07-14-2005, 03:37 PM

This seems to be the next "flash" so to speak for people wanting to make movies.

Draft

07-14-2005, 03:43 PM

What movie were you watching? His eyebrows most definitely moved.
Yet another example of Draft trying to sound clever but instead revealing his inadequacies.

(I really don't know much about Draft, I'm just being irritating.)Actually you're right, they do move. I don't know why I thought they didn't.

Aaaanyway, it's a neat little video, but it's about as powefully overwhelming as Red vs. Blue.