Academy's F/X Branch Votes Movies Off Their Magical Island
Thursday, January 6, 2011 at 12:03AM The idea of "bakeoffs" that some of the technical Oscar branches use, wherein voting members check out showreels of various films and narrow down the field, is interesting. I'm glad they don't do it with most categories but it's interesting. But when it comes to finals within those semi-finals it just seems... rude. It seems humiliating like Reality TV humiliating. For the first time, we'll have five nominees this year in the Visual Effects category and most people agree that's a smart move given how many movies employ visual f/x these day.
For reasons we don't understand, they've narrowed down their 15 wide finalist list to 7 films, eliminating the new Narnia, wannabe franchises like Prince of Persia and Percy Jackson, jeered 3D efforts Clash of the Titans and The Last Airbender, the Nic Cage sorceror movie and the hit action film Unstoppable. So now we're down to...
- Eyesore in Wonderland
- Harry Potter and the Deathly Tent Moping Part ∞
- Hereafter
- Inception
- Iron Man 2: The Avengers Cometh. You Saw The Shield and the Hammer, Right?
- Scott Pilgrim vs. The World
- Tron: Legacy
Which means that two of those movies will be snubbed on January 25th and that just seems so mean-spirited. Like "PSYCHE! You thought you were going to be an Oscar nominee. And now you're not. HAHA. You lose!" Note to these AMPAS branches: Only narrow it down once. Don't be a jerk! This isn't reality TV.
Or maybe we're just in a bad mood because we figure be nice. Put the totally deserving Scott Pilgrim out of his misery early. Don't make him think you're going to honor his creative, funny, stylized effects only to cast him aside for something infinitely more derivative.
Reader Comments (11)
Narrowing it down to a number that feels so arbitrary (7...?) seems unnecessary at best, mean-spirited at worst. I would definitely be annoyed if I ended up being one of the two "oh-so-close" snubs.
Of course, maybe I'm being hypocritical, because I'd LOVE to know who placed 6th and 7th in other categories *cough* ACTRESS *cough*.
hmmm...
I agree with your current predictions.
Only that you write there: "FIRST F/X NOD FOR SERIES?"
NO, it's not. Askaban was nominated before. :)
mind your trivia :P
Agreed, going from 7 to 5 does seem cruel.
9 to 5 - now that seems like a work day :-)
Well at least they seem to have got rid of the worst movies so far, hopefully Alice will leave, along with hereafter Iron man 2 (Tron actually had good F/X despite not beong so great). Inception has this in the bag though (What and HONOUR)
It's not just cruel! It's stupid! These people (the Academy) are suppose to have their shit together!
I think Scott Pilgrim could pull it out. Hereafter and Iron Man 2 are not visual powerhouses.
Alex -- thanks for the correction. I have fixed. forgot that one.
I think it's exciting that Hereafter is still in the running. It's the only reality-driven film on the list and probably won't be nominated. It's just nice to think enough people saw merit in the effects of something that isn't about super/magical powers. Does Make-up do a similar list-shortening? I'd love to see if Splice even makes it out of the preliminary round for some really gorgeous work.
I'm so glad they're considering SCOTT PILGRIM at least for the nomination
Robert, makeup also does these bakeoffs yes.
Hereafter had visual effects? Damned if I knew that.
It won't make it, so the real question is whether they liked Pilgrim more than Harry Potter and Iron Man 2. They tend to resist sequels/franchises here more than you'd think, considering all the effects work and box office they get, but that's probably just because they had only 3 nominees before. Pilgrim will probably come in 6th, sadly.