Oscar's VFX Finalists: Lightsabers and Robots and Bears, oh my!
Tuesday, December 8, 2015 at 11:48AM Usually when the Academy releases the finalists for their Visual Effects category, the list is so short that we can spend time bemoaning the lost chances of great movies. We were all ready to despair about Ex Machina being cut since films where the visual effects are genius but "supporting", as it were, are rarely if ever the ones they honor.
But lo and behold a much bigger list than usual with Ex Machina on it (yes!) as well as the practical effects wonderment that is Mad Max: Fury Road.
- Ant-Man
- Avengers: Age of Ultron
- Bridge of Spies
- Chappie
- Everest
- Ex Machina
- Furious 7
- The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 2
- In the Heart of the Sea
- Jupiter Ascending
- Jurassic World
- Mad Max: Fury Road
- The Martian
- Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation
- The Revenant
- Spectre
- Star Wars: The Force Awakens
- Terminator Genisys
- Tomorrowland
- The Walk
Which 5 of these finalists will you be rooting for?
P.S. Now we'll just have to puzzle out what was CGI in Bridge of Spies and speculate about how many prizes "Judy" the bear from The Revenant can wrack up this year? Leonardo DiCaprio tasted just like Oscar and she's hungry for more.
P. P.S. Does this mean the Executive Committee of AMPAS vfx branch were given a private screening of Star Wars or did they just give it a placeholder break?
P.P.S. I refuse to be ashamed that I saw Avengers: Age of Ultron three times and it deserves the nomination for The Vision alone... let alone the rest of its spectacle. But since it's popular to hate on now, will the Academy skip it? Your theories are welcome in the comments.
Reader Comments (22)
Ex Machina, Ex Machina, Ex Machina, Ex Machina and Ex Machina.
Oh, plus The Martian and The Walk, Mad Max Fury Road and The Revenant sight unseen.
I too was wondering about the SW inclusion. Could it be that just THAT MANY branch members work at ILM and know the quality?
If I'm not mistaken, the visual effects category has a "bake-off" where potential nominees share a demo reel of the highlights and what makes them the best. That would be how Star Wars got in. (Or there was a screening for the branch.)
Okay, let's run down this finalist list and identify a top 10:
Ant-Man: Possible. (4)
Avengers: Age of Ultron: Possible. (7)
Bridge of Spies: Not enough FX.
Chappie: Not good enough.
Everest: Not good enough.
Ex Machina: Outside shot. (10)
Furious 7: Not good enough.
The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part Two: Not good enough.
In the Heart of the Sea: Possible. (5)
Jupiter Ascending: Not good enough.
Jurassic World: Not good enough.
Mad Max: Fury Road: Lock. (1)
The Martian: Lock. (2)
Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation: Possible. (6)
The Revenant: Lock. (3)
Spectre: Not good enough.
Star Wars: The Force Awakens: Possible. (9)
Terminator: Genisys: Not good enough.
Tomorrowland: Not good enough.
The Walk: Not popular enough.
Don't be ashamed of Age of Ultron, it absolutely deserves a VFX nomination. There's a few I really love here, I hope The Walk and Ex Machina sneak in there. Both stunning in different ways.
I can't think of what the standout VFX was in "Bridge of Spies" and for that it probably deserves to be nominated. Was it all CGI and I just didn't notice?
I will laugh so hard if Jupiter Ascending gets nominated. I loved the film, but it was so critically reviled that I can see Norbit-level think pieces popping up within hours.
Volvagia - you really think Star Wars would be that far down?
So now that you mention Ex Machina, why is it not getting more Oscar buzz overall? Alicia Vikander got a Supporting Actress win recently. Oscar Isaac got some momentary buzz for supporting back before things got going awards wise. Maybe nominations also for Cinematography and writing?
Ryan: The last one wasn't nominated, so unless 1. they bust out something actually special that's not just a modernization of something in the six prior movies or 2. It's top 10 Best Picture level stuff? Yeah, I don't see The Force Awakens being anywhere near a solid candidate for making it.
All I care about is that "Ex Machina" is nominated.
I'd narrow it down to Age of Ultron, Ex Machina, Mad Max, The Martian, Star Wars, The Walk.. Hm.
Is this the final list, or is this going to get whittled down to 10 finalists before the nominations are announced?
Mad Max and Ex Machina are what matter most to me - and I'm kind of with Robert G on Jupiter Ascending. Actually, while I listened to this week's podcast (loved it) I kept wondering if someone was going to reference Jupiter Ascending during the discussion of The Danish Girl.
richter -- oh. i don't actually know. i assumed it was the finals full stop.
From the press release:
"This year, in the Visual Effects category, the number of eligible films initially shortlisted for further consideration was increased to a maximum of 20 titles. The number of films that will be shortlisted for nominations voting remains at 10, which will be announced later this month. "
Raul, the standout FX in "Bridge of Spies" is probably that impressive fighter pilot ejection sequence. I'm sure there was plenty of effects work done in the Berlin scenes, as well.
Volvagia, that was the only one not nominated for VFX. There is renewed interest in Star Wars and it will be a gigantic hit. I expect that it, The Martian or Mad Max will win depending on its reviews.
The Academy doesn't want a riot on it's hands. "Star Wars" will be all over the nominations.
"Now we'll just have to puzzle out what was CGI in Bridge of Spies"
Maybe they used CGI to erase Amy Ryan and Billy Magnussen from most of the movie?
Let's really hope "Bridge of Spies" does not get nominated because the Berlin scenes (especially the backgrounds) looked so bad and artifical that this would be a real farce.
Star Wars, The Martian, Mad Max: Fury Road, Avengers: Age of Ultron, Jurassic World. The Walk could definitely happen, but it was such a flop I'm not sure if it can anymore. The Revenant if the latter hits in a big way. Ex Machina is they feel the desire to go small. Sadly, so many of the branch members have likely worked on a Jurassic movie that it'll get nominated despite looking hideous.