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« FYC: mother! | Main | Annie Nominations Embrace "Coco" and "The Breadwinner" »
Tuesday
Dec052017

Field Narrows for Visual Effects Oscar

Chris here. We should soon be getting word of what films have moved on in bake off rounds for Oscar categories like Foreign Film and Makeup and Hairstyling. But now we have a longlist for the Visual Effects category and many of the players are genre films and blockbusters as expected. There is still room for a surprise or two, the most heartwarming of which is certainly Netflix's Okja. There's even two unseen films among the lineup: The Last Jedi and the Jumanji sequel.

Here are the 20 eligible films:

  • Alien: Covenant
  • Beauty and the Beast
  • Blade Runner 2049
  • Dunkirk
  • Ghost in the Shell
  • Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2
  • Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle
  • Justice League
  • Kong: Skull Island
  • Life
  • Logan
  • Okja
  • Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales
  • The Shape of Water
  • Spider-Man Homecoming
  • Star Wars: The Last Jedi
  • Thor: Ragnarok
  • Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets
  • War for the Planet of the Apes
  • Wonder Woman

Isn't it surprising that the awe-inspiring motion capture work on the new Apes trilogy has gone un rewarded so far? Folks might need to be reminded about War, but it would make for a lovely series capper should it take the prize this year. The candidates will narrow further to end at the end of the month. Any thoughts on frontrunners? Oscar chart here.

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Reader Comments (12)

Okay, so the biggest titles missing here would be Downsizing, The Mummy, The Fate of the Furious, and Transformers: The Last of the Fallen, correct?

December 5, 2017 | Unregistered CommenterJohn T

and no GEOSTORM either.

December 5, 2017 | Registered CommenterNATHANIEL R

BLADE RUNNER, STAR WARS and APES feel like the only sure bets, to be honest. WONDER WOMAN is huge, but the effects weren't all that great in the way all the DC films have been plagued by strangely affected effects. JUSTICE LEAGUE is surely not going to make it. OKJA would be great, but it remains to be seen if this branch is going to be amenable to Netflix.ALIEN, LIFE, PIRATES, BEAUTY... all seem like write offs.

It's also hard to tell when they will embrace low-key effects like perhaps a LOGAN or a DUNKIRK over, say, a VALERIAN or a THOR. I actually think GHOST IN THE SHELL might make a play here for a nomination.

I'd say:

Blade Runner 2049
Dunkirk
Ghost in the Shell
Star Wars: The Last Jedi
War for the Planet of the Apes

December 5, 2017 | Unregistered CommenterGlenn Dunks

@Glenn Dunks
I'm with you about your predictions!
"Ghost in the Shell" might well be nominated for Best Visual Effects and Best Production Design (a result of the visual effects).
But at the same time I think "Ragnarok" can have a nice change - extravaganza visual effects and a huge box-office success... But I don't know which one I should exclude so I can put Ragnarok xD

December 5, 2017 | Unregistered CommenterEd

BLADE RUNNER, THE SHAPE OF WATER, STAR WARS and WAR FOR THE PLANET OF THE APES, with DUNKIRK, LOGAN, THOR and WONDER WOMAN playing jump ball for that last slot.

December 5, 2017 | Unregistered CommenterAndrew Carden

All I want is for Okja to be able to market itself as "Academy Award nominated," even if it's just for the visual effects. I love that movie so much.

December 5, 2017 | Unregistered CommenterRobert G

Can we go back a minute and wonder again over why the 1974 effects award was made a special one and not a competitive one. And it was given to Earthquake over The Towering Inferno! Still so pissed!

December 5, 2017 | Unregistered Commenterbrookesboy

Superhero films have been a bit weird to bet on in this category because last year had one, but the year before had none, but the year before that there were three. I personally think they shouldn't exclude Thor: Ragnarok because it is probably the best looking of the superhero films this year.

That being said its a really competitive year in this category because even some of the films that had a less than warm reception boasted pretty incredible effects (Valerian and Ghost in Shell).

Wonder Woman is a weird one. The CGI mayhem at the climax of the film is so messy looking, but so much of the previous visual effects actually look pretty clean and well done. I'd give this movie an award for the "No Mans Land" scene.

December 5, 2017 | Unregistered CommenterBrian

Blade Runner 2049 - best work of the year
Dunkirk - no green screen work of the year
War for the planet of Apes - best VFx workers of the world = Weta
The shape of water - art house work of the year
Star Wars

December 5, 2017 | Unregistered CommenterJon

Is Visual Effects like the Best Costume category in nominations, where they look at the work and don't care so much if the film was successful or well-received?

If so, "Valerian" was eye-popping, laugh aloud delight for visual effects. It was like music, with each note (effect) leading into the next. So satisfying.

December 5, 2017 | Unregistered Commenteradri

I wish "Colossal"'s minimal budget, amazing VFX results would at least have been considered... but it never stood a chance, since it's too small, and too uninterested in spending money on an awards race... I expect it to be mostly ignored at the Spanish Goyas, too (but in some technicals)

December 6, 2017 | Unregistered CommenterJesus Alonso

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January 24, 2018 | Unregistered CommenterKriminologi.id
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