Visual Effects Shortlist - Scene Breakdown

By Ben Miller

The 10 finalists for the Best Visual Effects Oscar were announced last week.  Though once reserved for films that pushed the boundaries of what films could visualize, the Oscars have since gravitated towards spectacle and bombast.  Of the 10 films, none came from an independent studio or had a budget less than $100 million.  That isn't to say their effects should be discounted, but don't expect to see something like Ex Machina or shortlisted documentary Welcome to Chechnya from last year.  This category is usually reserved for outright spectacle, and these shortlisted films reflect that.

Let's focus on one specific setpiece per film that highlights the visual effects artists...

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Locarno Diary #3: Phil Tippett, the "Mad God" of special effects

by Elisa Giudici

Being a prestigious European movie festival but not one of the crowded and powerful ones, Locarno is the perfect size to showcase the work of  artisans. Every year there are one or two guests who are legends in peculiar, unseen, less discussed niches of the movie industry. I am confident that meeting Phil Tippett, a legendary special effects creator, animator and supervisor, will be one of the most vivid memories of this edition of the festival.

Before Locarno and the opportunity to meet Tippett, I knew close to nothing about his career other than that he was a collaborator and close friend of Paul Verhoeven's. So much so, he said, that on the set of RoboCop they asked each other, with dry humour, who they were forced to be nice to...

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Quickies to Catch Up (pt 2): Female led thrillers and CG beasts in battle

by Nathaniel R

In an attempt to clear our cache of notes and fill out that review page for 2021, we're addressing movies we didn't get around to discussing in full for your commenting pleasure. Better late than never! As we were typing these Luca emerged but it's so good it deserves one big post or several little ones before the Oscars so more on that soon. If you missed part one of this review catch-up, that's here. After the jump brief thoughts on four films: Godzilla vs Kong, Mortal Kombat, Those Who Wish Me Dead, and The Woman in the Window...

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Where are the docs in the technical categories?

by Juan Carlos Ojano

Almost two weeks after the Oscar nominations and one snub still stings: Welcome to Chechnya in Visual Effects. After making it in the shortlist, hopes were high that its life-saving use of facial replacements could catapult it to Oscar history as the first documentary to be nominated in this category, one largely dominated by Hollywood blockbusters (which were mostly missing last year) Only a year like 2020 could have brought a documentary film close to this category and it still did not happen. 

This begs the question: why are documentaries routinely ignored in categories outside of Documentary Feature? 

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Best Visual Effects: The most exciting race in years!

by Cláudio Alves

Every year, while most awards obsessives wring their hands over the starrier categories, I focus on those below-the-line categories I've grown to love even more than Best Picture. Costume Design and International Feature are usually the focus of my attention, though every "craft" award tends to entice curiosity and honest emotional investment. All that said, the last category I expected to be excited about on nomination morning is Best Visual Effects. And yet, here we are. It seems this oddball awards season insists on surprising until the very end…

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