The seven films in the running for the FX Oscar

[Out Of My Vulcan Mind]

The field of films competing for a Best Visual Effects nomination at the Academy Awards has been narrowed to seven. The films still in the running are:

2012
Avatar
District 9
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
Star Trek
Terminator Salvation
Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen

Three of these films will be nominated. Avatar is obviously the prohibitive favorite to win. Which films do you think will take the other two slots? I expect Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen to be nominated, and I'd love to see Star Trek get the nod, too.

 

[JacksonArcher]

Avatar is probably a shoe-in. I also expect Transformers to get a nod even though it doesn't deserve it. District 9 unequivocally needs to get nominated, though.

 

[Bishbot]

Avatar is probably a shoe-in. I also expect Transformers to get a nod even though it doesn't deserve it. District 9 unequivocally needs to get nominated, though.

Poor effort as a film though it is, I would suggest that Transformers very much DOES deserve a nomination. The script and story were total wank but the robots took it to a new level. A level that James Cameron recently pissed on from a great height, admittedly.

 

[Davros]

Avatar will bury them all.

 

[OdoWanKenobi]

Avatar has this locked. End of story.

 

[Hugo Rune]

They should just rename it "The Avatar Award" and be done with it.


Hugo - Everything is backwards now, like out there is the true world and in here is the dream

 

[Kegg]

Avatar is obviously the prohibitive favorite to win.

Avatar is probably a shoe-in.

Avatar will bury them all.

Avatar has this locked. End of story.

They should just rename it "The Avatar Award" and be done with it.

Or the Avatar thread, for that matter. The suspense here really is who the other three nominees are.

I didn't see the sequel, but the first Transformers had good effects, in all honesty. I bought the conceit of the giant transforming robots, though the designs I considered frankly far too overcomplicated for my tastes. Assuming the sequel kept up the same level of quality a nomination would not be something I'd turn my nose up at.

District 9 would be good because it managed not just to give us excellent aliens, but made me empathise and see the humanity in hideous bug things. Christopher's is truly one of the great synthespian performances of the year (god I sound so obnoxious using the word 'synthespian'.)

Aside from that Star Trek was suitably good and I didn't see the other movies. They all seem like fair contenders, the sort of movies for whom their budgets procured lavish spectacle as a necessity of keeping their franchises afloat.

 

[T'Baio]

It should be Avatar, District 9 and Star Trek with Avatar for the win.

 

[JacksonArcher]

I have two problems with the special effects of the Transformers movies.

Criticisms that might be more leveled at Michael Bay than the visual effects people who worked on the film:

• The films are so choppily cut I can never tell just what the hell is going on, so difficult to even appreciate the visuals.
• To echo a complaint by Kegg, the designs are so complicated and the actual transformations so convoluted and multi-layered that again I have a hard time even comprehending what is going on.

Both limit my appreciation of the special effects in both movies. At least I could comprehend and appreciate the visual effects in movies like Avatar, Star Trek and District 9.

 

[CaptainCanada]

District 9 deserves a nomination for doing that quality of work on such a comparatively tiny budget.

 

[Agenda]

District 9's FX were amazing. Probably the most seamless CG characters I've seen yet.

 

[Hyperspace05]

Transformers 2 had excellent FX work... BUT... It really was just the same as TF1. Just more of it. It didn't look any better, or have real breakthroughs. Just more of it.

And I think that lack of innovation (perceived or actual) is the biggest hurdle for TF2 to get nominated.

My nomination prediction: Avatar, D9, Star Trek. Although 2012 could replace Trek.

 

[Jetfire]

Transformers would be getting a more serious glance by you all if the stories were more like G1 cartoon...the effects in both movies were great and ROTF deserves it's nod for this catagory. I haven't seen Avatar but from what I have seen in the trailers and other clips...it will take this award with ease.

 

[Dream]

I hope Star Trek is nominated. It had some of the best effects in a movie last year.

I still can't believe The Golden Compass beat POTC3 and Transformers a few years back. That was insane.

 

[Dar70]

I think some of you are blinded by your love of the new Trek film and are starving to see a Trek film nominated for SOMETING. I'll bring it back down to reality.(since I didnt like the film.)
Star Treks effects were not that great. Every film on that lists beats it. Except maybe district 9.(havent seen 2012 yet)

 

[Out Of My Vulcan Mind]

Perhaps you're blinded by the fact that you disliked Star Trek, Dar70

I don't think Star Trek should win, but I think it had better FX than Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince and Terminator Salvation. I haven't seen 2012 yet either so I can't judge it against that.

Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen definitely deserves a nomination. I think there was improvement over the (already impressive) first film. The action scenes in particular, although still cut at a fast pace, had much more clarity in their FX than in the first film.

As CaptainCanada said, the most impressive thing about the FX in District 9 are that they were realized on such a low budget. I wouldn't go so far as to say they were the best CG characters ever, but they were very impressive given the budget level. And that's an exciting development since it means the door is opening for esoteric science fiction and fantasy films, with impressive FX, that can be made on limited budgets.

 

[Agenda]

I think some of you are blinded by your love of the new Trek film and are starving to see a Trek film nominated for SOMETING. I'll bring it back down to reality.(since I didnt like the film.)
Star Treks effects were not that great. Every film on that lists beats it. Except maybe district 9.(havent seen 2012 yet)

One too many smilies there, champ. Star Trek's effects were fine. They got the job done. No, they won't win. But who cares?

 

[Ptrope]

Trek's FX were done well, but they were hampered by Abrams' choice to obscure everything with idiotic lens flares. Unfortunately, that made Trek, to me, the most visually unappealing film I've seen in years - the cinematography was so conceitedly clichéd that it makes an average-at-best film mostly unwatchable. Personally, I think it unfair that ILM had to work so hard to make FX that most people couldn't even see, all because of Abrams' stupidity.

 

[T'Baio]

I loved the lens flares. A Trek film with some style...who woulda' thunk it?

 

[crookeddy]

I think some of you are blinded by your love of the new Trek film and are starving to see a Trek film nominated for SOMETING. I'll bring it back down to reality.(since I didnt like the film.)
Star Treks effects were not that great. Every film on that lists beats it. Except maybe district 9.(havent seen 2012 yet)

What do you mean except District 9? District 9's effects were so good that most people probably don't know that it was effects. (similar to Benjamim Button) To be honest, Star Trek effects were generic big budget sci fi movies effects - which were amazing to us Star Trek fans, since Star Trek movies don't tend to reach this level. Probably not Oscar nomination worthy though.

Transformers 2 improved on the original in 1 way - the scenes filmed fro IMAX. To have the robots look so good at that resolution was a never before seen feat. (And still is - Avatar does not have any full IMAX scenes)