Yesterday the Academy announced their shortlist of 15 films competing for Best Visual Effects and last night I added my predictions for the category to my Oscar Predictions page. Now, we will discuss…
First for the list:
- Captain America: The First Avenger
- Cowboys & Aliens
- Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2
- Hugo
- Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol
- Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides
- Real Steel
- Rise of the Planet of the Apes
- Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows
- Sucker Punch
- Super 8
- Thor
- Transformers: Dark of the Moon
- The Tree of Life
- X-Men: First Class
The next step will be for the members of the Academy’s Visual Effects Branch Executive Committee to narrow this list down to ten in early January, before the nominations are announced on Tuesday, January 24, 2012. Of those ten, five will go on to be nominated as the Visual Effects Branch will be invited to view 10-minute excerpts from each of the 10 shortlisted films on Thursday, January 19. Question is, which five will be nominated?
Looking over the list I found it rather easy to come up with five nominees, though I am sure something will surprise me, but for now this is how my top five shape out in order of which film I think will ultimately win:
- Rise of the Planet of the Apes
- The Tree of Life
- Hugo
- Transformers: Dark of the Moon
- Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2
Fox is beginning their push for a Supporting Actor nomination for Andy Serkis, something I don’t think they have a chance at getting, but from a visual effects standpoint I think it’s the clear front-runner. I actually just received the Blu-ray for Rise of the Planet of the Apes yesterday and am interested in digging into the film for a third time, but also into the features to see what cool stuff it may have to offer.
Next, when the Academy says the Visual Effects Branch will be invited to view 10-minute excerpts from each of the 10 shortlisted films I can’t imagine not just throwing on the creation of the universe sequence from The Tree of Life and wowing everyone in the room. That’s just me… Then again, I thought the dinosaur sequence in the film was rather clumsy. I’m not sure if that could end up being a problem.
Scorsese’s Hugo is an effects extravaganza. Personally, it was one of the things I didn’t really like about the film as I felt it got in the way, but I know I am in the minority with that opinion and I think this one is a lock in this category.
My final two just seemed like the right choices. While Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen wasn’t even nominated, I don’t think they can overlook Transformers: Dark of the Moon. Then again, I personally thought the robot effects in Real Steel were very good, but I don’t see room for two battling robot features in the nominations list.
As for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2, the first part was nominated so in my mind it stands to assume the second part will be as well, especially considering it had many more effects and they were all executed quite well.
You can check out my ranking of all 15 contenders right here, but I would love to read your comments on the category directly below. Am I forgetting anything from the other ten contenders that should make them considered over the five I have predicted to be nominated right now?
