This is our penultimate post and how fitting that such a sure thing category is being revealed between two undecided races. Nevertheless, here are our predictions on the Visual Effects category, some facts and favorites.
Trivia: Five Facts
- The first award was given out for Visual Effects alone in 1963 and has been given out every year since then except 1973.
- Dennis Muren is the champion of nominations for Visual Effects having received 15 nominations to date. His nearest competitor is Richard Edlund with 10 followed by John Frazier with 9 and Ken Ralston with 7. For most wins, Muren is again the champ with 8 trophies followed by Ken Ralston with 5, and L.B. Abbott, Richard Edlund and Glen Robinson with three each.
- Stautettes to go out for this category: 158 (not counting the old Special Effects award which combined Sound Effects and Visual Effects).
- Visual Effects was one of the few categories that could have no category in any given year, 2 or 3 nominations, or a single special achievement award. Today, the Visual Effects slate will always contain three nominations. Other than 1973, the category has always been awarded, but eight times it was awarded as a Special Achievement Award (1972, 1974, 1975, 1976, 1978, 1980, 1983 and 1990)
- 1976 was the only year on record where two special awards were given for Visual Effects: King Kong and Logan’s Run received those prizes.
Predictions
- Avatar (Wesley, Peter, Tripp, Wes)
- District 9 (Wesley, Peter)
- Star Trek (Tripp)
KEY: (Winner Prediction) (Alternate Winner)
The Commentary
Wesley Lovell – Of all the certain outcomes at this year’s Oscars (Jeff Bridges, Mo’Nique, Kathryn Bigelow, Christoph Waltz), none is more certain than this award. Avatar is such a breakthrough in 3D technology and advancing the motion capture technology used so superbly in the Lord of the Rings films, that a loss here would be significantly more surprising than The Golden Compass winning the Oscar against Transformers and Pirates of the Caribbean 3.
Tripp Burton – Is there any reason for selecting an alternate here? Avatar has the most mind-blowing special effects, and also the most revolutionary. It should win very handily here.
Wes Huizar – There is no alternative.
Our Favorite Winners
KEY:
Appears on Two Lists
Appears on Three Lists
Appears on Four Lists
Appears on Opposing Lists
Wesley Lovell
- 2001: A Space Odyssey (There were no nifty computer effects, just simple movie magic.)
- The Lord of the Rings Trilogy (The effects in the film are brilliant. There are only a few minor problems here or there, but this shows what can be done when blending existing effects and new effects from Gollum to camera trickery.)
- Titanic (An authentic recreation of a legendary event, making for a gorgeous viewing experience.)
- The Matrix (While many of the effects seem overplayed now, especially when looking at the sequels to the first film, there’s something stellar about this work that no measure of future failure can tarnish.)
- Jurassic Park (I was torn whether to include Star Wars or Jurassic Park here. While I think Star Wars was a history-changing effort, there’s something to be said for creating something from skeletal frameworks alone. Living breathing creatures that weren’t entirely animatronic, but which blended effortlessly in with the environment.)
Peter J. Patrick
- Forrest Gump (seamless blending of fictional characters into newsreel footage )
- Titanic (the sinking of the ship is alone worthy of high placement)
- Mary Poppins (perfectly delightful )
- Spider-Man 2 (high flying superb)
- Star Wars (the much over-used word “awesome” applies here)
Tripp Burton
- Terminator 2: Judgment Day
- Jurassic Park
- Who Framed Roger Rabbit?
- Star Wars
- The Abyss
For me, the rule for special effects is how well they hold up. The effects work for each of these films is just as impressive as it was the day it was released.
Wes Huizar
- Star Wars
- Terminator 2: Judgment Day
- Jurassic Park
- The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers
- The Matrix
Our Least Favorite Winners
KEY:
Appears on Two Lists
Appears on Three Lists
Appears on Four Lists
Appears on Opposing Lists
Wesley Lovell
- What Dreams May Come (Painful graphics that blurred at the most inopportune moments and looked more like some visual effects artist designing from a childhood memory and excluding the present.)
- Gladiator (I am still amazed this film managed to win the award. I can’t remember a thing about it that deserved recognition.)
- Forrest Gump (One of the things that always annoyed me about this film was placing a fake figure into historical situations and while I can appreciate some of the detail that went into it, it was still painfully obvious at times and poorly composed at others.)
- Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest (The least impressive of the series, the film’s most annoying aspects (such as too many Captain Jack’s) were simply that. Not to mention that the only reason the film won was because the original had lost to the LOTR juggernaut.)
As I could only find four winners I objected to in the slightest, here they are.
Peter J. Patrick
- Doctor Dolittle (obvious effects)
- Thunderball (boring effects)
- Death Becomes Her (obvious effects)
- The Abyss (borning effects)
- What Dreams May Come (overkill)
Tripp Burton
- Gladiator
- Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest
- Doctor Dolittle
- Indiana Jones and The Temple of Doom
- Spider-Man 2
None of these films were very impressive when they came out, and they are sloppy looking now, except Temple of Doom. I just don’t know what great new effects there were there?
Wes Huizar
- What Dreams May Come (Maybe the fact that this movie is in my bottom 10 of all-time makes it difficult to take even its visual effects seriously)
- Babe (I love this movie. I mean, I truly LOVE this movie. But Best Visual Effects for a bunch of talking animals? No way.)
- Doctor Dolittle (It’s a stupid movie – the worst ever nominated for Best Picture – and the visual effects were crap)
- Cleopatra (This movie actually beat “The Birds”? Shameful.)
- Gladiator (Probably the biggest head-scratcher in the modern age of visual effects, especially since both “The Perfect Storm” and “Hollow Man” had better effects)
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