OVP: Best Visual Effects (2012)
The Nominees Were...
Joe Letteri, Eric Saindon, David Clayton, and R. Christopher White, The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey
Bill Westenhofer, Guillaume Rocheron, Erik-Jar De Boer, and Donald R. Elliott, Life of Pi
Janek Sirrs, Jeff White, Guy Williams, and Dan Sudick, Marvel's The Avengers
Richard Stammers, Trevor Wood, Charley Henley, and Martin Hill, Prometheus
Cedric Nicolas-Troyan, Philip Brennan, Neil Corbould, and Michael Dawson, Snow White and the Huntsman
My Thoughts: I sometimes feel a little bad for other categories at the Oscars when they have the dubious distinction of competing for the attention of audience members against the Best Visual Effects category. Unless you're an Oscar nut (if you are, you've come to the right place), you're probably seeing at least one film per category that you didn't see in theaters, with the exception of the above five films. All of these movies cleared $100 million domestically, and the one that made the least (Life of Pi) is probably the one you sought out on Netflix after its DVD release. This is disappointing because a lot of great movies get overlooked when we just focus on blockbusters. But, in trying to find that half full glass, it also means that you all have opinions on this race, and hopefully will share those thoughts in the comments (a blogger can dream, right?).
Speaking of dreams, let's start with the moody, complicated, delightful mess of Prometheus, shall we? Honestly, how much of this movie do you really remember? Though I actually saw The Avengers before it, Prometheus and its weird mix of religion, evolution, and aliens made for a bizarre cinematic encounter, n'est pas? Since this is its only nomination (headed into the film I thought we'd be in for some Sound or even an Editing nomination, but no dice), I do want to say that I thoroughly enjoyed the film, though I saw its very deep flaws. Part of me was mesmerized by the serene blueness of the film. I'm aware that this is overdone (every Eastwood movie seems to fall head-over-heels for the color), but the combination of the blue and the water makes the color scheme truly organic to the film, and the visual effects artists add to this with the CGI aliens and the large cavernous structure they encounter giving the film a cool, icy detachment. The movie routinely finds that great visual effect to make us in awe (David waking the engineer, the opening destruction of the creature, the giant wheel), and overall is a huge success on the visual effects front, even if the plot has some holes that should have been filled by something other than a sequel.
Life of Pi, on the other hand, is a film that perhaps gives us too many filled plot holes, but unlike Prometheus, it has a mountain of nominations in other categories to choose from (including for writing), and so we'll have ample time to discuss its lesser attributes. Instead, I want to focus on the intoxicating effects it creates in a film that is almost animated it has so much CGI. Oftentimes this category comes down to a single creation that cannot be ignored, and with Life of Pi, that creation is our lead tiger, Richard Parker. Never once do you question whether you are staring at a real tiger, even though you obviously aren't for the bulk of the scenes, and that is what seamless visual effects are supposed to do. It's not supposed to just wow and add as many whirls as possible, it's also supposed to create onscreen something that adds to the plot. The rest of the film's effects are equally beautiful-particularly the whale and the island, but Richard Parker is the marvel here-a creation on par with Gollum and Pandora.
Speaking of marvels (how's that for a punny segway?), we might as well discuss Earth's Mightiest Heroes. The Avengers is one of those movies that's box office mandated it be included as a nominee, even if it isn't necessarily in the same league as its fellow nominees. Now, this isn't to say that it isn't a fine source of visual effects (it is), but compared with the groundbreaking and breathtaking work done in Life of Pi and Prometheus, it's not really up to the same caliber (it hurts the superhero film that we have had many comic book inclusions in this category in recent years and that it's up against a particularly strong field). The soaring wonder of the Hulk, smashing his way through New York City is the film's best effect, and there's something to be said for the cleanness of the movie, with the CGI so full of air and light that you rarely notice the shift from real to imaginative (though again, it's helped by the fact that very little of it appears to be real). It's just that there's nothing in it to make you go "wow" in the same way as the other four contenders-we've been here so often that I feel like you need something particularly new to really make us marvel, and while the box office was something to behold, the effects aren't necessarily on the same level.
The Hobbit knows how to take its effects up a step over previous incarnations. Like The Avengers, it too has the blessing/curse of going into the familiar. Jackson's latest realm, though, still manages new ways to entangle us. It helps that Jackson had a better jumping off point, as few films have contributed more to visual effects in the past fifteen years (doesn't it make you feel old to know Lord of the Rings was over a decade ago?) than this series. I loved the cartoonish nature of the Goblin King, the way that the visual effects borrowed from the film's more playful, energetic tone and made the chases a bit more comical, but still steeped in realism. And when they want to create something large and beautiful (like the new angles we get from Rivendell), the effects artists know when to just let the eye-popping rip and give us new views at familiar worlds.
Finally, we have what was certainly the surprise inclusion of Oscar nomination, the citation of Snow White amongst the nominees. At the time, it was assumed that either the other comic book mega-blockbuster (The Dark Knight Rises) or the giant flop with a zillion effects (John Carter or Cloud Atlas-take your pick) would be the final nominee, but instead, thanks to what was rumored to be a great effects reel seen by the Visual Effects branch, Snow White was welcomed into the nomination circle. As you may recall from when I reviewed this earlier this year, I actually thought this was a pleasant surprise upon viewing the film. The Sanctuary scenes were divinely interwoven into the movie, and the milk bath sequence was both terrifying and "can't-turn-away." This was one of those nominations that quality trumped quantity, and those happen so rarely, I want to make sure we honor it by getting out the sentence, "I would have nominated it too."
Other Precursor Contenders: The Visual Effects Society divides its nominees into effects-driven films and supporting effects in a film, so for the effects-driven films (typically the category most borrowed from for the Oscars), we only lost Snow White in favor of Battleship, with Life of Pi taking the trophy (The Impossible triumphed in the supporting effects category over Zero Dark Thirty, Flight, Rust and Bone, and Argo). The BAFTA Awards also cut Snow White (clearly the fifth place of the five) in favor of The Dark Knight Rises, and they too went with Life of Pi as the top choice. Finally, like Makeup, we have a bake-off system, and so the five films that just-missed (how tough must it be to be a coin toss away from an Oscar nomination?) were The Amazing Spider-Man, Cloud Atlas, John Carter, Skyfall, and my predicted sixth place, The Dark Knight Rises.
Films I Would Have Nominated: Yes, The Dark Knight Rises was a lesser film than its predecessor in basically every way that you can compare two films, but we aren't supposed to be comparing this to its predecessor, we're supposed to be comparing it to the other films of the year, and in that case I think that the collapsing football field, the opening with Bane, and the war-torn Gotham add up to the film that should have gotten fourth place amongst our nominees.
Oscar's Choice: When one of the top Best Picture contenders also is nominated here, it's usually the case that it wins. Life of Pi was unstoppable with AMPAS.
My Choice: Honestly, it's a little sad that Life of Pi is part of this race, as it's so perfect and basically unbeatable it makes The Hobbit (silver) and Prometheus (bronze) look like lesser creations than they actually are. In fourth place, I'd go with Snow White, picking Kristen Stewart over the Avengers (bring it on fanboys!).
But let's add your thoughts to the mix-what'd you think of this lineup? Was anyone voting for something other than Life of Pi? Who is with me that Snow White deserved inclusion? And considering the relative strengths of Skyfall, Cloud Atlas, John Carter, and The Dark Knight, who was the most snubbed?
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