Saturday, December 13, 2008 at 12:13AM Oscar Announces Potential Visual Effects Nominees
The other point in its favor is precisely that it isn't The Dark Knight or Iron Man or The Incredible Hulk or Hancock, which would win the award for most unnecessary effects, hands down. Because the effects in Button are not just used to create monsters or explosions but to create something lifelike, the Academy might see it as the greater accomplishment.
AMPAS has released its short list of potential nominees in that category, and conspicuous by its absence is Wanted. Remember, this isn't the actual list, just the nominating pool. From here, it will be chopped to seven and those seven will be shrunken to three final nominees.
Australia
The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian
Cloverfield
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
The Dark Knight
The Day the Earth Stood Still
Hancock
Hellboy II: The Golden Army
The Incredible Hulk
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
Iron Man
Journey to the Center of the Earth
The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor
Quantum of Solace
The Spiderwick Chronicles
You might have also noticed that Speed Racer wasn't among the potential nominees. That's a travesty. I don't care if the movie entertained you or not, but those effects are a good three years ahead of everybody else. And as Anne Thompson of Variety notes, "Just because Speed Racer was ahead of the curve and a bad match of visual effects and story...doesn't mean it shouldn't be rewarded by its peers for its technological virtuosity."
I agree with that assessment. And I also think three nominees is too few. Just look at the different ways effects are being used: Australia, Speed Racer, Cloverfield, Journey to the Center of the Earth, Button, Dark Knight, Day the Earth Stood Still, and Mummy all used effects in distinct ways that no other movie on the list can claim. So there will be a lot of worthy candidates left out in the cold this year.
Reader Comments (6)
Why isn't the movie Jumper on that list?
I believe it had some very great visual effects.
That comment about SPEED RACER is so off. It was the only film I've seen this year, and perhaps since the Matrix, that actually tried to do something new and exciting. I love the film, from the the effects to the story and I think that perhaps Ms. Thompson is a bit TOO OLD, or at least old fashioned, too appreciate it. How can she say those comments about Speed Racer when Indiana Jones, perhaps the worst marriage of story and effects in decades, got shortlisted. Its time to make the reviewers and critics reflect the future of the film industry, not the past. So no Speed, but shortlist these other films full of effects that could have been done twenty years ago... good choice Academy and good defense Ms. Thompson (I wonder what she called 'The day the earth stood still,' a great match of bad story and bad effects, give me a break.) She said it herself, Speed was 'ahead of the curve' so why are we still nominating those behind it.
Speed Racer in it's entirety only did one thing for me. It proved that movies could be one notch above crappy trailers.
The problem with Speed Racer is that because it seemed like a complete let down, and going in you get the impression that viewing it was going to suck, you actually get entertained BUT only because you had set your expectations EXTREMELY low.
If Norbit is up for OscarTM consideration, there's no reason why Speed Racer shouldn't be.
Jumper, Speed Racer And Twilight
Why Arent They On The List?
I hope you're joking about Twilight, and Anyone, Anne Thompson was making the point that Speed Racer should be nominated. There's nothing wrong with saying the story and visuals weren't on the same level; most people felt the story was bad. That's why it was the biggest bomb of the year. But there's no doubting the effects.