Oscar 2014 - VFX

From the five nominations on VFX for this year, I've already had individual entries on four movies. So, since I'm anyway writing again at some weird hour in the middle of the night, I'll try not to spend much time and leave the visuals to tell more .. ( it should be in the "spirit" of the category after all :) )

First on the list is "Gravity". I'll stick to the opinion in my last year's entry that this movie is quite overrated. But I have to admit, despite the lack of impact as story feeling, that technically-wise the level achieved is pretty high. And that makes the VFX to be probably one of the easiest to predict categories of the year = my bet goes here. Following, one of the many pieces composing what you get to see on screen, and how much is behind it ...

I don't know if I'm right to say that "The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug" is better on VFX than the first part, but I think what we get to see on this one is a bit more varied. And you finally meet the Dragon ;) The guys from Weta Digital did their job again, as it can be seen below ...

"Iron Man 3" is the only title here about which I didn't write before. Considering how much I "like" super-hero movies, this was a nice surprise. Actually, I guess it's the only movie in 2013 on this genre that I managed to digest without any problems. Way above "Iron Man 2" (I still can't get over the association: Mickey Rourke = evil brilliant scientist), and I think even a bit better than the first in the series. Since it's one of the increasingly rare cases when the movie offers quite a lot beyond what the trailer gives (if I remember correctly), I'll refrain from extra spoilers. Getting back to VFX, as far as I know is a collaboration between multiple studios (including also the above mentioned Weta). The costume animations seem to come from Trixter .. as the nice following montage tells us ..

"The Lone Ranger" was the most unpredictable nomination to get here. As pleasantly surprised I am to see that it's still possible to get 2D movies appreciated for VFX, I am intrigued by the "Pacific Rim" absence (well, I think I said something about too much of that movie being "shot" on night during rain :P). Here we have plenty of CGI, especially for simulated environments - trains, trees, more trains, more trees, even rabbits ..

It seems highly unlikely for "Star Trek: Into Darkness" to have a chance here, but I'm glad it got at least the nomination. Unlike for instance the music score, reason (on which I can also add the absence of "Rush" there) for which I guess this year I'll boycott that section. Getting back on topic though, I'll wrap up the entry of today with the VFX in one of the best SciFi I've seen in the recent years (and one with a decent story, unlike the other end of this list) ...