By I am not a fan of CGI, but, for whatever reason, 2011 had a number of truly terrible examples of VFX. If you couldn’t guess from the headline, some of those films have made it onto the final 10 contenders for the Oscar for “Best Visual Effects.” Obviously only half of these films are going to make it into the final five, but the fact that films like X-Men: First Class are even in the running is kind of horrifying. That film has some of the worst CGI I have seen in a very, very long time.
If you compare the effects in that film to pretty much any video done by Freddie Wong (this header image comes from his most recent), you will be horrified at how shoddy X-Men looks in comparison, especially since Freddie and co. do each video in less than a week and, while I can’t profess to know their budgets, I would guess that all of their videos combined doesn’t even begin to approach the $160 million poured into X-Men.
There are also other movies on the list, and pretty much all of them are expected choices (Rise of the Planet of the Apes, Tree of Life, Captain America: The First Avenger, etc.). For the entire list and other info, the press release can be found below.
Beverly Hills, CA – The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences today announced that 10 films remain in the running in the Visual Effects category for the 84th Academy Awards®.
The films are listed below in alphabetical order:
- “Captain America: The First Avenger”
- “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”
- “Transformers: Dark of the Moon”
- “The Tree of Life”
- “X-Men: First Class”
All members of the Visual Effects Branch will be invited to view 10-minute excerpts from each of the 10 shortlisted films on Thursday, January 19. Following the screenings, the members will vote to nominate five films for final Oscar consideration.
The 84th Academy Awards nominations will be announced live on Tuesday, January 24, at 5:30 a.m. PT in the Academy’s Samuel Goldwyn Theater.
Academy Awards for outstanding film achievements of 2011 will be presented on Sunday, February 26, at the Kodak Theatre at Hollywood & Highland Center®, and televised live by the ABC Television Network. The Oscar presentation also will be televised live in more than 225 countries worldwide.