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So which movie should win the Oscar for Best Visual Effects?

Which movie should win the Oscar for Best Visual Effects?

  • The Golden Compass

    Votes: 5 35.7%
  • Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End

    Votes: 2 14.3%
  • Transformers

    Votes: 7 50.0%

  • Total voters
    14
  • Poll closed .

The Ü™

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If you take part in the reading of my blogs, you will discover that I have a fetish for movie visual effects. The study of them is amongst my many hobbies.

While I do not take the Oscars seriously (at least that's what I tell myself), I am interested in the buzz around here. I have no interest in the major categories such as Best Picture or Best Director, because those are the movies I have no desire to see.

I am focused on the Best Visual Effects award. The nominees of this year are:
  • The Golden Compass -- Michael Fink, Bill Westenhofer, Ben Morris, Trevor Wood
  • Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End -- John Knoll, Hal Hickel, Charles Gibson, John Frazier
  • Transformers -- Scott Farrar, Scott Benza, Russell Earl, John Frazier
It is your job to vote for the movie you think should win for its visual effects. Try not to focus on the overall quality of the movie as a whole, but the quality of the effects.

Those who vote for the winner will earn a rep point from me, provided theirs is not disabled.

EDIT: And if you did not see some of the movies, you may still vote for the ones you did see. Or if you have knowledge about a movie you didn't see, you may vote for that. I'm not picky.

EDIT: Even if you don't give a crap about the Oscars, which one do you think had the best effects?
 

The Ü™

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Damn, can a madmin make the vote results public? I need to know who to give rep points to when the time comes.
 

scantilyclad

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since the madmins don't seem to be making it public, i voted pirates.
 
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Of the nominees, "Transformers" is clearly the best technical achievement. The robots looked photorealistic. If you showed that movie to someone from the 70s, before CGI effects existed, they'd have no trouble believing that the robots were practical.

That said, I personally prefer visual effects that are more integrated into the plot of the movie as story elements. They often aren't as showy, because the point is not to scream "Look at these effects!", but they can be very effective. In this vein, I liked the effects in "I Am Legend" and "Across The Universe".
 

The Ü™

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Of the nominees, "Transformers" is clearly the best technical achievement. The robots looked photorealistic. If you showed that movie to someone from the 70s, before CGI effects existed, they'd have no trouble believing that the robots were practical.

That said, I personally prefer visual effects that are more integrated into the plot of the movie as story elements. They often aren't as showy, because the point is not to scream "Look at these effects!", but they can be very effective. In this vein, I liked the effects in "I Am Legend" and "Across The Universe".

Damn, I was actually meaning to see Across the Universe. I gotta get it from Netflix.

I liked the effects in I Am Legend, for the most part, but the mutants often looked fake, and especially the zoo animals at the beginning. However, the "emptying" of New York City was very amazing.

I like effects that are showy, though, because they stimulate my mind and those kinds of movies tend to inspire me, not in terms of story or even directing, but in terms of the effects.
 

The Ü™

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Well, I guess to make the polls public, they would reset themselves. So I'm going to need the names of everyone who voted and what they voted for.

Should anyone continue to vote, I will need you to post here to confirm for your rep points. And I've decided, to attract voters, that I will give you each of whom votes on whatever wins the award come next Sunday five rep points on the last five of your posts. Pretend each rep point is $10 from me, for a total of $50! :D

And in general, I'm just curious to see who voted for what. So to everyone who voted but didn't post, I'd really appreciate it if you did.
 

The Ü™

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I voted for Transformers, as well. I think that it is technologically the best movie of the three, but that's rather obvious. The Academy, on the other hand, tends to vote according to which movie they liked the best in terms of its overall quality.
 
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I voted for Transformers, as well. I think that it is technologically the best movie of the three, but that's rather obvious. The Academy, on the other hand, tends to vote according to which movie they liked the best in terms of its overall quality.

If that's the case, then The Golden Compass will probably win. I'm sure the Hollywood big cheeses are still indignant that it bombed because Christians decided to exercise their right not to see it.
 

The Ü™

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I'll be giving the rep points to the other two voters for The Golden Compass in his/her last five posts.
 

The Ü™

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I probably should have saved this poll for the Saturn Award nominations because they nominated six films, and I would probably have gotten more diverse results...

The Saturn Awards, in general, are more up my alley. And, of course, the VES Awards -- and Transformers got a good amount of wins on that one.
 

The Ü™

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F4 couldn't even get nominated for the Saturn! Bah!

Yeah, I thought that had some awesome effects. I enjoyed it as a movie, too. I think the problem with the Fantastic Four movies is that, after films like Spider-Man and Batman Begins, people were expecting them to be deeper movies. However, both Fantastic Four movies were good for what they were -- light-hearted entertainment.
 
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The Silver Surfer looked great. And he didn't look great at all at first, he went through a few incarnations before he didn't look cheesy.
 
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