Usually when the Academy releases the finalists for their Visual Effects category, the list is so short that we can spend time bemoaning the lost chances of great movies. We were all ready to despair about Ex Machina being cut since films where the visual effects are genius but "supporting", as it were, are rarely if ever the ones they honor.
But lo and behold a much bigger list than usual with Ex Machina on it (yes!) as well as the practical effects wonderment that is Mad Max: Fury Road.
- Ant-Man
- Avengers: Age of Ultron
- Bridge of Spies
- Chappie
- Everest
- Ex Machina
- Furious 7
- The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 2
- In the Heart of the Sea
- Jupiter Ascending
- Jurassic World
- Mad Max: Fury Road
- The Martian
- Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation
- The Revenant
- Spectre
- Star Wars: The Force Awakens
- Terminator Genisys
- Tomorrowland
- The Walk
Which 5 of these finalists will you be rooting for?
P.S. Now we'll just have to puzzle out what was CGI in Bridge of Spies and speculate about how many prizes "Judy" the bear from The Revenant can wrack up this year? Leonardo DiCaprio tasted just like Oscar and she's hungry for more.
P. P.S. Does this mean the Executive Committee of AMPAS vfx branch were given a private screening of Star Wars or did they just give it a placeholder break?
P.P.S. I refuse to be ashamed that I saw Avengers: Age of Ultron three times and it deserves the nomination for The Vision alone... let alone the rest of its spectacle. But since it's popular to hate on now, will the Academy skip it? Your theories are welcome in the comments.