Avengers: Infinity War - 1 nomination

Visual Effects - Dan DeLeeuw, Kelly Port, Russell Earl and Dan Sudick

We have arrived at my favorite category!  Visual Effects is always chock full of sci fi and superhero films, both of which are a love of mine when done well.

Avengers: Infinity War is the first of a two part sequel that is also the build up of most of the Marvel franchise (18 films and counting).  In each part of this universe we have identified 6 Infinity stones - these come right from the comic books.  Here is a breakdown of the stones: The Space Stone (blue), the Reality Stone (red), the Power Stone (purple), the Mind Stone (yellow), the Time Stone (green) and the Soul Stone (orange).

• Anyone holding the space stone can create a portal from one part of the universe to another. (originally appears in the first Avengers film)
• The mind stone allows the holder to control the minds of others. (first appears in the first Avengers movie, but is affixed to superhero Vision's forehead)
• The Reality Stone grants the user power to manipulate matter. (first appears in Thor: The Dark World)
• The Power Stone bestows upon its holder a lot of energy—the sort of energy that you could use to destroy an entire planet. (appears in Guardians of the Galaxy)
• The Time Stone grants its owner the power to re-wind or fast-forward time.  (first appears in Doctor Strange)
• The Soul Stone allows the user to control others “souls,” both living and dead. (appears in this film)

Why am I telling you all of this?  Because darkest Lord Thanos appears in this Avengers film on a quest to assemble all of those stones and to wield the most power in the universe that even our Marvel heroes won't be able to defeat.  But Thanos claims that his intention is pure - to restore order to the universe and reduce overpopulation in order to save it.  

This is what I love about many science fiction films - the bad guys are bad guys because they are willing to sacrifice humans for the sake of a bigger ideal.  Is it wrong to want to save the universe?  Of course it isn't.  But the devil is in the details and our band of superheroes must do everything in their power to save the people/beings in the universe, not just the physical world.  

In case you haven't already guessed, I loved it.