Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 - 1 nomination

Visual Effects, Christopher Townsend, Guy Williams, Jonathan Fawkner and Dan Sudick

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 is the next installment of this Marvel powerhouse where we reunite with Peter Quill/Star Lord (Chris Pratt) and his little gang of misfit superheroes - Gamora, the rejected daughter of the scary god Thanos who is out to rule the world, Drax, the super he-man on steroids, Rocket, the wise ass raccoon who is also a bounty hunter scavenger, and of course Teenager Groot, the reincarnation of the tree who saved our heroes' lives in the last film.  This time, we get to meet Quill's real father Ego, who brings the group to a magnificent planet, but even though idyllic, something isn't quite right.  

If you've followed the blog, you know I'm a Marvel fan to the max, and this film did not disappoint.  If possible, the sequel exceeded the high bar set by the original film.  A hallmark of the original movie is the mix tape left for Peter Quill by his mother and in this film, he discovers Vol. 2 of the mix tape, which also does not disappoint.

The visual effects are stunning, beyond all expectations.  I loooooooooooved this film and so did every member of my family.  It does not disappoint!  I won't tell you more about the film, spoilers are oh-so unfair in the Marvel world, so to see all of the juicy details that I didn't describe, you'll have to see the movie yourself!

THE LEGO MOVIE - 1 nomination

Best Song - Everything is Awesome, Music and Lyric by Shawn Patterson

In The Lego Movie, Chris Pratt voices Emmett, an ordinary construction worker who plays by the rules of society.  Elizabeth Banks voices Wild Style, a rebel who is convinced that Emmet fulfills a prophecy of being "the special," or the person who holds the key to saving the Lego universe by stopping Lord Business (Will Farrell) from freezing everyone into place.  As Emmett and Wild Style pursue a way to foil Lord Business' evil plans, they pick up assorted Lego characters as they travel the many neighborhoods of the Lego galaxy.

The Lego Movie was one of my favorite movies of the year, and for sure one of my favorite animated movies of the year.  (Color me a little bitter that it wasn't nominated for Animated Feature.)  It was funny and did an amazing job of pulling from all of our favorite Lego sets - there is an amazing scene where all of the Lego representatives come together and it seems like everyone who is anyone in the Lego world appears.  The cast of actors include everyone from Morgan Freeman to Alison Brie, Jonah Hill to Will Forte, and half the fun is figuring out who is playing whom.  

Everything Is Awesome is the nominated song that is meant to represent the nature of the Lego society - that is, group above individualism and rigorous adherence to the "way it's meant to be done" over exploring new ideas.  However, it is simply impossible to get the song out of your head once you've gotten it in.  (Watch the youtube clip at your own earworm peril!)  While I don't think it will win this year, I do love the song, because, well, everything about it IS awesome!

One more note about The Lego Movie - this film had every chance of feeling like a big product placement commercial for Legos.  The fact that it was a great film with an authentic story and a genuine lesson only speaks to how well it was done.  I recommend it most highly.

GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY - 2 nominations

Makeup and Hairstyling - Elizabeth Yianni-Georgiou and David White  
Visual Effects - Stephane Ceretti, Nicolar Aithadi, Jonathan Fawkner and Paul Corbould

It is hard to describe how much I loved Guardians of the Galaxy.  As I've shared, I'm a bit of a Marvel and superhero groupie, and the easter eggs in this film were a bit delicious.  But this was one film that I loved enough to see it twice in the theatre.  It's a great bit of fun.

The plot of the film follows Peter Quill, aka Star Lord (Chris Pratt), a scavenger of planets who finds valuable objects and sells them to a pawn dealer.  He steals a valuable orb, and is then pursued by a former business partner and the dark and evil Ronan the accuser.  Meanwhile, two bounty hunters, Rocket, a raccoon voiced by Bradley Cooper, and Groot, a tree-ish character voiced by Vin Diesel, are doing their best to capture Quill for money.  They, and Star Lord, get arrested with a green beauty named Gamora who is also trying to get the orb to keep the earth safe.  In jail, they meet up and join forces with the very powerful Drax, who is seeking revenge for the deaths of his wife and child.  The movie is the best example of the genre being action-packed, imaginative, and also hilarious, with all the snappy repartee one would expect of a film starring Chris Pratt and a talking raccoon.

The makeup transforms some of the characters so thoroughly that they are unrecognizable as humans. Somehow, turning Zoe Saldana green makes her even more beautiful, which is why we can never be best friends. (Zoe, call me! We can work it out!)  The work is certainly expected in the context of a Marvel movie that takes place in alien settings, but even Glenn Close whose character is basically human, is transformed with her hair and makeup.

Finally, the visual effects were remarkable.  There is no question that in making a movie like this, the bar is set very high because the limits of what can be done are left only to the visual effects folks' imaginations.  What makes the effects so spectacular is that they are not limited to explosions (though there are plenty of those), but they are at once visually stunning and often, unbelievably beautiful to watch.  I have to guess that Guardians of the Galaxy is a contender for the big prize.

Watch the trailer here: