Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning (2 nominations) and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 3 (1 nomination)

 

• • Best Sound

  • Chris Munro
  • James Mather
  • Chris Burdon
  • Mark Taylor
• 
  • Best Achievement in Visual Effects

  • Alex Wuttke 
  • Simone Coco 
  • Jeff Sutherland 
  • Neil Corbould

In all honesty, this is only the second Mission Impossible movie that I've ever seen, and this one I saw only for Oscars nominations.  This one is about Ethan and his team trying to stop what appears to be an unstoppable weapon. As always with visual effects films, the twists and turns are so complicated to recount, that I'll just say that this movie, as with seemingly all Tom Cruise movies, is very exciting, lots of grabbing the "key" and then a double cross and a steal back, and a pretty amazing scene with a train falling in a chasm. Of course the story is not resolved in this one, so if you love the Mission Impossible films, you are guaranteed at least one more.

• Best Achievement in Visual Effects

• Stephane Ceretti 
• Alexis Wajsbrot 
• Guy Williams 
• Theodore Bialek

Gamora is dead and the team is reeling from her loss. Rocket Raccoon gets knocked out, and we are able to see his entire original story, which is truly heartbreaking. A scientist who is experimenting on animals brings Rocket to life and he develops a group of friends in their incarceration. The crew discovers more who need them, and they fully engage in trying to save especially some humanoids on the planet Arete. While there are multiple storylines, it's a pretty engaging film and definitely a good additions to the Guardians franchise.

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.

X-MEN: DAYS OF FUTURE PAST - 1 nomination

Visual Effects - Richard Stammers, Lou Pecora, Tim Crosbie, Cameron Waldbauer

X-Men: Days of Future Past is the next installment of the Marvel comic book series in which robots called Sentinels have been sent with tremendous power to kill all mutants.  Mutants living in this current era decide to send Wolverine (Hugh Jackman) back in time to the 70's to prevent the production of the Sentinels, which appears to be the only solution available to combat the terror they are raining down.

The visual effects in this film are incredibly cool.  First, X-Men in general has fantastic visuals because mutants don't exist.  (Much like The Hunger games series, it has been overlooked in the makeup category, and it shouldn't have been.)  Then, add in the amazing effects produced for the Sentinel robots, and it's easy to see how this film was finally nominated for this category.  The Marvel universe films, in general, should be contenders each year for visual effects nominations, and this film is a very deserving for this one indeed.  

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:

CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE WINTER SOLDIER - 1 nomination

Visual Effects - Dan LeLeeuw, Russell Earl, Bryan Grill and Dan Sudick

Captain America: The Winter Soldier is a very satisfying film from the world of superhero movies.  It's another in the Marvel series featuring solo projects for The Avengers, and it hits on all levels.  The visual effects are certainly marvelous, though no more of a standout than any of The Avengers films along the way.  It's a superhero movie, we know that the effects are going to be superb, so this nomination is hardly surprising, though I don't know how the Academy chooses from among the obvious choices.

The story is a fun one, with Captain America doing his best to fight a mysterious enemy and the super villain group HYDRA, who seem to have infiltrated the good guys at SHIELD.  When Director Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) is gunned down, he warns our hero to trust no one in the organization. Nonetheless, he partners with Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson) and a new friend, The Falcon (Anthony Mackie), to root out the evil, which he discovers to be closer to home and his own past than he expected.

Even though I'm a huge fan of all of the Marvel films, I have to admit that there is one element that always puzzles me.  Captain America, in this film, is fighting a big baddie who threatens the safety and vitality of the world.  Why doesn't he get on the phone at some point and ask his buddy Iron Man to come help out?  Ok, Thor is in another dimension, so he may not have cell service and the Hulk is likely off somewhere picking out clothes that go well with his shade of green, but if a threat this big is facing the world, you don't have time for a two minute phone call?

We may never know the answer to this question, but what we do know is that for a fun, popcorn movie, Captain America is a winner.  You can check out the trailer here: