Joey Magidson
Another list is coming your way, folks! Continuing a tradition I’ve been keen on for years, I’m ranking the new crop of Academy Award winners. For nearly all of the Oscar categories, you’ll see me list the top 25 recipients of that prize. Sometimes, our newest winner will appear. Other times, they’ll be relegated to the Honorable Mention category. Who knows, maybe one or two won’t even make the cut? It’s a list series that I’ll do each and every single year, in the weeks after the ceremony concludes. So, while this is a fun way to think about the Oscars in the aftermath of the latest telecast, it’s also a beginning for another column here on the site. Of course, definitely show us your own lists as well, in the comments section below. We’re definitely keen to know what you think!
So, Best Visual Effects is the field that’s up to bat today. This category is a bit of an Oscar outlier, considering a lot of the films that win aren’t Best Picture contenders. There are exceptions, including 1917, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Dunkirk, First Man, Forrest Gump, Gladiator, Gravity, Inception, Life of Pi, and Titanic, to be sure (plus our most recent winner in Dune). However, you’ll just as soon see Academy Award winners here who barely show up in other categories. It’s part of what makes Visual Effects a fun field, but perhaps one slightly lacking in prestige. For my money, Jurassic Park is the tops in this category, but your mileage may vary. Where does the most recent Visual Effects victor fall here in Godzilla Minus One? What about last year’s winner in Avatar: The Way of Water or the prior winner in Dune? Does they even crack the list still? Find out where the Avatar sequel ranks below, along with all of the rest…
Here are what I consider to be the 25 best winners of the Best Visual Effects Oscar, to date:
25. Godzilla Minus One
24. Inception
23. Blade Runner 2049
22. Alien
21. Life of Pi
20. First Man
19. Aliens
18. The Empire Strikes Back
17. Interstellar
16. Superman
15. The Abyss
14. Forrest Gump
13. Dune
12. The Matrix
11. What Dreams May Come
10. Star Wars
9. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
8. Gravity
7. Avatar: The Way of Water
6. Who Framed Roger Rabbit
5. Terminator 2: Judgment Day
4. Titanic
3. 2001: A Space Odyssey
2. Avatar
1. Jurassic Park
Honorable Mention: 1917, Ex Machina, Independence Day, King Kong (2005), and Return of the Jedi, and Spider-Man 2
Stay tuned for another category early next week!
One of my major gripes with these craftsmanship categories at the Oscars is how often Academy voters seem to equate “Best” with “Most.” Lavish period outfits routinely winning Best Costume Design, the most conspicuously “prettiest”-shot movies usually winning Best Cinematography even if the winner’s lighting and lensing decisions aren’t appropriate for the movie (lookin’ at you, All Quiet on the Western Front).
But I’m really pleased with how Best Visual Effects has resisted this impulse in recent years. Despite an explosion in expensive spectacles shot almost exclusively on green screens and bathed in wall-to-wall CGI, voters have tended to shun those in favor of visual effects artists being resourceful, creative, and judicious, and I hope that trend continues.
No argument here!
Always an interesting category .I try to go with how the visuals work in contest of the story so there could be changes just for that reason.
25.Godzilla Plus One
24.The Hindenburg
23.King Kong (2005)
22.The Empire Strikes Back
21.Superman
20.Titanic
19.1917
18.Avatar
17.Avatar The Way of Water
16.Inception
15.Innerspace
14.Ailens
13.Forrest Gump
12.Gladiator
11.Gravity
10.Hugo
9.Star Wars
8.E.T. Extra Teresstrial
7.Babe
6.The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
5, Death Becomes Her
4.First Man
3.Jurassic Park
2.Mary Poppins
1.Who Framed Roger Rabbit
Love the top pick!