The best of the best: The SP-FX houses (1 Viewer)

[TerryRL]

Thanks for the clarification George.

Adding to what Kevin was saying in his above post. "The Golden Compass" is considered something "new", which is another plus for it. In '05 for example, 'Narnia' bumped 'Revenge of the Sith' because it was new. While I still maintain that 'Sith' had the stronger work overall, 'Narnia' opened closer to awards season and was a surprise blockbuster. The Pirates team got their Oscar last year, as well as many tagging the movie as a disappointment, hence why I doubt they'll get a nod this year. The same goes for the Spider-Man team. They won for #2 and #3 is also being seen by many as disappointing.

"The Golden Compass" and "Transformers" seem to be the only sure-thing nods right now, especially if both are hugely successful.

 

[Tim Glover]

Does Potter stand a chance with a nod? I ask that only since early reports state Order of Phoenix is more action oriented....

 

[TerryRL]

'The Order of the Phoenix' definitely has a shot at that third slot, but so does "300", "Alien vs. Predator: Survival of the Fittest", "Evan Almighty", "Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer", "I Am Legend", and "Sunshine".

'The Prisoner of Azkaban' is currently the only Potter flick to earn an FX nod.

 

[TerryRL]

With "Transformers", ILM has done it again. While Digital Domain and Asylum provided a big assist on the production, ILM was the clearly the "star" of the show as they produced some of the best CGI FX I've ever seen.

The Autobots and Decepticons easily rank on the short list of greatest CGI creations ever for a major motion picture, joining the likes of Davy Jones (ILM), Gollum (WETA), Yoda (ILM), Kong (WETA), and Sonny from "I, Robot" (Digital Domain).

 

[Tim Glover]

I agree Terry. The FX might just be THE best.

 

[Chuck Mayer]

I consider Davy Jones a more difficult creation than the Transformers. Organic is always tougher than mechanical.

I really enjoyed the VFX in Transformers, and I do not dispute the massive memory and rendering requirements of Transformers (or the difficulty matching Bay's camera), but a few scenes stood out as clearly CG (and quite a few were flawless). And again...this is merely a variation of the CG models from Pearl Harbor and the PT. Excellent, near flawless work, but at a difficulty level under that of Davy Jones.

 

[Cory S.]

Chuck,

I'd have to rank Davy Jones and the Transformers neck and neck in terms of overall look and realism. Now, if looking at the films as a whole, the effects in Transformers were far more flawless than At World's End. If we were talking about Dead Man's Chest, I might give both films (Dead Man's Chest and Transformers a near tie, giving the edge to Transformers just for the sheer complexity of the robots.)

Either way, it's pretty moot at this point. ILM, since 1999, has just done some truly remarkable work. Their best work has come in the last 2 years starting with War of the Worlds and Episode III and ending with Transformers.

ILM is pretty much a lock for Oscar gold this year.

 

[Chuck Mayer]

I agree with all that. Although I think their 2003 Pirates work was quite good as well. They've been on a tear.

 

[Tim Glover]

Kind of forgot about Davy Jones. Yeah, he was absolutely incredible. His eye color, movement, facial expressions etc....were downright freakishly real looking. The other factor was when he was on screen, he even felt real in a tactile way. I'm not describing this very good but hopefully you get the idea.

 

[TerryRL]

While the work ILM did on "Transformers" is absolutely jaw-dropping, I still maintain that Davy Jones is the greatest single CGI creation ever. As Tim was saying, it is absolutely freaky how real Jones looked in both Pirates sequels.

The robots of "Transformers" are close seconds in my book though. For me, they never felt fake at any time during the movie. It can also be argued that other than Shia LaBeouf, the CGI creations give far more convincing performances than most of the film's cast.

ILM once again showed why they're the top FX house in the biz. At this point in time, everyone else (Asylum, Digital Domain, Rythm & Hues, SPI, WETA, etc.) is battling for the #2 slot.

 

[Chris Atkins]

Yet TPM did this (i.e. lived in CG and excellent compositing, not to mention the achievement with Jar Jar) earlier and better than FOTR, which is why it should have been on the list.

Other than that major oversight, I can live with that list. Matrix is not too high.

 

[TerryRL]

Entertainment Weekly posted a list of their top 10 favorite CG characters.

#1 Kong from "King Kong" (WETA)
#2 Davy Jones from the Pirates movies (ILM)
#3 Gollum from 'The Two Towers' (WETA)
#4 Bumblebee from "Transformers" (ILM)
#5 Yoda from Episodes II and III (ILM)
#6 T-1000 from T2 (ILM)
#7 Woody and Buzz from "Toy Story" (Pixar)
#8 Sandman from Spidey 3 (SPI)
#9 T-Rex from "Jurassic Park" (ILM)
#10 Casper from "Casper" (ILM)

Agree or disagree?

In all honesty, there are a couple of WTF choices on this list.

 

[Chuck Mayer]

I agree with the top 3 in terms of technical achievement (which is wildly different criteria than favorite). After that, it gets pretty weird on any level. I love that the T-1000 is on there. The T-Rex isn't really a character.

Woody and Buzz is weird because they aren't really VFX. If you want to count Pixar, then this list is VASTLY different. As in, mostly PIXAR.

If they are going by "favorite", then Yoda is way more popular than Gollum, Kong, and Jones...but Woody and Buzz are more popular than CG Yoda (but not puppet Yoda).

They might as well call it a "random" listing.

 

[Chris Atkins]

Agreed, Chuck. 'Favorite' is the wrong word to use to describe that list (though even under 'technical' I would still give Davy Jones top spot).

 

[TerryRL]

With only a little more than two months left in the year, I compiled my list of what I thought were the best FX flicks of the year. While the movies themselves may have lacked in terms of storytelling, they boasted top notch work from some of the best FX houses in the business.

My top five (listed with lead FX facility)...

#1 "Transformers" (ILM)
#2 "Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End" (ILM)
#3 "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix" (ILM)
#4 "Sunshine" (MPC)
#5 "Spider-Man 3" (SPI)

A special shout-out also goes out to Baseblack and Cinesite's work in "Stardust", Weta's work in "Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer", ILM's work in "Evan Almighty", and the work done in "300" (by various houses).

ILM has had a great year thus far and are hoping to land their 16th Oscar for Best Visual FX. Next year the company's work will be featured in "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull", "Iron Man", "The Spiderwick Chronicles", and the new "Star Trek" flick.

Rythm & Hues is very likely going to end the year strong with "The Golden Compass". They are also handling the FX for the '08 releases "The Incredible Hulk", "The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor", and "Alvin & the Chipmunks". They also may be handling the FX work on "Another Night", which is the sequel to last year's blockbuster hit "Night at the Museum", which is tentatively set for a December '09 release.

 

[Tim Glover]

Good list Terry.

 

[Chuck Mayer]

A list where I've actually seen everything on it. Of the films, I easily prefer Sunshine the most. It has no shot at even a nom, though. Like The Fountain last year :frowning:

Among the ILM noms, I prefer Pirates. I still think Jones is way harder than Optimus...and way more creative. But I imagine TF will win since Pirates 2 already did (right, or am I imagining that?).

The most seamless effects I've seen all year were in Zodiac, but that's not a VFX film.

 

[TerryRL]

You're right, ILM already got awarded last year for their work on Davy Jones in Pirates 2 and "Transformers" is (right now) the odds on fave to win the award ("The Golden Compass" still looks to be their chief competition). I don't see Pirates 2 and 3 pulling a LOTR.

 

[Tim Glover]

Davy Jones remains the single most believable CGI EVER made. Ever. Not sure which thread I posted this but it was actually downright scary how awesome Jones was. His eyes might have been the best part. Freakingly great. They knocked it out the cinema park on that.

Haven't seen Sunshine. :frowning:

Order of Phoenix probably had the best effects so far in the HP series.

 

[Chuck Mayer]

As a note, (for my money) the second best effects shot in Pirates 3 was the ship exploding around Lord whatever...and that was a Digital Domain shot. I agree that Jones is the most technically perfect CG creation at this time (until Avatar).

TF just left me a bit cold. In the end, it was a huge chunk of pixels fighting a huge chunk of pixels, much like Van Helsing. The pixels were a lot better, I suppose (and so was the film, but that's partially because VH was execrable).

That said, since Pirates 3 won't get it, TF is next best choice by far.

Tim, no one saw Sunshine. It's a people movie, not an effects movie, but the effects are excellent, and better than the frontrunners on the conceptual front.