# The Oscars: Best Visual Effects **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 13, 2015, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-oscars-best-visual-effects/712597 "2015-02-13T19:04:01Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![MovieMogul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f08c70/32.png) [@MovieMogul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MovieMogul)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2015, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-oscars-best-visual-effects/712597/1 "2015-02-13T19:04:01Z")
If you had an AMPAS ballot, which film would get your vote? ---
**Author:** ![Equipoise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/equipoise/32/151_2.png) [@Equipoise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Equipoise)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2015, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-oscars-best-visual-effects/712597/2 "2015-02-13T19:38:44Z")
Very tough, they’re all worthy. I chose Guardians because I loved it and I want it to win something. It could win Makeup, maybe Sound. ---
**Author:** ![MovieMogul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f08c70/32.png) [@MovieMogul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MovieMogul)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2015, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-oscars-best-visual-effects/712597/3 "2015-02-13T19:44:46Z")
> [@Equipoise](#): > > Very tough, they’re all worthy. I chose Guardians because I loved it and I want it to win something. It could win Makeup, maybe Sound. It’s not nominated for Sound. But I agree that if it wins anything, it might be Makeup. But very very unlikely here. ---
**Author:** ![MovieMogul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f08c70/32.png) [@MovieMogul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MovieMogul)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2015, 3:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-oscars-best-visual-effects/712597/4 "2015-02-18T03:15:03Z")
bump ---
**Author:** ![kopek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kopek/32/337_2.png) [@kopek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kopek)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2015, 3:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-oscars-best-visual-effects/712597/5 "2015-02-18T03:36:50Z")
Cap of course! ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2015, 6:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-oscars-best-visual-effects/712597/6 "2015-02-18T06:33:34Z")
_Dawn of the Planet of the Apes_. Without hesitation. Astonishing work that deserves praise for the next ten years. Most of the others, though good in their own right, didn’t wow me as effects (though they worked fabulously in context, which does count for a lot). They just looked like marginal improvement, or even no improvement, on what had come before. Apes seemed like a huge step forward. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2015, 8:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-oscars-best-visual-effects/712597/7 "2015-02-18T08:18:15Z")
I disagree. Special effects may be “technical”, but they’re not \*just \*technical - they’re also a creative art. Awarding the award purely on technical merit is like giving the award for Costumes to the film with the most structurally advanced brassieres. \*Planet of the Apes \*may have had some terrific apes, but that’s all they were - apes. We know what apes look like. Whereas Guardians showed us magnificent creations like Rocket and Groot, as well as places like Xandar and Knowhere, \*and \*managed to integrate them perfectly into the action. For that, they it deserves to win. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2015, 8:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-oscars-best-visual-effects/712597/8 "2015-02-18T08:43:19Z")
Well, I disagree. I think recreating reality convincingly is harder than making stuff up from nothing. I also thought the animation for Groot and Rocket wasn’t up to par. ---
**Author:** ![panamajack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/47e85d/32.png) [@panamajack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panamajack)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2015, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-oscars-best-visual-effects/712597/9 "2015-02-19T17:19:46Z")
As creative as GotG was, I didn’t think the effects were all that great technically either. Even the apes, while looking about the best they can given the state of the art, still felt like computer creations. Whereas Interstellar felt real. It took ideas that we can only imagine (and some that we know) and made them all look right. ---
**Author:** ![Skammer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skammer/32/143_2.png) [@Skammer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skammer)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2015, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-oscars-best-visual-effects/712597/10 "2015-02-19T18:39:58Z")
I agree that it’s harder to show us something that we are already visually familiar with. I vote for Apes (although all the movies were visually amazing). I also agree that Groot, in particular, was not completely convincing although I loved GotG overall. ---
**Author:** ![MovieMogul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f08c70/32.png) [@MovieMogul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MovieMogul)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2015, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-oscars-best-visual-effects/712597/11 "2015-02-22T18:42:47Z")
Oscar day bump