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Practical Effects vs. CGI

Some of the best movies this year relied heavily on practical effects instead of entirely CGI, and it makes a difference. Watching Mad Max for instance, it’s much more exciting if you have to ask yourself if people are really swinging from 30 foot poles on a moving vehicle or not. This would be a good trend if it continues.

Hollywood’s Turn Against Digital Effects – The New Yorker

Scroll through this year’s Oscar nominations. Find the category for visual effects. There, you’ll see two colonic reboots: “Mad Max: Fury Road” and “Star Wars: The Force Awakens.” They make for pretty interesting nominees. To hear it from their directors, the special effects of “Fury Road” and “The Force Awakens” are notable for being old-fashioned rather than innovative, earthbound rather than gravity-defying.

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The Big Short wins Producers Guild Award

In an Oscar race that looked to be between Spotlight and The Revenant, the PGA gave its award to The Big Short. We might have a three-way race this year.

The Big Short Surprises to win Producers Guild

Although most pundits (except me, Mike Burry, M.D.) were predicting either Spotlight, Mad Max or The Revenant to win, The Big Short came up the big surprise at the Producers Guild Awards tonight, along with the expected wins for Amy and Inside Out. What was it that gave some of us hope and cautious confidence?