Category: Best Visual/Special Effects

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Top Gun (1986) – Rewatch

Accepted into an elite fighter pilot training school with his best friend Anthony Edwards, cocksure Tom Cruise must battle with his own personal demons regarding his father’s heroism during the Vietnam War to succeed. I wanted to watch this again before delving into the new sequel and it did not disappoint. Certainly an artifact of its times as a Cold War relic, it makes the best use of Cruise’s talents. Further bolstered by a hard-working supporting cast (Val Kilmer, Tom Skerritt, Kelly McGillis), a soundtrack that hits all the right notes, and dizzying action sequences, it’s easy to forget it’s all in support of the military industrial complex.   Action

Oscar Win: Best Music, Original Song

Oscar Nominations: Best Sound, Best Film Editing, Best Effects, Sound Effects Editing

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Moonraker (1979)

Roger Moore’s Bond is tasked with investigating the midair disappearance of a space shuttle. Even before I had began my journey into Bond films, I’d long been amusedly curious about this outing. Who wouldn’t be with excited to see Bond in Space! Even with some uninspired rehashes of former Bond films (the plot from The Spy Who Loved Me, the battle scene from Thunderball , etc.) and an unexpectedly strange character development for favorite baddie Richard Kiel’s Jaws, it still manages to be an entertaining watch. There’s plenty of fun to be found with the ridiculously named Holly Goodhead, one of the most visually obvious villains in Michael Lonsdale’s Dr. Drax, and the ugliest space uniforms this side of the United States Space Force.   Action

Oscar Nominations: Best Effects, Visual Effects

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The Time Machine (1960)

At the dawn of a new century, scientist Rod Taylor sets out to prove to his friends that he has figured out a way to travel through time. There is so many to delight in during this film: the design of the iconic time machine, the passage of time using incredible stop motion effects, and Taylor’s heartfelt relationship with botanist Alan Young that spans the decades. It’s a shame that he makes his main stop with the bland Aryan nation of the Eloi. I really didn’t care what the underground Morlocks were subjecting them to because the Morlocks were really the more interesting of the two. It is more wondrous than I remember the 2002 version being though still managing to delve into effects of war on the future. I will continue to ponder the best three books to take on such a voyage.  SciFi  Adventure

Oscar Win: Best Effects, Special Effects

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Thunderball (1965)

Sean Connery returns as James Bond, travelling to the Bahamas to recover two atomic bombs stolen by SPECTRE agent Emilio Largo (portrayed by Adolfo Celi). Stealing all the best notes from Goldfinger (entertaining title sequences, fantastic theme songs, female characters bent on revenge), it doesn’t do much new with them. There’s a fantastic early scene in the SPECTRE headquarters that again have obvious comparisons to Dr. Evil’s lair in the Austin Powers series. The Bahamas provides an obviously gorgeous setting and its underwater scenes are creative especially an epic battle between the forces of good and evil, but they impart a couple of problems. First is an inability to tell characters apart under all their gear and second, it slows down the action in an action film to a crawl making for an unnecessarily bloated runtime.   Action

Oscar Win: Best Effects, Special Visual Effects

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Portrait of Jennie (1948)

Impoverished painter Joseph Cotten struggles to find heartfelt inspiration for his work until meeting young Jennifer Jones in Central Park. He’s fascinated by the mysterious girl who seems to come from another era and ages years in the short periods between their meetings. I hadn’t gone into this with too much expectation, but was delighted by the simple, time-bending love story. The romantic hints early in the relationship are somewhat off-putting but they at least remain chaste until the age difference is no longer pronounced. There’s a beauty in the artistic inspiration that the mysteries of Jennie provide for Cotten the artist.   Fantasy  Romance

Oscar Win: Best Effects, Special Effects

Oscar Nomination: Best Cinematography, Black-and-White

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The War of the Worlds (1953)

When a large object falls from space, the hopeful reception by the naïve Californians is quickly dashed by the brutal destruction of the visiting Martians. Some brilliant set designs are unfortunately paired with an incredibly hokey story and under developed heroes. While I love a lot of 1950s SciFi films, this one takes itself a bit too seriously while not putting in enough effort for the audience to do so as well. The well-established ending comes along suddenly in a ‘we didn’t know quite where to go with this’ sort of way.  SciFi  Action

Oscar Win: Best Effects, Special Effects

Oscar Nominations: Best Sound, Recording; Best Film Editing

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Doctor Dolittle (1967)

Based on three of the Hugh Lofting books, Rex Harrison is the titular doctor whose great love for animals brought him to learn how to speak various animal languages from his parrot friend. For reasons, this leads him on an expedition to find the Great Pink Sea Snail. I do love a film that respects animals as unique individuals and personalities, even when they are as fictitious as the well-crafted Pushmi-Pullyu, and Geoffrey Holder is delightful as the leader of a village of well-read island natives, but this film is way too damn long. Cut out most of the beginning and one or two of the extraneous episodes and it wouldn’t be much of a loss. The songs are mostly unmemorable with Harrison sing songing his way through the majority, even when accompanied by the film’s delightful visuals.  Best Picture Nomination  Animals

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Journey to the Center of the Earth (1959)

Scottish geology professor James Mason leads a group of explorers through an Icelandic volcano to the center of the planet. It’s a brightly colored adventure that has zero basis in reality that is drawn out past 2 hours when 90 minutes would have sufficed. Unfortunately once again, the only female on the expedition, Arlene Dahl, is told she’s too ‘weak’ for such work and relegated to an unnecessary romance in the end, but I do enjoy the peeks into artificial Icelandic culture and the creativity of the inner planetary setting.   SciFi  fantasy  Adventure

Oscar Nominations: Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Color; Best Sound; Best Effects, Special Effects

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Tom Thumb (1958)

When he foregoes chopping down a tree at her bequest, Forest Queen June Thorburn grants woodcutter Bernard Miles and his wife Jessie Matthews’s wish of having a child, even if he’s only the size of a thumb. That the “child” is, despite his size, an obviously adult Russ Tamblyn is not mentioned by anyone. Even for a version of a fairy tale, this particular rendition is quite ridiculous, but it is saved by a couple of colorful and lively song and dance numbers, especially the one where Tamblyn acrobatically interacts with the toys in his nursery.   Fantasy  Musical

Oscar Win: Best Effects, Special Effects

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Hollow Man (2000)

In this take on the Invisible Man story, arrogant researcher Kevin Bacon offers himself as a test subject for the invisibility formula his team has been working on. His self-sure personality only gets worse when he can’t be seen. Surprisingly its special effects mostly hold up to modern times, with some really cool looking bits as beings go in and out of visibility. The female characters, aside from Elisabeth Shue, do not fare better, relegated to either sexual victims (Rhona Mitra) or incompetent assistants (Kim Dickens). The end takes an unexpected turn into full on slasher horror, even having the sole Black actor, Mary Randle, as the first victim.   SciFi  Horror  Thriller

Oscar Nomination: Best Effects, Visual Effects

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