Reel and Roll: Best Visual Effects

Best Production Design

Oscar Nominees:

5. Passengers

Just very uninspired stuff, incredibly forgettable and really did not deserve a nomination for this pale imitation of 2001: A Spacey Odyssey in terms of aesthetics.

4. Jackie

Very excellent work, as it effectively captures the particular sort of time period of the post-JFK times, the White House, etc. It recreates particular scenes and real-life events with such accuracy.

3. Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them

Excellent work in merging together the Harry Potter universe and the vibes of 1920s New York. The more I think about the technical aspects of the film, the more I like it, and the production design gives such vibrancy and movie magic to the combination of the two. Special credit must go to the design of the MACUSA headquarters, Newt's trunk, and Queenie's apartment.

2. Hail, Caesar!

Tough to choose between these two! Hail, Caesar! is essentially one Hollywood vignette after another, and the production design is fittingly, very much on point. All the grand Hollywood sets feel so of that particular time period, and yet also so distinctively Hollywood. I have a particular soft spot for the sets of Hobie Doyle's disastrous period drama and 'No Dames'. In addition, beyond the sets there's a perfect sense of place and time, like Eddie Mannix's office and the restaurant he goes for lunch with a prospective future employer.

1. La La Land

Incredible work on just about every level. Everything is so contemporary yet with such a style of its own, from Mia's apartment, to the cinema where she and Sebastian have their first date, to Sebastian's cafe, and let's not forget that be-a-utiful Planetarium scene, It's all just perfection that imprints itself into your mind as strongly as the songs and performances. Bonus points for the epilogue's array after array of sets that are just...beautiful. No better word to describe them.

Personal Nominees:

5. Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them

4. Doctor Strange

Psychedelic work on all levels, Doctor Strange helped breath such fresh air into the Marvel aesthetic with its set pieces. Each of the sanctums, Strange's apartment, Hong Kong, New York, London, even the hospital, are just such memorable places but most importantly, always explore the dichotomy between the 'real' world and the other dimensions just through their appearance.

3. Hail, Caesar!

2. Silence

Evoking Kurosawa, but in the best possible way. From start to finish, the serene beauty of Japanese nature, the decrepit villages and the more wealthier towns, Rodrigues various houses of confinement, Kichijiro's little hut he makes for Rodrigues, all convey the film's themes of terror and beauty being intertwined so eloquently. It's not flashy period work, but rather very understated one which uses aesthetics to emphasize Rodrigues' journey in both a literal and metaphorical sense.

1. La La Land