Best VFX

Sweet Mother of Danny Devito. It's freaking September and they're already handicapping the race for a Little Gold Man.

The VFX Oscar Goes To ...

Star Wars: The Force Awakens – ILM, sight unseen, probably has this sewn up for a variety of reasons, the least of which is the history of Star Wars and the Oscars. ...

The Revenant – ILM Best Picture heat COULD drive this film into this category and bring in a win. But as of yet, no one really knows how much of it will depend on visual effects and how much on real scenery. ...

Mad Max: Fury Road – Andrew Jackson (practical) Iloura (digital). Jackson crafted more than 2000 visual effects shots with help from Iloura. It just isn’t done this way these days. ...

The Walk – Rodeo FX – Robert Zemeckis likes to play with toys, that’s for sure, and one can count on his movies to have at least one major effects sequence, even Flight with Denzel Washington (totally underrated). ...

Jurassic World – also ILM, with other companies contributing. The dinosaurs. It’s all about the dinosaurs. ...

The Martian – the effects are great, though not quite on the level of Gravity. ...

Crimson Peak – Though it has yet to be released/reviewed, Guillermo Del Toro is always a force to be reckoned with in this category.

Ex Machina – it isn’t on the level of visual effects that most films in the race are because it’s “small.” But the film itself is so good that could give it a boost in this category.

Everest – the one thing everyone keeps talking about is how real the effects are, how they put you right at the top of Everest, similar to The Walk.

Ant-Man – general likability plus groovy visual effects make it seem like a potential nominee in this category. ...

Too often, the Academy goes for the splashy and eyeball grabbing rather than the best. But now I think about it, doesn't that also happen in other categories?