The Oscar Buzz - Best Production Design and Best Visual Effects Awards categories.

Of all the categories carrying nominations for this Sunday's 86th Academy Awards there are only a handful that the movie going public and the TV watching audience are really interested in - in my humble opinion! Counting down over the days leading upto the big Hollywood event, I'll list two per day that might capture your interest and for which you too might have something to say!
BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN AWARD :

• American Hustle
• Gravity
• The Great Gatsby
• Her
• 12 Years a Slave

I haven't seen Her, but have the others, and they all have merit in this category for what has been faithfully and lovingly recreated to suck us in to the era and the story. My view is that The Great Gatsby will carry away the golden statue. For me this film was all style over substance, and there is no doubt that Baz Luhrmann has an eye for this stuff and an impressive track record (think 'Romeo & Juliet', 'Moulin Rouge' too) and spent a lot of time, energy, and investment to capture the opulence and the flamboyance of the era.

BEST VISUAL EFFECTS AWARD :

• Gravity
• The Hobbit
• Iron Man 3
• The Lone Ranger
• Star Trek : Into Darkness

I have seen these five nominated films, and I think The Hobbit will be overlooked this year but will sweep the board next year once the third and final instalment has been released (just as the LOTR trilogy did). Star Trek : Into Darkness delivered well and I like J.J. Abrams and his lens flair stuff and sense of spectacle, but, for me Gravity is the clear winner for what this film achieved on such a massive scale and made us really believe in what we were seeing on the big screen - masterful film making and testimony that visual effects can take us somewhere real yet unimaginable.

Log on tomorrow for Best Actor and Actress in a Supporting Role, and my pick.

Until then - go see a movie!

-Steve, at Odeon Online-